When I returned to my new home with Rustyala, Maria greeted me first.
　Maria said, "Welcome back--! He looked at Rustyala and choked on his words, but he quickly recovered and moved to entertain his guest.

　And now.

　Me, Maria and Rustyala are sitting at the same table for dinner.

　Maria's homemade food is laid out on the table.
　The ingredients are simple, but the food is elaborate. Maria must have bought the ingredients with her own money and spent a long time making them.

　--I'm not going to be able to get it right.

　You can't take the food away from Maria, so you can't take it away from her, so you put your own food in front of Rustyala. Although he has become a companion, Rustyala is still a guest in this house. This is the result of avoiding the lack of food for guests.

　However, as I moved the food in front of Rustiala, it was as if the temperature in the house dropped.
　It felt like a cold wave was flowing through the house, especially from Maria's side. I looked at Maria and saw that she had a very nice smile on her face. She kept looking at me with a rare full smile.

　Wow, if you're smiling, it's okay ......?

'Wow, wow ......!　This is it. It's the kind of food I'm looking for. It's warm. Hey, can I have it?

　Rastiala happily asked permission to eat. Apparently, Maria's home cooking was in the strike zone. Maybe this kind of common people's food was rare for the boxed girl's daughter.

'Well ...... that, I think it's good, don't you?　Hey, Maria?
...... Yes, of course. I don't mind.

　Scaredily, I ask for Maria's consent.
　Maria's smile is as seamless as ever.
　Even though there is a guest named Rustyala, she still has a terrifyingly seamless smile.

It's okay. Rastiara.
Well, I guess I'll just have to go ahead and have it.

　Rustyala clasps his hands together and goes to take the wooden spoon.
　Then Maria calls out to me.

But then you'll run out of food for your master. I'm sure you'll have to eat mine--" "This was prepared with Maria's money. And you can't have Maria not eaten. I have a stockpile of emergency food, so eat it without worrying about it... I knew the master would say that!

　Maria interrupted my words, but she interrupted back.
　Unusually for the calm Maria, her endings were rough.
　She didn't seem to like my response.

　It's true that the fact that I didn't eat the food that they had prepared for me was unwanted. But you don't have to be that angry .......

It's not a good idea. It looks like it's not good for me to eat it after all.
No, Mr. Rastiara, you don't need to worry about that.

　Rustyala stops trying to eat without seeing it.
　Maria replies to that, but Rustyala continues to talk about how he has an idea for something good.

'Yes, I do. 'Yes, it's not a good idea to be alone in the wild. As a fellow human being, we need to avoid that situation. ...... So, Christ, do you want to eat with me?　Sharing what little food we had together was a common occurrence in adventure stories.
Wait a minute. When you eat together, do you mean you both poke at each other's food?
That's right. From what I understand, it's possible for them to be friends. Most importantly, it'll be fun. You see, Christ.

　Saying that, Rastiara pulls the chair and food towards me.
　Rastiara doesn't seem to have any doubt in the common sense of the adventure tale.

''So, then!　Master and I will poke each other, so please eat properly, Mr. Rustyala!　I can't let my master and his guest do that!
'Oh no, you're a guest, ....... That's the one thing you don't have to worry about. I'm going to be one of you.
'Ha, ha ....... Friends, sir?

　Apparently, Maria considers Rustiala to be a one-night stand guest. However, I consider Rustyala to be a companion who will continue to share in the pain and suffering.

　I see it as a good opportunity, so I interject.

''Then why don't you two, Maria and Rustiala, go at it together?　The two of you are still new to each other, so it's a good way to get to know each other. As for me, I'll take a leisurely meal like the host of this house.

　This should satisfy both Maria's and Rustyala's needs. It's a good arrangement by me.

'That's a good idea!　Christ!
'Huh!　Wait a minute!

　Rustyala stands up, as if to say that's all that matters. He then returned the food in front of him to me and moved next to Maria with a chair.

'Alright, come eat with me!　Maria!
No, no, I don't want to impose on you, but...
You needn't be afraid. Why don't we feed each other?
What?

　It looks like they've finally decided on a food policy.

　That's a relief. If they continue to get along with each other, we'll be very happy.
　I'm in front of them, who are eating their food in a hurry, and I start to work on my own dishes.

It's nice, this girl. It's so cute and tiny. I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most of your time with us. Teasing...
'Wow!　Hey, stop attaching yourself!　Oh, you're touching me in the wrong place--

　Great.
　That's what I thought, that more party members might mean more trouble. But I guess that was not the case. If I offset Maria's troublesome parts with Rustyala's troublesome parts, like now, my hands won't be bothered by them.
　I can concentrate on my meal alone and think about the labyrinth without being distracted.

　-- and thus I finish my elegant dinner by myself, leaving the two of them closer than I thought they would be.

　It was late today when I got home, so it was decided that I would go to bed soon.
　Then, as a matter of course, I said, "Yes, Rustyala. Why don't you and Maria sleep together?　It's like a scene from a story where two friends are talking to each other in the same room, isn't it? As long as it's just a bunch of girls, there's nothing wrong with that, right? He encouraged Lastiara to do the same.

　As a result, Rustyala abducted Maria with his best smile. I had a feeling that Maria, who was unusually spare, was looking for salvation, but I decided not to look.

　Now he could rest at ease.
　On top of that, it would deepen their friendship.
　It's a good cycle.

　I choose the room furthest from the two of us, propping my sword up against the wall and collapsing onto the bed.
　My MP is at the bottom today, so I can't experiment with magic before I go to bed. Focusing only on relieving my body's fatigue, I fall asleep.


◆◆◆◆◆ ...


　Early the next morning.
　As I am experimenting with magic in the living room, a burly Maria appears in the living room and greets me in a low voice.

'Oh, good morning ....... Master .......
Yeah, good morning.

　I'm not going to ask why in depth. But I have a feeling that she's been staring at me the whole time, so I'll try to get her in a good mood in some way later.

　Maria has also woken up, so I break off the magic experiment.

　For now, I was able to set up the "Connection" in the corner of the room, so the experiment was successful. However, I didn't expect to constantly lose magic power to maintain the "Connection". It's like my maximum MP has been reduced by about 100 just by maintaining just one. It seems that there are many conditions for the use of magic as well.

　I thought that Rastiara had disappeared from early morning, but after a little while, she returned with a large jute bag. It seems that she has packed the tools that she will use in the labyrinth.

　I wasn't sure how far I would go to explain my 'belongings'.
　Dia might be dimly aware of it, but it's an ability I haven't told anyone about yet. At least, she doesn't want to reveal all the information to Maria and Rustyala yet.

　However, from the way Rustyala looks, I can tell that there is a case of a long battle in the labyrinth one day. When that time comes, there will inevitably be a situation where the 'possessions' will be used in front of the two of them. In that case, it would be better to present some information ahead of time, so that it wouldn't be troublesome later on.

''Rustyala. If your belongings are too bulky, lend them to me.
Hmm?
This bag of magic tools is very spacious. So if you want to take care of the little things, you can keep them for me.

　I won't reveal everything, but a little bit.
　I'll show you the power of 'possessions' through a handy bag, calling it a 'bag of magic tools'.

''Heh, hmm ....... It's a magic item. I've never heard of such an item before, but ......
...... So, are you going to lend me the money or not? Which is it?
............. You can count on it. And if you don't have your hands full, that's a very good thing.

　I'm sure he's guessing a lot of things. However, it doesn't pursue deeply, and Rastiara takes out water and food from the jute bag and hands it to me.

　I put them into my 'belongings'.
　If you include Rastiara's belongings, the amount of supplies in my "possessions" is enormous. With this much, Maria and I should have no trouble exploring the labyrinth.

　Now we're all set.
　I'm going to call out to the two of them to continue on to the labyrinth.

I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that.
Oh, yes, master.

　He has Maria get her equipment ready and they try to leave the house together.
　Rastiara follows suit.

　On the way to the labyrinth, Rustyala pulls me closer in a whisper. He wants to tell me something he doesn't want Maria to hear.

'-- Hey, Christ. Are you taking Maria with you?
Yeah, but?
It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for. I'm sure you've got a good idea of what you're doing. ......

　I don't know if it's the same 'display' as mine, but Lastiara, who could see the status, seemed to be worried about Maria's status.

''Maria is my companion for the labyrinth exploration,''
'But I don't have enough talent at all. I don't have a lot of skills and I don't have enough of the most important 'qualities'. With the deeper layers, I'm sure it won't work as quickly as it should, is that okay?

　Rustyala blamed me for my choice of people.
　I can kind of understand why he is implicitly recommending leaving Maria at home.

'I'm not choosing you solely on the basis of your talent. There are things even Maria can do in the labyrinth.
"Hmmm. ....... Yeah. Well, it's okay. I won't know if Maria is dead.

　With a simple expression, Rustyala said that he didn't know if he was going to die.
　I would like to complain about that view of life and death - but in fact, Rustiala's severe way of thinking is more appropriate for the labyrinth. I take her advice squarely to heart and reiterate it strongly.

"I won't let Maria die. I'll never let her die.
...... I think that's a good idea too. That kind of dramatic stuff, I like it a lot. I don't care if it's a tragic or comedic ending, because it's delicious to me. Mmmmmm.
...... bad taste.
''That being said, I wonder if you've set a proper goal for the labyrinth. It wouldn't be much fun for me if you dove in without thinking about it, so my hope would be to aim for about thirty layers.
'Thirty layers is an unexplored world for humanity: ....... In the meantime, we're aiming for 20 layers--but given Maria's level, it may take a few days.
'A few days, huh ....... That's a bit of a problem for me, I guess. For me, enemies up to the 20th level are no fun, so I can't wait to get to the 20th level and beyond.
I want to move through the maze as badly as you do.
So I've got a better idea.

　Laughing at that, Rastiara picked up the sword at his waist.

　The labyrinth entrance is close to my house, so it won't take long to reach that ostentatious big hole. In front of the entrance, Rastiara draws his sword from its sheath and says.

'Slumbering, I'll kick the mooks out. Christ, you just have to watch Mary.'

　With that proclamation, Rastiara took the lead and entered the labyrinth.