by Chuuni Suki
The room continued to change its direction several more times, it was stopped after approximately 40 seconds of ignoring the law of inertia. Hajime was able to endure the impact of a sudden stop by fixing his location using spikes driven into the ground, while Shia who unable to endure it, was rolling around, flying, and hit the back of her head hard against the wall. She rolled over here, she rolled over there, and raised a scream every it changed direction, that's why her complexion was bad. It was as if she was drunk. She was completely down like a drunk with sharp pain in the back of her head. By the way, since the start Yue was clinging to Hajime's body so she had no problems at all.
"Fuu~, finally stopped... ... Yue, are you okay?"
"... ...Nn, no problem."
Hajime retracted the spikes and stood up. There was no change at all when he observed the surroundings. Considering the movement, the door they entered from should connect to a different place.
"Ha-Hajime-san. Why are there no words for me?"
Shia who cover her mouth with blue face, stared at Hajime. It seems she was displeased because he only asked Yue.
"Well, if I ask the current you it'll reverse the momentum... ... and then you'll throw-up and get vomiting rabbit as a new title, you don't want that, right?"
"Of course! Even so, I wanted to be asked because that was a maide— uppu."
"See, it's better for you to rest a little now"
"Uu. Uppu."
Leaving alone Shia who was on all fours that seemed to vomit at any moment, Hajime and Yue confirmed the surrounding. Finally, there was nothing after all and they faced the door.
"Well then, what shall we do?"
"... ...Is the one that controlled it there?"
"There is that possibility. Miledi should have died... ... then who on earth moved those golem knights."
"... ...No matter who appears, it's all right. Hajime will be protected by me... ... subsequently, Shia too."
"I can't hear you~ uppu."
Hajime smiled, having heard Yue's typical words. Gently, with one hand he rubbed Yue's head. Yue who wanted to be spoiled came closer while pleasantly narrowing her eyes.
"... ...Even though I remembered saying this before, could you stop suddenly entering into a world of just the two of you? What can I say, to be alienated makes me feel so lonely, uppu."
While enduring the nausea, "I don't want to be left out!", was what Shia expressed while crawling on all fours.
"... ...Even though I had also said it before, it still comes out, so could you stop that horror flick-like movement? What can I say, it'd be scary if it appeared in my dreams."
"T-that's good. To be beside you even just a little is a maiden's heart-, uppu. I also wanted to be patted just like Yue-san. Please embrace me and pat me! Ue, uppu."
"To say that with a face of someone who will vomit at any moment... ... moreover to casually add your own demands."
"... ...It is still too early for Shia to be patted by Hajime."
With her willpower, Shia came to Hajime and Yue's side, she looked at Hajime with expectant eyes and a pale face. Hajime quietly averted his gaze to face the door. Behind him, "Why! Ueppu", was the noise that could be heard, but he just let it pass through his ears.
On the other side of the door, will it be Miledi's dwelling, golem's controller, or just another trap... ... Hajime thought, "Come whatever it is", while he opened the door with a fearless smile.
There was...
"... ...Have I seen it before? This room."
"... ...Certainly. Especially that lithograph."
Ahead of the opened door was another room. There was a lithograph and passage at the left side of the room. They should have memories of this room. Because, this room was...
"It looks like... ... the first room, right?"
Shia thought that even though she said it, she didn't want to think it was so. However, certainly, just as Shia said there was the lithograph with the annoying sentences carved, just like the first room. But there was a difference from that room. The proof was, after several seconds the door opened, characters floated up from the original room's floor.
"Nee, right now, how do you feel?"
"Even though you had advanced after much hardships, only to arrive at the starting point, how do you feel?"
"Nee, nee, how do you feel? What kind of feeling do you have? Nee, nee."
"""... ..."""
The expressions of Hajime and his party 'suton,' fell from their faces. Their expressions perfectly fit the words 'Noh mask'. The trio watched as the characters silently and smoothly moved. Then, additional characters started to appear.
"Ah, there is something I forgot to say, this dungeon will be altered at regular intervals."
"As usual, it was Miledi-chan's thoughtfulness to make you enjoy the dungeon with a fresh feeling."
"Are you happy? You are happy, right? There is no need to reward me! I only do it because I like it after all!"
"By the way, because it always changes, mapping it was useless."
"Don't tell me, did you make it? With so much hardship? But, sorry! Pugyaa—"
"Ha, hahaha."
"FUFUFUFU."
"FUHI, FUHIHIHI."
The trio let out three different types of broken laughter. Afterwards, needless to say screams were echoed through the entirety of the dungeon. After getting through the first passage, it was just as Miledi said, the stairs were greatly altered along with the differing position of the corridor ahead of them. It goes without saying that they let out resentful voices again because of the structure.
Somehow they manage to regain their spirits, Hajime and his party once again tried to conquer the dungeon. However, it wasn't a smooth sailing as expected, especially Shia who always triggered the traps (gold basin, bird lime, shots of liquids with strange smell, etc), "weren't those psychologically dangerous?", that is to say she became totally enraged, well troublesome things are troublesome after all.
Then, they connected back to the starting scene.
* * *
Chapter 47: The Person Inside the Golem
* * *
Inside a certain room, pale light was faintly emitted by the walls, and the shadows of three people close to the wall were cast. It was Hajime, Yue, and Shia.
Yue was on Hajime's right side, while Shia was on his left, and they sat while leaning against his shoulders. Although silence filled the room, if one focused their ears 'suu- suu-,' sounds could be heard. It was Yue and Shia's breathing. They were both embracing one of Hajime's arms and slept using his shoulders as a substitute for a pillow.
Today marks one week since Hajime and his party entered the dungeon of Raisen. During that time, a lot of traps and annoying sentences continued to exhaust their bodies and minds. They had been returned to the starting point seven times, attacked by lethal traps 48 times, and other meaningless traps for 169 times. Even though at first their hearts were filled with anger toward Miledi Raisen, after four days had passed it looked like their mental states became, "No matter what appears next, it doesn't matter~"
They had an abundance of rations, and their bodies' specs made it so that they wouldn't easily die were the fortune within their misfortune . Now, they were resting after advancing, searching for clues all the while. As a result, they understood the pattern of the structure alteration. Using "mark," they were able to confirm where those blocks were repositioned.
There might be additional progress from now on. While he thought that, Hajime turned toward the girls that slept on his sides.
"They sleep so comfortably... ... isn't this a Great Dungeon?"
Hajime's murmur mixed with a wry smile resounded. He had stayed up for a long time as the lookout. Hajime quietly released his arm that somehow got embraced, and stroked Yue's hair. A slight smile could be seen. Hajime's eyes also slightly reverted to their former state.
Next, he changed his glance to Shia on the other side. She splendidly drooled on Hajime's shoulder while "munya munya," s
he moved her mouth, and it truly was a slackened sleeping expression. He remembered that she also wanted her head patted, so he quietly stroked Shia's hair. Immediately, he felt the rabbit ears' fluffiness. It was followed by her showing a loosened expression that she doesn't show even under normal circumstances. It was a truly relieved expression. For the most part, it only occurs when Hajime was on lookout, well, it could be said that she'd feel relieved when Hajime was by her side.
Hajime who gently stroked the blue-hued gray hair, as well as the rabbit ears, showed a complex expression.
"Geez, just what's good about someone like me... ... that you would follow me, even here..."
He looked at Shia with tender eyes while throwing abusive words at himself. The thing that Shia sought could be compared to the feelings that Yue had. Even so, Shia's positive attitude, cheerfulness, and how she cried but never gave up... ... greatly attracted Hajime's fancy. As a result, his strokes became even gentler. And, at that time, Shia who "munya munya," started to talk in her sleep.
"Munya... ... Au... ... Hajime-san, how bold~, to do it outside~, ... ... everyone will be able to see~"
"... ..."
Hajime who looked at her with gentle eyes immediately erased his smile. He gently used both hands, and quietly moved them, to pinch Shia's nose and close her mouth. Shia's calm expression gradually changed to a painful one, but he didn't mind it and kept doing it.
"Nn~, nn? Nnh~!? Nnn--!! Nn--!! Puhah! Haa, haa, wh-what are you doing!? Even though it was an attack while I sleep, it has the wrong meaning!"
Shia who "zeha zeha," panted, woke up then fiercely protested, Hajime turned toward her with cold eyes.
"Well? Inside your mind, what kind of a pervert am I? What will you do outside? Nn?"
"Eh? ... ... hah, that was a dream!? Why~, even though Hajime-san finally became dere, it was impossible to suppress the pathos that gushed out, and the bashfulness of me that writhes in agony because of those words, finally decided in publi- hebuh!?"
Without listening to anymore of it, Hajime used strengthening to flick her forehead. Shia became face up because of the big impact, and the back of her head hit the wall behind her, hard; which result in her squatting with teary eyes. As expected, her shameless character always slips out.
While rubbing the back of her head, Shia muttered, "Somehow I felt something happy happened, but is it just my imagination?" Probably, she unconsciously felt Hajime patting her. However, because he had known she would get carried away if he told her the truth, Hajime decided to ignore her.
Because Shia woke up (although by force), Hajime gently shook Yue to wake her up. Yue "... ...Nn u... ...Au?", let out that lovely voice while slowly opening her eyes. Then, with a blank expression she looked upward and confirmed Hajime was there, once again, she rubbed her mouth on Hajime's shoulder, then she quietly parted from Hajime and straightened her appearance.
"Uu, Yue-san is so cute... ... this is how a girl wakes up~, compared to her I was..."
Shia began becoming depressed this time, and Yue looked at her in wonder, only to let out an explanation, "because it was Shia after all."
"Look, from the beginning you understood the overwhelming difference in battle power (girl power), right? Rather than being depressed, start doing some soul searching."
"... ... What gentleness, you didn't drop it somewhere?"
"... ...? Hajime didn't drop anything like that."
"Gusuh, only to Yue-san. Damn."
Shia stood up after some soul searching. Yue and Hajime were also ready. This time, they prayed that they wouldn't be returned to the starting point, and so the trio resumed their dungeon conquest.
Once again, because there will be a lot of unpleasant traps and annoying sentences, they cleared their mind and soul.
Then, Hajime and his party reached a room that they had only visited once, even after a week. It was the room with golem knights that made them remember how mad they were when they got returned to the starting point the first time. However, this time the sealed door was opened from the start, and inside was not a room but a passage.
"This is... ... it'd be troublesome if they encircle us again. Let's rush to the open door at once!"
"Nnh!"
"Yes!"
Hajime and his party broke into the golem knights' room at once. When they approached the center of the room, as expected, 'gashan gashan,' the sound of golem knights rushing out from the recesses on both sides of the walls resounded. From the start, they ran forward while kicking and shooting those golem knights; which bought them some time, while Hajime and his party ran faster still, to reach the altar before being caught by the golem knights' encirclement. Although the golem knights rushed after them, they were unable to catch up to Hajime and his party that had already passed the door. Having successfully escaped, Hajime was grinning.
However, Hajime's smile vanished in the next moment. This time the golem knights also passed through the door, chasing after them. Also...
"Wha-!? They can run on the ceiling!?"
"... ... Surprising"
"Gravity-san please do your work~!"
That's right, the golem knights that chased them, as if ignoring gravity, were running on the walls and ceiling, giving off 'gashan gashan,' sounds of moving heavy armor. Because of this, even Hajime and his party were surprised by it. Hajime immediately looked at the passage then used "Mineral Appraisal," but all materials were already known. He didn't detect any minerals that could neutralize gravity, or any with adhesive nature.
"How did they do that?"
Those were the unintentional mutterings that leaked out from his mouth. And once more he took a peek at the golem knights behind him, becoming even more surprised as he turned around.
One of the golem knights on the ceiling was running while 'pyon,' jumping, and like a cannonball it advanced with tremendous momentum toward them while jumping in mid-air.
"W-wha-!? Shitty bastard!"
Hajime let out a surprised voice then fired Donner rapidly. The bullets fired accompanied by flashes, and the golem knight's helmet and shoulders were destroyed. The golem knight's headpiece separated from the body, and the large sword and shield were also dropped. However, without falling to the ground, it advanced toward Hajime and his party as is.
"Evade!"
"Nnh."
"Wakya!"
They avoided the golem knight's head, body, large sword, and shield that came fast and furiously by jumping and bending their bodies. The wreckage of the golem knight passed Hajime and his party, flew towards the walls and ceiling without reducing its momentum, and then crashed and rolled around on the floor.
"Oioi, isn't that..."
"Nn... ... it looks like it "fell"."
"Gravity-san is at work, I understand."
It was just as represented by Yue's and Shia's words. Apparently, those golem knights were able to control gravity. Although no one understood why they didn't use it last time, probably because previously it was a room, they might be only able to use it after the room changed into a passage.
While making that hypothesis, Hajime and his party were interrupted by golem knights that "fell." Some of them approached while spinning their large swords as if they were pinwheels in a veteran-like manner. Hajime and his party used gunfire and "Rupture" for ranged attacks, while Shia struck those that drew near, and they advanced without stopping.