Vending Machine - 122 - A Human, A Bear and A Vending Machine (Patreon)

The red light from the teleportation circle lit up the entire room.

When the blinding red light finally faded away, there were only Hyurumi and Director Bear left standing in the middle of the array.

Hm? Isn’t this the point when the enemy appears?

“Curse it, we've been had!”

“Where is everyone...?”

Hyurumi kicks the ground in frustration, while Director Bear looks around. Both were clearly worried about their comrades.

As for me, I’m just relieved that I’m not alone.

“Welcome”

“Oh? Hakkon’s here too? Why are you in the corner of the room?”

“It’s good that you’re safe. This is the Clearflow Lake Floor… no, the room’s architecture is different, we’re not on Clearflow Lake.”

So, Director Bear could notice his own floor through a brief glance at the architecture of a closed room? How incredibly perceptive.

Hyurumi places her hand on the teleportation circle on the floor. It looked like she was testing or investigating something.

“The circle is no longer at full power, I think it’s impossible for us to get out through this thing.”

“Hyurumi, what do you think happened?”

“Want-to-know”

I can roughly guess what happened, but it would be great to have an expert’s opinion.

“Aahh, I guess I haven’t explained it yet, huh? Well, it looked like something was done to the teleportation circle on the Beginner’s Floor. Perhaps by Leader Keyroil’s people. Some kind of magical interference happened upon the array’s activation that caused some kind of teleportation error… I think. Even though I’d checked the array just now, I missed the trick. I’m truly sorry!”

No one here blames Hyurumi, who was biting her lip in guilt and apologising to us with her head lowered, for what happened.

Once the Leader’s party had cut ties with us, we should have been more careful and be on the lookout for any changes.

“It's not Hyurumi's fault. We were all careless. Can we assume that the teleportation circle went out of control and we were all sent to different floors?”

“That is the most likely explanation. I believe that the ones who set up the interference probably have no idea who would be sent where. It is almost impossible to properly calibrate such an advanced system in such a short time.”

If the enemy could choose the target location and people to transport, I would probably be sent to a floor by myself. Without anyone to carry me around, I am basically just a lump of iron.

“The problem is knowing which floor we are on. We can’t just open that door carelessly. There could be many enemies outside just waiting for us. Apologies, Hakkon, is it alright if I move you to the front of the door to prevent anyone from opening it?”

“Welcome”

Since the door opens inward, it won’t be easy to open if I’m placed directly in front of it.

Director Bear picks me up and gently places me in front of the door.

I see, Director Bear is actually strong enough to lift me on pure raw power alone. His power is overshadowed by Ramis’ monstrous strength, but he’s actually pretty strong himself.

Come to think of it, I still don't know much about the dungeon we’re in. This may be a good time to ask.

“Wha-at-flo-or?”

“How-ma-ny-flo-or?”

“Ex-pla-in”

“Hakkon doesn't know much about the dungeon. Well, allow me to explain as we try to confirm the situation.”

Hyurumi sat down in a cross-legged position and breathed in deeply. After composing herself, she said, “This dungeon is the type that goes down layer by layer. Starting from the top, we have the Beginner Floor, Wailing Dead Floor, Clearflow Lake Floor, Labyrinth Floor, Scorching Sand Floor, Dark Forest Floor and Rocky Dog Mountain Floor.”

“Additionally, there’s the Everlasting Floor underneath all of that. Which we are in the middle of conquering.”

So we only know up to the eighth floor, for now, looks like we still have a long way to go.

“Our base, the Clearflow Lake Floor, is also known as the Third Floor.”

“Each floor has their own Hunter Association and Director. They are all excellent people. I believe they are all holding their own in this situation.”

For now, both the Clearflow Lake and Beginner Floors are still standing. However, we have no idea how the other floors were doing. If we open this door, it would not be surprising to find ourselves in the middle of a ruin.

“I want to return to Clearflow Lake right away, but even if we did manage to get the teleportation circle to work properly, we don’t have enough magic power,” said Hyurumi

“Technically, so long as the dungeon exists, the magic that powers a transportation circle should not run out. However, this may be due to the abnormal situation we’re in,”

“If we pour lots of magic into the teleportation array, we may be able to activate it once, but neither I nor Director Bear have that much power,”

“Apologies, if only I could use magic,” said Director Bear.

“No, even if we have two or three magic users with us, it wouldn’t help. We need something like a large magic stone to power the array,” said Hyurumi.

Unable to come up with a viable plan, Hyurumi crouched down to examine the teleportation circle while Director Bear prowled around the room, occasionally pressing his ear to the wall to listen for sounds outside.

Right, since brainwork often makes people crave sugar, I should offer them something sweet. From what I could see of the two people, the room did not seem to be particularly warm or cold, so let’s offer them some crepes with tea as a set.

I can offer more types of desserts as an <Auto-Vending Convenience Store>, but since we don’t know what is going to happen later, it is best to conserve my power since my transformation power is limited to two hours. So, let’s not waste the form change time just in case.

Anyway, from the way these two stuff themselves with the delicious crepes, they must be very hungry.

“We’re lucky to have Hakkon with us. At the very least, we don’t have to worry about a lack of food.”

“That’s true, we can avoid starving to death at least.”

I am happy to be of help, but now I’m worried about the rest of our companions. Aside from us, there’s the Director of the Beginner Floor, Shui, Hevoy, and... Ramis.

The Director of the Beginner Floor is the only one with no combat ability, as for the rest, they all have good fighting skills and tenacity, so they won’t be overwhelmed by monsters that easily.

“Hey, if the Director of the Beginner Floor ended up alone somewhere, isn’t it quite dangerous for him? As far as I know, he can’t fight, right?” Hyurumi echoed my concerns. After all, like me, she’s not a fighter either. Maybe that’s why she would be more emphatic towards non-combatants.

“No need to worry, the Director of the Beginner Floor is quite skilled. After all, only former or active hunters could be directors of Hunter Associations.”

“Oh, is that so? I never knew that.”

That's good news. So there won’t be any helpless person stuck somewhere? It’s a relief to know that.

“If that is so, I wonder who got sent to which floor? It’s fine if they ended up at the Beginner’s Floor or Clearflow Lake, but there are still six worrisome floors, the Wailing Dead, Labyrinth, Scorching Sand, Dark Forest, Rocky Dog Mountain and the unfinished Everlasting Floor.”

“We could probably exclude the Everlasting Floor since it can’t be reached without defeating the Seventh Floor Master. Since the King of the Netherworld still did not have complete control over the dungeon, it is unlikely that anyone would be sent there.”

“No, with the teleportation circle being so faulty, there is no guarantee where one could be teleported to. I believe it is more reasonable to think that people would be sent to places they are not supposed to go.”

So, the probability of getting sent to a safe area decreased by another one-fifth? I can only hope that everyone ends up landing somewhere safe, if not, I hope they would at least not be alone.”

“Well, that's the situation. However, instead of worrying about others, we need to take care of ourselves first,” was Hyurumi’s ever practical attitude.

“We must find out which floor we’re on. Let’s open the door and have a peek outside. Stay by Hakkon just in case, Hyurumi.”

"Ou! I’m counting on you, Hakkon!”

“Welcome”

No matter what, I will protect them.

I was a little worried about what floor we’re on, but with Director Bear with us, I felt a great sense of security since he has great combat and decision-making skills.

With Hyurumi here to handle the technical issue that is the teleportation circle problem, our temporary team has a higher chance of resolving the problem than anyone else.

My main role is to provide food and protection. Looks like we’re not quite an unbalanced party.

Director Bear gently lifted me up and moved me away from the door.

“Right, I’m going to open the door now. Keep your voices down.”

As I prepared to launch <Barrier>, I tried to catch a glimpse beyond the door, but couldn't see anything due to Director Bear’s bulk. So, I tried listening for any abnormalities.

The door creaked open and the room was suddenly flooded with light and air.

There was light inside the room, but the brightness that came in was different. It was daylight, which shone differently from a lamp or firelight. Since nothing else happened, Hyurumi and I had to wait for Director Bear’s report.

The Director opened the door a little wider and stuck his head out for a peek. He looked very cute from this side of the door, but let’s keep quiet about that.

About three minutes passed from the time the door opened and the moment Director Bear pulled back and closed the door. “Fumu, I think I know where we are. Looks like we’re on the Labyrinth Floor.”

The Labyrinth Floor is just below the Clearflow Lake, the place where I fell io when the floor collapsed.

“The Labyrinth Floor… I guess we’re pretty lucky, eh?”

“Fumu, it doesn’t look like the monsters are rampaging. Everything is quiet as usual.”

If I recall correctly, this floor is quite unpopular with hunters. The last time we were here, the locals welcomed us as rare visitors.

“If there are no monsters around, that means the Labyrinth’s barrier is still standing.”

“Yeah, it's possible that the Labyrinth is filled with monsters, but they just couldn't leave its borders.”

Come to think of it, the Labyrinth was designed so that the monsters could not get out of it.

Therefore, so long as we stay out of the Labyrinth, we’ll be safe from monsters. I guess, we’re lucky to land outside of the Labyrinth. However, this also means that there is a higher possibility that the others must have landed somewhere less safe. In short, I can’t be too happy to be safe.

“First, let's talk to the local residents and find out what we can. We can probably get some magic stones at the magic tool shop.”

“That’s right, let's gather information first.”

“Ye-es”

There were so few buildings here that I hesitate to even call it a village. Anyway, with so few people, it should not take us long to question the people here. I should also, pay attention to… wait, how am I going to move?

The straps are still attached to my side but without Ramis, how am I going to be moved?

“Lea-ve?”

With Ramis around, it’s taken for granted that I will go where she goes. However, since she is not around, how am I supposed to move? In fact, this did not occur to my two companions until they had already reached the door before suddenly stopping and staring at me with surprise.

“Right, Ramis isn't here,” said Hyurumi with wide eyes.

“If you could adjust the straps, I can carry him. I’m not as strong as Ramis, but I can manage,” said Director Bear.

Hyurumi adjusted the straps accordingly, making it possible for Director Bear to carry me around.

Since he had already moved me twice, I should think that he could carry me around quite easily. However, carrying a heavy load long term is different from just moving it from one spot to another. Still, it looked like he could do so without any issues.

My vending machine body is larger than Ramis, which always made me feel a little odd since I’m much taller than her, even more so when I’m being carried around. However, when strapped to the back of the over two meters tall Director Bear, it did not feel unnatural to be carried around.

“Goodness, it seems to suit the Director well. Like a custom-made travel backpack.”

“Fumu, it is quite heavy, but there’s no problem carrying him.”

I'm glad not to be left behind. Now that I am mobile, we can now begin our investigation of the Labyrinth Floor.

[Gumihou: Woah, the plot thickens~]