Chapter 22
Well, we've reached the second floor.
This dungeon is what's known as a field-type dungeon. The first floor is a grassland area, with a straight path running through it.
The second floor is a forest. The trees grow thickly... No, actually, they're scattered here and there.
It's easy to see all around us. And the path runs straight ahead.
As long as we follow this path, there's no need to worry about getting lost. There aren't any forks, either.
As expected of the tutorial. It's designed to put you at ease.
"All right, we've reached the second floor. The monsters change from here on, so be careful."
Phyllis-sensei gently warned us, but
Since I knew what monsters appeared on this floor, I had no idea what I was supposed to be careful about.
"What appears here?"
Hannah asked. I decided to keep quiet.
"The monsters on the second floor are Horn Rabbits without horns."
That's just a rabbit, isn't it?
A tutorial doesn't have to take away its attack power!
I wanted to call that out, but somehow it felt like I'd lose if I did.
I wasn't going to say a word.
"Isn't that just a rabbit?"
"Pfft!"
Hannah went and said it!
I'd been holding it in so hard, but I couldn't help bursting out laughing!
"That's right. You can think of them as ordinary rabbits. They drop meat."
Even Phyllis-sensei admitted it.
They really are just ordinary rabbits!
For some reason, it felt like Phyllis-sensei meant something different by "just," but I was probably imagining it.
Still, free meat was great!
"All right. Let's collect lots of meat, Hannah."
"Yeah!"
Hannah nodded without hesitation. She wasn't nervous at all anymore.
As we started walking, each of us searching for meat, my 'Intuition' suddenly whispered to me.
I have a bad feeling about this!?
"There!"
A flank attack.
I spotted the rabbit leaping at me and blocked it with the buckler in my left hand.
Clunk! A dull sound came from the shield.
It sounded just like someone getting hit on the head with a fist.
"Kyu..."
The rabbit flopped to the ground and lay still.
It was twitching a little.
Maybe it had hit its head hard and passed out. It was completely defenseless.
Huh? Is it okay to kill it? Somehow, it feels like I shouldn't...
"Phyllis-sensei! A rabbit jumped at me! May I cut it down?"
This was a lesson, after all. If I cut it down without permission, there might be some kind of problem. Asking the teacher seemed like the right thing to do.
It wasn't that I was hesitating or anything.
"Yes. I recommend making rabbit stew."
Whoa, apparently Phyllis-sensei had already decided it was going on the dinner table.
Actually, Phyllis-sensei seems awfully enthusiastic. Are you already thinking of it as stew?
She said I could cut it.
So, sorry, rabbit, but please become our dinner.
With permission granted, I slashed the twitching, motionless rabbit with my short sword.
It burst into particles of light, and meat dropped. It was called stew meat, and for some reason it came prepackaged.
"We got meat!"
I grabbed the dropped meat, held it high, and shouted.
There wasn't any particular reason.
I was just excited!
But excitement is really important!
Hannah came over, looking envious.
"Lucky, Zephyrus-kun."
"You'll find one soon, too, Hannah. Just remember, it's still a monster, so be careful when it attacks, okay?"
"Hmm, I think I'll be fine."
Well, that's probably true, but still.
Hornless Horn Rabbits are about twenty centimeters long.
They were so tiny they posed no threat. Even if one hit, it probably wouldn't do any damage.
I could understand why Hannah felt that way.
"This is practice, so you should think of it as training to be careful when it really counts, okay?"
"Oh, right. You're right. Thanks, Zephyrus-kun."
I gave Hannah some advice, since she seemed to have let her guard down a little too much.
I had a feeling Hannah was getting too used to monsters and might get hurt, but...
Seeing how easily the rabbit that attacked Hannah was sent flying afterward, maybe there wasn't any need to worry.
The second floor was a little longer than the first.
There were more monsters to make up for it, and in the end, we had twenty-eight pieces of assorted meat.
A pretty good haul. I was quite pleased.
We leveled up, too.
Hannah and I reached LV7, and with the SP we gained, I raised 'Intuition' to LV5 while Hannah raised 'Alchemy' to LV2.
And so, our group continued smoothly through the next floors, the third and fourth.