Chapter 22
I stopped Riella from going through the door.
In this dungeon, rooms like that were ones you couldn't leave unless you had sex.
In other words, it was definitely a ‘sex-trap room.’
I'm pretty sure that trap doesn't show up until around the third basement floor, so why was it here already?
“I wanna go in!”
“You can't!!”
The Hero must have used Riella's curiosity to lure her over here.
As proof, the Hero looked flustered when I stopped Riella.
There's no way I'm letting things go the way you want.
“Uwoooooo!!”
“We'll go in!!”
Bang!!
Huh?
Suddenly, the two adventurers behind us barged inside.
The door had already shut.
Wow, fuck.
Wait a second.
-Big bro! Did you close the door by any chance?
-Please open this! We're sorry! Big bro!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I heard knocking on the door from inside.
Uh, what do we do?
“Men are trapped in a sex-trap room……”
“Huh? Lady Yubel, what is a sex-trap room?”
“I-It's nothing!”
Even if I wanted to tell them how to get out, I couldn't.
First, I couldn't let the Hero find out that I knew this dungeon.
And that escape method…… even if I told them, could they actually do it?
“Is that so……? Guys! Stay calm! If you look carefully, there should be a way out!”
-Big bro! Just go on ahead!
-That's right, big bro! We'll handle things here!
What exactly did they mean by handle things?
Just imagining it made my stomach turn.
-Ugh, ugh! Little bro, put a little more effort into it!
-Hold on! Big bro! I'm running out of stamina! Ugh!
Bang! Bang!
Wait, what?
Don't tell me they're in there right now……
“Ugh……”
An act no decent person could accept.
It was happening behind that door.
Fuck……
When I looked around, everyone else was gazing at the brothers with concern.
The Hero's expression looked just as serious as mine.
“Then, as the guys said, let's go on ahead for now!”
The adventurer left alone spoke up.
“All right……. Let's hurry.”
I didn't want to hear those kinds of moans anymore.
You two, please just don't come out.
***
Yubel thought this was an erotic-trap dungeon, but it was actually just an ordinary dungeon.
However, since every dungeon in the game looked more or less the same, it was understandable that Yubel, who had only ever explored erotic-trap dungeons, would get confused.
Having made that mistake, Yubel stuck close to Riella, who was navigating the dungeon just fine, and kept getting in her way at every turn.
“N-No, you can't go here!”
“Why are you stopping me this timeee!”
Riella was unusually a little angry.
Even though Yubel had confirmed the traps weren't anything special, she still stopped her.
“This place is full of tentacles! ……Uh, I figured it out with mana detection!”
“R-Really?”
Riella had been fooled again in the middle of all that.
“Hmm, with our skills, shouldn't we be able to handle them?”
“That's right. I've hunted tentacles a few times myself, and I'm sure you could deal with them easily.”
An adventurer answered Se-on's question.
Damn, that Hero bastard's trying to get Riella into a tentacle room no matter what.
Not while I'm here.
“Actually, I don't like tentacles……”
I said, giving a slight shudder.
If I say I hate them, they won't go, right?
Surely they won't leave me behind?
I'm the most competent one in this party.
“Then you can stay here. We'll go on without you.”
“N-No!!”
The Hero answered immediately.
He really was going to leave me behind?
But I'm the mage. The specialist!
“Why not?”
The Hero objected again.
Damn, how do I explain this?
“If the Hero isn't here…… I-I'd be scared……?”
It wasn't a lie.
If the Hero disappeared, I was afraid something might happen to Riella.
“O-Oh……”
The Hero replied, lowering his head.
Fortunately, it seemed I'd gotten past this trap, too.
I'd gotten past most of the traps this way so far.
For some reason, blaming it on the Hero worked well.
But there was one thing I wondered about.
But why was this bastard's face red?
Was he so upset he couldn't go to the tentacle room?
Whenever I tried this, the Hero always avoided my gaze.
And the way everyone else looked at me was a little strange.
Did they all eat something weird?
“Ahem, then let's keep moving.”
As we continued forward, foiling the Hero's schemes, before long we saw the stairs to the third basement floor.
“I've heard dangerous monsters or demons start appearing from the third basement floor onward. Lady Riella, please stay a little more alert as we proceed.”
“Yeah! But it's okay! With my friends here, I'm invincible!”
Riella shouted confidently.
Yubel was dumbfounded by the sight.
Friends……?
Who's friends with you?
Good grief.
“Yubel, why are you suddenly laughing?”
“Huh? What makes you think I was laughing?”
“No, you were grinning just a second ago, right after Riella said ‘friends’—”
“I wasn't! I just thought of something funny!”
Is this Hero bastard staring at me all day?
I'm the one dying trying to protect Riella right now.
“Wow! It's really huge in here!”
“Yeah, this passage looks five times bigger than before!”
Compared with the second floor, where it was hard for six people to walk through at once, the third floor felt like a tunnel.
But what's that flying toward us in the distance?
“Kyahahaha! A human, an elf, and a beastkin? What a fascinating combination—”
“S-Succubus!”
Shit, a succubus!
A staple demon in this erotic-trap dungeon!
I could tell from the wings on her back.
“Y-Yubel? They're just harpies—”
“What are you talking about? If we leave them alone, we'll all die!”
Succubi have a skill called ‘Soul Drain’ that can suck even a man's soul out of him if he's not careful.
In other words, top-priority target.
Whirrrrr——
I immediately stretched out my hand toward the succubus and gathered mana.
The mana roiling in my palm compressed, as if ready to shoot out at any moment.
“W-Wait a moment!! I think there's been some misunderstanding—!”
“Aaaah!! Dieeeee!!!!”
Grab!
“Eheh?”
Someone suddenly grabbed my arm.
The Hero bastard.
“You……! What the hell are you doing, ubbh!”
“Just calm down a little.”
Se-on hugged the rampaging Yubel.
He was trying to calm her down with pheromones.
Uheee…… My head feels fuzzy…….
He only smells like that, so why are my knees going weak……?
Yubel was easily subdued just like that.
Her legs went weak, and she leaned against Se-on.
Everyone was relieved at the sight.
“Phew, that's a relief. Lady Yubel almost attacked that dungeon harpy.”
“How is that a relief?! I almost got killed by that crazy bitch just now!”
“Don't say mean things about Yubel! I'll burn you to ashes!”
“T-There are two crazy women! Just get out of here! I'm not selling anything to you!”
Among adventurers, there was a rumor that even if you saw a demon flying around in a dungeon, you shouldn't attack carelessly.
The reason that rumor circulated was the existence of harpies.
Harpies in this world were dungeon merchants who helped adventurers wandering dungeons and sold them items to get out of danger.
“Oh, Miss Harpy…… It seems our party doesn't know much about harpies yet……. Could you please put aside your anger this once, with your generous heart?”
The adventurer took a silver coin from his pocket and tried to calm down the furious harpy.
“Hmm, I'm still a little mad, though?”
“Ghk, then how about this……”
Then two more silver coins were placed on the adventurer's palm.
Whip!
The harpy immediately snatched the silver coins from his hand.
Her sulky expression instantly turned into that of a bratty little girl.
“Kyahaha! Fine, fine! Since you're customers I haven't seen in ages, I'll let it go this time! So, is there anything you want to buy? Or a hint?”
“A hint, please……”
“Sure! There's a fork in the road just ahead, right? You should go left there! I'll tell you for free this time!”
Fortunately, the harpy was so pleased to get paid that she even gave us a hint for free.
Though to Se-on, it looked like she'd just been paid to tell us.
“Then I'm off! See you later!”
Flap, flap.
The harpy flew off at high speed.
“Thank you, thank you! Ahem, shall we set off again now?”
“Um, are you not upset?”
“Pardon?”
This was Yubel's mistake, but it was undeniably our fault.
It was the Hero's party, not that adventurer, who should have handled it.
Why was he helping us so selflessly?
If anything, that kind of help made Se-on uncomfortable.
Nothing was more unsettling than kindness without a price.
“Mumble, mumble……. Mmm……”
Meanwhile, Yubel, calmed down by the pheromones, came clinging to me.
“It's all right. I expected something like this, and it's also my fault for not explaining things from the beginning. Besides, you came into this dungeon at my request. I have to take responsibility.”
Heh heh.
The adventurer laughed it off with a friendly smile.
He didn't seem to have any ill intentions.
“Thank you so much.”
“Thank you!!”
Se-on and Riella bowed their heads and expressed their gratitude.
Goodness, I didn't know he was such an earnest person.
Se-on was ashamed of himself for suspecting the adventurer all this time.
However, the adventurer had other motives.
I never expected Lady Yubel to make a mistake like that.
She's so cute and adorable…….
I want to do something for her.
He was simply helping out of something like a father's affection, having fallen head over heels for Yubel.
“Uha! U-uh? W-what? Where's the succubus?”
Yubel came to her senses.
“Yubel. That wasn't a succubus earlier. Be careful next time.”
Se-on kindly explained Yubel's mistake.
Yubel didn't seem to believe him, though.
How could I trust the Hero?
Good thing that succubus I saw earlier is gone.
Did I defeat her?
While she was having such an absurd thought,
Riella had already run ahead.
“Yubel! Come over here! There are two paths!”
“Huh? What? W-Wait a minute!”
Yubel ran toward where Riella was.
Sure enough, there were two paths.
Yubel immediately put her knowledge of erotic-trap dungeons to use.
Though that knowledge was probably useless.
At forks, you always had to follow the right-hand rule.
The left path is full of traps, so the Hero will probably try to lure us that way.
“Let's go left here.”
The Hero pointed left, just as I'd deduced.
Did he think I'd fall for that?
“No. We should go right. I sense the presence of traps on the left.”
“Uh…… Yubel? Did you not hear what the harpy said earlier?”
The Hero suddenly started talking nonsense.
If you're going to lie, at least make it believable.
Why would a harpy be here?
“I think the right side has more traps……”
Even Riella was starting to side with the Hero.
Damn it. At this rate, we'll go left.
Can't be helped.
This is my last resort.
Just do whatever I want.
“No! I'm going right!”
“Ah! Wait, Yubel!!”
Kwoong!!!
“Huh?”
The moment she stepped onto the right-hand path, the way back was blocked.
“What in the world is this……”
The Hero's voice came from right behind her.
Are we trapped now?
And with the Hero?
As Yubel tried to make sense of the situation,
Se-on started feeling a throbbing pain in his head.
I can't believe she'd pull a stunt like this.
“Yubel…… please—”
Just as he was about to criticize her selfish behavior,
Splaash!
An unidentified liquid poured down over Yubel.
“Huh?”
Sssss——
The sound of something melting.
Startled, Yubel began checking her body.
The problem was her clothes, not her body, though.
“H-Huh? What is this!! Eyes! Turn your eyes away, idiot!”
“……”
Se-on didn't look away.
Step, step……
And he slowly walked over.
Toward Yubel, whose clothes had all melted away except for her panties.
“H-Hero……?”
Yubel was flustered by Se-on's audacious approach.
Her body trembled as the distance between them closed in an instant.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
“A-Aah……”
Yubel clasped both hands over her loudly beating heart.
Se-on stared intently at her.
Then he lowered his head and whispered his answer into Yubel's ear.
“No.”