And so we pressed deeper into the mine.
Katia was wearing a truly magnificent pout for some reason, but I’ve elected not to think about it.
Also, every so often… I could swear she’s directing burning glances my way, but I’ve elected not to think about that either.
“After it~!”
“Get it~!”
“Hahaha — is our army not INVINCIBLE?”
“Gang up and wallop it~”
“TORA! TORA! TORA!”
Any monster we encountered was located and mobbed into oblivion by the palm-top rabbits on sight.
Katia, incidentally, lost the use of her legs the moment she learned the truth — “Eh? THESE girls are… palm-top rabbits?”
For now, let us simply be grateful for our adorable neighbors clearing the road.
And so, marching as if through an empty, trackless plain — stepping over the countless monster corpses our vanguard rabbits piled up — we came to…
A giant crystal… no, wait, it’s ore, so that’s not right.
At any rate: a giant ore monster, faintly shimmering in rainbow colors like crystal.
“I am the Adamantite King.”
I see — so this is the party from yesterday’s briefing.
“Boku is the dwarf chief’s granddaughter. In accordance with the ancient pact — please grant us adamantite.”
Katia drew the elf-enchanted sword from her rucksack and held it out to the Adamantite King.
”…Forgive me. I cannot.”
“What do you mean? You and our people have a standing pact—”
“The adamantite of my body has already been taken. What my surface generates is finite — lose any more, and my life functions themselves will fail…”
Katia’s expression hardened.
“What exactly happened?”
“In the deepest level… unsavory folk have taken residence. Humans… conducting alchemical research, by the look of it.”
I see.
An alchemist collecting special ores, then.
“To confirm: your adamantite was taken from your body by force, through means most foul?”
“That is the shape of it.”
“Then nobody objects if we take it back by force.”
Everyone but Katia nodded — and the Adamantite King added, in a darker tone:
“But their guard is kept by… heroes of another world. Hence even I, king of this mountain, tasted defeat.”
“Heroes of another world… you say?”
“The name, I believe… was Miyamoto. A young man.”
Now THERE’S a nostalgic name.
Never expected our reunion venue to be the bottom of a mine.
The leader of the delinquent high schoolers who abandoned me in the Forest of No Return… Miyamoto.
I clenched my fist — clenched it hard — and headed for the deepest level.