Evening, on the way back from Tellurium.
　I took Vanadium, who is getting used to it, for a long walk through the streets of Ciclo.
......

　Suddenly, I saw something, and Vanadium tugged on my sleeve and pointed to a place a little further away.
　There was a magic cart shop there, and a young kid who looked like a kid from the shop was on top of a magic cart.

　Vanadium sees it and looks at the magic cart I'm pushing on the way home.

'Maybe you want a ride?'
...... (nationally)

　Vanadium nods, then I pick her up and put her on the magic cart.
　With Vanadium on it, I push the magic cart and start walking again.

　That's all it took, but Vanadium's eyes started to light up.

'You're a good dad,'
Whoa!

　It was Neptune who came alongside and spoke to me in a friendly manner.
　He is still a handsome man with a sweet mask, and he has two of his own, Ran and Lil.

　We walked together through the evening streets together, pushing a magic cart, shoulder to shoulder with the Neptune family.

''Why are you so surprised?''
It's a bit of a shock to see someone talking to you out of the blue.
'Hmm, I guess when you talk to me outside of a rendezvous, it's basically out of the blue.
That's true, though.

　It's kind of like, in the case of Neptune, he appears like a godsend.
　It's like that startles me more than it should.

But, are you hearing what I'm saying?
What are you talking about?

　I got a little defensive.

'I heard there's a new dungeon spawned near Seren.
"Huh?

　I felt my vigilance quickly fade away. If the 'example' was vanadium-related, I would have been wary, but if it was a new dungeon being spawned, it had nothing to do with us.

'It's called Carbon, and it's a huge dungeon with more than 100 levels, apparently.
Carbon. You're over 100, though, which is amazing.
It's being investigated by a bunch of adventurers, but I hear it's pretty cool.
Yeah.
You don't sound very interested.
'If the other adventurers are investigating, that's all that matters, isn't it?　And if it's 'pretty funny,' that means the investigation is going pretty well.
That's true, though.

　Neptune folded his arms and twisted his head with a neat face.

'What kind of dungeon is this, and so on. I'm gonna go bash out and find out what it's all about!　Or not?
I'm all about the vanadium right now.

　He reaches out and strokes the head of the sparkling-eyed vanadium.

'Huh?　Have you changed your name?
He didn't want to be called anything else.
Yeah, I see. Oh, well, that's just the way it is.

　Neptune shrugs, palms up.
　I haven't told him the details of what happened in Vanadium--the old Erythronium dungeon, but he has the look on his face that he knows everything.

　Although he's under the umbrella of the Lyota Family, Neptune thinks he's as good as me.
　When I was transferred (dropped) to this world, he was doing research on Nihonium and other things, and he's the one who was in my current position.

　I'm sure he knows about what happened in the old Erythronium by some route or another.

　But I don't hear about it either.
　Not because Vanadium himself is here now, but because I don't want to know as much as possible about what happened to Vanadium and the others(,) to the point of trauma.
　I think it would be too uncomfortable.

"Well, you won't have to do that this time, will you?
Is that so?
'Yeah, you've been doing a great job lately. So this time it seems that they've thrown in quite a few skilled adventurers at once. To be specific, I'm going to put together about 100 people with 2 or 3 stars or something like that.
It's amazing.

　When it comes to 2 or 3 stars, it's about the same as Emily, Alice, and Celeste.
　It's frankly pretty amazing to have nearly 100 people in that class.

I'm sure the details of the dungeons will be laid bare in the near future as well.
'It's a good thing. More places for everyone to make money.
You still seem to be holed up in the shallow ranks of the tellurian hierarchy, so how about this as an opportunity to move on to a new place?
I'll think about it.

　He wandered around the city at random, making idle small talk with Neptune.

　I don't know what I thought, but Ran, the innocent-looking girl out of the two Neptune has with her, bought a candy from a nearby store and gave it to Vanadium.

　It was a sliced apple coated in candy, sweet and beautiful, just the kind of thing a child would love.

　When Ran held it out to me, Vanadium's eyes twinkled even more for a moment, but he looked at me fearfully.

'I can't say thank you--I can't say thank you, so take it with a smile.
...... (nationally)

　Vanadium received the candy from Ran with a big smile on his face, just like I told him to.
　Ran looks very happy as I handed him the candy, and he smiles too.

'Do you like kids, girlfriend?'
'It seems so. By the way, Lil's the one who wants to be cute but can't move honestly and glances at what Ran does.
Yo, keep your mouth shut!

　Lil protested with a bright red face when the secret (not so much) was revealed.
　The three of them are as close as ever, I thought.

　In that situation.

'Yoda-san!'

　A familiar voice, but you can clearly read the impatience in the tone of his voice.
.
　Emily came running in with an extremely panicked look.

What's up, Emily?
I'm in trouble!
What happened?
The new dungeon entrance is missing.
What?
What?

　Beside me, Neptune also raised an eyebrow.

''The people who entered the dungeon, they're not all coming back.
Is that all of you?
Yes, sir!

　Emily nodded at Neptune's question.

　Neptune looked at me.

　All of them.
　He said earlier that there were nearly 100 high-ranking adventurers in the investigation.
　That's all of them.

　The news that an impatient Emily brought me.
　It seemed to be a bigger deal than I expected.