Chapter 55

The cave exploration relying on the flashlight of a phone wasn’t particularly scary. If anything, Doyugeon might feel the tension, but this side had already grasped the surrounding situation with magic power and so didn’t feel tense at all.

What was bothersome was just how grotesque the giant spiders appeared every time they suddenly lunged out. But then again, spiders are naturally spider-like and inherently creepy, so it wasn’t really the fault of the spiders that lunged out.

When the giant spider opened its mouth to bite Doyugeon, a sword swiftly swung and the spider died. It’s true that it wasn’t the spider’s fault for existing the way it did, but attacking was certainly a mistake.

“Is it okay to drink this?”

“Huh?”

Before they knew it, Doyugeon was crouching in front of a puddle, peering into it.

“Is it okay to drink water pooled in a cave like this? It’s not like it’s a stream or anything.”

“Well, groundwater is essentially water collected underground, right? And isn’t most bottled water just groundwater?”

Some kind of rebuttal was necessary, but the sudden logical leap left them struggling for words, stammering unproductively. His skills with words had improved without purpose.

“Anyway, both river and seawater are water collected in some form on Earth, right?”

“Ah, that’s just forcing it.”

Mm-mmm. The flashlight app on the phone was rapidly blinked, repeating the artificial light to momentarily illuminate and then darken the cave.

Doyugeon appeared startled, shielding his eyes. What did you expect me to do?

“Whether collected water or not, if you drink that water, you’re likely to get food poisoning.”

“That sounds convincing. What if we boil it using magic before drinking?”

“Why do you insist on drinking it?”

“It’s just an example.”

“Hmm. Suppose when you boil it, it turns into a toxic gas? In extreme situations, it might lead to instant death upon ingestion.”

“Surely, it wouldn’t come to that, right?”

Though they bickered back and forth, it seemed Doyugeon had no actual intention of drinking it anyway. Upon approaching and shining light on the puddle, impurities could be seen floating in it, and in any case, there was no need to drink such water when they weren’t even thirsty.

Recalling the layout of the refrigerator they had glanced at before leaving, they targeted the beverage cans with a spatial magic spell. As an intricate magic circle was drawn, something landed in their palm.

It was a salad plate covered in plastic wrap.

“Huh?”

Before they could react, the plate tilted and fell to the ground. Thankfully, the plate didn’t break, but the fresh salad scattered across the cave.

Ah…

Whoever it was—mom or dad—must have rearranged the contents of the fridge. Given the time, it was probably mom. Sorry, mom. It wasn’t intentional. They’d probably hear a lecture when they got home.

“Did the spell fail?”

“Just be quiet a moment.”

Glaring at the boy, they cast the spell again. Considering the salad plate was now where the beverage cans had been, perhaps a can might be next to it. The spell activated as expected, and a beverage can moved, along with a teacup full of salad dressing.

This time, they anticipated such a situation and used magic to catch the teacup, though they were slightly caught off guard. Ahh, it almost broke! Given that it was probably a salad plate mom made to brighten her mood, the teacup was also likely to be something she favored. They nearly got a scolding.

But even as the teacup was caught, its natural tilt caused the contents to spill onto the floor. The dressing spread over the scattered salad on the cave floor. Haha?

No, wait, it’s fine. The dressing was made to sprinkle on the salad anyway. It’s just that the dressing ended up on the salad. Great, the dressing was used purposefully without waste.

Leaving the cave floor aside, they magically transferred the beverage to Doyugeon. But instead of receiving the drink, he simply stared blankly. What’s wrong with him?

“Are you dissatisfied?”

“Uh, no.”

The sound of opening the beverage can rang out. Weren’t you just agreeing before?

Yeah, this side is also aware of the issues…

Using magic, they brought a notebook and pen from a room. They hastily scribbled an apology to mom using the pen.

The salad returned to its homeland, and the dressing fulfilled its original purpose. Despite minor flaws, there was no erasing this incident.

Hmm. Is this enough? Something felt lacking, so they added another line in the end.

Of course, this wasn’t done intentionally.

Good. While scrutinizing the scribbled apology, a shadow fell over them. This happened because Doyugeon blocked the floating phone, allowing the spell to cut short. As he read the note, he sipped his drink with an odd expression. How rude.

The note was sent back to the original spot in the fridge where the salad was, and the plate and teacup were sent to the sink.

“Who knows what normal even is anymore?”

“Just say if you’re dissatisfied.”

He simply shrugged in response. This.

They continued moving further inside the cave. They caught a few spiders and chatted about what they might live on here.

Just then, the ground trembled, and the cave walls vibrated slightly. It was the sign of our boss monster, the Sandworm, as described earlier by Yumina, behaving as though it normally should.

As the Sandworm approached, the cave walls visibly cracked and rippled unevenly. Through magical perception, one could feel the Sandworm moving away and then surging upward vertically—it was headed toward them. Underestimated.

With a slight movement of the magic, the body that was floating mid-air slipped backward swiftly. Holding onto the phone by hand, they shone the light on the approaching Sandworm, revealing its enormous and long body covered by a scarlet liquid swirling at high speed. The cave walls it touched were sliced, with debris flying everywhere.

At the critical moment, Doyugeon approached as if it was no big deal and swung his sword. As he expected, the blade cut through the liquid and then into the Sandworm itself. The Sandworm, which had quickly climbed and escaped through another wall, now had a long gash. Golden experience points appeared through the wound and merged with the liquid.

When the Sandworm disappeared, Doyugeon became elated.

“Maybe we can actually manage to catch it this way?”

Yumina had said that Doyugeon alone would have difficulty catching it, so he must have kept that in mind.

“Good plan.”

But that was not to be. The next Sandworm that appeared looked as good as new, as if the wounds from before were nowhere to be seen. They must have regenerated in between. The regenerative power they were warned about had been demonstrated.

Doyugeon, reasoning that living beings must have their limits, patiently waited and swung his sword repeatedly at the Sandworm. It was a sensible and practical plan worthy of praise. But this is fantasy, after all.

As the Sandworm attacked multiple times and bored several holes, fine dust started falling from the ceiling. This was a very worrying sign. If this continued, the cave would collapse before the Sandworm died.

“Shall I fire off a magic spell?”

“Magic?”

“Yeah. If we can eliminate that liquid, the regenerative process should at least slow down, right?”

Last time, when I tried a magic spell on a fire-breathing wolf, I ended the battle in one hit, so this time I’ll need to control my strength. Lightning would probably be too strong due to elemental properties, so fire would be suitable for the liquid.

Concentrating magic on the hole through which the Sandworm just escaped, I focused on generating pure flames, eliminating explosive forces. As the magical energies aligned into a coherent magical diagram, flames swept through the hole. Heat also emanated through various newly formed cave holes, something I hadn’t anticipated.

The Sandworm that took a direct hit of the flames wriggled around, detectable through the magic. Great, just as expected. After briefly twisting its body, the Sandworm violently thrashed about and then disappeared—into experience points.

Ah, that was a mistake.

But why is it weak to fire? Surprising.

“Feels like we’ve got it under control now, right?”

Facing his hopeful gaze, I’m at a loss for what to do with my body.

“Well…”

Just as I hesitated, unsure of what to do, part of the cave cracked like shattered glass. This was clear evidence of a “cleared rift” phenomenon.

Doyugeon must have noticed as well, and he blankly stared at the cracks spreading across his entire field of vision.

“Did we catch it? Then what’s the drop item?”

Upon inspecting the area, there was indeed an item where the Sandworm had died—a ring. But due to the hole collapsing violently as the Sandworm thrashed upon dying, it’s probably unreachable…

“It’s probably just an F-ranked item anyway.”

Though I said that, his disapproving look said otherwise.

Just smiled amidst the cracking world.

“Heh heh?”

*

“Finally, the second year is almost over. Why does time feel like it’s moving so slowly?”

Yumina sipped her grapefruit ade through a straw as she complained. It seemed she was dissatisfied with her status as a second-year middle school student.

“If only someone could speed up time for me.”

“Whoever that person is, I’d catch them and bury them deep in a pit for damages.”

“How much longer do I have to endure to graduate middle school and start dormitory life? And how many more years until I become an adult, to endure adulthood?”

Our conversation seemed to be deviating from proper discourse.

“Do you need some comforting?”

“It would’ve been better if you comforted without asking.”

“You ask for too much.”

Yumina smiled faintly.

“Our Young Lady, do you want to live in the dormitory with me in high school?”

“Dormitory? My home is comfortable, and dormitories have curfews.”

“Well, Young Lady usually goes to sleep at 10 p.m., anyway.”

“You don’t know anything. Even though I could stay awake until 11 p.m., choosing to sleep at 10 voluntarily is different from being forced to sleep at 10.”

“Normally, you skip classes, so why not skip the curfew?”

“Would you go to the dormitory just to break the rules?”

“Hmm. Is our Young Lady attending school to enjoy the pleasure of breaking rules?”

“What do you see me as, hmm…?”

I can acknowledge that, can’t I? It feels like I want to rebuttal, but it’s true, so I’m at a loss for words. This must be the feelings of a braggart. It’s frustrating.

While I was stuck pondering, it seemed Yumina had drifted into her own musings, ending the conversation. Absent-mindedly, I sipped my cappuccino to pass the time.

Suddenly, something came to mind.

“Ah, did I mention this before? Ah, no, I didn’t.”

“What?”

A few taps on the phone opened the app, producing the sound of paper being flipped, as if Doyugeon was studying. So diligent.

“I set up listening devices in Doyugeon’s room.”

Yumina visibly panicked, shivering in place.

“Our Young Lady, you’ve finally crossed the line… Well, technically, you crossed it a long time ago.”

“What’d you say?”

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