Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash Vol. 2

10. You're Supposed to be Lame

When they descended the well's rope ladder to level five, the first thing that struck Haruhiro was—It's hot.

It had been chilly, if anything, in the first four levels, but things were different here in the fifth. The temperature was clearly higher.

The reason for that soon became apparent. The tunnels of the fifth level were lined with furnaces, large and small. The ore they mined was brought here to be smelted. The fifth level was the refinery.

Of course, that meant there were kobold workers busily at work at the furnaces that were operational. That said, not all of the furnaces were currently in operation. Some furnaces weren't turned on, and there was what looked like a place for the workers to take breaks.

Some places were full of kobolds, while others were quieter. Every once in a while, an elder or worker would wander along. There were good places where that happened, too, which were perfect for volunteer soldiers.

Merry knew some of those good areas, so Haruhiro and the others decided to take up positions around one.

It was at the end of a tunnel, but it wasn't a dead end: for some reason, the path looped back around in a circle. It was a long way from any of the operational furnaces, but the workers' break area and elders' watch post weren't far from it. Maybe they were using it as a place to go for a walk to relax, because apparently kobolds showed up here once in a while.

Haruhiro and the others lay in wait for them.

...They're not coming, he thought.

"Ngrargh!" Losing his patience, Ranta let out a weird cry.

Yume made a big show of sighing. "If waitin's so hard for ya, why don't ya go take a nap or somethin'?"

"Yeah, and when I do, I bet you're planning to take the opportunity to abandon me here!" Ranta snarled.

"Good guess."

"Yeah, I'm a good guesser, Tiny Tits. I know how you think. I see right through you!"

"Don't call them tiny!" Yume screamed.

"When you say it like that, what kind of idiot wouldn't do it? They're tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiiiiiny!"

"Murrrrrgh..."

"Y-Yume..." Shihoru patted Yume on the back. "Um, I don't think your breasts are tiny..."

"Oooh," Yume moaned. "Shihoru, it's no comfort hearin' that from someone who has really big breasts."

"Huh...? I-I'm just fat... But, I'm sorry..."

"Nuh-uh. Yume's the one who oughta be sorry. Don't you worry about it. You didn't make your breasts grow that big, Shihoru, and Yume didn't make Yume's breasts small, either. Besides, y'know, Yume's a hunter, so she uses a bow every once in a loooong while. When she does that, if her breasts were too big, she kind of thinks they might get in the way."

"...Well... You could be right, yeah..."

"See? Bein' a hunter may have been Yume's callin' in life..."

"Oh, come on, that's your reason...?" Ranta snorted.

Haruhiro didn't entirely disagree with Ranta's sentiment, but he decided not to touch the subject.

Just let it go. Let it go. Let it go.

While he was sitting there building experience points to get his Let It Go skill up to the next level, Haruhiro sensed something coming.