episode_0157

157. 2nd layer (3)

We quickly entered the passage and assessed the situation.

“What the heck. I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

“That’s right.”

I sent Lauren and Sia inside and stood by the entrance to the passage with Claude.

And while I was silently watching, I saw monsters wandering around in the distance.

“What the heck? It’s not even a fishman, it looks weird?”

“Not the fishman?”

At my words, Claude also craned his neck and looked forward.

“That’s not true… What is it?”

First, since they hadn’t come to where we were, we retreated a bit more and sat around with lanterns lit to have a strategy meeting.

In the midst of our pointless conversation, I looked into the aisle and said:

“That…Juri? Are you coming out soon?”

“Wh..what? Juri is here?”

“Jury?”

“Ouch!”

As everyone was surprised by my words, Julie slowly walked out of the darkness.

“How did you know?”

“When I entered the portal, I heard a brushing sound. Like footsteps.”

“Wow…!”

And in the passage, I could occasionally hear a giggling sound as Julie went down the hole bare-handed.

I continued speaking urgently to Julie, who was looking at me as if she was proud of me.

“Don’t give me too much space. If you’re intentionally showing it.”

“Oh. Did you notice that far?”

He may look like a thug, but he is trustworthy in the current situation.

“So, do you think we can continue exploring, Julie?”

“Um….”

In response to my question, Juri folded her arms, tapped her fingers on her forearms, closed her eyes and thought deeply.

My colleagues and I waited for her answer with very nervous expressions.

“First of all. Let’s take a look. This is my first time in this situation, so I need to take a look at the situation.”

Even explorers who have reached level 6 are seeing this for the first time?

What the heck, why does this keep happening whenever I browse these days?

“Then…?”

“But I confirmed that Lauren is less ignorant than I thought, and you guys seem okay, and most of all, since I’m here, I think you can explore more.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right.”

Well, if that’s what the jury says, then I guess we can keep exploring.

“Okay, but.”

“Huh?”

“Why did you follow us without us knowing?”

“Oh, you were wondering that?”

“Honestly.. yes.”

Julie smiles a little awkwardly at my question.

“Actually, I watched the kids you mentioned, Roy and Tanya.”

In that moment, her eyes sparkled and a murderous aura began to flow out of her.

“Lauren and Sia. I found something targeting them.”

Wince!

The moment her life flowed out, her pupils appeared as if they were dyed blood red.

And because it was my first time feeling such an intense concentration of murderous intent, I took a step back without realizing it.

And not only me, but Claude also noticed that he had his hand on the sword at his waist without realizing it.

“Huh? Are you scared? You little bastard, take your seat~”

“Huh..!”

“Anyway~ Some really bad guys got involved, so I helped them out and followed them into the labyrinth just in case.”

“I see.”

“I think you should be worrying about yourselves, not that couple at the dorm.”

They’re after Lauren and Sia. What kind of guys are they?

I didn’t feel anything like that at all.

“Could it be that they’ve been after Lauren and Sia for a while?”

“Maybe so, maybe not.”

“Yes?”

The plan for an artificial saint that I had heard about when I went to see the information dealer flashed through my mind.

But my colleagues still don’t know about it.

“Then… what did you say then?”

“Oh, that’s why I was observing Sia first.”

Julie also somewhat understood what I meant and answered my vague questions in a muddled manner.

“Continue?”

“I guess so? Since you found out about it first from the relief center or something like that?”

Julius in the old town.

A guy who first learned of Sia’s existence when he went through the labyrinth with Sia, who only had the healing protection, and went in and out several times to treat injuries other than trauma.

When I saw you asking about the level of treatment for Sia’s healing protection and other things, I thought you were just asking because you were trying to control your income, but I was wrong.

“Hoo….”

“And Lauren started hanging out with them too, so it must have gotten interesting.”

Wince!

Lauren perks up her ears and looks around when her name is mentioned.

Sia tilted her head when she heard her own name, not knowing what it meant, and Claude, although not knowing the details, seemed to have a serious expression on his face, as if he had sensed that the content was serious.

“I see.”

“There are no elves who visit this city directly. They do interact through trade, but that is only through agents from the Palom Alliance around the Labyrinth City.”

Is this Royne’s hometown? I’m looking at Julie, waiting for her to continue her explanation, but she hesitates and then continues.

“…. There are various stories, but before me, it was rare for an elf to enter a city to explore on his own. I’m also a rare case.”

“Then, after Ms. Juri leaves, the new rookie explorer, Lauren…”

Julie nods.

“Anyway, I thought it was approaching faster than I thought, so I came in with it.”

“Thank you.”

“What about gratitude? I wanted to continue exploring so that I could turn away from them and discuss how to respond when I returned to the city.”

Somehow, the more I listen to the story, the more my head hurts.

I won’t tell you the whole story right now, but from the conversation just now, it’s clear that the guys that Julie was entangled with before are after Lauren, and that the religious order that was against Sia is in cahoots with those guys to target Sia.

There, they are just as annoying and troublesome as the guys who are conducting the strange fountain raid in front of Jury’s eyes that she has never seen before while reaching level 6.

“Wouldn’t it be okay to just hang out here and kill some time without continuing the exploration?”

“What, are you scared?”

“No, that’s….”

Actually, it’s true.

“That’s right, you were scared? But you guys know that, right?”

Julie looks around at us and smiles.

“If someone enters the labyrinth and leaves without doing anything, the probability of getting a quirk increases dramatically?”

“Yes?”

As I looked at her, slightly surprised by her words, her smile disappeared and she continued speaking indifferently with a bitter smile.

“It’s not exact, but exploration…. So the longer you stay in the labyrinth, the higher the probability that someone who has done something that contributes little to fighting monsters or exploring will be affected by the quirk.”

“Uh….”

“Think about it carefully. Have you ever experienced something like that?”

Thanks to our party Sia’s special status of luck, there hasn’t been a single case of a quirk being applied yet. However, the labyrinth path we headed to after first meeting Roy.

At that time, Roy had a quirk, and considering the content of the exploration, I didn’t even fight at all, and if you look at the contribution, I’d say I contributed more than 95%.

We all stood guard together, and Tanya contributed more than Roy, carrying potions to heal my body and telling me how to mine magic stones.

As I was thinking deeply, Julie noticed that I had realized something and smiled at me.

“Right?”

“Yes… That’s right.”

In the recent exploration that I took Roy and Tanya on, should I say that both Roy and Tanya contributed to the exploration? They were a bit more active in the exploration.

So both of their statuses went up.

Then, I don’t think it would be a good idea to just sit here and die and then go back to the city.

Lately, I’ve been feeling like Sia’s luck isn’t stopping her from getting hit, so if she stays still for two weeks and then goes back to the city, she’ll be in trouble.

“I can’t help it.”

“Right?”

For now, I have no choice but to observe that strange structure.

“First, let’s not set up camp right away, but rather, let’s put our stuff down where we came down from the pit and think about how to fight.”

“Yeah.”

“But what about Juri’s luggage..?”

“There isn’t any?”

“Yes?”

“I saw you get it like that at the grocery store, so I wondered if it was really necessary to bring it?”

Wink.

I’ll tell you in return that I stopped by Camelane’s store.

How far can you go with your hiding? Judging from the strange expression on your face, it looks like you saw everything you did in the break room. Your performance is good.

“Well, even if you don’t have any luggage, you’re welcome as long as you’re a level 6 Juri.”

“6…6 levels?”

“Uh.”

Claude, who had been quietly listening to the story, is startled when he hears Julie’s level.

That’s right. I only told them that I met Julie. I didn’t tell them about the level.

As the mood started to lighten, Sia and Lauren also approached.

“Wow…! Sister, you’re level 6?”

“Then. Am I twice as strong as that Claude over there?”

“Wow! That’s cool!”

“Cute.”

Sia approaches Juri with sparkling eyes.

And Sia’s reaction was cute, so she talked to him about various things.

“Wow… I didn’t know that Juri was that skilled…”

Of course, we see Julie chatting next to Lauren and Sia, completely ignoring Claude’s muttering and glancing glances.

“Hey, Claude, don’t think about useless things and keep your eyes open.”

“What…what are you talking about.”

“Lauren only said that her gaze was uncomfortable, but Julie is the kind of person who would gouge out her eyes because they were uncomfortable.”

“That…that’s right.”

At my words, Claude quickly turns his head.

“Hey~ Not that much.”

“net?”

Julie answers without even turning her head, as if she heard our conversation.

“I don’t pull it out because it’s uncomfortable, but I pull it out because it’s annoying.”

“….”

Claude and I opened our eyes more politely and discussed whether to proceed with our exploration.