Evan D. Sherden, Goes on An Expedition (2)

“Whew.”

He dipped his body deep in the bath, and it made such a sound—the feeling of melting his body into the warm bath.

When he raised his head, he would see the surrounding landscape beyond the wide-open view. It was an unusual experience that he couldn’t enjoy in a closed bathhouse.

Now Evan was enjoying the open bath.

“The hot spring feels different from the bathhouse. I like it…”

“Master, you are so great.”

Raihan, who entered the bath a little later, shook his head and said. When Evan looked at him, asking what he meant, he immediately replied.

“The Dungeon. We’ve heard that explorers have all died on the 7th floor, but I don’t know how you’re so calm.”

“Oh, that. Honestly, I was even more surprised that the sixth floor had already been cleared.”

“…”

Evan remembered the structure of the dungeon that had appeared in the game.

Apparently, up to the third floor, there were monsters easy to handle. But from the fourth floor, stronger monsters like in the Sherden Dungeon’s depth began to appear, especially with flame-like traps. So, explorers who attacked the dungeon had to pay more attention to the abnormal state of boiling flames and the monster threat.

“And if we go to the sixth floor, there are already monsters that appear above the 60th floor of the Sherden Dungeon… Sherden had re-opened, and some guilds of some strong men did not come back. I thought they went back to Pellati. However, it was my misunderstanding. Everyone was buried here.”

“Is it that this place is… so attractive to them?”

“If the difficulty is serious, the reward is high. This dungeon has an attractive reward from the third floor to every floor after. That was enough to attract those who missed the Sherden Dungeon.”

This dungeon would have been a challenging place, with tremendous rewards on each floor for explorers looking for alternatives to the Sherden Dungeon.

Why was the reward on every floor? The number of floors that could be reached had increased by one floor each time the series was updated. In Yo-Ma Great War 1, the third floor was the best, and that was why the compensation started from the third floor.

‘Yo-Ma Great War 4 is open to the sixth floor, and now it is open to at least the seventh floor. Would it have affected my work with the witches and my encounter with Default, the Yo-Ma Great War 5’s protagonist? …No, that’s ridiculous.’

Such reasoning did not make sense. A game was just a game. He was not sure yet, but he thought he could see the end of this dungeon this time.

If the end of the seventh floor were blocked, it would only be a breakthrough. It was not a game, so it was possible!

Raihan shrugged his shoulders and leaned his back against the wall, as Evan was determined and shining his eyes.

“It looks like you’re looking forward to it.”

“That’s right. I don’t know from the 7th floor. This dungeon transfer will probably be an exploration that can objectively understand our current skills.”

There was no word more exciting than ‘unknown’. If the unknown promised less risky and more rewards, it was more possible.

Evan heard that all the explorers were killed on the 7th floor, but he didn’t change his mind. Their deaths were unfortunate, but they just paid the price for not knowing the place, to be honest.

No matter how dangerous the dungeon was, there was no way that a party composed of members who could face the Four Heavenly Kings three years ago could not breakthrough. He was not self-confident, but thought so based on data.

“But Hannah and Serpina seemed very nervous when they heard what the innkeeper said earlier.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t take the two to the dungeon. They don’t have enough ability.”

When Evan said it firmly, Raihan nodded as if he had already expected it.

“I didn’t mean to take them either. It’s just that when I start worrying about them, there’s no end.”

“Maybe they’re always concerned about your position to deal with the enemy’s attack. You comfort them well.

We’ll eat breakfast tomorrow and leave in a leisurely manner, so take your time throughout tonight.”

“… Master.”

“They have come for that anyway.”

“I’m in trouble…”

Raihan, whose face was wholly flushed by Evan’s lousy joke, dived into the bath.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, Master… … Argh!”

“Huh!”

Evan giggled and laughed, and Raihan rarely played a joke on him. It was already evening when he avoided Raihan’s attack, fought back, and enjoyed the open-air bath.

* * *

After enjoying the bath all afternoon, Evan and Raihan had dinner with the female members.

However, he could feel what had happened in the bath, and the eyes of the female members kept looking at Mirole strangely.

“Well… Master.”

Serpina, holding a glass of cold bubble beer in her hand, approached carefully and whispered.

“That Elf… She’s huge.”

“What?”

“Body!”

Mirole was usually brutal. However, the girls were shocked by her nakedness, though they were all females.

Elves were different from humans. She had a heterogeneous slender waist with a long stretch of legs.

On top of that, Mirole had a matured body. So, it was not enough to just say she had an ideal body. Serpina looked particularly hazy at that.

“So, you should have exercised harder instead of drinking beer or something. If you did, the fat that landed on your belly would have gone to your breast and buttocks.”

“I can’t copy her body no matter how much I exercise! And I don’t have belly fat!”

Serpina screamed at Evan’s pitiful gaze at her. Still, it was cute to see her slowly putting down a glass of beer in her hand to see if there was something stale.

“That’s not what I want to say… Not all the Elves are like that. Illoin is amazing, but she wasn’t that much like Mirole.”

“That’s because the Elves are different. It’s like a human being.”

Evan, speaking casually and shrugging his shoulders. Serpina’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Evan.

“That’s not what I want to say… Maybe she’s a special Elf.”

“Just because she is in good shape?”

Evan was sick to the core, but he answered it calmly without revealing it. Serpina, who was deceived well, knocked on her breast as if she was frustrated.

“No, she is different! Gosh, you should have seen her naked body, Master. The aura is different. The aura.”

“It would have been bad if I saw it myself.”

Such a love comedy-like story could not and should not happen to Evan. While Mirole’s eyes were already bothering him, he could not allow unhealthy kinship.

‘Naked body.’

He quickly shook off his delusional image that came to mind. He didn’t dare to defile the Yo-Ma Great War Zero’s heroine even in his head.

Whether she knew Evan’s complicated thoughts, Mirole was still staring at him.

Maybe she didn’t like the friendly conversation with Serpina, but… No, it must be a misunderstanding.

“Then, is she a normal Elf?”

“I don’t think she is normal in terms of Elves. Don’t worry about that; just finish your drinks. We need to accumulate more fat in the abdomen to prepare for a tough winter.”

“Wow… Raihan! Master Evan is bothering me!”

Evan, who repelled Serpina with a realistic attack, sighed and opened his mouth.

“Everyone listens while eating. We’re going to eat breakfast tomorrow and take a break before going to the dungeon. Diona, Hannah, Serpina, wait outside as you promised. We’re going into the dungeon with a five-member party.”

“Okay.”

“The goal is to secure the core of the dungeon. There are a lot of traps and monsters with flame properties. So, I’m thinking of giving out a position to resist them in advance. It would be best if you prepared yourself personally. That’s all.”

While Hannah and Serpina were more anxious to hear Evan’s words, the members of Astray, including Raihan, who had already heard about Evan in the bath, just nodded calmly. It was because Evan had the ability and faith in accurate judgment.

“Then, I’ll go first.”

As soon as Evan got up from his seat after the notice, fierce checks were exchanged among the female members.

The exchange of those short-lived glances!

One of them was Diona, who was the maid of Evan. She was the first to act boldly.

“Master, I’ll serve you…”

“Diona, you should get some rest today.”

“But I need to serve you tea…”

“I’m going to bed early, so it’s okay.”

Evan stopped her without giving her any chance! Members got more anxious when they heard Evan would go to bed early.

Evan only hoped that each other would stick in check and not do anything, but things couldn’t be solved quickly.

Eventually, Evan instructed Belois, as usual, to set up security magic that prevented everyone from accessing his room carelessly. It will help naturally…

“May I come in for a while, Master?”

“Lua… Yes, come in.”

“Then… Excuse me.”

Only Belois was free to enter his room.

Evan knew that, but he decided that Belois was better than Diona, Arisha, and Mirole.

“What’s going on, Lua?”

“I thought I’d clean your ears.”

But he guessed it wasn’t like that either. Evan’s eyes narrowed when Belois, who had walked softly, sat on the edge of the bed and patted her knees.

“Now?”

“Yes, now.”

Others would have noticed that Belois was headed to Evan’s room, but why would she attempt a provocation by acting at this time?

It was not a day or two for Belois, who was usually calm, to show her love for Evan. The biggest challenge was that Evan also didn’t dislike her that much.

“Well… Then I’ll ask you.”

“Huh…”

When Evan laid his head on her lap; Belois couldn’t resist and smiled satisfactorily. Evan could see her pride in achievement that came from being chosen by Evan over her competitors.

“Then I’ll get started.”

“Yes, please.”

Evan could roughly guess why Belois took such bold action.

Mirole had suddenly appeared and tried to get close to Evan, and Louise, who showed a strange obsession with Evan’s relationship. Lua might consider them as her rivals and get anxious. It was pretty standard.

‘I should have paid more attention to her before she got nervous.’

It was an excuse that he had been too busy to care for her. He should have shown more as much as he liked, but he didn’t.

Evan felt guilty about it, but… Belois now seemed content that Evan had accepted her. She had always been like that.

“How do you feel?”

“Okay, as usual.”

“Phew…”

Belois’s breath tickled his ears, which had been dug out and cleaned. Evan turned around for her to clean his other ear. Belois’s white apron dress was seen to him.

“…Do you want to see inside?”

“I miss it, but I’ll hold it in.”

“You’re honest.”

“I decided to be honest today.”

“Huh…”

Belois smiled again. But the gesture of clearing ears was still very polite.

“Master, you have to take care of Miss Arisha, too.”

From that point of view, it was clear that there had been some compromise and negotiations before Belois entered Evan’s room without bloodshed. Evan said with a small nod while she stopped cleaning.

“I will, but I’ll just think about you for now.”

“I don’t want you to say that. My heart might explode.”

“I’m similar, so let’s count as a tie.”

“Hahaha.”

Belois smiled again. He would be glad this relieved her anxiety a bit. As he was thinking about it, he suddenly felt Belois bending over and hugging him warmly.

“I’ll be like this for a little while, just a little…”

“You can stay.”

“I can’t because I can’t stand it.”

“Are you seducing me?”

Belois did not answer the question and just held him still.

If she answered, Evan would have been in trouble. So, he decided to stay still in Belois’ arms for the time being.