After Inari’s blaze had thoroughly reduced the Woodmen to ash and the magic stones were gathered, Ririka raised her hand sharply.
“Yes, Ririka?”
“Wouldn’t it be way easier if we just set the whole forest on fire now?”
“Hm? Shall we try?”
“Inari, stop. Ririka’s idea is rejected!”
“Ehh—”
Ririka pouted, but Eri had the most obvious reason.
“Sure, maybe Inari could do it, and honestly I kind of want to, but—”
“But?”
“…If we let her, the report we file will say: ‘Inari did everything by herself.’ Now, who here wants to write that?”
At Eri’s words, the entire maid squad instantly averted their gazes. Yes, that would be bad. Everyone realized it.
It was fine that Inari was incredible. She was so overwhelmingly incredible that all they could say was “amazing.”
But if they went home and wrote, “Inari was amazing and did it all by herself”—that would be disastrous. Specifically, their contributions would be judged as worthless.
Once Eri confirmed everyone understood, she nodded.
“Exactly. If we let things go this way, we’re the useless maids who dumped everything on Inari! We came all the way to Karuizawa—do you really want our report to look like that!? I don’t! I want to show we achieved something too, and I want Inari to see us shine!”
“That’s true…!”
“Then there’s only one thing to do!”
“Fufu, never thought I’d be taught this lesson by Eri here.”
“Let’s do it. We’re members of Servant Uniform Workshop too!”
“Everyone…!”
Overcome with emotion, they hugged each other. Inari watched, not really understanding, but the atmosphere was good so she simply stayed quiet.
“I scarce understand… but they struggle with many things, it seemeth.”
“Inari, Inari.”
“Mu?”
Still clinging together, Eri beckoned her over. As Inari approached, a space opened and she was pulled into the embrace.
“Er… what is this now?”
“I thought it’d be wrong to leave Inari out of the good vibes. For team-building, you know.”
“…So that is how it is, hm.”
Leaving that aside, they re-formed their formation and pressed deeper into the forest.
“Right above—Woodman, dropping down!”
“[Flame Arrow]!”
Jane spotted a Woodman falling from a branch with a knife in hand. Ririka’s flaming arrow met it mid-air, burning it to nothing.
“Kokokokokokooo!”
“Ko-ko-ko-ko-ko!”
“Kakakakakakaa!”
“Shizuna!”
“Leave it to me… Cherry Blossom Scattering Wind!”
At Eri’s signal, Shizuna darted forward. With a flurry of phantom petals, countless slashes ripped the charging Woodmen apart. Magic stones scattered across the ground.
“Oooh… truly, that is a fine technique.”
Inari had seen top-ranked awakener during the urban legend incident, but their power hadn’t seemed so unreachable. Still, she suspected each—especially Shion and Tsukiko—kept hidden trump cards.
Whatever the truth, the party advanced smoothly, cutting down Woodmen along the way.
Then they arrived at another village. But unlike before, this one was a complete ruin, its houses collapsed to rubble.
“Jane, the map?”
“Auto-mapping’s been recording, but… this is a different location than the first.”
“Anyone hear about there being two villages?”
“Nope!”
“I checked alternate info sources before—we didn’t miss that kind of detail.”
Just as Ririka and Shizuna said, no such report existed. So what was this place?
“…Full perimeter alert. Inari, please cover the rear.”
“Understood.”
Something was wrong. It was a clear danger sign.
An awakener who ignored such signs died early in a dungeon. Eri’s group knew that well.
They heightened their vigilance, scanning for anything unusual.
And then—Eri caught sight of something bursting from the forest. She raised her shield.
Claws raked against it, deflected. The creature leapt back, then lunged again.
“[Force Shield]!”
“Graaaahh!?”
It was knocked back by the wall of light—a humanoid with the head of a wolf. A werewolf.
At least, one that had never been reported in this dungeon.
It threw back its head and howled.
“AwooOOOOO!”
From the forest, more werewolves surged forth—and with them, a massive one with silver fur.
“A boss…? But wasn’t the boss here—”
“Wood Golem.”
“Exactly. So this must be a rare spawn?”
“Except we never heard werewolves could even appear here—!?”
The pack closed in. Before the team could settle on a plan, the ground shook.
From a short distance away, a massive humanoid figure appeared. The Wood Golem—this dungeon’s proper boss.
And it was coming straight toward them.
“Atsuage, mine apologies, but couldst thou handle yonder foe?”
From Inari’s robe, Atsuage leapt forth—charging straight toward the Wood Golem.