Brilliant sunlight shone from the clear blue sky.
It is still spring so the temperature is not high enough to make you sweat and it is very good weather to be outside thanks to the gentle breeze.
On a day like this, I want to invite Sempai, Ludi or Nee-san to a picnic or a camping trip. Nee-san will probably have an expression that says something like "Isn't something like barbeque a riajuu's specialty?" (TLN: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=riajuu)
It might be unexpectedly fun if we try going together though.
My imagination is running wild but unfortunately, the place that we will be going today is a dungeon. Something like the weather is totally meaningless in there.
Well then, since the dungeon we will be diving into this time is the beginner dungeon, the layout will consist of temple-like floors and passages. Hopefully, the temperature inside will be comfortable. It is not something I can experience in the game after all. Maybe they can emulate that in the future but if such a thing came true, everyone might turn into a shut-in.
".....So............... any questions?"
Nee-san asked the assembled students but since the details have been told to them beforehand, there was no question from the students.
"Then, do your best."
She gazes my way for a moment and heads back to the infirmary with the other healers.
"I didn't expect Hatsumi-san to send us off."
Ludi isn't in her noble lady mode since there are no other people around us.
"Yeah, most of the teachers are participating. It seems they can turn down the job but she said [Since Kousuke and Ludi are here, I will participate.] or something like that."
"Is she simply indifferent to other people or just outright dislikes them..... I wonder?"
"You are asking me that? Nee-san is a little indifferent to others but she is actually gentle, beautiful and she is quite tolerant too..."
Speaking up to that point, I felt Nee-san's presence so I decided to praise her more.
"She always does her best to take care of me, I was really in her care and sometimes I even voice a troublesome request to her too. It's fun being with her, she is the best sister I could ask for."
"......I'm glad."
"HII" Ludi let out a surprised voice. She probably didn't notice Nee-san's presence. Before I got used to her, there are times that I hadn't noticed her presence until she was right next to me after all. It is thanks to her that I gained the presence detection skill even before entering the dungeon.
"Th-that was surprising. I-if you are around please at least call out to me first, Hatsumi-san."
Hearing Ludi's complaint, Nee-san scratched her head.
"Stop, you are making me blush"
"Was there anything in my sentence that worth blushing for......?"
When Ludi started to ponder about that, a voice calls out from behind her.
"O–i. Takioto, Ludi, Hatsumi-sensei."
The person that appeared from behind is Yukine-sempai. She is in her uniform with her naginata on her back. She stood beside me and looked at Ludi while tilting her head.
"Is something the matter?"
"Hmm. Figuratively speaking, it's like using the Pythagorean theorem to study biology or something like that."
"You make no sense at all."
"Well, let's leave that aside."
I put an end to the subject.
"Come to think of it, why is Nee-san here? It seems they are going to announce the grouping, right? Don't you have to prepare for the departure?"
"There's something I have to tell you..... Yukine too."
"? What is it."
Asked Ludi who seems to already given up pondering about Nee-san.
"Alright, everybody listens. The total member of the party that will be entering the beginner dungeon has changed to five people."
"We already received the explanation. Rather, aren't you the one who just inform all the students just now? Every party should receive a message from Tsukuyomi Traveller (A terminal device used for acquiring general information in Tsukuyomi Academy) to gather at their designated location, right?"
I said so while taking out the smartphone-like device every student received on the day of the entrance ceremony.
"...Yeah, About that. There was a little special circumstance so you three won't be receiving that message."
"Eh?"
"Haa?"
"Fumu, Hatsumi-sensei. Can you explain the situation?"
"The power level of you three are already more than enough, so Mother and I decided not to recruit more party members at our discretion."
"Don't tell me.....?
Ludi seems to already guess the answer.
"The people that will be diving into the dungeon in your group are only you three."
"Ehhh!?"
"!?"
Our expression gets cloudy at the same time.
No, please wait a moment. Isn't that weird? It's totally weird, right? Why am I not a part of Iori's party? The thing that happened up until now has been strangely following the game script, how come there's such a twist here.
Moreover, it's just the three of us?
"Hatsumi-sensei, can you explain it to me in detail?"
Sempai who is probably the calmest among us asked the question. Ludi seems to be surprised too but the one who is the most surprised by this is probably me.
"When it comes to close-quarter combat, Kousuke already has no problem dealing with this dungeon and Ludi already can shorten her chant and even use intermediate magic. In fact, you two are already enough for this dungeon. Moreover, with Mizumori Yukine with you, there's no reason to be afraid of anything in this dungeon anymore."
Well, I do understand what Nee-san is trying to say. Ludi also powered up a lot thanks to Nee-san and Marino-san. Sempai is with us in the first place so there was really nothing to worry about.
"That's what I came here to explain."
"......Understood, Nee-san. Then what should we do now?"
"You can enter the dungeon now if you want. There was no decided time for you to enter. You will not meet with the other groups in this beginner dungeon after all.
I take a look at sempai and Ludi. They both gave me a nod saying that they are ready to enter the dungeon anytime.
"Understood. We will enter the dungeon now."
More importantly, will Iori be okay if he encounters the Majin (TLN: Demonkind) according to the event? Well, he will probably be fine. That guy (the Majin) is super weak since he's just an early boss after all.
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