“Oraaa!”

“Uraa!”

“Nya!”

And so, the dungeon exploration finally began. Ten minutes after the Swift Thunder party entered the dungeon, we followed in after them.

We had already discussed our approach to the dungeon while riding the carriage to the city of Silvia. Essentially, Lilith, Nonoh, and Nena would take the front line and engage in combat. Meanwhile, Rurune would provide support from the rear using magic.

As for me, my role was mostly to assist. Since this request originally belonged to Lilith and her party, they wanted to handle it as much as possible on their own.

Furthermore, since this had turned into a competition with Swift Thunder, they intended to avoid relying on my power. For now, my main contribution was carrying everyone’s supplies using my storage magic. That said, since we were already here exploring the dungeon, I occasionally used low-level magic to thin out the number of monsters.

“As expected, the monsters that appear aren’t particularly strong, but there sure are a lot of them. Rurune, conserve your magic for when we really need it.”

“Yes, I understand!”

Just like yesterday, a significant number of monsters kept appearing as we advanced through each floor. It seemed Rurune was minimizing the use of her magic and saving it for later.

“...There doesn’t seem to be any issues proceeding to the next floor, nya.”

“Nena, please wait a moment. I’m mapping out the area.”

Nena, with her keen senses, was leading the way, scouting ahead to check for enemies and traps. Rurune was creating a map of the dungeon to prevent us from getting lost.

As expected of an A-rank adventurer party, they handled this dungeon conquest with ease, even though it differed from a typical request. Yeah, it really didn’t seem like I was needed at all.

Along the way, we came across the corpses of rat- and bat-like monsters, likely slain by the Swift Thunder party.

It seemed they, like us, weren’t bothering to collect monster materials and were simply pushing forward. Supposedly, if left alone, these monster remains would eventually be absorbed back into the dungeon.

“...The monster corpses are gone now. Looks like we’ve taken a different path from them.”

“The map still looks fine. Finding the stairs to the next floor depends on luck to some extent.”

“Oh, looks like we finally found a staircase leading downward.”

About an hour after entering the dungeon, we finally encountered our first set of stairs leading to the next level.

The first floor was surprisingly vast. Each area and corridor was filled with monsters, which slowed our progress. Still, we handled combat without any trouble, and thanks to our teamwork, we had already defeated dozens of enemies.

Everyone was calm and methodical in both combat and dungeon navigation. Good—at least with these four, there was no risk of recklessly rushing ahead and getting injured.

“So far, so good. Let’s keep moving forward at this pace.”

We continued through the second floor without any problems and eventually arrived at the third.

“There are no monsters in this area, nya.”

Every floor we had passed so far contained at least a few, if not dozens, of monsters. Yet, strangely, this one had none.

“It seems like this is a safe zone. Some floors in dungeons naturally prevent monsters from entering.”

Oh, that was a pretty convenient feature for explorers. Since dungeons lured people inside, I guess they also provided places where adventurers could rest.

The more I thought about it, the more incredible dungeons seemed. Even with the technology of my previous world, constructing a massive underground structure like this would be difficult.

And yet, this was considered a small dungeon. Larger ones were rumored to have entire forested floors, as well as sections with extreme heat or freezing cold.

“Alright, let’s take a break here. Since this is a safe zone, we can lower our guard a bit.”

“Sounds good. I’d like to do some weapon maintenance, and we should grab a bite to eat.”

“I exercised a lot, so I’m hungry, nya!”

It seemed we would be taking a break here. We had already spent about four hours in the dungeon. Come to think of it, I was starting to feel hungry too.

“Masayoshi, can you take out our lunch and the weapon maintenance kit?”

“Of course.”

Using my storage magic, I retrieved the packed lunch and the maintenance tools. We had already confirmed that storage magic worked inside the dungeon.

For today’s lunch, I had prepared sandwiches the night before. This morning, I had told Lilith and the others to leave the food preparation to me.

Since we needed something easy to eat in the dungeon, I had settled on sandwiches. I had considered rice balls, but since rice wasn’t very common in this world, I opted for bread instead.

The fillings included egg, ham and vegetables, tuna, and katsu. It had been a long time since I last made sandwiches myself. Back when I was in elementary school, I used to watch my mom make them for school trips, and sometimes I’d even help.

“Oh, these look so colorful and appetizing. You made all of these yourself, Masayoshi?”

“Yes. I made a variety of flavors, so feel free to try them.”

“Wasn’t it a hassle to make this many?”

“Not at all. It didn’t take much time.”

Honestly, once the fillings were prepared, all that was left was assembling and cutting them, making the process fairly simple compared to other dishes.

“Oh, this one has boiled egg! The slightly tangy, smooth sauce pairs really well with it. Delicious!”

“This one has thinly sliced meat and vegetables, nya! The bread is soft, and it’s super tasty, nya!”

“What’s this one? It tastes kind of like fish, but not quite… Either way, it’s delicious.”

“This one must be that ‘katsu’ dish we had before, but in a sandwich! The sauce soaks into the bread, making it absolutely delightful!”

“Hoo!”

Yep, despite being a simple meal, it seemed to be a hit. Sometimes, homemade sandwiches really hit the spot.