When everyone had their fill, it became time for our group to head out. While I was cleaning up, the women who had been sitting comfortably around the fire all stood up. I turned to look at them, and then my eyes went up and up. The five-woman group consisted of five women who were all exceptionally tall. I knew they were big women, but they had been sitting, and thus I hadn’t noticed how big they actually were. The smallest woman was about six and a half feet tall, while the leader was nearly eight feet. It was to the level she had to crouch to leave the safe room.
My head only came to just under her chest. If she stood next to me, her breast would be resting on my head. I couldn’t help but look, my mouth slightly open. When noticing my eyes, the men who were also standing up to use the kiosk turned out to be only a little taller than me, and smaller than the women by far.
“Haha… you’ve never seen an Ostera before?” The lead male laughed.
“Ostera?” I murmured. “Is that like the Esmere?”
The tall woman in front snorted. “How are we like the Esmere? Those guys are tiny!”
“Ostera come from the Ost Republic. To be fair, your countries are right next to each other.”
“Hmph..” She frowned. “The mountains divide us from them. Esmere is all hills. Ost Republic is full of beautiful fields.”
“Y-you guys are from the Ost Republic!” I was genuinely surprised at this point.
“Do you have a problem with that?” Her eyes narrowed.
“Ah… this river goes straight into Ost Republic territory… they can boat right to the Mirror Labyrinth. Any attempt to put together a force to stop them would alarm the sea creatures and cause them to attack. So, this island is considered neutral territory, and both sides have decided to not fight on this ground.” Miki spoke up hastily.
The Ostera woman snorted. “At least you know that much.”
“Adventurers know no country.” The large man folded his arms. “It’s considered bad form for Dungeon Divers to hold grudges while in a dungeon.”
“It’s fine!” I shook my head. “I was just a bit surprised is all.”
I managed to smooth things over with everyone. The three men bid farewell and prepared to take the kiosk down to the 20th level. They were planning on trying to break through the 25th on this trip. Harem and her boys decided to stay in the room a little longer before heading down to the 15th. I decided to ask why everyone was here. It turned out it was exactly to meet and hang out with other divers.
Everyone worth diving could get to the 1st floor, so it was a good place for everyone to meet. It was customary for them to remain on the 1st floor during their safe zone downtime. There, they could greet newcomers and say farewell to those leaving. It helped them keep a pulse on what was going on with the outside world, and there was also talk about the 1st floor having less of a pressure than the lower floors. I didn’t know what they meant, but the others nodded as if this made sense, so it must be a psychological thing. Being around other people and returning to a place where you could leave if you wanted to must comfort them a bit.
As rough as these guys seemed, they wouldn’t have bothered to head up to the 1st floor if they didn’t want to interact with people. It turned out they were good guys after all.
“Hey, before you leave…”
“Oi! What are you doing?”
I cast a spell on him.
“Hey… this ain’t bad… wait, you’re a Priest or something?”
“No, I’m a White Mage… we can heal.”
Everyone seemed impressed. I ended up healing and refreshing everyone, including the girls who were now leaving with us.
“You’re not so bad, kid. Go sink your teeth into Dirage. If you can get down to the 20th floor, look us up, and I’ll show you around the Mirror Labyrinth.”
“I’ll do my best.” I bowed, even though I was confident we could probably get to the 30th without too much issue.
Demon’s Head left through the kiosk. After that, we bid Harem’s Boys goodbye, and I finally left the safe room with Titan’s Fall.