Mileidi: "Haaah, to think the first people to conquer my dungeon would be this crazy... Whatever, I give up. I'm sending this crazy quartet out of here! You better not come back!"
Just before Hajime could leap at her, a rope suddenly appeared from the ceiling, which Miledi promptly pulled.
—-
"Huh?"
Hajime looked up in confusion, but then he heard that same terrible noise he'd grown to hate.
Clunk!
"Wha—!?"
She'd activated another trap.
A second later, water started rushing into the room from all four walls. Because of the angle it came out at, the room they were in was soon a raging whirlpool of water. At the same time, the magic circle in the center of the room sunk, creating a neat little hole in the floor. The whirlpool started draining into it.
"Hey! You little—"
Hajime stiffened as he realized the humiliation they were about to be subjected to. A circular white room, a hole in its center, and water whirlpooling its way down said hole... Miledi had led them to a massive toilet.
"How about we let this water wash away our animosity too?"
Mini Miledi's mask winked at them.
Annoyed, Yue quickly tried to cast her usual flight spell. Mana in this room didn't get dispersed, possibly because the magic circle was in this room, which was why Yue could easily have lifted them all up despite her depleted mana reserves.
"Up—"
"Nope~"
Before she could finish, however, Miledi stuck out her hand and Hajime and the others felt an enormous weight press down on them. It felt like there was an invisible object trying to crush them. Miledi had increased the weight of the air pressing down on them.
"Bye bye~ Good luck with the other labyrinths!"
"Ugh... Damn you! We're not shit to be flushed down! I swear I'll come back and destroy you!"
"Urgh... I'll never forgive you."
"You're dead, you hear me!? Dead! Fugwaah!"
With those parting remarks, Hajime and the others were sucked down the
massive toilet bowl. Just before he vanished from sight, Hajime chucked something at Miledi in a last desperate act of revenge. Once Hajime and the others had disappeared, the water drained away as fast as it came, leaving the room looking the same as it had before.
"Haah, what a bunch. Still, to think he'd be a Synergist like O-chan... Fufu, it almost feels like fate. Keep struggling for the sake of your dream... Now then, looks like I'll be busy fixing the golems for quite some time... Hm? What's this?"
Miledi wiped nonexistent sweat off her artificial golem brow as she mused to herself. A second later, she noticed something strange at the corner of her sight. There was a knife stuck to the wall with a black object dangling from it. What on earth is that? As she got closer, she realized she recognized that shape.
"Huh!? Wait, isn't this—"
The black object was one of Hajime's hand grenades. Just before he'd disappeared down the drain, Y/n who early on had taken one of hajimes grenades had thrown it as his last act of revenge. Since Miledi has seen it so many times in the dungeon, She recognised what it was instantly. Panicking, she quickly tried to get away. However, manipulating gravity took up large amounts of mana, and Miledi had used all of it up in that last chase, which meant she had no means of softening the explosion.
She tried to make a break for it on foot, but it was already too late. The moment Mini Miledi turned around was when the grenade went off. The entire room was enveloped in light, followed by a massive shockwave.
Miledi's screams echoed throughout the labyrinth. Some time after, there might have been a very depressed golem going around crying as she had to spend even more time repairing her dungeon. Meanwhile, the trio that had been flushed out of the room was currently being carried down a long tunnel by a powerful current. There was no breaks for them to take a breath, so they just got swept along. It took all of their concentration just to stay conscious and avoid crashing into the walls.
They caught sight of a number of shadows passing them by as they were being swept away. Fish. The tunnel they were being funneled through must have connected to a river or lake somewhere. Unlike Hajime and the others, the fish were able to swim against the current and many of them passed the quartet.
One of them even came up to Shea's face as it swam by, keeping pace with her. She looked over at it. Their eyes met. Hers and the fish's. Or rather, what she'd thought was a fish. Though it had the body of one, its face looked like that of an old man. It was a difficult impression to convey, but that was the best way to describe it. Shea had run into a fish with a person's face. Its apathetic expression was oddly reminiscent of the fish in the old game Seaman.
Shea opened her eyes wide in surprise. She almost let out the breath she'd been holding in, but she managed to clamp down on her mouth in time. Still, she couldn't take her eyes off it. The two of them stared each other down as they were swept away by the current. They might have spent all eternity gazing into each other's eyes, but Shea was abruptly interrupted by a voice that popped up in her head.
—What the heck are you staring at?—
It was even accompanied by a mental clicking of the tongue. This time Shea couldn't contain her surprise. She opened her mouth with a garbled scream, letting out the air she'd been holding in. Wait, is this fish a monster of some kind!? One that can use the telepathy skill? But Shea's question would remain forever unanswered as the torrent of water swept them away, while the fish continued swimming in a different direction.
All that was left behind was a white-eyed bunny girl suspended limply in the water, as their party continued to flow down the water for quite a while...
A single carriage escorted by a team of horses plodded down a beaten highway. The horses' hoofbeats punctured the silence at regular intervals. They naturally had people riding them. Three men and one woman, all of them dressed like adventurers.
The carriage was being driven by a fifteen year old girl and a... cross-dresser that resembled a monster.
Crystabel: "Sona-chaaan, there's a spring coming up ahead, so let's take a break there."
Sona: "Alright, Crystabel-san."
Sona Masaka. Despite her strange sounding name, she was an ordinary girl with maybe just a little more curiosity in the more adult side of things than was normal for her age.
The two of them were on their way back to Brooke after an excursion to the next town over with a hired escort of guards. As his giant frame would suggest, Crystabel was insanely strong, so he often went out to collect his own supplies to craft his clothes. This trip, in fact, had one such instance. Sona had come along because one of her relatives in the next town over had gotten pretty badly hurt and her parents were too busy to go, so she'd delivered get well gifts in their place. The adventurers had been on the way back from a quest, so they decided to tag along as well.
They were around a day's ride out from Brooke. The party decided to rest at a nearby spring for the afternoon.
They let the horses drink from the spring while they made preparations for lunch. Sona headed to the spring to get water for the group. The moment she put her canteen into the spring, it started frothing. Gouts of water flew up from its center, splashing the nearby area.
Sona: "Kyaaa!"
Crystable: "Sona-chan!"
Sona let out a surprised shriek and fell back. Crystabel instantly rushed over to protect her, with the other adventurers not far behind. The fountain's spray increased in intensity, creating a column of water rising ten meters high.
This spring was a well known resting place for travelers, and never once had anyone reported something like this happening. Hence why Crystabel, Sona, and the other adventurers gazed on in shock, heedless of the spray that was soaking them. A few seconds later—
Hajime: "Dowaaaaaaa!"
Y/n: "Aaaaaaah!"
Yue: "......"
Three people were spat out of the fountain... two of which screamed as they flew out. Crystabel and the others cried out in surprise. They flew a good ten feet through the air before crashing spectacularly to the ground on the opposite shore.
"......"
Sona: "Wh-What on earth was that..."
Crystabel and the adventurers were shocked speechless, while Sona muttered what they were all thinking.
Y/n: "Ack... Ugh... God, that was terrible. I'm gonna crush that little bitch into pieces, mark my words. Yue, Hajime, Shea, you alright?"
Hajime: "Ack, urgh... Yeah, somehow."
Y/n spat out a string of curses while making sure they were fine. However, only Yue and Hajime responded to him.
Y/n: "Shea? Hey, Shea! Where are you? oh right.."
Hajime: "Shea... where'd you go?"
There was no response.
Y/n: "Hajime go jump in the water."
Hajime looked at Y/n for a few seconds before quickly jumping back into the water and started looking for her.
As he'd expected, Shea was laying at the bottom of the spring. She'd lost consciousness and didn't float because of Drucken's weight.
Hajime pulled a really dense ore out of his Treasure Trove, making him quickly sink to the bottom. Once he'd grabbed Shea, he kicked off the ground and leaped back out.
He dragged her with him to the shore. Then, he laid her on her back and took a closer look at her. She was pale-faced, her eyes had rolled back into her head, and her heart wasn't beating. She must have seen something quite terrifying as her expression was still frozen in one of disgust.
Hajime: "Yue, you've got to give her CPR!"
Yue: "CP what?"
Hajime: "Gah, I mean you need to clear her airway of water and..."
Y/n: "People of this world don't know what that is. Remember we are practically in the stone age of technology."
Hajime: "Huh?"
He didn't know when it was she'd lost consciousness, but at this point time was of the essence. Hajime steeled his resolve and started performing CPR.
Y/n Thoughts: 'Wow... he actually did it.'
Naturally, that meant he would have to do mouth-to-mouth as well.
Yue: "Y/n, I want to try this CPR thing with you too."
Y/n: "Ehh how about when we get to the inn ok?"
Yue: "Mmm"
{Back to Hajime}
You really are just a worthless rabbit. Hajime grimaced, and after a few rounds of CPR, Shea finally started coughing up water. He turned her head to the side so she wouldn't choke on it again. From an outside perspective it looked like he was kissing her passionately.
Y/n was abruptly burning the scene in to his head.
"Hic, ack... Hajime-san?"
"Yep, that's me. Unbelievable, I can't believe you almost got yourself killed—
Mmf!?"
Despite his harsh words, Hajime looked thoroughly relieved. Suddenly, Shea interrupted him by throwing her arms around him and giving him a deep kiss. It was so unexpected that Hajime didn't have any time to move out of the way.
"Mmmf!? Mmmmm!!!"
"Mmmpch... Mmm..."
Shea wrapped her arms and legs around Hajime, locking him in place while she mercilessly ravaged his mouth with her tongue. Her inhuman strength and the leverage her position gave her made it impossible for Hajime to break away.
Somehow, Shea had been aware of all the "kisses" Hajime had given her while he was performing CPR. Perhaps it was a special condition brought on by the fact that Shea had activated her body strengthening right before she'd lost consciousness.
Regardless, Hajime's repeated kisses had flung her into full overdrive mode. She kept Hajime firmly pinned in place while she returned his kisses a hundredfold.
Off to the side Yue looked at Y/n. Tonight, she was going to make sure Y/n spent the whole night with her... She wouldn't let him rest for even a second, not after witnessing such a turning on scene.
Sona: "Wawawah! What's going on!? A-Amazing... they're completely soaked, but they're wrapping around each other so passionately... A-And... they're doing it all outside! These people aren't normal!"
That exclamation came from none other than the easily excitable girl, Sona. Next to her, Crystabel muttered
Crystable: "Oh? isn't that the... Duke of sin was it?..."
It seemed he remembered Him. Off to the side, the three male adventurers were burning up with jealousy, and it was with great effort that they managed to keep their swords in their sheaths. The single female adventurer gave them a withering glare.
Shea was still half-delirious from passion and near-death euphoria. She panted heavily as she kissed Hajime, until finally he got so fed up that he lifted himself to his feet, taking Shea with him. He then grabbed Shea's plump butt, giving it a firm squeeze.
Shea: "Aahn!"
She let out a garbled moan. In that second, her ironclad grip loosened. Hajime peeled her off and flung her into the spring.
Shea: "Ugyaaaaah!"
He watched as she fell into the spring with a tremendous splash. Then, he took a few seconds to catch his breath and comb his hair back.
Hajime: "I-I was careless. I didn't think she'd come at me like that... just after regaining consciousness."
Hajime watched as she lumbered out of the spring like a banshee, her bangs covering her face, and shivered.
Shea: "Uuuu... How cruel. Hajime-san, you're the one that started it."
Hajime: "Excuse me? I'll have you know that that is just a lifesaving technique, nothing more... and wait, you were conscious that whole time?"
Shea: "Well, I'm not exactly sure... but I could kind of tell what was going on. Just that you were kissing me over and over, Hajime-san! Uhehehe."
Hajime: "Please stop laughing creepily like that. Look, I only did that to save your life, nothing more. Don't get any weird ideas, okay?"
Shea: "Really? But a kiss is still a kiss. At this rate you might really fall for me!"
Hajime: "Like hell I will. And Y/n.. What are you LAUGHING AT??"
At the sidelines you could see Y/n burning from laughter honestly this scene seeing in real life was 10 times more funnier than reading or watching it in the anime.
Hajime Finally turned to Crystabel and the others. They'd been staring at them this whole time.
His gaze passed over the four adventurers, stopped for a second at Sona, and returned to her after he took one look at Crystabel. He'd like to pretend he never saw Crystabel at all.
Sona jumped with a start when she realized Hajime was looking at her, then blushed bright red.
Sona: "S-Sorry for interrupting you two! D-Don't mind us. By all means, please continue!"
She turned around to run, but Crystabel grabbed her by the scruff of the neck before she could. She then walked up to Hajime and the others. Hajime nervously stepped backwards, but Y/n recognised the man/
Y/n: "Oh, hey, you're the shop owner."
It appeared he knew him.
After they sorted everything out, They discovered they'd been spat out a day's ride from Brooke, so they decided to head back there with Crystabel and the others. Crystabel offered to let them ride in their carriage, which they happily accepted. They changed out of their soaked clothes and chatted amicably with the others as they rode back. The sound of hoofbeats became the soundtrack of their travels as the warm rays of the sun smiled down upon them.
Together with their newfound comrade, Y/n and his party had cleared their second labyrinth.
Y/n laid down in the back of the carriage. Warmed by the sun, he smiled faintly as he thought of all the travels that still yet awaited them.
——
End of Chapter.
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Next Time: Arc 1 Epilogue / Start of Arc 2.
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This story is inspired by 'filip1500' and their fan fiction "The Archbishop of the Jura Tempest Federation"). (And a fan fiction by "SFK_15" 'Shouldn't I be in hell???')
Again thank you so much for reading and ill see you soon with a new chapter.
This Chapter was published on 15/09/21.
(I do not own Re:Zero nor Arifureta)