For some reason, we are having a surprise meeting with the angel girl again. Not again, Blot! Leave us alone for once!!

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" - Garami & Noire

"...No, you!" - Garami & Noire

"Stop doing that!!" - Garami & Noire

"Have you two practiced?" - Alf

"No, we haven't!!" - Garami & Noire

Grr, this is getting ridiculous! But luckily, we have a sword fan of a Sprite here to solve the situation.

"Alright, enough comedy for one day. You, the Flugel. Your name was Noire, correct?" - Mira

"Hmph! I do not remember allowing a fashion disaster such as you to speak my name, but you are right. I am Noire, the most amazing Flugel on this continent." - Noire

Wow, sour grapes much? With a bucket of narcissism to the side.

Unfortunately, I am forced to agree with her that Mira's outfit leaves some to be desired. It is mostly your common adventurers' armor set, and it's not even a full plate. It's common clothes with some leather and metal guards at most. Only her sword is a fancy piece of work. Not that it has any special effects, but Mira is strong with it, so I doubt it needs to.

Speaking of clothes, I am using a cloak of the same type as the rat-based one I won in the Water-Knot, while Alf is dressed in common equipment as well. We should consider upgrading our wardrobes soon...

"Yes, alright. Death sentence it is." - Mira

"...What was that-, OUCH, OUCH, OUCH!!!" - Noire

Without mercy or delay, Mira grabbed the Flugel and forced her into a painful joint lock. This Noire character isn't that physically developed (in a lot of ways), so she's incapable of breaking free of Mira's punishment lock.

"How ruthless..." - Alf

"Hey, are you thinking the only reason I'm dishing out divine punishment is that she dissed my clothes?" - Mira

"What other reason is there?" - Alf & Garami

"WHAT!? And Garami, are you using some synchronization skill?" - Mira

As if. If anything, people other than you call me unpredictable and uncooperative. I can't even buy the [Cooperation] skill without having to pay extra AP because of my lousy affinity for it.

"Anyway, this girl-, stop squirming! This Flugel here is the one who endangered Firis! Doing this much isn't even 1 percent of the retribution she deserves!" - Mira

You got along real well with that kid, didn't you?

"Uncle, uncle, UNCLE! And I keep telling people, I didn't do that on purpose!" - Noire

"Going with the excuses now?" - Mira

"I am SERIOUS! I didn't try to cause that panic. That little twerp suddenly appeared in the middle of the field while I was trying to aim at you punks-OUCH, OUCH, OUUUUCH!!" - Noire

"Mira, we won't be able to progress like this." - Alf

"Fiiine..." - Mira

Mira reluctantly released Noire and allowed her to say her story. She tried to attack us that day, but the second Firis suddenly appeared in the field, she fired the arrow (which was supposedly non-lethal and only hurt like getting a house on your toe, ouch) by mistake and hit one of the cows grazing at the field, causing the turmoil to happen.

"Mhm. There is one point that is yet unclear. How did Firis end up with a faulty invisibility trinket?" - Garami

"Amulet! It is called an amulet! And it was not faulty at all! That twerp forgot to charge it between uses! No way an item based on..., no. Forget I said anything." - Noire

Noire backtracked weirdly when trying to talk about the "amulet" for some reason. Considering the item I confiscated from Firis is similar in design to the one I can see Noire is holding on to, there may be some connection between them...

"Eh, not important." - Garami

"What now?" - Noire

"Don't mind. Garami sometimes thinks in different directions from the rest of the world." - Mira

Why am I feeling that wasn't meant as a compliment?

"Can we return to the main problem? Why are you here, Noire? Did Blot set you up for this?" - Alf

Holy mackerel! Alf's right, this could be another Blot-produced plot! Gah, why didn't I think of that!? We did obtain the Magic Stone before we left for the island, but that doesn't mean I'm trusting that guy any more than I can throw him!

"Don't mention that four-eyed bastard's name again! Do you know how much pain he has caused me over the years? Not to mention lately-!" - Noire

"Are the two of you acquaintances or something?" - Mira

"I wish I wasn't, but that's the truth. I...sort of ran away from my home in the past..." - Noire

"Why?" - Mira

"...Family problems. I was the youngest of a huge number of siblings..., and I didn't see eye-to-eye with my father's 'hobbies'..." - Noire

"It sounds complicated, so feel free to skip the rest." - Garami

"Thank you..." - Noire

The angel girl looked honestly relieved about that before she continued the rest of her story.

"*Cough*, anyway, to cut a long story short, I was taken in and hired as a maid by Blot's 'Lady'. After that, I enlisted into the organization that 'Lady' had created." - Noire

Oh, right. Armveil did mention that Blot wasn't at the top of their workforce. So the big boss is a lady? Not to say someone generous enough to pick up an angel with an attitude problem. Hope I can secure our deals with Nequitas through her instead of Blot in the future.

"That explains how you and Blot know each other. But why the bad blood between you two?" - Alf

"Because that nitpicker always complained about my work! I used to be the best back at my old home when it came to chores, you know? And yet nobody bothered giving me a single word of praise!" - Noire

"Stop digressing. Or rather, venting." - Garami

"Fine! Recently, my problem with Blot is the stupidly huge fine he forced on me for almost destroying our work relationship with Plain Island. He can't blame me for an accident!" - Noire

"No, I think he's blaming you for trying to attack us in the first place..." - Mira

Despite hearing Mira's word of reason, Noire refused to listen. Literally. She held her ears and turned away from Mira, forcing the sprite to try to peel off those hands and make Noire face her again.

Still, they inflict huge fines over at Nequitas. Not reducing one's paycheck? Weird.

As for why that made Noire come here, she is looking for materials she can sell. She must have gotten the idea at the same time I did, back when the material merchant mentioned this island.

"In that case, you wanna work with us?" - Garami

"WHAT?!" - Noire & Alf

I expected everyone to disagree with my surprising idea, but I noticed that Mira was nodding to my word before being surprised at Noire and Alf's outburst... Oh, right. She knows the pain of being in debt. Anyway...

"We all need materials for our purposes, and it is easier to carry stuff out of those tunnels with more people helping you." - Garami

"Not to forget that it's safer when you're facing monsters," said Mira as she snapped her fingers in realization.

"W-why would I want to" started Noire, but I cut her short.

"Missy, your classes include Archer, Craftsman, and Thaumaturgist. Not exactly the repertoire you need to go on a one-woman assault on a monster-infested tunnel, is it?" - Garami

"Grr..." - Noire

Noire looked embarrassed as I pointed out the difficulties in front of her. Craftsman is a crafter-line class, completely unrelated to combat. Archer uses bows and arrows, but inside the restricted pipelines, it would be difficult for her to defeat monsters even if she could. And Thaumaturgist is a support-type magician class, sort of a different take on the classic cleric role in video games back in my old world.

She seems to understand how unsuited she is for exploring the tunnels, as Noire isn't talking back, only looking down at the ground with red cheeks.

"So, she's a supporter without a team?" - Mira

"Sounds like it." - Alf

"And looks like it. So, what do you say? Even if shared 1/5 between all of us, you'll still earn more than you would do on your own." - Garami

"......One week. That's all." - Noire

"One week of cooperation works for me. How about you guys?" - Garami

"Whatever makes my workload lighter." - Alf

"I still don't like having some lousy sniper at our backs, but I can deal with a healer." - Mira

Great. Excluding Mira's lingering grudge for the whole Firis-thing, it seems we are on the same page. We said farewell to Noire for the night after returning to the town and returning to our inns.

"Hey, what's the real reason you included that girl? She tried to snipe at us, even if it's with a non-lethal arrow." - Mira

"Hmm, because it would be sad to see her go on collecting stones all on her own?" - Garami

"Get real." - Mira

"I am! ...Just a little bit. The main reason is this 'Lady' person. If we're to keep our relationship with the Nequitas, we need to find a better task giver than Blot." - Garami

"I am wholly agreeing with you there! Let's help the poor Flugel a little and harvest the rewards!" - Mira

Someone's getting greedy. Blot does have that effect on people. Then again, it may just be Mira... Who am I trying to kid?

---

The next day:

"SPIDER!" - Alf

"I can see that!" - Noire

While replying to Alf's desperate scream, our temporary ranger/healer released an arrow coated in divine energy toward the group of spiders who were trying to overrun Alf and his wall of ice. It hit one of them straight in its skull, but when faced against a group, single-target attacks are... Forget what I said! That genius archer of a Celestial fired 3 arrows while making it look like she used only one. ...Now, hold on for a sec! Those aren't real arrows! They are...some sort of magic projectiles! They are disappearing in front of my eye...

"Spider!" - Mira

"Yeah, yeah. I know it." - Garami

I dodged the blast of venom from the ugly spider as I swiped my scythe and its dark energy blade around, slashing off the legs of the two spiders that had tried to sneak up on me while the shooter attempted to distract me. Sorry, pals. But you guys aren't at the same level as the Aquarects.

Hmm, maybe they are them? These "Venofluid Spiders", spiders who use hybrid techniques of Water and Poison, are a relatively common race in water areas, and there is proof from Little Wasteland that some Glavras monsters were transported out to the wide world while having a race change. Maybe these guys got stuck with a common class...but how am I supposed to prove that? And what good will come out of it? Let's ignore that thought and start hacking some more spiders instead.

We're in one of the wider tunnels now, but it is not so popular with either adventurers or non-poison monsters for two reasons. The Venofluid Spiders, and the natural mushroom farm. Glowing mushrooms, release tons of spores, and they have an obvious poison-purple color.

"*Cough*, can we go back now? This is getting too dangerous with all this toxicity in the air-*COUGH*!" - Alf

Alas, our goal here is the toxins. More specifically, the mushrooms here are damn dangerous, but if they are used correctly, they can be ingredients for amazing recovery potions. One man's poison is another's medicine or something like that. And let me tell you, it was not my idea to enter this dangerous zone.

"Are you-*cough*-mad?! We have yet -*cough*-, achieve anything!" - Noire

"Yeah! There's still *cough, cough, COUGH*-! There's still moolah to be made!" - Mira

And thank you for revealing yourselves as the culprits, girls.

For now, we should do a hasty retreat. We have gathered enough mushrooms for a mushroom festival in those air-proof bags we brought with us, and the poison-proof scarfs I created from Alchemy and Weaving aren't as foolproof despite their names. This is their first field test after all! Not that I am coughing up a storm, so 1 out of 4 is a good result for a first-time try-out.

"We are leaving, NOW!" - Garami

"But, my achievements-*COUGH*-! (Coughing up blood through the scarf)" - Noire

"Moolah-*COUGH, COUGH, COUGH-!! (Coughing as if trying to spit out her lungs)" - Mira

"...(reports that he will carry Noire uses sign language to avoid a coughing fit of his own)." - Alf

"Alright, it's unanimous. We're leaving!" - Garami

"Do you even know what that word-*COUGH*-!!! (Faints from lack of oxygen)" - Noire

Okay, these mushrooms have to go! After the other three ran ahead, I turned back to face the spiders, or more precisely, to give them a little goodbye present. First, a ton of burning oil! Created through alchemy by yours truly! Even if it can barely be used to fuel an oil lamp! Even so, since I have tons of free space in my Storage now that I am renting a security box, so I prepared a ton of oil just in case for such an occasion! I used [Liquid Control] to manipulate the oil and send it straight into the spiders and their webs.

Then I prepared a few red marbles called Cracker Starters. A handy combination of firecrackers and fire starters. Again created by yours truly thanks to alchemy. And what do you know? We have some oiled spiders and burnable fungus + webs over there~.

The spiders looked a little pale-faced when they saw the Cracker Starters, but it must have been only me. I threw the marbles of doom at the oiled webs...and ran like crazy before the hellfire barbeque started. I could hear ugly screams from the arachnids as well as intense heat growing from behind. Let's get out of here before I notice the smell of the poisonous mushrooms. Even I won't be able to withstand that!

...It just hit me, but isn't this kinda dangerous to other adventures that may take this path? Whoops...