It wasn’t a desert that was spread before them…… Trees and greenery grew all around a pool of water

  At first glance, it was hard to believe that this was a desert floor.

  Of course, there was sand. Looking around, Rei could tell the ground comprised entirely of sand and that this was an oasis because he had found an oasis in the upper floors before.

  However……


  「I can understand there being an oasis, but the entire floor is just oases? Is it really a desert floor? I had seen it on the map, but seeing it in person is……」


  「……I knew as well because it was shown on the map, but……」


  Next to Rei, Elena also took a breath at the sight that came into her eyes after leeaving the small room.

  They had bought maps up until the 20th floor and, as the person who managed the maps, Elena naturally knew how this floor was like.

  Like Rei, she had known in advance that this was an oasis floor, but she still seemed to have a lot on her mind after seeing it for first time.

  「Gurururu~?」


  Can I go into the water? Set asked Rei.

  After travelling through a rocky desert, Set had accumulated a lot of fine sand on his body and probably wanted to wash it off.

  Although he understood that, Rei shook his head.

  Although Rei also wanted to take a break at the oasis in front of him, he had promised Vihera to hand back the Cyclops materials. Above all, there was also the matter of the three people he had stored in the Misty Ring after being petrified by what was probably a Basilisk.

  Considering that, Rei decided that they didn’t have the time to take a break here.

  「Guru~?」


  No? Set seemed ask with a tilted head and round eyes as Rei stroked him.

  「I’m sorry, but please bear with it today. I’ll brush you when we get back to the inn.」


  「Gururururu~」


  Although his cry was tinged with disappointment, Set immediately looked forward to getting brushed as he turned around.

  Rei and Elena made their way back into the small room with the magic circle before leaving the dungeon.

  「It took a little longer than usual, but I guess it’s within our margin of error.」


  Rei muttered as he looked up into the sky where the sun was hidden by thick clouds.

  He roughly gauged the time while knowing that summer still showed no signs of ending.

  As he had said, it had taken them a bit longer than usual to clear the floor, but there was still some time before evening.

  It was about 4pm in the afternoon.

  「Well, the latter part of the day was a bit of rush due to certain events.」


  Rei nodded at Elena, who didn’t directly name the Basilisk. She didn’t seem to care that other adventurers in the dungeon plaza might look at her as she took off her cloak before they started making her way towards the guild with Set.

  Usually, the only thing they had to do was to exchange materials for cash, but not today. They had to hand over the Cyclops materials, aside from the magic stone, and some of the meat to Vihera and Byune. There was also the corpse of the adventurer killed by the Jewel Sniper and the statues of the three petrified adventurers.

  (I suppose I better talk to the guild about this.)

  Thinking to himself, Rei showed his dungeon card to the gatekeeper and walked out before heading for the guild as well.

  「Good, it’s not that crowded yet.」


  Looking around the guild, Rei gave a sigh of relief.

  The guild wasn’t usually crowded at this time of day, but there were always exceptions.

  Especially now that Schaffner was missing, the incident with the Levisor family had yet to conclude. There was also the matter of abnormal species appearing in the dungeon.

  Considering that, it was why the guild wasn’t empty even though there was still some time before evening. There were also the adventurers who disliked crowds and had come a bit earlier to avoid that, like Rei.

  「Oh, Rei. You’re back.」


  And unlike those adventurers, there were also those who had been waiting for Rei to return.

  Elena had a slightly annoyed expression upon hearing Vihera’s voice, who had now taken off her cloak and was dressed in her seductive dancer outfit.

  However, since they had originally agreed to meet in the guild, she followed after Rei as they walked over to Vihera and Byune.

  「It seems your request was completed successfully.」


  「Yeah. We handed over the Jewel Sniper safely. What about you?」


  「Well, we made it to the 15th floor safely……but.」


  「Mm?」


  Byune gave a questioning sound, perhaps she was wondering what Rei meant.

  「Well, a lot of things happened. Anyway, is it fine to hand over the materials I’m carrying here?」


  「Yes, please. The purchase counter is open.」


  Vihera glanced over towards the guild’s purchase counter.

  There weren’t any adventurers in front of the counter and the guild staff there bowed her head slightly to indicate she had seen them looking over.

  As if taking that cue, they went over to the counter as a group.

  「Excuse me, could I sell some materials here?」


  「Yes, of course. If Rei-san is here, does that mean they are inside the item box.」


  Because he had already been here many times, the guild staff member already knew where the materials were being carried…


  「Rei, please.」


  Prompted by Vihera, Rei took out the materials from the Misty Ring, one after another.

  Bones, tendons, skin, and everything else were piled up on the floor and not just on the counter, gathering the eyes of adventurers inside the guild.

  「Is this……a Cyclops?」


  As expected of a professional. Just by looking at the right ear, which was the proof of subjugation, and the various materials taken out from the Misty Ring, including the damaged horn, the guild staff was able to immediately recognise what monster it was from.

  「Yeah. We ran into one during our request, which we collected our reward for. But as you know, Byune and I work without a porter, so we let Rei store it away for us.」


  「I believe you were on the 14th floor right? There was a report that there was a Cyclops on that floor……no, that was several years ago. Either way, a Cyclops is considered to be a monster at the top of C rank, how did you manage to kill it?」


  The guild staff searched her memory for a few seconds before turning an admiring gaze towards Vihera and Byune and, to a lesser extent, Rei and Elena.

  They probably hadn’t thought that Vihera had killed the Cyclops on her own.

  「Hey, that’s a Cyclops.」


  「Yeah. As expected of the Mad Beast. I wouldn’t want to fight a Cyclops, even with a party.」


  「Byune is from the Fraut family right? She’s a thief. So that must mean it was the other three who actually fought. No, if it’s Crimson, he has a Griffon, so it’s really four of them. ……Hmm? Does that mean if you have a Griffon, you can kill a Cyclops?」


  「If you really think so, they go tame a Griffon yourself so you can kill a Cyclops.」


  As he heard the voices from behind, Rei finally took out the huge 3m hammer from the Misty Ring.

  The adventurers who saw that made a lot of noise, but Vihera just looked at the guild staff member without paying any attention to them.

  「It looks like this could be good material, what do you think?」


  「……This is a very good hammer. To be honest though, there isn’t much of a demand for something like this if you were to put it straight on the market.」


  「That’s why I would like to sell it as material rather than as a weapon. It can’t be used as a weapon on its own, but considered as metal material, it should be made from high purity iron, so it shouldn’t be too bad.」


  The hammer was so heavy that it made a creaking sound on the guild floor, which had been designed solidly to bear the weight of the large number of adventurers who regularly gathered there.

  Only someone with the same physical strength as a Cyclops would be able to use a weapon like this.

  However, considering the material it was made from, it was true that it was made using high purity iron, so as Vihera said, it was worth a certain price.

  (Who would have made this? I don’t think a Cyclops would have had advanced blacksmithing skills.)

  While Rei was thinking about that, the settlement of materials was completed as other guild staff came over to carry the materials into the back.

  The materials themselves weren’t much of an issue to carry away, but as expected, the Cyclops hammer needed 10 people working together before they were able to lift it away.

  「Well then, thank you very much. ……By the way, out of curiousity, what happened to the Cyclops’ magic stone? Although the magic stone shortage has been resolved to a large extent after the Levisor family incident, it’s still not completely over.」


  The guild staff placed silver and gold coins onto the counter as they asked. Vihera collected the silver coins for herself and turned to look over at Rei while passing the gold coins to Byune.

  「Unfortunately, you’ll have to ask Rei for that. If you want it, you’ll have to negotiate for it.」


  「We know that Rei-san basically won’t sell any magic stones unless he has at least three of them.」


  While sighing, the guild staff still looked over at Rei with a little hope……before shaking her head and sighing again.

  「I’ve been told by the higher ups to buy up as many magic stones as possible. ……Well, that’s fine. Rei-san’s party always sells any magic stones besides the first two.」


  The guild staff intentionally said that in a voice loud enough to be heard by the other adventurers in the guild as he glanced at them.

  The adventurers seemed to have a lot on their minds. Some of them looked away when they heard those words.

  「Seriously, they know that there is a shortage of magic stones, so it would be a great help if they went into the dungeon to bring some back. ……So, what are you here for then, Rei-san? Would you also like to sell some materials?」


  「Yeah. Of course, there is that too……but we found some things in the dungeon I’d like to discuss.」


  The guild staff nodded with a questioning expression at Rei’s words.

  After all, it wasn’t uncommon for various strange things to happen in the dungeon, so there were many people like Rei who would bring in things they couldn’t handle on their own.

  「I understand. Can you take it out for now?」


  「Is it fine to take them out here? They’re quite big.」


  「Yes, that’s fine. It’s not as big as the hammer, right?」


  The guild staff’s mind was filled with the thought of her colleagues carrying away the hammer earlier.

  Their muscles would likely be sore tomorrow. Rei nodded as he heard the staff’s response.

  「Alright then. ……I’ll take them out I guess?」


  Seeing the staff nod for final confirmation, he took out the three stone statues that were stored in the Misty Ring.

  A female Foxkin, a male Elf, and a male Human, a total of three.

  「……Eh?」


  The guild staff hadn’t been expecting stone statues and let out a surprised voice.

  It was the same for the other adventurers in the guild, who had been watching on to see what would come out after the Cyclops materials.

  「Oh? Are these stone statues? ……No, they’re not.」


  「Mm.」


  Byune gave a brief nod in response to Vihera’s words.

  The expression of fear on the statues’ faces was too real to be a mere stone statue. The clothes and armour they wore as well as the weapons they had were all too finely carved.

  「Wai-, p-please wait a moment. Could this possibly be……」


  The guild staff quickly recollected herself as she muttered before coming out from behind the counter and approaching the stone statues cautiously. She checked their faces as if to confirm something……before muttering involuntarily.

  「I knew it. Weren’t these three members of Sky Bells who went missing and were declared dead? R-Rei-san, where did you find these three!?」


  The guild staff’s words made Rei give a satisfied expression, as he had half expected it to be the case.

  He still wasn’t sure if they had been attacked by a Basilisk, but at any rate, they had definitely been attacked by something with the power to petrify their opponents.

  「The 14th floor……Elena.」


  Judging that it would be hard to explain with words, Rei turned to look at Elena.

  That alone was enough to understand what Rei wanted to say. Taking a map out of her magic pouch, she placed it onto the counter.

  「So, we found them around here……we took a detour here at the place where the path splits into many paths.」


  Seeing the location pointed to on the map, the guild staff gave a small nod as he turned to look at Rei and Elena.

  「Was it on the 14th floor? ……I wasn’t expecting any to show up there. Could you wait a moment? A search request for them had been put up by another member of their party. If it’s okay, I would like to mark that request as completed……」


  The guild staff’s words gave Rei an unpleasant premonition.

  Unlike the stone statues, the corpse that had been found lying near the Jewel Sniper was quietly taken by the guild without any issue.