Episode 26 -Side Nagumo (3) Anger

6 minutes

“Nagumo-kun! Please, help me!” -Hazumi’s Group Member

“God! Nagumo-sama! Yuzen-sama!” -Hazumi’s Group Member

“Don’t cling to me! Annoying! And stop calling me by my name!”  -Nagumo

They were a group of guys whose faces couldn’t be described as cool. Over 30 and still virgins, they were the pathetic type who’d say, “Thanks to that, I’ve become a wizard.” They always depended on me when they had trouble in the dungeon, especially annoying during the 10th floor.

“I can’t find the stairs to go down. Help me look for them.” -Hazumi

“Why should I? Old man, find them yourself.” -Nagumo

“Don’t be like that. If I can get to the 11th floor, she said she’d marry me. But at this rate, it’s impossible. I’ve been searching for over a month.”  -Hazumi

“Hazumi, you’re about to be dumped again, huh? Even with a higher level, still an ugly guy.” -Nagumo

“Is it the face!? Is it really all about the face in this world!?” -Hazumi

“Fine, just this time.” -Nagumo

“I love you, Nagumo-kun!” -Hazumi

They were a clingy and annoying group of four old men. But since I had never been relied on by anyone before, it didn’t feel too bad to be needed, and I ended up helping them. Even then, I was warned, “Stay away from that old hag.” But I found it just annoying.

“Can you please stop Hazumi and the others? I’m not asking you to kill them. There are already over 100 victims.”

“I’ll warn them. Is that enough?” -Nagumo

“Just a warning…”

“If you have a complaint, why don’t you guys catch them?” -Nagumo

“N-no, thank you for your help.”

That’s when things started to get weird.

Why was that?

I remember they found the stairs to the 10th floor, but then he said, “I killed my girlfriend.” Apparently, she had been deceiving him. She was the type to cheat with three or four guys, and when he returned home, he found her in bed with another man.

He said he killed her in a moment of rage.

“It’s a masterpiece. At 35, I thought I finally lost my virginity, but that woman was trash. Well, killing her lover was too much. He was just a civilian and hit me for surpassing the 10th floor.” -Hazumi

“A civilian did?” -Nagumo

“Yes, he hit me because of my ugly face, saying, ‘You can’t be an explorer.’ I hit back a little, and both the woman and he ended up dead.” -Hazumi

“Did you tell the police?” -Nagumo

“No, I ran away in panic. But Japanese police are competent, they say. If I’m going to get caught, I want to lighten my sentence, so I’m thinking of turning myself in. I’ll be eating prison food for a while.” -Hazumi

“Can’t be helped. You killed someone. Hazumi, serve your sentence and come out properly.” -Nagumo

“Ah, prison food must be terrible. Nagumo-san, will you still be friends with me when I get out?” -Hazumi

“Sure, why not. Next time, I’ll introduce you to a better woman.” -Nagumo

“I love you, Nagumo-san!” -Hazumi

He started calling me ‘san’ even though he was twice my age. Well, I couldn’t really speak about not understanding women, but despite his unattractive face and being a good guy at heart, I felt sorry for him because he couldn’t choose the right women.

“Nagumo-san. It seems I’m not getting arrested.” -Hazumi

“What?” -Nagumo

However, Hazumi turned himself in and confessed his crime, but he wasn’t arrested. Instead, it turned out that the other party was at fault, and Hazumi’s actions were deemed self-defense. This surely wouldn’t have been possible in the first year after the dungeons appeared.

No matter how much of an explorer he was, he should have been arrested. But Hazumi wasn’t. They started exploring in the third year after the dungeons appeared. By the time they surpassed the 10th floor, the fear of explorers was widely recognized in society.

It was around this time that the Self-Defense Forces were utterly defeated by high-level explorers. There was also an incident where an explorer in a cell killed all the guards and enabled all the prisoners to escape. I later learned that the police had given up on putting explorers in cells.

“Can we do anything we want?” -Hazumi

“Don’t be stupid. If you don’t keep it moderate, that old hag will chop off our bits.” -Nagumo

“The ‘Mountain Witch of the Dungeon,’ right? She’s scary. We really must maintain some decency.” -Hazumi

They were saying such things, so I thought it was okay. I believed they wouldn’t kill anyone anymore. But I was wrong. And moreover,

“Nagumo-san. It’s terrible.”

“What do you want, you annoying woman? Don’t talk to me so casually.” -Nagumo

“Don’t be angry, please. The children from the other day, Hazumi and the others are targeting them. There’s a rumor in Ikebukuro about ‘a newcomer who brought in an extremely cute girl last night.’ Hazumi and his group are talking about killing a woman in front of that newcomer.”

“You’re not lying, are you?” -Nagumo

“I-I wouldn’t dare lie to you.”

“Sigh.” -Nagumo

I let out a deep sigh, left the dungeon, and saw it was snowing. I was grateful to the sky that even such fools had someone to cry for them. I took out my phone.

“What’s up? It’s rare for you to call me.” -Utsugi Fumiko

“Old hag. I killed Hazumi and the others. All four of them.” -Nagumo

“That’s quite a decision. I thought if you couldn’t do it, I would.” -Utsugi Fumiko

“It was a seed I sowed. I never thought they would go after kids… I heard the women they killed were just after their money.” -Nagumo

“Nobody can judge whether the other person is a fool. What’s wrong with being after money? Do you hate money?” -Utsugi Fumiko

“I didn’t say that.” -Nagumo

“That’s why I told you to ‘stay away.’” -Utsugi Fumiko

“I… I regret it.” -Nagumo

“That’s good to hear. But I bet you’ll end up trying to help some kids you like.” -Utsugi Fumiko

“They… they should be fine.” -Nagumo

“Just keep it moderate. Spoiling kids never ends well.” -Utsugi Fumiko

After talking with the old hag for a while, I hung up.

“I became an explorer to be free…” -Nagumo

I stepped outside, and the sunrise was beginning. The winter air felt exceptionally cold.

Muttering complaints, I removed the ring. The same one I gave to Yuuta. A ring that changes my form, no matter what I become. Flames leaked from my body, evaporating the snow and the tears from my eyes.

The content of the call from the dungeon shop’s annoying woman flashed through my mind again.

“I called because I was told to, but are you planning to kill Hazumi and the others? I don’t think even the police want them dead. The rumor is they changed after they started going in and out of Yokohama.”

Yokohama, huh? You’ve changed a lot…

“Yuzen. Don’t you think people should live for their strongest desires?”

“Why did it come to this…” -Nagumo

My false human body transformed into another being. My whole body was enveloped in bright red, blazing flames. Ah, I realized I was angry.

“Toyokuni… I’m coming to see you now.” -Nagumo

With the sunrise behind me, I soared high into the sky.

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