The two teachers patrolling inside the dungeon were now tasked with protecting the remaining students, and we were told to evacuate.
Once the teleportation was over, we appeared on top of a magic circle near the entrance of the dungeon—using the magic circle inside the labyrinth seemed to be a one-way transfer to this one.
“…Are you unharmed? Did you manage to meet up with Adachi-sensei and Shindou-sensei?”
Renjou-sensei rushed over to us. He must have already heard the situation to some extent from Hinata’s group, who had come out earlier.
“The teachers are guiding the students. With a monster like that appearing, we couldn’t continue the free exploration…”
“I see… I’m glad you’re all safe. Even someone like the ‘Holy Knight’ Hinata couldn’t handle that opponent. You should consider it fortunate that you managed to escape.”
“…Sensei…”
“…Beep!”
“(Nanami-san, Cipher, are you alright?)”
Should we tell Renjou-sensei that we were the ones who defeated that clown? It’s probably best to choose my words carefully here.
“Sensei, we dealt with that monster. Unless something extreme happens, it shouldn’t appear for a while… I think.”
“I-I see… Well done. You found a way to retreat… But this beginner dungeon will be closed for a while…”
“I think that will be fine too. If we can do the practicals in another dungeon, that should be acceptable.”
“…Understood, I’ll consider that. Fujiwara, thank you for your report.”
Renjou-sensei bowed his head deeply—he confirmed my name from the roster before addressing me. I’ll take that as a positive sign that his opinion of me has changed.
“Hinata’s team said the monster came out of a ‘summoning trap.’ Did Hinata activate the trap?”
“Yes. As you said, the summoning trap was dangerous.”
Renjou-sensei had warned us in advance, so he wasn’t at fault—but even so, he seemed to feel responsible, pressing his fingers to his brow in frustration.
“…Is Hinata safe?”
“Yes, but he was in critical condition. He’s currently in the academy’s hospital… Two of his group members panicked and are also receiving treatment at the hospital.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
“Fujiwara, you look a bit pale as well…”
“No, I’m fine. I wonder if Nanami-san and the others are okay.”
“…They’ve been awake for a while now.”
“…If that’s the case, you should have told me earlier… Are you two alright?”
Turning back at Nanami-san’s words, I saw the two girls standing there with anxious expressions. I tried my best to reassure them, but one of the girls suddenly burst into tears.
“Hic… W-We made fun of you so much, Fujiwara-kun… We don’t even deserve to be saved…”
“Oh, no, I don’t mind… Well, maybe a little, but I’m just glad you’re safe… So, don’t cry, okay?”
“…Thank you… I’m so sorry… sniff…”
I’m weak when girls cry—it’s hard to hold any grudge for the teasing, and as long as they treat me normally from now on, that’s enough.
I looked over to see how the other students who had escaped earlier were doing, and they were watching us, possibly having seen Hinata being carried off to the hospital and wondering what had happened.
“Uh… hey, Kayama, this is bad…”
“He, he said they dealt with it, right? That monster even Hinata lost to…”
“Yeah, we’re screwed… I called him ‘baggage carrier’ so many times… and I even hit on Nanami-san… Haha, ahaha…”
The trio with the bad attitudes doesn’t seem likely to pick any more fights. Nagakura, in particular, seems a bit broken, laughing in a disturbing way—it’s kind of worrying, but you could say it’s his own fault.
“What should we do?”
“Well… I think they’ve learned their lesson.”
“They should apologize properly to Fujiwara-kun… It’s unforgivable.”
Nanami-san was angrier about the situation than I was—feeling sorry for that, I started thinking that it might be necessary to make those three take responsibility for their actions.
