“......Hey. During the stampede, how should I move?”
“Right. To begin with, do you want to just wait in the guild?”
The adventurer’s guild, who received the report of a stampede, immediately ordered the entrance to the dungeon to be closed and told the adventurers to wait.
Teto and I were talking to Arsus-san, who had come to the guild in the same way and was standing by as is.
“Finally, a stampede. If you guys get through this, moving up to B-rank is going to be a breeze. Are the two of you nervous?”
“No, not really? Teto?”
“As long as I’m together with Majo-sama I have nothing to worry about, nodesu!"
Arsus-san smiled at our reply and explained about how we should be dealing with the dungeon stampede.
Fortunately, the lower floors of this town's dungeon were like plains, so if you controlled the area around the stairs and blocked the way to the surface, you wouldn't have to stop them in the town.
While Arsus-san and the others were telling me about their experiences during the past stampedes, the guild master came into the room.
“There are reports that monsters from the forest floors are appearing one after another on the 10th floor! They can't come into the town! We'll fight them on the sixth floor as a last line of defense!"
Then, each higher-ranked adventurer accompanied a lower-ranked adventurer and went to the dungeon.
“Chise’s jou-chans, follow us! Other adventurers of C-rank or higher will also be on the front line with us!”
“Yes, please.”
I nodded to Arsus-san who seemed to be having fun, and other B-ranked adventurers turned a caring gaze at us.
We looked like children, and it seemed they were just worried about the two girls in the group. However, knowing that the two of us were taking down the land dragon every day, it seemed that they were confused at the gap between our ability and appearance.
“Chise and Teto jou-chans are C-rank adventurers, but their abilities exceed B-rank, so there’s no problem! Then let’s go!”
Then we headed to the dungeon as the first team. As we rode the dungeon's transfer circle and moved to the 6th floor, monsters that I didn’t normally see on this floor appeared one after another.
"Let's start by blocking the area near the stairs that lead to the surface! From there, you have to protect yourself from the monsters that gather!"
The A-rank Arsus-san took instructions and assigned roles.
It seems he was experienced with eliminating monsters that caught the eye, creating a fortified battle position with magic and using scouts to explore.
“What should we do?”
“Chise-jou-chan, please wait for now and save your mana. Teto-jou-chan, work with the earth wizards to create a fortified battle position!”
“Understood nodesu!”
So, Teto started working with the other earth wizards and left me behind. Being ordered to wait felt kind of bad.
“It’s painful to have nothing to do.”
“There’s no need to rush. The annual stampede is a battle of strength! It will go on for three more days."
Most of the monsters that could be seen had been killed, but monsters were still coming up steadily from the lower levels, making a stamping sound as they did so.
"By the way, Chise-jou-chan told me you could use healing magic when I asked what you could do before.”
“Yes, that’s right”
“Then, you’ll be getting to work soon!”
After that, people gathered in the transfer circle of the dungeon.
People had apparently gotten hurt when they ran into a stronger monster than usual while diving in the dungeon and got caught up in the stampede.
From the 11th level, lumberjacks who formerly lived as adventurers were brought in.
“Then, here’s your first job, go!”
“Yeah, I’m going.”
Having said that, I went to the place the injured person was sleeping.
Even though first aid had been given, one of the men's arms was still bleeding.
“It’s fine. It will heal soon. — [Area Heal]!”
I used magic to heal the people who had been brought together.
For the people who weren’t completely cured by a single treatment, I healed them individually and I used the magic that was taught in the church to treat conditions that were caused by monsters.
“With this, it’s finished”
“You’ve saved me! Thank you for treating me until I was completely cured!”
Although people thanked me in succession, I gave a light bow and told them to return back early and went to Arsus-san.
“Chise-jou-chan. That was too much.”
“Eh?”
"Those men were not fighting. Instead of treating them completely, you should treat them just enough so that they can heal on their own and come back to the surface. After all, mana is limited."
“Is that so? It seemed to be painful, so….”
In the past few months, my mana had gone over 18,000, but it was still limited, and this was now a long-term battle. It hurt a little to think that I had to choose which people to help first.
“Ah, well, just be careful next time. Then, is your mana okay with that?”
“I’m all right. That was about 10 percent, so I’m going to take a break.”
“OK. Then, next is—”
Soon, five hours had gone by since the stampede interception in the dungeon started.
Meals for the adventurers were made on the surface and brought here by the transfer circle.
During that time, the adventurers had been dealing with monsters whose strength gradually increased, and I stood on the wall and shot wind blades to wipe out the monsters.
“I’m going to take a break.”
“Yes, leave it to me! — [Burst Flare]” (T/N: Imma be honest here. If there’s already a spell called [Burst Spear] then why you gotta make another one called [Burst Flare]. Author-san, please)
Lena-san, the familiar female wizard, set off an explosion that hit the monsters that had gathered.
Even though I had more mana, Lena-san used her magic more efficiently in this fight.
"So it's all about defense? I'm sick of still not being used to it."
I sat and held my knees, meditated, and tried to recover my mana as quickly as I could. Other adventurers who were taking a break in the same way gathered, and at that time I distributed the cookies made at the orphanage.
Maybe the simple, sweet taste of cookies was good for a tired body, but it helped everyone get their energy back.
And in order to bring supplies from the outside into the dungeon, each adventurer's personal belongings were taken.
“Chise-chan! Could I talk to you for a moment?”
“Lena-san, what’s up?”
“Supplies have arrived from the children of the orphanage”
“Something or other…ah, mana potions”
Along with a letter made of paper from the orphanage that read “Chise-neechan, do your best” came mana potions for magic recovery made by Dan and the others.
“I’m glad. The orphanage is supplying provisions.”
“Fufu, that’s right. Lena-san, do you want to use the mana potion I have?”
“Eh, is that okay?”
“I have some things made at the orphanage.”
With that, I gave Lena-san my high quality mana potion and drank the low quality mana potions made by the potions during the break.
“This mana potion was made by Chise-chan. It’s good quality and easy to drink, but what about the ones from the orphanage?”
“The taste is bad and it doesn’t recover magic much. Low quality. They still don’t have enough practice……But I’m glad”
If there was a stampede, they could sell it to the guild to make money, but they went to the trouble of giving it to me instead, so they didn't make any.
On the other hand, I thought it was okay to live and think a bit more selfishly and it made me happy.
And, a long time after the stampede started——
"By the way, Teto is..."
Teto helped build a fortified position around the stairs that led to the surface. After that, she came out of the walls to fight the monsters with her bare hands.
Also, the items dropped by the monsters that I and the other wizards killed were taken before they were absorbed by the dungeon and went away.
“Majo-sama~! I've collected a lot nodesu!"
“Thank you, Teto. But you should take a break. There’s still a long way to go.”
“I’ll take a break once I do a bit more nodesu!”
Having said that, the other adventurers who became accustomed to the stampede smiled bitterly at Teto, who seemed to be excited and tense.
The pacing was entirely wrong, huh.
However, even over time Teto’s momentum didn’t slow down.
On the first day, there were a lot of monsters, the majority of which were D-rank and below, and on the next day, monsters in C-rank began to join in.
When that happened, they couldn’t be defeated from a single blow with the ranged magic of the wizards, so adventurers went out from the walls and attacked in groups.
For adventurers of B-rank and higher who were able to precisely fell the monsters with only a few moves, Teto and I were mixed in with them.
“—[Lightning]!”
“Then, let’s go nodesu!
With a wind blade, it was often stopped by the outer skin, so I switched to powerful lightning magic, and Teto also raised her gear and defeated them.
"It's amazing that those kids are still so young and can work as well as the B-rank guys."
“Recently it’s been those kids who have been selling the materials for the land dragon, and speaking of their mana, I think they both have court magician-class mana”
"Not only that, but it's said that they gave money to a local orphanage and gave the kids jobs. Who are they, really?"
Adventurers who had been hurt in battle started to show up in this area, and conversations like these could be heard from the people who were giving them care.
Ignoring that as well, I defeated the monsters who were in my sight.
“You should take a break soon. The stampede in this dungeon ends with B-rank monsters. If you get exhausted before then, the burden on other adventurers will increase.”
"Okay, I'll go take a break."
Once the endgame began, I thought it would be bad if I wasn’t working, so I rested in the prepared space.
Maybe it was because I was tired from the past 2 days, but before I knew it I was sleeping while being hugged by Teto.
