The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me-Novel

Chapter 66: Excuse and Comparing Answers about Monsters

The next day, I met Rifreya early in the morning at the guild.

I plan on going to the 3rd Floor with Rifreya and Grapefull.

It is of course a secret that I went to the dungeon yesterday, moreover, to the 3rd Floor by myself.

“Hikaru, what’s with that wound…? Your clothes are also in tatters.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya ran towards me and touched my cheek with her fingers.

Looks like I had a wound left.

I thought of the chance that it wouldn’t be found out, but she suddenly pointed it out. I was going to throw an excuse for the tattered clothes, but there’s no mirrors at the inn, so I didn’t notice I had a wound that could be noticed at a glance.

There might actually be a pretty noticeable one remaining. Maybe I should check in the mirror of the guild.

…Anyways, the mid potion that the guild sells isn’t that great -even though it is so expensive.

“…Where did you go after that?” (Rifreya)

“Well, actually, I went to the port and fell down pretty bad there. I went there wondering if I could fish.” (Hikaru)

“Fishing? Why do that?” (Rifreya)

“Uhm…hobby…” (Hikaru)

“Hobby…?” (Rifreya)

It became a nonsensical excuse, but it looks like Rifreya has bitten on the fishing for some reason, I managed to muddle my way out.

Maybe fishing isn’t something people do much as a hobby over here.

Or it might just be Rifreya not knowing much about the outside world.

By the way, it is true that fishing is one of my hobbies.

“Well, I immediately went back and rested though. I don’t have fishing tools after all.” (Hikaru)

“Really? Immediately? Around what time?” (Rifreya)

“E-Eh…? I wonder. Now that I think about it, I might have spaced out for quite a while at the sea.” (Hikaru)

“Hmmm… Is that so… If you were going to go out to play, you should have invited me.” (Rifreya)

“Eh, what?” (Hikaru)

“Nothing~! Now, let’s go!” (Rifreya)

I acted as if I didn’t hear it and somehow managed to fool her.

Well, no matter how you cut it, there’s no way Rifreya would know that I went by myself to the dungeon.

I was the one who proposed the break, and I haven’t told her yet my real reason as to why I am dungeon diving.

After we hired Grapefull at the lynx mutual aid association, we entered the guild and had our entry permit issued.

Normally, I would be waiting outside, but we will be challenging the 3rd Floor for the first time, so I was told to check the data in the guild.

“It is easy to get lost in the 3rd Floor, but aside from that, there aren’t that many things to watch out for. However, please take a look at the information about the monsters.” (Rifreya)

“Ah, this. I see… There’s a lot more types of monsters than in the 2nd Floor, huh.” (Hikaru)

The traits and names of the 3rd Floor monsters have been posted here with quite the good illustrations.

Goblins (big) are Hobgoblins; the small fiends are Gremlins; the zombies are Ghouls; the giant men are Trolls; and that tree monster is a Treant.

“Yeah. The monsters aren’t that big of a deal, but we have to be careful when they come in groups. You can’t move when you are paralyzed after all.” (Rifreya)

“Have you gotten hit by that?” (Hikaru)

“One time. I was saved by my party members and somehow managed to escape danger.” (Rifreya)

If I had been hit with paralysis yesterday, I would have died without doubt.

Were the viewers watching and wishing for me to get bitten by a Ghoul? If that’s the case, I should have tried to show myself having a harder time with them.

The viewers must have watched the explorations of Alex too, so I think they have information about the 3rd Floor.

It might be hard to bring fresh content unless I dive to the 4th Floor and below.

“The weakness of Treants is Spirit Abilities…especially Fire Spirit Abilities, huh. Looks like attacks with weapons won’t work well.” (Hikaru)

“Not really. It wouldn’t be that difficult with my weapon. In the case of monsters with weapons, a clash can’t be helped, but a Treant also flails its branches around, so it would be like lumbering.” (Rifreya)

“Lumbering…” (Hikaru)

Well, it is true that it was only flailing around with its arms. Rifreya must be a good match against it.

When that shows up, I will leave it to Rifreya.

“The strongest one is the Garden Panther, huh… Have you fought it before?” (Hikaru)

“No, I haven’t even encountered one. There’s talk that it is so fast there’s no knowing if you can even run away from it, so we have to be careful.” (Rifreya)

“The Panther can suddenly attack you-nyan. You have it eat dried meat and run away in the meantime, or use smoke bombs to run away. The other option is to use Spirit Abilities, but maybe this party can defeat one-nya?” (Grapefull)

“Hm? Monsters eat meat?” (Hikaru)

I haven’t seen them do that even once though.

Or more like, monsters are mysterious creatures that turn into Spirit Stones when defeated…wait, that’s the same for humans in dungeons, huh.

“Monsters are born with an empty stomach, so they are always hungry. Giving them food to run away is a basic of explorers.” (Rifreya)

“Then, do monsters die from starvation?” (Hikaru)

“The dungeon is filled with Spirits, so they won’t be dying from starvation. Even we don’t get hungry that much inside of it, right?” (Rifreya)

“Eh? That was because of Spirits?” (Hikaru)

I am full of things I don’t know.

It is true that I thought I didn’t get that hungry when inside the dungeon.

I thought it was from the tension, so I didn’t pay it much mind though…

“Anyways, I only have one dried meat, so we have to be careful about the Panther.” (Rifreya)

“Yeah, it would be rough if it were to hit us with a preemptive strike. If it goes straight for me, it would be the end. Or more like, I will prepare some myself too.” (Hikaru)

I didn’t encounter a Garden Panther yesterday.

I knew that there would be the danger of getting attacked by surprise, so I ended up using Darkness Fog from beginning to end, but it might be better to do the same today.

We can buy dried meat for escapes in the guild, so I buy 3. By the way, there’s apparently no problem with humans eating it. So it serves as emergency food as well.

“At any rate, let’s try and see if the strategy we used in the 2nd Floor works there.” (Rifreya)

“Right. Also, Rifreya, do you think you could defeat this Troll thing without any support?” (Hikaru)

“I can. It is like a matured Ogre after all. I am a worse match against fast types like the Mantis.” (Rifreya)

“Then, the only one we have to be careful about is the Garden Panther, huh.” (Hikaru)

“Yeah. Also, you should at least be careful about the Gremlins. They can use Spirit Abilities. About the Panther…it might be hard to get a hit in without your support, Hikaru.” (Rifreya)

In a party with 3, the fighting style changes.

I am serving solely as the support, and have the flashy battle style of Rifreya be the focus. The more flashy she is, the higher the viewers.

3 days of diving and 1 day to rest; in that 1 day, I explore alone.

When diving in a party, I gather viewers with a steady fighting style.

I will aim for 1st place with these two plans.

Even if there’s 1,000 Chosen (to be precise, only around 700 are alive), it is not like all of them are living in a way that gathers viewers.

Even living requires money.

It is not like everyone can put their everything to get viewers.