Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054922300995/episodes/1177354054922355117
Big is the son of an aristocrat and has ample funds from the support of his father, who is the lord of a certain town.
Using this, “Red Meteor” bought a large amount of supplies for the dungeon attack. Until now, even if they had the funds, they could not take many supplies with them because of the limit to the amount they could carry.
However, Ryu’s storage had no limits, so he decided to bring a surprisingly large amount.
Food, potions for recovery, and various living and offensive magic tools. The amount of supplies was so extravagant that we could have stayed in the dungeon for a month or two.
Two days later, the party “Red Meteor” with Ryuujin as the porter, with all the preparations completed, headed for the dungeon.
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Ryu was hired only as a porter, so he is a baggage carrier and does not engage in combat.
Big [I heard you’re still an F-rank? It must be an honor to work with A-rank adventurers like us, so study hard.]
It might be a bit off-putting to say such a thing, but Ryu was able to provoke him by giving him some advice.
Big said things like, [We are A-rank adventurers,] but Ryu also knew that Big was actually a B-rank (his ability was D-rank), but he didn’t press into it, just laughed at it in his heart.
However, as one would expect from an A-rank party, the abilities of the other members were real.
The two A-rank adventurers, Amira and Jojo, were especially impressive, killing low to mid-grade monsters in the blink of an eye.
The B-ranked Cha Cha (wizard) was also a very strong B adventurer, with a power close to that of an A-ranked adventurer.
Amira and the others defeated the monsters as they came out, steadily advancing through the ranks. The party was able to pass the level inhabited by the crawling dragon, Craw Dragon, and finally entered the level inhabited by the real dragon species, the Earth Dragon, from which this dungeon takes its name.
However, the party decided to take a break there.
Dungeon crawls often take days to complete. In such cases, it is natural to need to rest and sleep along the way. In such cases, the party would choose a relatively safe place and use a warding stone to keep demons away, or if no warding stone was available, they would take turns keeping watch while taking a break.
Big and his party were well-funded and had prepared powerful warding stones, so they were all able to sleep at the same time.
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And after falling asleep……
Leaving Ryu behind, the members of the Red Meteor quietly walked out of the ward.
Amira [Are you sure you want to do this?]
Big [No big deal, he’s just an F-ranked adventurer, no need for you A-ranked guys to freak out, right?]
In fact, Big was planning to kill Ryu somewhere along the way and take the magic bag.
When Amira and the others heard of this plan, they objected, saying that it would be dangerous to reduce the number of people in the middle of the attack. They thought it would be better to kill him on the way back after the attack was completed.
However, Big was not counting Ryu as an asset, since he was an F-ranked adventurer. As long as they had that magic bag, they would be able to complete the journey on their own without Ryu. He said that there was no need to give Ryu, who was just a baggage carrier, a share of the team.
Amira [But killing him is too excessive, don’t you think?]
Big [You forgot my dad saved you from falling into slavery, didn’t he? You still owe me a debt, remember?]
Amira had once failed in a dungeon and almost fell into slavery, owing a huge debt. Big’s father saved him by taking over his debt. In order to repay the debt, Amira agreed to form a party with Big.
Big mixed sleeping pills into the food he gave Ryu. He also ordered Cha Cha to cast a sleep spell on Liu to put him into a deeper sleep.
Since there was no way they could lose to an F-ranked opponent, they could have just taken direct action, but they decided to leave Ryu behind so that it would look more natural.
Big [How often do adventurers go missing deep in the dungeon?]
Big smiled wryly.
Jojo [Isn’t that a roundabout way of doing things? We can take on a mere F-rank adventurer in a head-on fight, right?]
Big [Wouldn’t it be boring if we simply killed him? I want to see him cry out in despair. I can’t see it, but it’s fun just to imagine it.]
Big ordered Cha Cha to put more paralysis on the sleeping Ryu. Then he put down the incense, which attracts demons, and left Ryu behind.
In fact, Ryu knew from the beginning that Big was planning to kill him and take the bag.
Knowing Big’s malicious intentions, he took him up on the offer.
With his divine eye ability, Ryu is able to read the minds of his opponents to some extent. When he met Big again, he knew that Big’s apologies for his past treatment were only superficial, and that he had no feelings for Ryu in his heart, in fact, he even hated him.
To Big, Ryu is still nothing more than a slave.
When his father found out about his assault on the slave and freed him, Big resented his father’s severe reprimand of him, blaming it on Ryu.
When he was enslaving and tormenting Ryu, Big’s taste for aggravation was satisfied and he enjoyed it the most.
When he succeeded his father as lord, he planned to build a torture chamber in the basement and gather people who would have no problem with being beaten to death.
At that time, he even dreamed of finding, capturing, and torturing Ryu again.
However, the reunion with Ryu came unexpectedly quickly.
As expected, his father was still alive and well, and he had not yet prepared a dungeon to satisfy his taste.
In order to have the title of lord transferred to him as soon as possible, his first priority was to become an adventurer, produce results, and have his father recognize his power.
And, as an adventurer, the magic bag in Ryu’s possession was very attractive.
It would be a bit of a waste to kill Ryu without torturing him, but if he could get his hands on a high-end magic bag, the benefits to him in the future would be immeasurable.
Ryu, who was only pretending to be asleep, also heard all the conversation between Big and the others. He also dared to put the bag a little further away so that it would be easier to take it from them.
He knew that they were going to give him sleeping pills, so he pretended to eat and stored all the food in subspace. He connected the entrance of his stomach to subspace, so everything he ate would go there. (Although it did make him hungry.)
He also knew they were going to use magic, so he connected the surface of his body to subspace. All of Sleep Paralyze’s magic was released into subspace and did not reach Ryu’s body.
After making sure Big and the others were leaving with the bags, Ryu opened his eyes.
But…..he realized he was being left behind once again.
Is this a common trend?
Ryu wondered if more adventurers who go to the dungeon and don’t return are being killed by humans rather than demons.
Ryu realized that the most frightening monsters, including those from his previous life, were humans.
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