Chapter 19 - The Third Day in the Dungeon and the Lost Underwear
When we entered the dungeon’s antechamber, Mizuki was already waiting.
"Morning. Third floor today, right?"
We exchanged greetings, then promptly entered the dungeon and descended to the third floor.
"You two have such nice hair, you know? How do you wash it, and your bodies?"
"Speaking of which, Mizuki, your hair looks a little greasy in spots."
"Hmph. All I can do is wipe myself down with a wet towel, and it’s driving me crazy. I want to take a bath."
"There’s no bath, but I can give you a full-body wash."
"Huh? You’re not going to try anything weird, are you?"
Mizuki shot me a suspicious look.
"Fam, I need you to find us a dead end."
"Understood."
Fam led us to a dead end. It was the perfect spot, a U-shaped corner where you couldn’t see around the bend.
I created a sphere of water about seventy centimeters in diameter and used fire magic to warm it to a comfortable temperature. I made it spin, creating a fierce current inside the sphere.
"Mizuki, close your eyes, plug your ears, close your mouth, and hold your breath."
"You’re really not going to do anything weird?!"
"It’s fine. Fam’s watching."
Though she still looked uneasy, Mizuki closed her eyes and plugged her ears, so I used my free hand to pinch her nose.
"Mmph?!"
Mizuki was a different type of beauty from Fam. She didn't have snot running down her nose or anything. Instead, she let out a sound like a cartoon heroine choking on her food.
I slowly passed the water sphere over Mizuki, from the top of her head down to her ankles. The current made her hair flutter, then her chest jiggled. When it reached her bottom, the flow of water flipped her skirt up, revealing her panties. I couldn’t hide my excitement at this long-awaited glimpse of Mizuki’s underwear and found myself staring. When I happened to glance over, Fam’s expression had grown stern. Reluctantly, I continued lowering the sphere. Once it reached her ankles, I pulled it away. This was the human washing machine I had been researching and developing since Aidan’s quest.
"If I try to wash your feet, the sphere touches the ground and kicks up dirt. So you’ll have to wash your feet yourself."
"Wh-wh-what was that?! I feel so refreshed! My clothes are clean too! I want you to do this every day!"
Mizuki was ecstatic. My pleasure. I wanted to see her underwear every day, too.
"It’s just an application of a beginner adventurer’s magic."
"Really? Amazing! This is the first time I’ve ever thought you were amazing, Mash!"
"Hey, that last part was unnecessary!" I protested.
"Aidan-san said that Master can maintain and control it to this extent because he has a large amount of mana. Also, it has a weakness—it strips all the moisture from your skin, so please apply some cream."
Fam handed her some oil she had gotten from defeating a slime.
"I can moisturize your skin too if you’re naked. It’s impossible to take moisture from your clothes while leaving it on your skin."
"H-Hey, as if I’d get naked!" Mizuki snapped at me.
"So, what’s the enemy on the third floor?"
"That, over there. It’s a Big Eye."
Fam readied her swords. A fifty-centimeter eyeball was hanging from the ceiling. As soon as its black pupil locked onto me, it fired a fireball.
"Watch out!"
I barely managed to dodge. The fireball hit the ground and erupted in a violent pillar of flame. The Big Eye fired in rapid succession at Fam and Mizuki as well. They dodged smoothly.
"Damn it!"
I shot a stone bullet back at it. It didn’t even reach the enemy, deflected by a magical barrier in front of it.
"It has a defensive spell, too? I can’t get a hit in!"
The ceiling was five meters high. To land a normal attack, I’d need to jump over two meters.
I decided to unleash the ultimate technique I had practiced in kendo as a child.
Positioning myself directly under the Big Eye, I leaped and swung my katana.
"Take this! Vertical Leap Spatial Strike!"
I unleashed the legendary sword technique, but my blade fell short, striking nothing but empty space as its name implied.
"Master, I’m going to use a skill," Fam said, taking a stance.
"I’m counting on you."
"Kikuichimonji!"
A vacuum blade shot from her twin swords, pierced the barrier, and struck the Big Eye. However, it wasn't enough to finish it off. The enemy retaliated, firing another fireball.
While we were struggling to press the attack, two wolves came running down the corridor.
"I’ll handle the wolves!" Mizuki stepped in to cover us.
"Again! Kikuichimonji!"
The vacuum blade struck the Big Eye once more. The monster vanished.
Mizuki, having gained experience fighting high-level enemies, handled the two wolves skillfully and without issue. I moved in to support her and took down one, and she quickly finished off the other.
I picked up the magic seed dropped by the wolf and handed it to Mizuki.
"Let’s take turns with the magic seeds. First Mizuki, then us."
"No. It should be me, then Mash, then Fam-san."
Mizuki handed the magic seed to Fam. Fam looked troubled and passed it to me. By the way, I was in charge of managing the money we earned. This was because I could keep it in my storage and because we needed to save up to break Fam’s curse. We each carried some pocket money, but Fam never seemed to touch hers.
"Don’t you want to be freed from slavery?"
There was a system that allowed one to become a citizen by paying a large sum of money as a tax, even without the master’s consent.
"I like things the way they are."
At Fam’s words, Mizuki shot me a reproachful glare. This was getting complicated. I should have told her the whole story. As I was thinking that, Fam grabbed the hem of my shirt.
"Please don’t blame Master. He told me I was free to go wherever I wanted. I am here by my own will."
Her tone was firm. Mizuki was taken aback. I was, too, and swallowed the words of correction I was about to say.
"I see. If that’s what you want, Fam-san, then fine. In that case, I’ll split the magic seeds between me and you two. And one day, I will free you from slavery by my own will."
Mizuki took the magic seed from me. The atmosphere had become such that I could no longer say Fam wasn’t a slave.
"So, why have we been getting so many drops since yesterday? I never got a single one when I was with Wind Blade."
Mizuki asked a question as if to change the heavy atmosphere. I decided to go along with it.
"It’s my special skill. It increases the drop rate of rare items when my party defeats an enemy."
"Pfft, 'party.' For someone with zero cooperativeness," Mizuki laughed.
"…I had a feeling you’d say that."
"What other skills did you choose?"
I had seen Mizuki’s special skills, but it seemed she hadn’t seen mine.
"…Party-wide EXP gain up."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh. And?" Mizuki was grinning.
"Damn it, I’m not saying any more."
"Aww, come on, tell me!"
"It’s because you’ll laugh!"
Maybe it was better when the air was heavy.
"Anyway, the difficulty really jumped on the third floor."
After the battle, we stopped to decide whether to press on or retreat.
"We need ranged attacks," Fam agreed.
"Fam, how many times can you use [Kikuichimonji]?"
"I think five is my limit. I’ll be fine if I rest and recover."
Fam’s [Kikuichimonji] must consume mana. Health potions cost one silver coin, but mana potions were expensive at one gold coin. Mana recovers over time, so most adventurers only buy them as a last resort.
"Mizuki, do you have any ranged skills?"
"Nope. The skill I got at level 10 was for close combat."
"We’ll be in trouble if the boss is a giant Big Eye. Even the small fry blocked my magic attacks. We’ll have to rely on Fam. If that fails, we’ll be taking hits nonstop. We need projectiles."
Fam and Mizuki were both swordsman types, so it seemed like they were best suited for close-range weapons. The only thing I could think of was for me to use a bow, but I couldn’t imagine myself properly drawing the string, let alone hitting a target.
"Master, I’d like to try using kunai."
They were ninja weapons, but they existed in this world? They were similar to throwing knives, but the end of the handle was a ring. The blades were also thick, allowing them to be used for digging in the ground or embedding in walls for leverage.
"Is that a common weapon?" If it was a weapon only known to the dog-eared race, it might not be sold in regular shops.
"No, I didn’t know about them either, but they were listed in the mail-order section at the back of How to Walk the World."
So this was Racshell’s doing. She calls it mail-order, but who takes the orders, and how and where do they ship them?
"…All right. I’d like to try a bow, too. Let’s head back to the city for now."
We returned from the dungeon to the city and were walking toward the weapon shop.
"Does Mash pick out Fam-san’s clothes?"
"I’ve been wondering for a bit, but why do you call me by my name but add ‘-san’ for Fam? It’s fine to just call her Fam. And Fam will call you Mizuki, too."
"Huh? But Mizuki-san is older than me, isn’t she?" Fam demurred.
"Mizuki is fine. And I’ll call you Fam. Okay?"
"…Yes." Fam nodded, looking somewhat embarrassed.
We passed by a clothing store.
"That’s right, Fam only has the clothes she got from the church. Mizuki, could you help her pick out something new?"
"Please wait. The clothes I have are fine. Or the rags I wore in the cell would be fine, too."
Fam waved her hands frantically, declining the offer.
"Don’t be an idiot. Go buy something cute so I have something to enjoy looking at."
I handed Fam a gold coin.
"O-Okay."
"Then let’s go?"
Mizuki took Fam’s hand and they marched into the clothing store.
As I waited outside, Aidan happened to walk by.
"Shopping?"
"Yeah, we were clearing the dungeon and realized we needed some ranged weapons. We’re buying some clothes for Fam while we’re at it."
"If you need weapons, why didn’t you come to me?"
"Ah, well, I wanted to, but I feel bad since you’ve already done so much for us."
"Don’t hesitate. I’ll be sure to charge you for my labor. Come by the workshop later."
He meant his actual workshop, not his Workshop skill, which was confusing.
"Got it. We’ll head over after Fam’s done shopping."
Aidan nodded and walked away. In his place, Mizuki returned, leading Fam by the hand.
Fam was wearing a light blue haori over a leather chestplate. The design was different from the ones worn by the masterless samurai brigades, but it was hard not to make the connection. It was slim, form-fitting, and short, ending above her hips. The shorts and leggings she wore underneath suited her well.
"Hey, Mash!"
Fam was blushing and looking at the ground, and for some reason, Mizuki was angry.
"What?"
"Just because you’re a slob doesn’t mean you should make Fam wear men’s underwear!"
"…"
Oh, Fam… She wouldn’t meet my eyes.
"…Don’t tell me they were yours."
"N-No, she got them from the church. They must have gotten mixed in with the other stuff."
My apologies, Maira-san.
"Well, whatever. We bought some for you too, Mash. We picked them out together."
"Oh, thanks. That helps. Thanks, Fam."
I took the bag from Mizuki and put it in my storage.
"I just ran into Aidan. He said he’d help us with weapons. Let’s go to his workshop."
"Okay. I wanted to meet him, too."
We started walking toward Aidan’s workshop.
"…I’m sorry. Mizuki found them and threw them away," Fam whispered to me as we walked.
"No, that’s fine, but since when?" I whispered back.
"This morning, you left your underwear discarded—well, I was the one who took them off—and you were sleeping naked, so I secretly put them on."
She looked incredibly happy. Her tail was wagging back and forth. Now I knew why my underwear had been missing.
"So you delivered that whole speech about not blaming me while wearing my underwear?"
"Ugh, it’s so embarrassing… When she found them, I thought my face was going to catch fire."
Of course it’d be embarrassing if you got caught. The thrill is in pushing the line without getting found out.
"Next time, I want to try wearing Mizuki’s underwear."
"You’re getting bold. …Don’t tell me you mean the light blue ones!"
I couldn’t help but raise my voice, catching Mizuki’s attention.
"No, you can’t. That’s my family treasure… But if you really want to, Fam… but if we get caught, we’re doomed. Mizuki’s intuition for this sort of thing is uncanny."
"I won’t lose when it comes to intuition!"
Mizuki turned around. It seemed she had long since noticed we were talking in secret.
I waited for her to face forward again.
"…Look, you got caught by Mizuki today, right? Just be content with Racshell’s for now."
Fam looked disappointed.
"How did I end up with a fetish like this…?"
"It’s clearly your fault, Master."
"Don’t tell me you’re going to ask to wear Aidan’s next."
"Hmph. The only underwear I want to wear belongs to you, Master, and to the women you fall in love with."
She sounded so dignified, but she was still a total pervert.
"Wait, don’t go making me fall in love with people on your own."
"Am I wrong?"
I couldn’t answer, at a loss for words. Just then, Mizuki turned around again.
"Hm? What was that about love, Aidan, light blue, and Racshell-sama?"
A doubt crossed my mind: what if she had heard everything and was just pretending not to know? Both Fam and I froze, unable to speak.
"N-No, we were just complimenting your clothes. Saying they look comfortable…"
"Jeez, when it’s the three of us, include me in the conversation!"
Mizuki puffed out her cheeks.
Thank you for reading. To those who have bookmarked and rated this story, I am truly grateful. It encourages me. I’ll do my best. Thank you for the typo reports. They were very helpful.