I pulled the woman from the store out of my pocket and gave her a look.

'Be careful. You might want to pull back and get off your feet once you're done.
It's all right. We're almost-- hey!

　My upper body came out safely, but on the last step where I was supposed to put my foot out, I caught that foot on the edge of my pocket and lost my balance in a big way.
　I just fell forward with my leg hooked in my pocket - and I fell forward.

'What brand new pants?'

　Nicholas, who was beside me, balked.

'You, boy, get rid of the old pants. It's better to wear loose pants that you took your time to grow in your own body.　Most of these are brand new pants...

　The woman caught me up and pulled my pants down.
　Ignoring Nicholas' opinion in the direction of the day after tomorrow when he saw it, he hurriedly pulled his pants back on.

'I'm sorry!　I'm so sorry.
No, no, no, don't worry about it.
I'm so sorry!
......
......

　Awkward.
　We both know it was a complete accident, but it was still the most awkward thing I've ever seen (or been seen) in my pants as they pulled them down.
　While there was silence from both sides, it was Nicholas, who didn't read the air, who helped me out.

'You've been used perfectly,' he said. Hehe, what you did with me.

　That one word pulled me back.

'Used. You're getting it now?
Yeah, that's the same guy who asked me to kill you.
How do you know?
I've got an imitation of your weapon in the trap. He's been after you for a while. I know all about your beef with him.

　His ...... tiff with Linus and me.

I don't know if it's much of a tussle.
Well, it's true, after all, he's got a dungeon.
So you've been holding a grudge for a long time, and you've been preparing for something that might happen.
Or maybe this whole incident was just a way to lure you out of there.
'What?　Oh yeah. So that's a possibility.

　It's a famous story about me getting fired up for this and that. And I'm not sure, but it's not surprising that Cell is getting into me, too, since he's built a ...... statue of himself, so it should be a famous story.

　If you mess with the cyclo, I'll come out.
　It's not surprising that they're going to come after me with that in mind.
　It's not crazy to think that ...... glanced at the woman.

　Nicholas is good, his is a "request".
　A request to assassinate an outlaw and do-it-yourself do-it-yourselfer, a legitimate story that Nicholas was happy to accept.
　But she's different, and it's not the same as involving an innocent person.
　It makes me angry. I'm extremely angry.

"What are you going to do? You gonna kill me?
...... No.
Hey, you're so sweet. You gotta kill somebody to get it done.
More importantly, .......

　I thought about it.

　I'm ...... untouchable. That's what it's called.
　I kept it within my sight (,) and then the repercussions of that make things worse - I've been called that because I've let it happen.

　I want to do that this time too.
　Normally, it was a natural progression, but this time I want to aim for it.
　Intentionally, how to make things worse for Linus.

　I thought, I thought of many things.
　I thought about everything that had to do with this city - everything that had happened since I'd been in Samethyllene - and I thought about it.

"Cobalt.
Huh?
'Is this a lucrative dungeon?　Drop-like.
Hmm, I don't know, I don't go into dungeons like that--
It's quite profitable.

　The woman answered for Nicholas.

'There are several floors that drop copper, and some of our regulars have even built houses with it.
"Copper. ...... I see.

　Copper is about 30 times more expensive than iron, I think.
　In games, iron equipment is usually more expensive, but as a substance, copper is more expensive.

　That's what they say is in cobalt.

...... Okay, that's decided.
What are you doing?

　I smirked and showed Nicholas a smile.

'I'm going to sleep in the dungeon for a while.
Huh?

　　　　　★

　The next day I went into the basement level of the cobalt dungeon.

　The heavens were on our side. A magic storm from the morning was brewing.
　There weren't many adventurers when I came yesterday, but today there were fewer in the circle.

　I pulled out my gun and readied it.
　I brought my pistol back to two with the tuna I got from Cell before I entered the dungeon.
　I used those two pistols to take out the zombie demon from the very beginning.

　I don't think about it, I just take them down from one side to the other.
　Iron chunks were dropped one after another, but I didn't ...... pick them up.

　I left them all on the spot.
　I'm not going to be able to get it right.
　ドロップしたものをその階層に放置するのは罪にならない、文句もいわれない。
　なぜならそのドロップ品が新しいモンスターになる、その階層のモンスターそのままになって、数が増えるからだ。

　放置した鉄塊から新しいゾンビデーモンが孵る、それとは別に通常のゾンビデーモンがダンジョンから生まれる。

　そいつらを全部倒す、倒して、鉄塊を放置する。
　放置した鉄塊が更にゾンビデーモンに――。

　モンスターが増えていく、わらわらわらわらと増えていった。

　モンスターが増えて困るのは冒険者だった。
　下の階にいこうと通り抜ける冒険者は、いつもよりもはるかに数が多いこの階の状況に困った。

　それでもモンスターは増え続ける。
　倒して、放置して、増やす。

　昼頃になると、まるでモンスターハウスといっても差し支えないくらい、コバルトの地下一階はわらわらした。

　ここで俺は倒すのをやめた。
　入り口が見えるところにどかっと座って、スライムの涙を装備する。

　モンスターの攻撃を反射するアイテム、スライムの涙。
　HPと体力がSだった頃にこれを手に入れて、ダンジョンで寝てたらモンスターが反射で倒れまくってた。

　今はHPも体力もSSになった。
　ますます雑魚モンスターの攻撃が効かなくて、反射出来るダメージも増えた。

　俺はスライムの涙を装備した状態で座り込んだ。

　何もしなかった。
　ゾンビデーモンが俺に攻撃して、勝手に反射で倒れる。

　何もしなかった。
　近くにあるとくつろぐのに邪魔だから、鉄塊を遠くに避けただけで何もしなかった。
　するとゾンビが増える。

　途中からそれも必要無かった。
　ゾンビが俺に攻撃してくる過程で、勝手に鉄塊を押しのけてくれたからだ。

　俺はダンジョンの中でくつろいだ。
　それが勝手にパターンに入って、デーモンゾンビが無限増殖した。

　夜になると、冒険者が次の階に降りるどころか、ダンジョンにも入って来れないくらい。
　コバルトの一階は、モンスターまみれになったのだった。