15. Clash on the First Floor of the Underground

Stuffing the rucksack full of gold coins and items, I quickly ascended the stairs to the upper floors.

My rucksack had infinite storage, so theoretically, I could put in as much as I wanted.

The weight would increase accordingly, but that was what I had been training for. I kept chugging Strength Potions to increase my physical strength and pushed forward forcefully.

Actually, gold was a metal almost three times heavier than iron. Therefore, no matter how much I drug-enhanced my strength, my movements would become slower.

"Well, I can only do this when going up."

Many enemies appeared, but for me wielding the strongest greatsword, 'Solitude', they were just small fry that shattered with a single touch.

Even if my movements were hindered by the rucksack getting heavier with each floor I ascended, it was no problem at all.

"Mid-level Fire, Flying Fire!"

I had plenty of mana, and I had become able to cast it without fail. With the mid-level Fireball, the groups of enemies were instantly reduced to charcoal.

No, I didn't even need to use my sword against kobolds and orcs anymore. I could just flick their rusty swords away with my leather-gloved fist and knock them down with a punch to the side of the head.

I was looking forward to checking how much I had ranked up at the Oracle.

By the way, even though I was wearing the 'Diminish Mantle' over it, I had discarded the hardened leather armor that had reached its durability limit and equipped the full set of steel armor that the third-floor boss had been wearing.

I could buy lighter equipment again later, and I planned to take the well-balanced steel armor in terms of defense and weight as a souvenir for Seki.

Having smoothly ascended to the first floor, and just when I thought I was almost at the city, Wooser, who had been running alongside me, suddenly stopped and issued a warning.

"Please wait, my husband. Ahead... in the great hall two blocks away, there are many humans making a lot of noise, masu. It doesn't seem like a battle, desu ga."

Wooser said this, her long rabbit ears perked up straight. I couldn't hear anything, but Wooser seemed to have good hearing.

I see, so those ears had that advantage.

Her rabbit ears, as long as her unnecessarily large breasts, often got caught on the dungeon doors and were a nuisance.

If her hearing was also bad, then what were those ears even for?

"Hmm, noisy, huh... Even if you say that, going around here would be a really long detour."

"Shall we force our way through, my husband?"

Was it such a situation that we couldn't pass without going through with such momentum?

It was within expectations that students would be loitering around the relatively safe first floor, but getting caught up in some kind of commotion would be troublesome.

However, there was no point in standing still here, so I nodded to Wooser and continued.

As we approached the great hall, I could also hear the clamor of many humans apparently shouting.

Entering the great hall, I saw a group of about fifteen people on my left and a group of eight people on my right arguing. They were all threatening each other with their weapons, the air thick with a tense, volatile atmosphere.

Of course, they were all my students. They were reasonably armed, so they must be the dungeon exploration group with some combat ability.

"I'm telling you, school and student council and all that is totally over! We're sick of your ways!"

"Now is the time when everyone has to cooperate to fight. Aren't we going back to the original world together?"

The larger group was a combat group led by Vice-President Nanami, and the other group was led by a blond long-haired guy with high cheekbones and a delinquent air, wearing an iron helmet and swinging a longsword while shouting.

Were they fighting over differences in policy? I didn't know the details, but it seemed like we had arrived at the worst possible timing.

"Isn't that Shinjo Wataru-kun!"

"Oh, it's Shinjo-kun! Where have you been?"

Both Nanami Shuichi and the blond long-haired guy noticed us.

Another damn troublesome situation.

I couldn't quite remember, but the blond long-haired guy might have been in the same F class as me.

I couldn't recall his name, but he seemed to recognize my face.

"I'm returning from an adventure on the lower floors. I just want to go to the city, so it has nothing to do with me. Let me pass."

As I tried to pass through the arguing groups with Wooser, the group of eight led by the blond helmet guy grinned and surrounded us.

A fat, burly man armed with an iron cuirass held up a large battle-axe in front of me menacingly.

"Whoa there, you think we're just gonna let you pass, huh?!"

The blond long-haired guy in the iron helmet and the sumo-like heavy man stepped forward in front of me with unpleasant sneers.

These guys had tougher iron equipment than Nanami's group.

They had probably gotten reasonably stronger. They could easily defeat the orcs on the first floor and had probably poured their earnings into equipment.

So they were overconfident in their strength and had gotten cocky.

"Hey, Shinjo-kuuun, you came back from the lower floors, so you must have money, right?" "Shinjo! I never liked you from the start, dieee!" "Give us a share, or maybe the girl you're with can entertain us!"

The rabble shouted their demands all at once. It was too noisy to understand what they were saying, but who was the one who slipped in "die" directed at me from behind?

I felt disgusted by these pathetic guys who couldn't even say what they wanted to say without ganging up.

"Listen up, you small fry! This rucksack is full of money, but there's not a single coin for you trash!"

I gave them a sharp scolding.

...Or rather, I thought these guys were really stupid. Most of them were probably from the same idiot class as me, but it was appalling for a prestigious school.

I had deliberately told them that I had "come up from the lower floors" so they could predict my strength, yet they were taking hostile actions.

If it were just the two of us against their eight, it would still be understandable to misunderstand that they could surround and defeat us just by looking at the numbers.

But when they were hostile towards Nanami's group, which had more people than them, what were they doing increasing the number of enemies on their flank?

The blond long-haired guys really weren't thinking at all. It was an impossible choice to antagonize me here.

They calmly chose that impossible option. Their unbelievable stupidity left me speechless.

Even though it was still the shallow first-floor level, they should have experienced life-and-death combat, so where had their caution gone?

Could it be that they still had the naive idea that enemies were unconditionally weaker than them?

Was this what a normal high school student was like?

Fools wouldn't learn unless they died.

These fools weren't even worth killing, but if they were going to get in my way, I had no choice but to show them the difference in power.

Just as I reached for the hilt of my greatsword, thinking of swinging it around and blowing them all away at once,

The fat guy in front of me who had been glaring at me menacingly was cleanly blown away and disappeared from my sight. Following him, the blond helmet guy also disappeared from my sight.

"What?"

In a flash that even I couldn't react to, the male student who had stood before me was instantly blown all the way to the wall.

In his place, Wooser stood before me with a triumphant look on her face, her slender legs extended from her skirt, standing guard without letting her guard down.

Like an arrow released from a drawn bow, Wooser, who had leaped high, kicked the heads of the two men while spinning in mid-air... or was it?

With a speed that even I could barely follow with my eyes, she had instantly kicked the two of them away.

The reason I couldn't even tell if she had kicked them was partly because the long apron dress skirt that had floated in the air made her leg movements difficult to see.

The adorable frilly skirt had acted like aikido hakama, but what kind of kung fu was this?

"Ugetsu-ryu Ujin-kyaku desu!"

"It actually has a style and technique name?"

What kind of mysterious martial art was that?

Wooser leaped quickly and then stomped hard on the back of the male student who had collapsed limply, with an expression that was utterly ruthless.

*Gogyu*, something crushed.

Probably some bone in his body had shattered. This girl was seriously trying to kill him if I didn't stop her.

"These guys just tried to rob my husband, desu. They're villains, desu ne? It's okay to kill them, desu ne?"

"Don't ask after stomping them, Wooser. Stop it, don't kill them!"

I hurriedly stopped Wooser, who was seriously trying to deliver the finishing blow. The guys who had surrounded me were dumbfounded and hesitant, even though their comrades were about to be killed.

I thought it was excessive self-defense, but maybe this much intimidation was necessary.

A preemptive strike to break the opponent's will to fight.

It was impressive, but it made me feel uneasy when my own principles were acted upon first.

"You're amazing. The iron armor is completely dented."

The guys Wooser had kicked to the wall probably just fainted from the impact of hitting their heads hard against the wall. However, the blood dripping from their mouths and noses might be a little serious.

If they had hit in a bad spot, they might actually die. They would have been instantly killed without iron equipment.

It was cheap, hard, and brittle iron armor like you could buy from the start at a store, but it should have been strong enough to withstand being hit with a sword, despite being quite heavy.

That armor had been greatly dented, as if it had been repeatedly struck with a blunt instrument, just from being kicked by Wooser's foot. A kick that could instantly take a life if it hit the wrong spot.

Perhaps it was because the attack unleashed by the small rabbit-eared girl flying through the air was so overwhelming.

Both sides that had been arguing in the great hall fell silent, watching us with bated breath.

Well, the commotion had stopped, so it was an all's well that ends well situation.

Seeing the power of Wooser, who had been quietly staying behind me in the dungeon, for the first time, even I felt a little scared.

"Watashi can't do anything else, desu ga, my warrior rank is Lower Master Roman Master martial artist, desu."

*Tan tan tan*, the big-breasted rabbit stomped her feet lightly on the spot like a boxer, proudly throwing sharp punches that whistled through the air with a *shushu* sound.

Along with her long rabbit ears, her large, bouncy breasts, which pushed up her apron from below, swayed back and forth.

How could such power come from that small build and slender limbs?

Was it because it was a game, so anything was possible?

"Master class, huh..."

Come to think of it, Wooser was a member of the party that had reached the sixth floor underground.

If she was a front-line fighter among the elite members, it wouldn't be strange for her to have reached that rank. If she was a martial artist, I could understand why she fought unarmed.

However, it was too surprising that a girl in an apron dress was a front-line fighter.

Since her attire was unsuitable for combat, I had automatically assumed she was a mage or a priest. In Genoria, it seemed you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Ninjas and martial artists did prefer lighter equipment, but even so, an apron dress had its limits, I thought.

Anyway, thanks to the great performance of the martial artist Wooser, I could easily slip through the arguing groups.

I didn't think she had stolen my scene.

If I had rampaged around here, I might have been annoyingly clung to by the guys who would then try to rely on the strong. It was better to hide my strength as much as possible to avoid trouble.

Perhaps making them instinctively think that getting involved with this strange rabbit creature like Wooser was dangerous was the best way to avoid trouble.

This time's handling of the situation was an all's well that ends well. Nice big-boobed rabbit, I'll give you that.

"H-hey, you guys! Wait a minute!"

Nanami Shuichi, with his tactless personality, mustered his courage and called out to us. However, I ignored him and continued on with my rucksack, and Wooser intimidated them with her *shushu*-ing rabbit punches, so no one tried to stop us.

Let's just hurry up and escape. After all, I had no business with the guys loitering in the city.

　　　　　※※※

It was the first time in a long while that I had been in the city. How long had it been? The sunlight streaming through the glass ceiling was dazzling.

"But for the students to be so divided and hostile towards each other, I'm worried about Seki."

"You don't need to worry about me."

Kujo Kumiko appeared out of nowhere.

It had been a while since she had shown up too, but I hadn't sensed her approaching at all.

"Could it be, Stealth Hiding? I didn't sense your presence at all..."

I was a top-tier Samurai-type rank, you know.

That kind of concealment that deceived my vision, even if she was a low-level ninja, her stealth ability was too high.

"Yeah, it seems like that kind of skill. I became a Chunin, so I can now walk around in stealth mode normally."

"Chunin... I see."

I replied with a nonchalant air, but I was surprised inside. If you mastered the Thief job to the highest level or became a Ninja, you could use the broken skill of 'walking while hidden'.

It was difficult to sense their presence until they were in close proximity. You might not even notice them until you were attacked.

Knowing Kumiko's earnest nature, she must have trained diligently, but a Chunin was a skill holder at that broken level. There were no enemies on the upper floors for her.

That was why ninjas were so difficult to raise, but Kumiko's rank-up was too fast.

No, wait a minute. Kumiko was a high-level job from the start, so even if it was said to be hard to level up, her accumulated experience points were different from mine.

I had also accumulated quite a bit of experience points, so I might be able to rank up.

I had to go to the Oracle right away.

"More importantly, I should be the one worrying! I've been searching for you ever since you disappeared from my sight eight days and twenty-three hours ago, Wataru-kun!"

"I apologize for that."

I didn't really think so at all, but I said it anyway.

Had so many days passed since I had gone down?

"And yet, what is this unpleasant piece of meat with bunny ears hanging onto Wataru-kun's chest?"

"This is..."

"Watashi is Wataru-sama's wife, desu. And who might you be to my husband, desu ka!"

Faster than I could reply, Wooser landed a verbal punch.

Kumiko, with a displeased look on her face, narrowed her eyes further, her expression hardening as she shouted.

"I was Wataru-kun's first!"

"Bu-, what the hell are you talking about!"

"Haaah? You had your first kiss with Wataru-kun, didn't you! You did, didn't you! After stealing my first time, don't tell me you've forgotten!"

"Ah, right. Oh, is that what you meant?"

Don't say things that could lead to misunderstandings, it'll make me panic.

It was more like my first kiss was stolen rather than me stealing it, but indeed, it wasn't entirely unfounded.

Just when I thought it would turn into a tit-for-tat quarrel, Wooser suddenly wore a bewildered expression.

"...Watashi is his wife, but I haven't even been kissed yet, desu kedo."

She had noticed something trivial.

Hearing that, Kumiko clicked her tongue irritably.

While glaring at Wooser, she took out a kunai from her pocket and suddenly threw it.

*Hyut*, the kunai flew through the air――.

The blade aimed at Wooser's large breasts fell to the ground with a *potori* sound just before hitting her.

What the heck was that just now, Kumiko!

I was surprised, but Wooser stuck out her chin with a scornful look and started laughing.

"Ahahahaha! You skinny, brainless human! You can't do negative actions in the city, desu yo. Don't you even know that, desu ka?"

"Of course I know that, you useless rabbit meat. That was a warning that I could kill you anytime, you garbage with a female power of five..."

Kumiko, that wasn't a warning, that was a declaration of war.

And your "female power" is actually your combat power, right?

"Wait, wait, you two, stop this squabbling!"

Why did I have to play the role of a spineless light novel protagonist mediating a fight?

Since you couldn't attack in the city, I could just leave them alone, but it would be a problem if they started killing each other inside the dungeon.

Don't fight for meー, she was beyond a spineless protagonist, she was a wicked heroine.

Considering the extreme personalities of these stupid women who made up for their lack of femininity with combat power, they might really have a duel, so I had to stop them.

"Hey, by the way, Kumiko! Why do you have a kunai?"

I asked to forcefully smooth over the tense atmosphere, but I was also genuinely curious.

The kunai, a weapon exclusive to ninjas, was a much more powerful throwing weapon than a throwing knife.

It could be obtained in the middle floors, but it was a rare item with a low drop rate.

It was definitely in the category of a valuable rare item.

Come to think of it, Kumiko was wearing chainmail.

This was also lightweight and durable equipment not sold in the city. It was such good equipment that even I wanted it, but her luck with items was too good.

"I found it in a treasure chest when I went up to the fourth floor to look for the missing Wataru-kun."

I see, so she also had a trap disarming skill, which meant she could loot treasure chests that I couldn't open.

Fourth floor, even though she didn't know anything about Genoria? That was insane.

No, did she get the walkthrough information from that mop-head guy?

Even so, the other guys were fighting on the first floor, the difference was too big.

Could it be that Kumiko was also doing solo play?

It would be too much of a downer if I was all confident in being the strongest, only to find out that Kumiko had surpassed me.

"Anyway, I'm going to the Oracle!"

I cut off the conversation, tired of Wooser and Kumiko's bickering. I couldn't be bothered with their squabbles; the Oracle was more important.

Anyone below Kumiko was unacceptable, anyone below Kumiko was unacceptable...

I wanted to rank up, I should rank up.

I should be able to rank up too.

Reaching the front of the Oracle, I placed my hand on the granite stone with a prayer-like feeling.