Chapter 8

It's gross.

Beyond the door was a massive cavern.

The exposed rock formations glowed faintly with a pale green light in places, giving off a somewhat mystical atmosphere.

On the ground, glowing panels resembling the flags of various countries asserted their presence.

Below each glowing panel was a door, and the sight of nearly 200 of them lined up in the vast cavern obliterated any mystical atmosphere.

Of course, above the door we had come through, our national flag, the red circle on a white background, was shining brightly.

The door, which had been left open, closed on its own as we moved away, and after it closed, a sound like a lock being engaged echoed.

“Don’t worry, the lock will automatically open when we touch the doorknob.”

The highborn girl showed a consideration that didn’t match her appearance.

I wish she had shown that consideration before leading me into the dungeon.

“This cavern is apparently off-limits to monsters, so we can’t fight unless we’re here.”

As she said this, the highborn girl, still holding my hand, marched forward along the only path connected to the cavern.

“How long have you been here, highborn girl?

And, can I go home soon?”

The mission is already completed, so I want to go home.

“Hehe, don’t say that, please stay with me.

I woke up today and came straight here, so it’s been about 10 hours.”

It seems she arrived at the same time as me.

Still, I couldn’t find any trace of her, so she must have headed straight to the dungeon as soon as she woke up.

You’re amazing, you know.

She must have woken up before me, and the sword and cloak she has are probably the special ‘awesome katana’ and ‘cool cloak’.

Since there were no swords or cloaks in the armory or armor storage, those are the only things I can think of.

The first one to wake up gets two special items, I guess.

My servant must be somewhere, so I’ll ask her later where her special items were.

The exit of the cavern, which seemed far away, was passed in no time.

Now we are walking down a dimly lit path that seems to stretch endlessly.

The uneven ground, not yet leveled, was dotted with red-black stains that continued straight ahead.

It’s probably the liquid dripping from the woman who won’t let go of my hand.

I would have had trouble seeing in the dark, but I have night vision, so I can see everything clearly.

I was a bit regretful about that now.

Every time we passed a large rock or a fork in the path, the mutilated bodies of unidentified, grotesque monsters were carelessly left behind.

It was a rather anticlimactic first encounter with the monsters.

The distorted head of a goblin, the gutted body of a kobold spilling its intestines, and the dismembered body of an orc reduced to a head and limbs.

Various monsters were brutally killed.

The ceiling, which was about 5 meters high, was stained red and black, telling the story of how much blood had been splattered.

The highborn girl, it seemed, treated these bodies like pebbles on the side of the road, walking without slowing down.

『Gaaaaaaa』

After passing what seemed like the umpteenth fork in the path, a sudden, terrifying roar came from behind.

“!”

I turned around in a panic, and a kobold, hiding in the shadows of the fork, was approaching with its sharp claws raised.

“Hehe, come on!”

And the highborn girl slashed it from the side.

Splat.

The upper and lower halves of the kobold’s body, slammed against the wall, slid down, staining the wall red, and fell to the ground, twitching and spilling intestines from the cut.

“We still have time before dinner, so let’s go all out!”

“Sure.”

At least I know I’m safe as long as I’m with this woman.

While watching the dismemberment show of the abandoned monster corpses and the occasional attacks from monsters, we arrived at a cavern as large as the starting point, led by the highborn girl.

The only difference from there was the presence of goblin-like monsters with bat wings flying around in the air.

The highborn girl, with great enthusiasm, was slashing them with her sword or tearing them apart with her bare hands as they dived to attack.

I watched the scene from the safety of a rock in the corner of the cavern.

Just in case, I had a 26-type submachine gun on my back, with a suppressor (silencer) attached and the safety off.

Well, a novice who has never fired a gun probably can’t hit a flying enemy, but it’s for emergencies.

From the way the highborn girl was brutally slaughtering the monsters, it didn’t seem like I would have a chance to use the gun.

But then, one of the flying monsters, larger than the others, started to descend toward the rock where I was hiding.

I quickly ducked and hid behind the rock.

I thought I had been spotted, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. The monster landed on the rock where I was hiding and opened its mouth wide, facing the highborn girl who was slaughtering its kin.

To my surprise, particles of light began to rapidly gather in its mouth.

As the particles gathered, a greenish ball of light formed and grew inside its mouth.

Is this a beam or an energy blast?

“Hehe, come on down!”

The highborn girl still hadn’t noticed it.

I quietly aimed the gun from behind it, the muzzle just 3 meters from its head.

---

“— Wow, the final moment was amazing!”

When we returned to the living space through the door after what felt like hours in the dungeon, the highborn girl, with a comforting word, reflected on the battle in the cavern.

“You really made a mess with that biggest monster! Impressive!”

At that moment, the bullet I fired at the monster, which was about to use a big move, hit its head perfectly.

Of course, at such close range, it was bound to hit.

However, the problem was what happened after it hit.

The monster died instantly from the bullet to the head, but the energy it had stored in its mouth didn’t disappear and exploded inside its mouth.

As a result, a messy explosion of its bodily fluids hit me head-on.

Thanks to that, I’m now as red as the highborn girl, with my brand new armor suit dyed a deep red, and I’m very worried if it will wash out.

“I’m so satisfied to take a shower with Ueno-san!

No, we are now comrades-in-arms, and calling you Ueno-san is too formal.

Please, from now on, call me Gunma-chan!”

The highborn girl is saying something, but I’ll ignore it.

I’ll check the mission screen on my terminal instead.

『Mission [First Dungeon] Success

Reward: 6 units of 42-type unmanned reconnaissance aircraft system are now available for collection』

『Mission [First Information Gathering]

Deploy the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to patrol the dungeon

Reward: 72 common standard batteries for unmanned aircraft

Client: Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Koizumi Kanta

Comment: Take care of the Prime Minister’s grandson!』

“Huh?”

Beautiful girl (confirmed)

Cheerful personality

Highborn

Reliable

What a wonderful heroine!