The Strongest Onmyoji and the Shikigami With AI are Unparalleled in Another World ~ A Second Life Properly Enjoyed Using Artificial Intelligence ~ - Chapter 234

The next morning, the usual group plus Merell—nine of us in total—had breakfast and got ready.

“Yuuma, I’ve prepared some mana recovery potions. Here, take them.”

Annie handed the potions over to AI-chan.

“Thanks.”

“Make sure to have Natalia drink them regularly.”

“Got it.”

Once preparations were complete, Leanne gave us a ride back to the inn. From there, we set out toward the 5-1 dungeon.

On the way, a blonde-haired woman with her hair in braids came walking from the opposite direction.

Of course, it was Ilva.

But this time, she wasn’t in armor—just ordinary clothes.
That said, she still carried a sword at her side.

“Oh? If it isn’t Yuuma.”

Looks like she noticed us as well.

“Yo.”

“Good morning.”

“……Mornin’.”

Natalia and Alice each offered their greetings.

“Ah, good morning.”

Ilva returned it with a fresh, friendly smile.

“By yourself?”

“Yeah. I’ve got the day off today. You lot heading for the dungeon?”

“Pretty much. Gotta earn our keep.”

“Fufu, being a popular guy must be tough.”

Ilva chuckled.

“Well, our group’s got a lot of people. Hey, Ilva—your party’s just four, right? You guys not in a clan or anything?”

“No clan for us. Hard for former nobles, you see~…”

I wonder if being a noble causes complications.
With how laid-back our clan is, I can’t really imagine it.

“So then, you’re a straight-up four-person party.”

“Pretty much~…”

Ilva’s cheerful smile clouded a little.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, no… Sorry for holding you up. Anyway, good luck in there.”

Putting her smile back on, Ilva waved and walked off.

“Think something happened with her?”

Watching Ilva’s retreating back, AI-chan asked.

“Who knows. Anyway, let’s head to the dungeon.”

“Yes.”

We made our way to the plaza, entered the labyrinth, and pressed into the unexplored areas while AI-chan steadily mapped them out.

Just like the day before yesterday, Tama-chan sniffed out traps, and Natalia regularly cast healing magic as we advanced.

“Natalia, you holding up?”

After Alice and I took down a monster, I turned to check on her.

“Yeah. I think I’m still fine.”

Well, it’s only been about an hour, so she should be okay…

“Better drink one of the potions Annie prepared, just in case.”

“Mm, okay.”

Natalia obediently nodded and drank a potion, so we resumed our exploration.

We continued forward, taking plenty of breaks at the various safe zones along the way. By noon, we set up a table and chairs inside one of them and stopped for lunch.

“……When we rest here, it really doesn’t feel like we get tired at all.”

Alice muttered that while nibbling at her bento.

“I don’t feel it either. But in reality, we must still be getting tired.”

Considering Natalia had been using recovery magic regularly, it was probably even more true for her.

“AI-chan, how’s the progress?”

“About one-fourth left, I’d say.”

AI-chan showed us the map as she said that.

The upper-right corner was still blank, but the lines were drawn cleanly, and her sense of scale seemed perfect.

“Ooh, that’s AI-chan for you.”

“Impressive. You’d probably be good at portraits too, AI-chan.”

Well, she probably could draw them.

“Shall I try?”

“Nah, that’d be too embarrassing. I’ll pass.”

“…You should draw Annie. She likes that sort of thing.”

Well, she did hold that one-person fashion show event, after all.

“First thing would be to get her out of the kotatsu though.”

“…So, in spring?”

“You too, Alice. You’re practically a kotatsu resident.”

Chatting like that, we enjoyed our lunch and rested.

Then, in the afternoon, we resumed exploring, defeating monsters as we went.

“Nya-nya-nya!”

While walking, Tama-chan suddenly stopped and pointed her front paw straight ahead.

“What is it? A trap?”

“No… It feels like there’s something up ahead. But according to the map, it should be a dead end…”

“Something dangerous? I don’t sense any mana though…”

At the very least, there weren’t any monsters or adventurers within five hundred meters.

“No, it doesn’t seem to be that sort of thing. Let’s go take a look.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but since AI-chan said so, we moved forward.

Sure enough, the cave ended in a dead end—but there was a box sitting there.

“What the heck is that? Don’t tell me… is that a treasure chest?”

Well, it was a box.

“It appears so.”

AI-chan nodded. Meanwhile, Tama-chan padded up to the chest and started circling around it, sniffing and checking.

“How’s it look?”

“Nya-nya.”

“She says there don’t seem to be any traps. But just in case, I’ll open it instead.”

AI-chan swapped places with Tama-chan and knelt by the chest.

“No lock either. Opening it now—”

“Careful, alright?”

“Come forth, oh treasure~!”

With a strange little chant, AI-chan flipped the chest open.

“Well? How is it?”

“……Anything good inside?”

Natalia and Alice leaned in, asking.

“Whoa! Look at this! There’s a really cool sword in here!”

AI-chan pulled out a sheathed blade from inside.

“A sword, huh… Looks like it’ll fetch a high price.”

“Right? I thought so too~”

AI-chan drew the sword from its sheath and lifted it high with a delighted look.

“But… it’s kinda thin, isn’t it?”

“…It is a thin blade. Probably a rapier.”

I didn’t know the proper name for swords like that.

“Either way, put it away. Looks dangerous to be waving around.”

Even if it was light enough for AI-chan to handle, it still looked risky.

“Okay~. Think it’ll go over eighty gold coins?”

The highest-priced drop we’d ever gotten was a staff that sold for eighty gold.

“Would be nice. Alright, let’s head back and try another path.”

“Roger~”

AI-chan stored the rapier away in her spatial magic, and we retraced our steps before moving down a different passage.