I’m Not Good at Offensive Magic, but I’ll Do My Best With Support Magic!

「Welcome… Ah, It’s Yuan-chan and Shia!」
「Yes, I’m back again」
「That means underground exploration, right?」
「You knew about this?」
「Yeah~, because Luri told me about it yesterday」

Apparently, Luri-chan had been laying the groundwork first. Very supportive and helpful.

「And that’s Snow-sama」
「About me too?」
「Let’s put it that way… shall we?」

That’s a very cryptic way of putting it. I think Illumina-san might have some information too.

「Um, I’m sorry to be so abrupt, but do you have any magic tools that could be useful?」
「No problem. I’ve got everything ready for you… Lara, bring me that」
「Ye~s. Here you go~」

Lara handed me a piece of paper. But it’s not just any paper, it’s paper with magical powers, rolled up like a parchment.

「What’s this?」
「Simply put, a map」
「A map?」
「It’s a magical tool that records data for you without you having to fill it in yourself」

However, it is helpful to be able to just walk with the map automatically filled. It eliminates the possibility of being attacked by enemies while filling in the map.

「It’s not very easy to use because you have to put a lot of magic into it, but I’m sure Yuan-chan will be fine with it」
「Yes, I’m a bit confident about the amount of magic I have」
「And you can reset the map by saying 【Delete】, so you can use it as many times as you like, so make the most of it, okay?」
「You even have that feature! Can I really borrow such an amazing thing?」
「It’s not a loan, it’s a gift. Because it’s not that expensive」

As Illumina-san says, it seems to be an item that can be bought for as little as one gold coin. For me, one gold coin is a lot of money! All high ranking adventurers seem to have it and it’s not particularly rare, so I was grateful for it.

「And I think you’ll need this, too」
「Is this… a watch?」
「That’s right. You won’t know what time it is when you’re underground」

Indeed. We can judge morning, noon and night by the position of the sun, but of course there is no sun in the underground. If we know the time, we can use it as a guide to rest.

「Well, have a safe trip!」
「Yes, thank you!」
「I’ll be back」

We thanked Illumina-san and left the store. It’s time to start exploring!

「Ue… What is this smell!」
「Impossible」

Once at Luri-chan’s base, we were shown the way to an underground passageway, where we found ourselves in a place where we could not even breathe.

「It can’t be helped, domestic waste water runs through it!」

Luri-chan covers half of her face with a piece of cloth and explains to us.

「In the meantime, I’ll block out the smell!」

A combination of barrier and purification magic is applied to each body. It keeps the dirt out, blocks the smell and, as an added bonus, increases defense.

「It’s not fair, oneechans! To Luri, too!」
「It’s you who’s unfair, Luri-chan. You knew and you didn’t tell us, didn’t you?」
「Because your reactions were fun!」
「It’s punishment for Luri-chan」
「Mu─── !」

But since she took us all the way here, I’ll just put up a barrier for her. It would be a pity if something happened on the way back.

「I want you to get rid of the smell too. The base will smell…」

The cloth that covers half of her face is effective in blocking out the smell, but it doesn’t remove the smell and stains from her clothes.

「Luri, apologize when you did something wrong」
「I understand~ I’m sorry, oneechans」

She bows her head honestly. I can’t be that devilish either, since she’s been helping us in so many ways. So I changed the barrier to a purification magic for Luri-chan too.

「Ehehe, thank you!」
「No, you’ve been very helpful to us」
「So, what about Luri?」
「I’m going back! If I follow oneechans, I will slow you down, so instead I’m going to do what I can!」
「Please don’t be reckless, okay?」
「It’s too late for that!」

I am worried about Luri-chan because she is doing something dangerous to gather information.

「If oneechans work hard, I won’t have to be reckless!」
「Un. Leave it to us」
「We’ll do our best to sort it out as soon as possible」
「Yeah, yeah. Don’t be too hard on yourselves, oneechans! If you die in a place like this, the rats will eat you up and leave nothing but bones and there will be no way to tell you apart!」

She said something that was plain scary! In fact, that’s what will happen if we die here. In secret, without anyone knowing… it’s a sobering thought.

「We’ll be off then」
「Ye~s! See you~!」

We started to go deeper into the underground passage. Well, the goal is not necessarily that far in depth.

「There’s a lot of monster reactions all over the place」
「How do you know?」
「Yes, I can tell by the sensing magic」

The problem is that there are reactions in the sewage. The underground passage is dark and there are no lights. So I am using my light magic to illuminate the way. Fortunately, the waterway and the walkway are separate, so we don’t have to be immersed in sewage, but the pathway is muddy from sprayed sewage.

「Please be prepared for them to attack at any time」
「Un, understood───kyaa!」
「Dangerous」

Soon after, Snow-san almost slipped and fell.

「Please get away from there, both of you!」

They both react to my words and jump.

「Did you see anything moving?」
「That’s slime」

It seemed to be a slime that Snow-san had stepped on unnoticed. The threat level varies depending on the individual, but I think it’s a low threat slime to be found in a place like this. Luri-chan told me that slimes are left as cleaners in places like this because they have the tendency to eat anything and are relatively low risk.

「Ei」

As revenge, Snow-san stabbed the slime with her sword then it melted into jelly and stopped moving.

「Snow-san is amazing!」
「Eh… I don’t think it’s that great?」
「No, you can’t kill a slime without destroying its core, so I think it’s great that you killed it in one blow!」

The threat of slime is low, but it can be difficult to defeat. Even an amateur can beat it eventually if you keep cutting it, but if you want to beat it with one blow, you have to have some experience or be able to see through the core. By the way, I can see the core of the slime with my sensing magic, so I can beat it rather easily! After defeating the slime and moving on, we quickly reached a fork ahead.

「Which way should we go?」
「Whichever」
「That’s right. There’s no dead ends」
「Okay, now that we have the map, let’s go to the left and fill in the gaps」

If we go randomly, we might bump into places we’ve already been once. It seems more efficient, then, to fill it in order as time permits.

「It’s like a dungeon walking around like this」
「Dungeon?」
「Yuan doesn’t know?」
「I don’t know. What about you, Shia-san?」
「I’ve heard stories」
「Have you been in one, Snow-san?」
「I haven’t either. I’ve only heard stories like Rinshia」
「What kind of place are they?」
「Umm… it’s just a story really, you know?」

Monsters are sometimes created by the accumulation of magic power. Rather than being born in dungeons, magic pools are found in ruins and caves, which are called Dungeons.

「There are also rumors of artifacts and valuable weapons in the depths of the dungeons」
「Why is that?」
「Hmm… I don’t know if they were hidden there all along, or if they were created from the magical pool」

According to some theories, it was created by God or by the beings who guard the dungeon.

「The deeper you go into a dungeon, the denser the magic pool gets, and there seem to be powerful monsters in there, which is why they haven’t been properly analyzed yet. I’m not sure if anyone will be able to figure it out unless they go there」

There has been an A-Rank adventurer who conquered the ancient ruins in the past. However, he lost his companions and returned home with wounds. He was forced to retire from adventuring because of his wounds, but it seems that the risks are so high. On the other hand, it’s a dream come true, as there are rumors that the artifacts acquired have made him a fortune that he can live off for the rest of his life.

「I’d like to go to one someday」
「If Yuan wants to go, go」
「I like it. I’m also interested」
「Snow-san, you can come with us!」
「Thank you. But I’m Emeria-sama’s knight. That’s not possible」

Unlike adventurers, she doesn’t have a lot of freedom because her job… well, it’s basically guarding the princess.

「This mission is very special. We don’t have many people who can move, so we have no choice」

Although there seems to be a good number of people in the Empire, there are few people who can move freely away from the Imperial City. Then, it seems, it is inevitable that a reliable escort will be put into action.

「So that’s why, I’m happy to be here with Yuan and Rinshia. Even if it’s only for a while」
「I’m glad to hear that」
「You are welcome to see how good Yuan is」
「Of course I’m happy to be with Rinshia as well. You have a different fighting style compared to me, so I can learn from you」
「It helps that I’m also learning a lot from Snow’s fighting style. And Shia is fine」
「Are you sure?」
「We are friends who are partying together. I don’t mind」
「Fufu, thank you, Shia」
「No need to thank me」

They’re getting to know each other nicely which is good. However, I feel a bit lonely.

「No problem. Yuan is always number one」
「Un, un, I’m not going to take Shia away from Yuan and I’m not going to interfere with Shia, so don’t worry」
「Um, what do you mean?」
「You’ll know soon enough」

I had no idea what she was talking about and was left in the dark. It seems to have something to do with me and Shia-san, but what is it about?

In the end, we continued to go deeper without getting any answers.

Author-san

I finally feel like I’ve made progress.
From here on, time passes a little faster.
If I wrote a description of each day, it would be a bit sloppy.

Thank you for always reading.

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