536 Are You Guys Going To Apologise?

I placed my hand on the wall beside the stairs and made use of the function to return me to the surface.

Once that was set, I ascended the stairs, leaving behind the empty cavern that had once been filled with skeletons but was now just an empty cavern.

Following behind me were several summons with all the bones of the boss and Mana Crystals I had gathered tied up in a big bundle on their backs.

Why am I even carrying those bones? Well… You never know whether things like this can be used as materials for crafting or even just sold for money, right?

Anyway, when I reached the end of the stairs, I found myself at the entrance of the Dungeon.

I looked around, realising that I was completely alone, ignoring my summons behind me of course.

Hmm… Have they come out of the Dungeon yet? The boss fight did not take that long but I'm pretty sure I spent close to half an hour or even an hour to gather up all the materials before getting out of there.

Looking down at the snow… I could see there were tracks coming towards the Dungeon which should belong to us when we were coming here… But there were none leaving from the entrance.

No wait, there's a few, but those are quite faint so those must be from the first time they left to find me and aren't recent tracks.

So they have not left the Dungeon it seems… And I doubt any of them could fly so they are most likely still inside the Dungeon right now.

Perfect, that means I can just wait for them outside here.

Though I have to wonder… Why aren't they out yet? Don't tell me they went deeper inside the Dungeon despite having one less member?

Crap… Don't tell me they got too overconfident and got themselves killed while inside the Dungeon?

Ugh… I guess I'll just wait outside for a while and see if they emerge… If they don't, I'll just leave a lookout here or something before going back in to check.

I directed my summons to drop all the monster parts on the ground before I settled myself to wait.

Thankfully, my dress was enchanted to withstand the cold so it wasn't that bothersome for me to sit in the snow while I stared at the entrance of the Dungeon.

The thought that I might wait outside here pointlessly crossed my mind for a moment but I decided that this was worth the possibility of dealing with them myself.

Ugh… If I had my Pack of Folding with me, I could have taken this opportunity to have some sweets right now… But I don't have it with me now…

…

Wait… I just realised…

THEY HAVE ALL MY SWEETS?!!

EVEN THE ONES THAT I HAVE BEEN SAVING UP?!!

No, no, no… Don't tell me… The reason that they aren't out yet is because they are digging through my stuff?

And if they dig out those sweets… They would definitely be snacking on them while they continue their search?!!

I leapt up to my feet, if they were really doing that, then I can't be sitting around here waiting for them to come out of the Dungeon!! I have to go in there right now!!

I ran towards the entrance, placing my hand on the wall with the image of the cavern they had pushed me down from in mind.

Once it was set, I practically flew down the stairs to get back into the Dungeon, stepping out into the familiar cavern with my heart pounding in my chest.

At first, I did not see them and I could feel my heart sink from the realisation.

Then I realised they were simply crouching down a short distance away from the hole and were seemingly rummaging through my bag.

Seeing that there were still plates that were the condensed forms of the items, it does not look like they have figured out how to transform the items back into their original forms.

Which means they couldn't have started eating my sweets yet! They're all safe!

I let out a sigh of relief.

Now what are they doing over there?

I used [Shadow Wall] and [Shadow Glide] to hide myself before I moved towards them to eavesdrop on them.

"So what? Did we really get tricked by her? She doesn't seem smart enough to think of something like that," Eita scoffed.

Kaelin gestured to the plates scattered around, "Then how do you explain all this?! Look! This is simply a plate with a picture of the chest! Where is the chest?!!"

Riklan scratched his cheek, "Perhaps there's some kind of spell or technique one needs to do to turn it back?"

Eita shook her head, "That can't be the case… I was watching her when she took the food out from the bag and she did not chant any spell or do anything out of the ordinary before it turned into food."

The rogue narrowed his eyes at her, "Are you sure you were actually paying attention to what she was doing? Last I remember you were riding her like she had the most wonderful cock in the World. I was quite sure you might have given us up for her."

"Ngh… I will tell you that if you experienced what I had, you would not be running your mouth like that."

"What? Was her dick really better than mine?"

"Yes, so fuck you. And I told you I had it under control didn't I? I was going to wrap her around my finger soon enough, You could tell she was falling for it already. I could have just asked her to show me how it worked before we pushed her in there."

"Have you tried shaking it?" I asked cheekily.

Kaelin scowled, "Shaking it? Like as if that woul--"

He tried to shake one of the plates and it suddenly started to expand in his hands.

The rogue let out a startled cry before dropping the plate on the ground.

All three of them watched as the plate slowly turned back into the chest filled with all the Creas they had obtained from killing the Treasure Mimic.

Kaeling smirked, "Damn! Why didn't you suggest that in the first place Eita?! I'll give it to you though, you're a genius!"

Eita frowned, "That wasn't me. I thought that was… Eh?"

They turned back to see me standing behind them, having already released my [Shadow Wall] so that they could see me.

Silence reigned as they were having trouble comprehending my existence. Eita's face had even gone pale as though she had seen a ghost.

I decided to take the initiative instead and gave them a smile, "Oh, were you all worried about me? I'm fine. I can't believe I managed to trip into the hole on my own. I saw Riklan reaching out to me to grab me but I didn't react in time, sorry for worrying you all~"

The three of them looked even more stunned at my proclamation, clearly not expecting me to say something like that.

Riklan furrowed his brows slightly, "Aster… Are you perhaps… Retarded?"

Kaelin recovered immediately and covered his leader's mouth, "He… Hey!! Even… Even if she tripped on her own, you shouldn't insult her like that!! That's just rude, Riklan!"

Eita also made a face at him, "Ye… Yeah! She… She made it back here on her own, didn't she? We… We should… We should…"

I raised my hands, "Ok, please stop. That was really bad. I know you three stabbed me in the back just to get my share of the money and to steal my bag from me. No need to put on that pitiful act anymore."

Riklan peeled Kaelin's hand away from his mouth and scowled at me, "Looks like you really are retarded… You could have pretended not to know and make us believe you before running away with your bag after taking it back. Why would you reveal this to us now?"

I tilted my head at him, "Why? What are you going to do after knowing that I know you stabbed me in the back? I'd think the least you could do is apologise?"

He pulled out his blade, "Apologise? There is no need to apologise to a dead woman, is there?"

Kaelin and Eita moved behind Riklan, joining his side without remorse.

"You would really attack a maid of the Nilm Family? You'll be recognised as our enemies, you know?"

My words made Kaelin show a worried look on his face but Riklan scoffed before he could say anything.

"I see you're truly inexperienced, Aster. This is a Dungeon and you have already expressed your willingness to accompany us as our support. We can simply claim that you died in the Dungeon and even mentioned that you endangered us and seek out compensation from the Nilm Family as well. Did you really not think this through before you came towards us?"

I smiled at him, "But in order to do that… You need to kill me, right? Do you think you can actually kill me?"

He frowned, "Did you think that just because we adventured together for a day I would hesitate to kill you? You underestimate me, Aster."

"No, no. What I meant was that the three of you aren't strong enough to kill me."

"What? You are just a healer and support. What are you going to do? Heal the injuries we deal to you? Are you a masochist?"

I grinned and settled down into a combat stance, "Why don't you come over here and find out?"

And so it begins~