Dungeon Gacha Life Chapter 24

 Chapter 24: Strictly Not My Business

"Actually... I've been thinking maybe we just don't have the talent for this."

That's how the long-haired girl started.

Lapis, who'd started the conversation, listened intently while worried.

I pulled a chocolate bar out of my bag.

"I mean, I kind of feel like we pushed ourselves pretty hard to get this far, you know~"

"I know, but..."

Both girls' eyes turned to the bob-cut girl.

Taking that as her cue, she opened her mouth hesitantly.

"When the two of you invited me, I was... happy. I couldn't fit in with my class... so exploring together with just the three of us, made me really happy."

I took a bite of the chocolate bar.

...Gross! Wait, was this thing always this bad!?

"But the deeper we went, there were times I wasn't of any help and that scared me..."

"You're anxious, aren't you. It's a place where your life's on the line so there's nothing strange about that at all!"

Lapis nodded along, agreeing with the bob-cut girl.

In response, the ponytailed girl spoke up with a stiff smile.

"Yui's doing her best! She's saved me plenty of times!"

"That's right. And Yui's got good field awareness too so she'll do fine even in the Middle Levels ahead."

The long-haired girl backed her up too.

Everyone's eyes gathered on the bob-cut girl who was now named as Yui.

Putting the half-eaten bar back in my bag right now would make me look weird, huh.

"...I mean, but really, lately, I've just been scared..."

Silence fell.

The only sound was me biting into the chocolate bar that was echoing way too loudly.

"But I still want to keep exploring with everyone. So..."

"So you came here to test yourselves with the Minotaur whether you all can keep going."

Picking up where the bob-cut girl left off, Lapis said it with a solemn expression.

Impressive. You've basically made yourself one of the parties involved here.

I pulled a bottle of mineral water out of my bag and washed the rest of the chocolate bar down in one go.

Basically, this is the situation, right?

Recently they'd hit a wall and one of their members had started thinking about retiring as an Explorer.

Wanting to hold onto her, they figured they'd prove they could still go further by taking on the boss.

And if they failed, they'd break up.

If they succeeded, they'd keep going.

I honestly think it'd be fine to just call it quits without forcing a boss fight.

Then again, if they wanted to go for it, taking on the boss fight seemed fine too.

But if there's one thing I feel strongly about, it's this: is this really the conversation to have right in front of the boss room?

Get it sorted out before you even enter the Dungeon.

I really don't get what goes on in the minds of these high school girls.

* * *

While all that was going on, the boss had been defeated at some point without me noticing.

The party that had fought before them let out cheers of joy, clapping each other on the shoulder.

The three girls watched the scene with looks of something like envy.

"We're up next."

The long-haired girl said it with clear resolve.

Her right hand gripped tight around the shield strapped to her left arm.

"It'll be fine. We can win this."

The ponytailed girl said it, fired up.

A greatsword's her weapon, huh. I guess she's the attacker.

"...Sorry, you two. It's my fault that things got weird."

The bob-cut girl was the one holding a shorter spear.

She was the only one whose expression hadn't changed much this whole time. Maybe she was just calm about it.

The three of them exchanged a few more words after that, going through their pre-fight preparations.

Lapis watched over all of it while looking worried.

Then, out of nowhere, the bob-cut girl stepped away from the others and came over to me.

"Um, this is a rather rude thing to ask but..."

What now? Well, I'd at least hear her out.

"If we decide to retreat and even that fails... would it be alright to ask for your help?"

"Ah, oh, that's all? Sure, that's fine."

I answered her, hesitant as she looked.

It was in the boss room's local rules anyway.

I wasn't about to refuse a little request for help.

Still, having a backup for the worst case versus not having one made a huge difference to your odds of surviving.

Coming to pin down an actual promise instead of just assuming "he'll probably help us" — this girl really had her priorities right.

"Thank you. This should let us focus on the fight."

"I'm hoping you won't end up needing my help at all."

That much was genuine.

After all, if I jumped in to help, the guaranteed unique drop wouldn't show up.

I'd have to go beat it solo all over again. Which is a pain.

"Um..."

"Hm?"

Her expression clouding just slightly, the bob-cut girl came to ask me something.

"Sorry, about earlier, for making the mood so awkward. It's because I said I wanted to quit being an Explorer that things have been like that lately..."

Oh, that's what this was about.

I waved a hand to show it didn't bother me.

"Don't worry about it. Whatever needs saying should get said outright. 'They'll understand eventually' is nothing but wishful thinking."

I'm the Japanese man who can say no: Suzukaze Touya.

Currently polishing up his social skills though.

"Heh, you're right."

The bob-cut girl finally showed me a genuinely sweet smile.

I wonder if some smooth-talking guy would say something like "you're cuter when you smile" at a moment like this?

While I was thinking that over, she opened her mouth hesitantly.

"Um... you've got chocolate on your mouth."

Guess smooth-talking just isn't in the cards for me.

* * *

With the roar of the freshly respawned Minotaur, the three girls' fight began.

Standing right in front of the Minotaur was the long-haired girl.

Holding up the shield on her left arm, she closed the distance slowly, bit by bit, trying to fulfill her role as tank.

Just a bit behind and off to the side of her was the ponytailed girl.

She gripped her greatsword tightly, watching for an opening to attack.

A little further away from the two of them was the bob-cut girl.

She held her short spear ready, her eyes darting constantly between the boss and her friends.

The opening was quiet.

But it wasn't long before the boss, apparently losing patience, lunged at them.

The axe the boss had raised came swinging down at the long-haired girl in front.

With a harsh clang of metal, her body with her shield raised, was pushed back about a meter.

An HP barrier doesn't hurt but the impact still gets through.

I think dodging that one would've been the better call. The damage that she had taken probably wasn't trivial either.

But without missing the opening it left, the two behind her landed attacks on the boss.

The way they both used Active Skills properly made it look like a move they'd planned out in advance.

Unfazed by those hits, the boss swept its axe out in a horizontal sweep.

The bob-cut girl, with her long-reaching spear, dodged it easily.

The ponytailed girl barely managed to get her greatsword up in time to block but she was sent flying spectacularly.

"Ah! Saki-san!?"

Lapis who was watching alongside me, let out a shriek.

"Nah, she got the block up in time. I don't think the damage was that bad."

Proving it, she got straight back up and returned to the fight.

Her expression made it clear her fighting spirit hadn't dropped at all.

After that, it went back and forth.

Overall, they were slow to recover their footing but the fight was progressing relatively smoothly.

"This is good! Everyone's staying calm. Touya-san, they can clear this, right!?"

Lapis, who'd been watching on edge, said that to me.

I thought it over for a moment... and since lying wouldn't do any good, I answered honestly.

"I don't think they can."