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“That one is too small. The threads wouldn’t be strong enough.”
“Looks like that one is lacking some nutrients.”
“Too bad. That one isn’t a Huge Crawler but a Poison Crawler.”

Aste’s complaints grew more and more relentless, and we were already on our tenth one. While it was clear that he could fight, it was still a bit awkward to have him take the front so I ended up taking the initiative. Though honestly, I was quite tired already.

“Um, excuse me, but this one has a certain stamina problem, so can we let Reid rest for a bit?”
“Hmm? Oh, right. I thought that was the case too.”
“You thought?”

Aste seemed like he saw through my frail disposition, so I asked in return. But after giving it another thought, I realized it wasn’t hard to figure out that a 10-year-old kid would be lacking stamina.

“Well…”
“Actually, nevermind. You can tell by looking. It seems that I got tired more than I thought.”
“You even had plenty of sleep at noon.”
“Fainting and sleeping aren’t the same!”

I shouted in anger towards Maxwell’s carefree comment. It seemed that I was in a bit of a bad mood due to my fatigue. Seeing that, Aste decided to accept the suggestion to take a break.

“Right. I’m making a kid run around and work hard in the middle of a night. If my wife heard about it, she’d yell at me.”
“Wh-!? Dude, you were married?”
“I’ll have you know I’m quite old. I have been married a few times throughout my life.”
“I really can’t judge you based on your appearance, huh…”

I grumbled at Aste, who looked youthful enough that you couldn’t decide whether he was middle-aged or a youth. There were so many people around me that looked younger than they actually were, be it him or Maria.

“Sorry, I was just trying to show off. I’ve only married once in my life.”
“I don’t care about that part.”

After I dismissed him with all I had, he started spreading the sheets in the passage with a somewhat dejected face. He was so well prepared I was tempted to ask him where the hell did he even get those from.

He even offered me water that he brought with a water pouch, so I felt nothing but gratitude.

“Huh, lemon?”
“Yeah. If you put a peel of it inside, the water will gain acidity and help relieve fatigue.”
“Still, this water is quite delicious. It feels as if it permeates my entire body!”
“This water is something that seeped out from the roots of this World Tree. The so-called World Tree sap, if you will. It has a guaranteed fatigue recovery effect.”
“Wha-!? Where in the world did you get something so valuable from!?”

Something like the World Tree sap could be sold to some enthusiasts for ridiculous amounts. Maria who was a deep believer of the World Tree, for example, would empty her pockets to get it. In short, it was something extremely dangerous.

But the fact was that it really could get rid of fatigue, and that’s what was important.

“Well, I’ve challenged this place in the past.”
“So… You were an Adventurer, after all. That explains your power. But that aside, Maxwell.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you acting so polite towards this guy?”

Hearing my question, Maxwell furrowed his brows and sighed. Then, he explained the reason with an exasperated voice.

“Reid, you are a first-class assassin, so you should be aware of the importance of seeing through someone’s ability.”
“Well, of course.”
“We magicians are the same. Seeing through the opponents’ ability is the matter of life and death. I dare say… Sir Aste is a magician of my level or perhaps even higher.”
“Huh?”

This guy was a magician? Well, he was making magic tools… But he was a magician despite his crazy physical strength? That destructive power might even give Lyell some trouble. Someone like that was a magic practitioner of the same rank as Maxwell? Are you joking?

“Uhh, haha, nice joke?”
“That was not a joke.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”

I turned my head towards Aste to seek confirmation. However, he feigned ignorance while drinking his water. He was even more easygoing than Maxwell in a way.

“Well then, let’s take a 20-minute rest in turns. I’ll stand to watch first. Next, Maxwell. Are you fine with that?”
“What about me?”
“Reid, aren’t you the most tired out of us? You take the full 40-minute rest.”
“Khh… The fact that I can’t even deny it makes me feel pathetic.”
“Every person has things they are good and bad at. The current you isn’t cut out for long battles. Resting when one must rest is one of the qualities that Adventurers should have.”
“You are clearly more experienced here, so I’ll take you up on that offer and rest.”

The inside of this World Tree was so difficult it was considered the ultimate goal of the Adventurers. I wasn’t such a big fool as to ignore Aste’s words, who claimed to be knowledgeable about this place.

If an experienced person was advising you to do something appropriate for the situation, you had to treat their words with importance. I put my mantle over me and lied down on the sheets.

The next time I opened my eyes, Maxwell’s lookout was about to reach its end.

“Huh, when did I…”
“Your ability to fall asleep so fast is proof that you’re still a kid.”
“Shut it.”

In an attempt to hide my embarrassment, I threw the coat I was using as a blanket at Maxwell. But it caught on my body and didn’t fly as far I imagined. It fluttered in the air and fell down on Aste.

“Mgh…”
“Ah, my bad. Did I wake you up?”

Reacting to it, Aste opened his eyes. It seemed like he was a much lighter sleeper than I thought. Well, if he was good enough to challenge this place, that much was to be expected.

“It’s okay, you woke me up at a good time. Well then, without delay, let’s…”

He quickly got up. His consciousness instantly awakened in full and shifted gears towards work. However, before he managed to finish his sentence, a scream coming from the inner parts of the labyrinth interrupted him.

“HIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!”

It was a long, creaking noise that left a trailing note. It filled the labyrinth passages and spread all the way.

“What was that!?”
“It looked like a scream of a Huge Crawler… But it seemed somewhat cornered.”
“So something might be attacking it, is it?”

Maxwell added his own thoughts to Aste’s analysis. Huge Crawlers weren’t such strong foes in relation to this floor. When monsters fought among themselves, they often ended up being the prey.

“We came all this way to capture one, so it’d be a pain if they start getting attacked.”
“True. We haven’t found one that’s the right size so far, and we can’t scratch out the possibility of this one being it.”
“Then, shall we go save it at once?”

It wasn’t like we were the ones being attacked, so we were quite casual about it. Besides, the one that needed to be saved was a monster, so we weren’t so impatient about it.

As such, we just ran towards the source of the voice in a somewhat relaxed manner.