"Um... is that okay? Don't push yourself, I don't mind stopping here either."
Yunyun's face was as red as a beetroot, and she was twisting her body, likely extremely embarrassed by her previous action.
"...It's okay. D-don't worry about it."
It seemed Yunyun had probably created a cringe-worthy memory that would make her face burn with embarrassment every time she recalled it for the rest of her life. Anyway, after calming Yunyun down, we set off again.
After moving for about 30 minutes, we arrived at the Kobold nest marked on the map. Kobolds, except for special variants, are monsters about as small as goblins. Individually they aren't much in a fight, but they live in groups in caves, mine ore, and have enough intelligence to wear crude metal equipment. When hunting, they move in packs, and once they establish a nest, they become quite a nuisance.
Hiding nearby and observing, about five Kobolds were guarding the cave entrance, which was likely the nest.
"Yunyun, can you hide here for a bit? I'll look around to see if there's another entrance."
"Yes, understood. Please be careful."
I quietly scouted around to see if there was perhaps another entrance.
"I don't see another entrance. Seeing there's only this one, the scale doesn't seem that large."
When the Kobold race settles in a cave, they start mining ore, and if the group's scale is or becomes large, they make openings here and there for air circulation or convenience. So by looking at the number of entrances, you could roughly predict the group's scale.
"Let's deal with the ones at the entrance first. Just support me with Paralyze (Paralysis magic) so I can take them out quietly."
"Understood."
I used the Kilo Kilo Fruit to reduce my weight as much as possible, jumped onto the cave roof, landed quietly behind the Kobolds, and instantly slashed down the two near the entrance.
Kreek?
At that sound, as the remaining Kobolds turned around in surprise, I used Flash Step to move quickly to the closest one and struck its neck. The remaining two were hit by Yunyun's Paralyze magic, frozen like statues without even being able to scream. With the thought, 'As expected, Yunyun's skills are reliable!' I quickly finished off the last remaining Kobold.
"Now, is it time to explore the cave with a comrade?"
Yunyun, who had been hiding, approached with a bright expression as if expecting something.
Seeing Yunyun with the expression of a child excited before riding a rollercoaster, I almost let my guard down too.
"Kobolds are intelligent monsters, so there might be traps. Let's go in while being careful of our surroundings."
"Understood."
"I'll take the front. Yunyun, watch the rear."
"Leave it to me."
We began to slowly enter the dark cave.
"Light."
When Yunyun cast a light spell, the inside of the cave brightened.
Going a bit further, I felt something odd about the ground ahead. Looking closely, it seemed slightly higher than the surrounding terrain, and the color of the soil was a bit different. It looked like something had been covered with dirt.
"Yunyun, there seems to be a trap ahead."
When I tapped the odd-looking ground with my scabbard, it gave way with a 'whoosh,' revealing sharpened wooden stakes densely planted below.
"There might be more traps like this. If you see anything strange while moving, let me know."
"Yes."
Yunyun, also seemingly tense after seeing the trap, swallowed and answered.
As we bypassed the trap and continued forward, a spacious area with light seeping out came into view, and the sounds of multiple Kobolds began to be heard. It seemed there were no more traps.
"Yunyun, turn off the light and wait a moment. I'll go take a look."
When I told Yunyun, she nodded as if understanding and turned off the light. I moved quietly, peeked slightly, and surveyed the situation inside.
About 30 Kobolds, unaware of our arrival, were engrossed in digging the ground or sorting ore by torchlight. Among them were about four Kobold Warriors the size of an adult man. I moved back to Yunyun and informed her of this fact.
"What do we do now?"
"They don't know we're here and are only focused on work, so if we ambush them, we can deal significant damage and start the fight. Yunyun, since the cave is dark, please attack mainly with fire magic."
"Understood."
"And since some might try to run away, when the fight starts, block the entrance and fight. I'll try to block them as much as I can too."
We finished preparing for the ambush inside the narrow passage leading into the cavern. When I gave the signal, Yunyun and I leaped into the cavern.
Yunyun fired consecutive 'Fireballs,' and I jumped and started indiscriminately unleashing 'Fuumetsuzan.'
Fwoomp~!!
Keeek!, Kueeek~!
The Kobolds, caught by the sudden ambush, couldn't even put up proper resistance and died. After that ambush killed more than half the Kobolds, a few came to their senses and picked up weapons.
"Where do you think~!"
I used 'Flash Step' to move to the ones with weapons and quickly dealt with them. The remaining ones, perhaps scared, gave up fighting and tried to flee toward the entrance, but Yunyun skillfully mixed Freeze and Paralyze to bind their feet.
"Well done! Yunyun!"
Thanks to Yunyun binding them well, we could easily finish off the remaining ones without much effort.
"Whew~ Good work. Our teamwork is pretty good, right? Thanks to that, it was an easy hunt."
"Heheh~ It's all thanks to you, Cassian."
Looking around the Kobold nest, we found iron ore and copper ore piled up in a corner. It was a large amount for such a small nest.
"Wow~ We're lucky today, aren't we?"
"Indeed. But it seems it will be hard to carry it all."
"Don't worry, I have an inventory item."
Anticipating something like this, I always wore a small bag at my side to avoid misunderstandings. I pretended to put the ores into the bag while actually placing them in my inventory.
"Let's head back now."
"Yes~"
We only managed to arrive at the village by evening. As we entered the village, there was a noisy commotion, and people had gathered around, whispering about something.
Wondering what was happening, I went to look and saw Megumin, covered in transparent slime, clinging to Kazuma's shoulder, and Aqua, similarly covered in transparent slime.
"Hey! Let go! Weren't you abandoned by another party too!?"
"No other party will take me now! I'll do anything, even be a porter! Please! Don't abandon me!!!"
Kazuma tried to peel off the clinging Megumin, but Megumin clung on even harder.
"That man is trying to abandon a small girl." "Look, he also has a girl covered in slime with him." "Playing with such a small child and then discarding her, isn't he complete trash?" "Look, both girls are all sticky. What kind of play did he do, that pervert?"
As people gathered and looked at Kazuma with contemptuous eyes while talking, the clinging Megumin, with an 'this is it' expression, shouted even louder.
"Any kind of play is fine! Even that sticky play we did earlier with the frog..."
A panicked Kazuma hurriedly covered Megumin's mouth and said.
"Uwaaaah~~! Okay, fine! I get it! Nice to meet you from now on!!"
'Ugh... Should I just pretend not to see and walk past?'
Then Yunyun, who was also watching, recognized that Megumin and called her name.
"Eh! Megumin!"
"Huh? Yunyun?"
Kazuma and Aqua, hearing Yunyun's voice, spotted us and looked over. Thanks to Yunyun, it seemed I missed the timing to just ignore them and walk past.
"Kazuma, Aqua..."
"Stop!! Don't say any more. Somehow I feel like I'll become even more miserable if I hear more!"
"Ahem... Alright."
Kazuma looked at Yunyun once and then
"And who's the person next to you?"
"Ah, she's a party member I found today. Her name's Yunyun, a very capable mage."
"N-no, not to that extent... Heheh~ Calling me a capable mage."
Yunyun seemed unsure if she was embarrassed or happy about the praise.
"And what about that young lady over there?"
"This one is..."
"I'll introduce myself!"
Megumin, who was being carried by Kazuma, cut him off, got down, and suddenly struck a pose. Despite being covered in frog slime, which made the pose not cool at all,
"My name is Megumin! One who makes Arch Wizard her profession and wields the strongest attack magic, Explosion!"
'To see this in real life...'
"Now! Yunyun should introduce herself too!"
Megumin pointed at Yunyun.
"Ugh... I am..."
"Come on! Hurry up!"
"Hmph, fine! It's embarrassing in front of strangers, but..."
Yunyun cleared her throat and struck a pose like something from a superhero team.
"My name is Yunyun! As an Arch Wizard, though still intermediate, one who can wield advanced magic! One who will someday become the leader of the Crimson Demons!"
"Anyway, she is Yunyun. The daughter of the Crimson Demon chief, who calls herself my rival."
"Then why did you make me do it?!"
Ignoring Yunyun, Megumin looked at me.
"And this person here?"
"My name is Cassian! One who dreams of being a hero who cuts the heavens as an adventurer! One who will someday slay the Demon King!"
I struck Michael Jackson's Billie Jean moonwalk pose. Instead of putting a hand on a hat, I slightly covered my face with it.
"Ooh~!" "Whoa~!"
Clap clap clap!
Megumin and Yunyun applauded for me.
"Ahem... Cassian isn't this kind of character."
Kazuma and Aqua made expressions as if they had seen something they shouldn't have.
"Hahaha~ I tried copying it because the Crimson Demons' introductions are fun."