Saitama Dungeon by Yamaguchi Yuuko

 

Episode 13: Akigase Warriors

Saito and the other two girls refused to let me go off hunting monsters by myself and I ended up staying with them all day after that.

After recovering the core from the slime, we defeated a rhinoceros beetle and a stag beetle before we stopped for lunch at noon. I just located the beetles and didn't help the girls to defeat them. Regardless, the three of them enthusiastically beat the two beetles to a mushy unrecognisable pulp.

For some reason, after turning the monsters into goo they all stopped and looked meaningfully at me so I retrieved the cores from the mangled remains for them. Since the three of them were watching I couldn't use water magic to wash my dirty gloves so I had no choice but to take them off. When I fetched my towel out of my backpack Saito-san took out her own towel and wiped my gloves which were stained with insect bodily fluids and other crud.

At noon the four of us sat on a colourful picnic sheet on the ground having lunch together. The picnic sheet was something Saito-san had brought with her. I was eating the onigiri rice balls I had bought earlier at the convenience store while the three girls were eating sandwiches filled with cooked meat and salad.

One guy and three girls. A jealous outsider might look on this as a harem-like situation but I didn't see it that way at all.

"Hey, Saito, please introduce Hasegawa-kun to us properly." Nakagawa urged Saito-san.

"Oh, I forgot.” She swallowed the last bite of her sandwich and waved her hand at me. “Hasegawa-kun was my classmate in junior high school. His grades suddenly improved in the middle of the first semester of his third year and he went on to enroll at Saitama High School." I was a bit surprised that Saito-san had taken notice of me and even remembered that my grades had started improving back then.

"I think it's amazing." Nakagawa-san said.

"Isn’t Saitama High School really a prep school for University? Is it okay to be an adventurer? Don't you have to study during summer vacation too?"

"I'm keeping up with my school work pretty well so it's not a problem." I explained.

"As expected of Hasegawa-kun. Come to think of it, Hasegawa-kun's muscles are amazing." I remembered feeling Saito's fixed gaze on me several times while I was changing into my gym clothes back in middle school.

"I would love to see that." Nakagawa-san said excitedly.

"I want to see it too!" Hidaka-san agreed.

The three of them looked at me with intense expressions. I had no choice but to humour them so I stood up, took off my stab-proof jacket, my long-sleeved shirt and my underwear shirt to leave my upper body bare.

"His abs are really ripped. I think this is the first time I've seen them close up!" Saito-san breathed. "They’re amazing."

"Can I just touch them?" Without giving me the chance to say yes or no, Saito's hand reached out and stroked me from my stomach to my chest. I gritted my teeth and desperately tried to hold back the strange noise that was about to come out. Then the other two girls smiled broadly as their hands reached out from both sides...

"Ahem." I coughed, feeling embarrassed.

"Sorry." Saito-san didn’t sound very sorry.

"I think it was just too good to be true." Nakagawa-san said.

"Thank you for the meal…” Hidaka-san made a rather disturbing swallowing noise.

I turned my back for some reason as I put my clothes back on.

"Now that I think about it, we need to tell Hanakawa-kun about us.” Saito-san continued. “We’re classmates from Sakuragawa Girls High School. The three of us became adventurers and we call ourselves the Akigase Warriors.” As I remembered Sakuragawa Girls’ was close to Akigase park in Saitama. “We're going to become an S-rank adventurer team!"

"If we can…" the other two girls muttered.

"I, I see." The “Warriors” part of their team’s name was a bit off-putting but it's good to have big dreams. After all I intended to become an S-rank adventurer myself.

Saito-san suddenly pushed her face closer to mine. What was she doing?

"Hasegawa-kun, why don't you join the Akigase Warriors? Or rather, can we join up with you? Us three girls, people will try to take advantage of us in the future like those guys did just now. We’ll lose again in the future.” Saito-san smiled in what I supposed she believed to be a seductive manner. “And of course if you join us you will have three beautiful ladies by your side."

The other two stared at me without saying anything. Saito-san's offer had been made rather spontaneously but there seemed to be tacit agreement that they’d be okay with me joining their team. That was just my impression though.

Certainly, all three of them are cute girls but my immediate goal is to make money in the dungeon to raise my adventurer rank. I didn't want to handicap myself with beginners who couldn’t even defeat a slime with one hit or, even worse, have them see me using my magic skills. I decided to politely decline.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm more comfortable being alone so I'll pass."

"That’s a shame.” Saito-san said disappointedly before perking up again. “Then how about you come and dungeon dive with us sometimes?" This girl…

I surrendered. "That would be fine."

After finishing our lunch we took a short break and were about to head off to find some more monsters in the afternoon when a group of four men, college students by the look of them, approached. I had noticed their lingering presence for a while now. They were carrying two maces, a longsword and a small crossbow between them.

I decided quickly that would be best for me, the only adult person here, to deal with this. In terms of mental age, I’m akin to being the girls’ guardian so I called out to their leader before he could speak.

"Hi there, is there something you want?"

"Is that the way high school students talk these days?” The leader laughed. He made a show of counting us, pointing with his finger. “One, two, three, four. One boy and three girls.” He paused. “So can you give us two of them?" He smiled.

Are there really two-legged monsters like these in the dungeon? Normally a guy and three girls like us, high school students, would be no match for four male university students. If I were to make the first move though it would cause problems for me later. I should really take measures so I could prove it was self-defence if the authorities asked what happened, but what was the best move?

I glanced behind me and saw Saito-san pointing her smartphone towards me. This would be good evidence if we needed it but I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

I answered the man's request forcefully. "There's no way I'm giving the girls to guys like you. And now we’re filming with our phones. If you do something stupid, you'll get into big trouble."

He ostentatiously placed his hand on the mace hanging from his waist and said "Hmph. I guess we'll just have to beat you up and take away her phone." This guy seemed determined to push his luck.

Don’t these guys realize that a fight involving weapons is not just a fight, it’s attempted murder? Being the kind person that I am, I made a suggestion for their own sakes.

“I understand. If we use weapons, it might make things more difficult so why don't we fight each other with our bare hands? Even if we get carried away, no-one will get seriously hurt, right?"

"A fist fight, how gentlemanly!” The man laughed. “Let’s go then, but don't complain if I knock a few of your teeth out."

He took up a fighting stance like he was in a boxing ring while the remaining three guys stepped back. I couldn't go all out against an amateur so I just stood there with my arms down. I kept my attention on the three goons behind their leader to make sure they didn't try to interfere.

“Hmm? If you’re too scared to move, then I’ll start things off. Don't whine now."

The man threw a right hook but it was the sort of wild punch I could see coming a mile away. This guy was clearly all talk and totally unused to fighting for real. I guessed he and his friends were underestimating me because I was just a regular high school student in their eyes.

I dodged the man's clumsy swing as I took a step forward and, too fast for the untrained eye to see, I struck the man in the solar plexus with the heel of my hand before sweeping his leg from under him with my foot. I moderated my power, of course but that was all it took for him to fall forward and land on all fours, coughing and vomiting. I stepped back and gestured to his friends to approach and help their fallen comrade. It seemed that no one except myself realised what I did, my movements were so fast.

"Oh, he just fell down by himself. That was kinda disappointing. Anyway, next please." I said, encouraging them with a ‘come hither’ gesture. I could clearly see that the other three guys were, at best, the same level as the first guy I had defeated so easily. I figured I could get this over with quicker if they all came at me together but that was up to them. I didn't turn around to look but I could sense the three girls behind me were looking on nervously. I shrugged mentally, most people in this peaceful world weren’t really comfortable with violence.