Well, that mission was a solid no from me. Having sex naked in public? My patron goddess really was a pervert. Even if the clothes were right beside me, I wouldn't do it.
"Hah… hah…" Sakura gasped as she stared blankly at the setting sun. I could see dark spots on her skirt.
"How is it? Exciting, right?" I smirked.
"Pervert…" Sakura pouted. She glared at me, but that glare was more annoyed than hateful. She had been quite receptive to any play I offered.
I slipped my hand under her skirt, pulled out the dildo, and placed it inside a plastic bag. With it gone, she could stand upright again and followed me while pouting. It was cute.
At that moment, my phone buzzed.
"Ah. I don't think I can go to school tomorrow. Please tell the teacher for me, okay?" I said. "Dungeon diving."
"…I see."
My expectations had risen. Now that I knew I could use the body-swap skill in combat, I felt more confident. We were going to challenge the fourth floor tomorrow. If we could reliably hunt orcs, I could raise my earnings to 500 dollars per dive. Even if I only dived twice a week, that would net me over 4,000 dollars a month.
Feeling generous that day, I brought Sakura to a nearby family restaurant. Sakura wanted to cook, but I insisted.
"You seem to be in a good mood," Sakura said as she glared at me for fiddling with my phone excessively.
"Well. My dungeon runs have been going well. We'll be pushing the fourth floor soon. We just defeated an orc the other day," I answered. "So, what about you? Is Alex trustworthy?"
I really hoped it was just paranoia. Getting caught in a scam was no laughing matter. It ruined people. My father was the same. The hospital betrayed him.
"Ah… um… apparently your lawyer said I must be extra careful. There are some red flags in his behavior, but nothing conclusive yet," Sakura said. "I have received the money, but now I'm hesitant."
"I see." I nodded.
Then I looked Sakura in the eye, silently wishing for her safety.
"Stay safe, alright. I'll try to help as much as I can."
This word—I said it with sincerity.
"Okay. Thanks, Makoto. And please be careful in the dungeon, alright."
"Of course." I nodded. The memory of almost being killed by those orcs resurfaced in my mind. She was right. I needed to be careful.
The next day, Yuuno—being the cheerful senior she was—cocked her hips as she pointed at the stairs leading to the fourth floor, brimming with more confidence than ever.
"Alright, everyone! Today we are going to venture into the fourth floor! We've defeated an orc! We are now a proper adventurer party!"
"Yes, yes. Let's get going, Yuuno-senpai." I slung my longsword over my shoulder.
It didn't even take five minutes of exploring the fourth floor before we found our first monsters—three hobgoblins.
Yuuno braced herself, taunting the three of them. Using the same tactic we had developed before, Noelle and I flanked from the rear.
Unlike goblins, which abandoned all reason, these hobgoblins recognized the flank and chose to engage us instead of blindly attacking Yuuno.
Alas, they still fell to my blade. A single stab to their unprotected chests was all it took to bring them down. Noelle did the same—more efficiently—with her spear.
As we ate our store-bought bread for lunch, my gaze lingered on a rock. Something felt off about it. It was as if there was a gap beneath it—a dark spot that wasn't supposed to be there.
"Makoto? Is there something wrong?" Noelle asked.
"Dunno. That rock looks suspicious." I walked over, pushed it aside, and found a hole beneath it.
"Oohh!!! Nice find!! You really have a talent for scouting, Makoto!" Yuuno leaned in to look at the opening, her fists clenched in excitement. "Another hidden room! We hit the jackpot!"
"But how are we supposed to get inside? The hole looks deep. I can't even see the bottom," Noelle said.
"Well, we have to return to the surface and buy a rope," Yuuno said.
"I guess we're going to have overtime inside the dungeon today." I sighed as I checked the time on my phone. It was already noon.
"It's normal to even camp inside the dungeon! We'll have to start thinking about that if we want to venture to the fifth floor, kouhai! Let's go!" Yuuno said. "Ah, please move the rock back to cover the entrance. We can't have other people discover this while we're buying supplies on the surface."
"Yo! Eternal newbie! Getting cocky after beating your first orc, huh? You need to work harder. It's still noon and you're already heading back?" A party who knew Yuuno—presumably her guildmates—snickered.
"I plan to dive again. We're just getting supplies. I'm teaching Noelle and Makoto how to buy camping gear," Yuuno said.
"Oh, I see. Let me teach you as well! We could do so many fun things at night inside the dungeon!" One party member looked at Noelle lecherously, but he was immediately jabbed by his teammate. I sighed in relief. It seemed there were decent members in Yuuno's guild. No doubt that the main reason is her older brother.
"Hey, that's rude! Sorry about that. We'll be on our way. Stay safe—and Ad Astra per Aspera."
"Ad Astra per Aspera to you too, senpai." Noelle and I bowed to the polite guild member.
We passed several other adventurers inside the dungeon, but we were ignored. Most adventurers didn't talk to each other inside the dungeon. We didn't know them anyway, so that was reasonable.
"Welcome, adventurer. Are you looking for adventuring gear? Please, have a look." A shop attendant brought out several sets of camping gear. "We sell potions as well. You shouldn't go inside a dungeon without potions. A low-grade potion costs about 5,000 dollars."
"Maybe I really should buy proper camping supplies as well," I muttered as Yuuno asked various questions to the shop attendant. There were several types of MREs for sale, stainless steel thermoses, camping bags, and more. Of course, ropes and harnesses were available too. They were cheap. Even a full camping gear set only cost 200 dollars.
When Yuuno asked about mountaineering equipment, the attendant brought it out immediately. And even that only cost around 100 dollars. Maybe my perception was a bit skewed. A potion on the next shelf cost thousands, after all.
Well, these were normal items—not enchanted or blessed by the system. Hence the price.
"Oh! Finally taking this seriously, kouhai?" Yuuno smiled as I looked over the gear laid out before me.
"Yeah. I guess I want to take this seriously," I nodded. Being an adventurer was a lucrative job. Now that I knew I had an ace with my body-swap ability, I wanted to commit to it.
"I'm sure you'll be successful, Makoto. You have a great skill," Yuuno said. "I recommend this brand for camping gear and this one for mountaineering."
"It's really odd that they sell mountaineering equipment inside a dungeon, isn't it?" I chuckled.
"Well, they tried really hard to call it adventurer equipment, but it's basically just mountaineering gear," Yuuno shrugged.
"Do dungeon dives really require mountaineering equipment?" I asked.
"Yes. Even if the dungeon floors are flat, like this one, having ropes and pitons is still recommended. You never know when you might fall into a pitfall or when a treasure chest is placed on a cliff," the attendant answered.
We didn't argue. After all, we had just encountered that exact situation.
After buying the equipment, we dived back into the dungeon. We looked like hardened veterans now. After all, only parties that intended to go beyond the seventh floor usually brought camping gear.
Yuuno already had her own camping gear stored in a storage locker. I frowned. The fact that she had her own camping gear ready meant she often had to camp out on higher floors just to hunt more enemies, huh? No wonder she was often called an eternal noob or goblin slayer.
We returned to the spot. Luckily, the dungeon hadn't changed much. Well, it had changed a little. I vaguely remembered the wall being farther back before, but our spot was still there. Dungeons slowly shifted. Their walls often moved, as if they were alive.
"It's about a twenty-meter drop. Let's secure the rope with a piton and rappel down," Yuuno said.
"Do you do this a lot? You look incredibly deft," I muttered as Yuuno hammered a piton into a nearby rock and attached a harness. She then checked our harnesses before looping the rope through them.
"I'm an expert! I sometimes worked as a lugger for my seniors, you know!"
Whoa. And she was still poor despite all that skill? That debt was truly crippling.
I didn't voice my thoughts out loud and rappelled down the pit. Unlike the floor above, where luminescent moss grew, this level was dark. As we ventured deeper, I heard a growl. We all went into battle mode as two pairs of red eyes stared at us from the distance. When our headlamps shone on them, two orcs emerged from the shadows.
"Orcs!" Yuuno said. "Two of them!"
"I'm ready," I said.
"I'll bait them. Makoto, Noelle—take the one on the right." Yuuno lunged forward and activated her taunting skill, drawing aggro from both orcs.
Noelle's spear flashed with a yellow light, and she shot forward like a bullet. With a single strike, her spear plunged deep into the orc's skull, killing it instantly.
The other orc retaliated, swinging its massive club at Noelle. But this time, she was ready. She hopped backward, dodging the strike gracefully like a feather in the wind.
Yuuno charged in with her sword, drawing blood from the orc's flank. But unlike Noelle's attack, it didn't kill it. I followed up with a slash to its unprotected back.
The orc rampaged, swinging its club wildly. Yuuno took the lead—letting out a battle cry, she drove her short sword into its throat. The orc dissolved into black smoke, leaving behind a colorless arcane stone.
Silence returned to the chamber. Only our ragged breathing remained.