Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 3 - Chapter 6

A Dungeon and Treasure

Saturday, August 22nd

Ten days had passed since the events at the beach, and the calendar had now reached the latter half of August.

It was still summer vacation, but Koutarou and Harumi had decided on a couple of days for club activities during the break. Today was one of those days, and they were both currently knitting. That said, they didn’t make their way all the way to school. Instead, they were using a self-study room at a library close by for both of them. An entire self-study room could be reserved as long as arrangements were made in advance. The room wasn’t particularly large, but it was enough for the knitting society’s club activities.

“...And we were able to make up.”

“I see. That’s great.”

“It was all thanks to your advice, Sakuraba-senpai.”

Koutarou explained what had happened with Sanae and bowed deeply to Harumi. He had called her as soon as he got back from the trip, but he felt the need to thank her in person.

That said, Koutarou didn’t touch on the part about Sanae being a ghost or that she had been kidnapped by ghost hunters. That would only serve to confuse Harumi, and it wasn’t what was important.

“Thank you very much.”

Sanae, who was next to Koutarou, lowered her head as well. She was aware that Harumi couldn’t see or hear her, but she had still come along with Koutarou in order to express her gratitude.

“U-Um, just treat your friends preciously, okay?”

Embarrassed by Koutarou’s earnest thanks, Harumi stared down at her hands as she busily knitted away. She had decided to try out a new knitting method today, but she was so embarrassed that she had reverted to using her normal method before realizing it.

“Yes, I will.”

Satisfied that he’d accomplished what he wanted to for the day, Koutarou began moving his own knitting needles. He had gotten quite decent at knitting and was now working on a muffler for the coming winter.

“She called us friends.”

However, Sanae slightly delayed his progress. Instead of standing or floating around on her own, she was clinging on to Koutarou’s neck. This position made it hard for Koutarou to move his knitting needles.

“Even though we’re not, right?”

“...Then get off. It’s hard to knit.”

Koutarou complained in a quiet voice so that Harumi wouldn’t hear. Fortunately, she seemed quite busy with her own knitting, so she didn’t notice.

“No way!”

“...Be reasonable.”

“We’re enemies, so I’ll get in your way all I want!”

“...Come on now.”

However, Sanae just smiled and refused to listen to him. She had been acting like that ever since they got back from the hot spring, and she would trouble Koutarou from time to time.

Thanks to the events at the beach, Sanae understood that Koutarou wasn’t just her enemy. When it came to room 106, they were enemies, but other than that, she realized that he didn’t dislike her. Because of that, Sanae had now completely returned to her old, energetic self. In fact, she was now less reserved around Koutarou and was even livelier.

Sanae was often with Koutarou, but ever since the hot spring, she was now always with him as long as there wasn’t a special reason not to be. She also teased and bothered him from time to time. Getting in the way of his knitting was one such occasion. That said, Sanae didn’t really want to trouble him, and she held back when the situation called for it. In the past, she wouldn’t hold back when she got emotional, so this was another change for the better.

But to Koutarou, the only thing that had changed was when she decided to bother him, so he didn’t feel like that much was different.

Having finished their club activities, Koutarou and Sanae headed back home. When they reached room 106, Theia jumped out of the room with a pale face.

“You picked a good time to come back, pleb!”

“What, did something happen?”

Koutarou began to worry when he saw Theia’s serious expression.

“You need to say something to Yurika! She refuses to put down the controller!”

But when he heard her explanation, Koutarou was drained of all his energy.

“Wh-What? That’s all...?”

“What are you saying?! My Blue Knight is just about face the decisive final battle, but Yurika won’t let me have a turn!”

“Why is Yurika even playing?”

“Who knows?”

“That doesn’t matter! Just hurry up and come! The final battle draws near!”

“Okay, okay... You’re all so selfish, jeez...”

“I want to play too. Koutarou, let’s fight.”

“No! I’m first!” Theia impatiently stamped her feet on the floor as Koutarou took off his shoes. “We’ll finish this today no matter what! How dare the boss casually drink tea with his subordinates?! He’ll regret making a fool of me and Blue Knight!”

“I get it. Just calm down, Tulip!”

“What kind of fool would calm down before the decisive battle?!”

“This illness is getting serious...”

As Koutarou finished taking off his shoes, Theia dragged him to the inner room.

“Waaaaah! Where are they?!”

As he entered the inner room, Koutarou instantly noticed Yurika, whether he liked it or not. She was seated in front of the TV, crying bitterly. As she stared into the screen, she desperately fiddled with the controller.

“Go on, say something, pleb!”

“Y-Yeah...”

Slightly taken aback by the sight of Yurika crying while playing a game, Koutarou nodded at Theia and sat down next to her.

“Yurika, if you don’t like it so much that you’re crying, you could just stop.”

“You’re wrong! I’m not crying because I don’t like it!”

Yurika turned towards Koutarou. She had paused the game, but her tears were still freely flowing.

“Th-Then what is it?”

“I can’t find them!”

Yurika pointed to the TV as more tears streamed down her face. It was displaying the status screen of the game Theia was always playing.

“Who can’t you find?”

“Yurika, Yurika A, and Yurika B! Theia-chan refuses to recover their bodies from the dungeon!”

“Ah, I see...”

Koutarou let out a loud sigh as he finally understood the situation. Theia named the characters after the residents of room 106 because thinking of names was a bother. That alone would have been fine, but Theia had given up on rescuing some of the characters that had fallen. She had abandoned them because it was too troublesome to save them. Yurika was now in a tizzy because she realized what Theia was doing, and she was trying to save the characters named after herself.

“Well, I guess you can’t sit by quietly with characters named after you lying dead in a dungeon somewhere.”

“This is your fault, Tulip.”

“R-Ruth, please refill my tea. And get some for the pleb and the others as well.”

Theia diverted her eyes as the topic turned unfavorable for her.

“Yes, I’ll prepare some right away.”

“Hey, Tulip.”

“K-Kiriha, these snacks are delicious. What do you call them?”

“They’re called rice crackers.”

“I see. Th-They have quite a mysterious texture.”

Theia pretended like she couldn’t hear Koutarou and began eating the tea snacks Kiriha had prepared.

“What are you, a kid?”

“There was no other way. They were a necessary sacrifice for the greater good.”

Seeing that Koutarou was dumbfounded, Theia desperately made excuses as she gnawed on a rice cracker.

“Admit it. You just thought it was a pain to go looking for Yurika.”

“Yes... No, wait, that’s wrong! That’s not what I was thinking at all!”

“Waaah! You’re terrible!”

“Don’t make it worse, Sanae...”

“Why? What does it matter?”

Sanae smiled as she caused even more trouble for Koutarou.

“More importantly, why don’t you have some snacks too, Koutarou? If you don’t eat, I don’t get to taste the rice crackers either!”

Sanae, still hanging on to Koutarou’s back, reached out for the tea table, grabbed a snack, and pushed it against Koutarou’s lips.

“...Okay, okay, I get it.”

Koutarou reluctantly opened his mouth as Sanae threw the snack in.

“You sure do get along, Satomi-sama, Sanae-sama.”

Ruth, coming back in from the kitchen with tea in hand, smiled as she looked at Sanae clinging on to Koutarou.

“We don’t.”

Koutarou looked offended. Lately, Sanae had practically been toying with him, so that was his natural response.

“Is that so?”

“Now, now, we all know you’re actually happy!” Sanae hugged Koutarou’s back and poked his cheeks. “Jeez, you’re not being honest at all, Koutarou-chan. Your secrets are out now, you know!”

Despite Koutarou’s unpleasant expression, Sanae kept smiling. She was convinced that Koutarou was just hiding his embarrassment.

“Hmm? Heeheehee...”

Sanae cheerfully clung to Koutarou’s neck. From time to time, she would gaze down at her own hand. In it she held a charm embroidered with the words “family safety.”

This isn’t exploding, so I already know how you really feel. I won’t believe you no matter how many times you say you don’t like it!

That was the reason for Sanae’s conviction.

“If you don’t stop it, I’ll get angry.”

“Mmmhmm! That kind of threat won’t work on me!”

Sanae stubbornly pressed herself against Koutarou, believing that would make him happy too.

“...It seems you won’t learn unless you get hurt, Sanae.”

Having gotten a little angry, Koutarou reached into his pocket, pulled out a charm, and showed it to Sanae.

“Do it if you can. Those things don’t work on me anymore.”

Sanae didn’t flinch at his threat. The charm in her hand was proof that the charms didn’t affect her now. She no longer had a reason to fear them.

“...Take that!”

So even though Koutarou pressed the charm to her face, Sanae kept smiling.

Boom!

“Ack!”

Sanae was blown back with that smile still on her face.

“Heh heh, have you learned your lesson now, Sanae?”

“H-How?! I thought the charms didn’t work anymore!”

Sanae sprang to her feet with smoke rising from her face. She then compared the charm she was holding with the one Koutarou was holding.

“Justice always wins! Let this be a learning experience for you, Sanae!”

She was holding the “family safety” charm in her hand while Koutarou was holding the “evil spirits begone” charm in his.

“I-It couldn’t be...!”

Seeing that, a theory popped into Sanae’s head.

Koutarou has accepted me into the room, but he still thinks of me as an evil spirit? That’s why “family safety” won’t explode but “evil spirits begone” will?!

She was sure she’d solved the mystery.

“Aaaaarrghhh! Why are you always like that?!”

“Whoa!”

Sanae pounced on Koutarou.

“My, my...”

“It’s nice that you get along so well.”

As Ruth and Kiriha warmly watched over them, Sanae began choking Koutarou for the first time in ten days.

“Now I’m angry! I’ll make sure you regret that!”

“C-Curse you, S-Sanaeeeee!”

And just like that, Koutarou and Sanae’s relationship reverted back to normal. Sometimes laughing together, sometimes getting angry at each other, and sometimes fighting it out. That was just how things were with the two of them.

“D-Don’t think things will always go your way!”

“Why can’t you just say ‘Sanae-chan, you sure are cute’?! You sourpuss!”

Only one thing had really changed. That was the small charm hanging off of Sanae’s neck. The charm embroidered with the words “family safety” now belonged to Sanae.

As the regular commotion ensued in room 106, something not so normal was happening on the bridge of the Blue Knight. An alarm suddenly began ringing out. The sound echoed through the vast room and the once quiet bridge was now filled with noise. It was first time during these few months that the emergency alarm had been activated.

“Detecting a medium-sized distortion in space-time. There is a 95 percent chance of it being a warp exit point.”

The monitors immediately powered up and displayed the pertinent information, such as the relative position of Earth, the moon, the sun, and the current location of the Blue Knight. It was accompanied by a number of graphs and tables.

“Calculating the mass of the space distortion. Warning: There is a 90 percent chance of it being a royal class battleship. This is an emergency, my princess.”

The Blue Knight concluded from these tables, graphs, and numbers that a new spaceship had entered the region.