Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 296: Safe Rescue
After rejoining the escort team, Tauro temporarily restored everyone’s senses. With their skills functioning again, the escorts quickly located the separated search parties.
Tauro treated those groups as well, allowing the combined force to resume the search effectively. Before long, they found the missing branch manager’s party.
“We’re saved… You arrived much sooner than expected. I thought rescue would take nearly another two months. Whatever the reason, thank you!”
Salaman, captain of the missing party and branch manager of the Dragonfolk Village Adventurers’ Guild branch, shook Tsugumu’s hand on behalf of the survivors.
Salaman had entered the dungeon before Tauro became involved with the village and knew nothing about him. The branch manager therefore assumed that the rescuers had reached Floor 86 through an ordinary expedition rather than [Spatial Transfer].
“Hm? It’s unusual to see a human child here. Why bring a child into a place like this? Don’t tell me the child was the actual rescue target and finding us was merely good fortune. Ha ha ha!”
Having noticed Tauro, Salaman confidently constructed an entirely mistaken explanation.
“Salaman, Tauro is the person who made this rescue possible. Thanks to him, we reached you quickly. Have you not heard about the human who discovered the treatment for the epidemic that struck the village?”
“Ragune, Drago’s younger sister, brought back the cure. It saved my life too.”
“You entered the dungeon immediately after recovering, so you never learned the full story. Tauro taught Ragune how to prepare that cure.”
“What? Is that true? He’s only a boy. I imagined the person responsible was a famous human scholar.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. First, I’ll remove the abnormal condition affecting everyone.”
After greeting the survivors, Tauro used recovery magic to release Salaman and the others from the Storm’s sensory paralysis.
“My vision is clear, and my skills work again! This is astonishing. The boy cured it? Encountering the legendary Storm is extraordinary enough, but a child capable of treating its Skill-Killing…”
“The relief is temporary, so we should return to the rest room immediately.”
Salaman quickly understood the limitation and nodded.
“As long as our senses function, we can find our way back. But I sent one member ahead to seek help. Do you know what happened to him?”
“He safely reached the Floor 85 rest room. I’ll transport him back to the surface afterward. Tsugumu, is that acceptable?”
Tauro sought the escort captain’s confirmation rather than deciding the matter alone.
“Yes. That will be fine. Let’s withdraw.”
Salaman took the lead, and the combined group made its way out of the labyrinth.
“At last… a safe area.”
On reaching the Floor 85 rest room, the exhausted survivors collapsed onto the floor in relief.
“How long were you trapped on Floor 86 after the Storm struck?”
Tauro asked once the group had begun to settle.
“Nearly half a month, I think. We’re deeply grateful. Our food was almost gone, and under those conditions, any one of us could have suffered a mental collapse.”
Salaman smiled and patted the other survivors’ shoulders, praising them for enduring the ordeal.
Half a month in that state was almost unimaginable to Tauro. He doubted that an ordinary human could remain sane for even a full day.
The experience reminded him yet again of the dragonfolk’s extraordinary resilience.
After giving the survivors time to eat and recover, Tauro used [Spatial Transfer] to move them rapidly to the first-floor rest room.
Salaman’s party was astonished by the legendary transportation ability. Tauro then returned to Floor 85, collected the member who had gone for help, and brought him back as well.
Once the entire party was reunited for the first time in many days, the dragonfolk embraced one another and wept as their accumulated tension finally broke.
However tough they were, they had feared for their companions just as anyone else would.
Watching them, Tauro again felt the kinship with dragonfolk that had begun with Ragune.
“Tauro, you saved me during the epidemic, and now you’ve saved both me and my companions. Allow me to thank you properly.”
Salaman bowed on behalf of the group, and every member followed.
“Please raise your heads. We found you only through the combined efforts of the search and escort teams. I merely assisted, so I don’t deserve all of the gratitude.”
Tauro urged them to stand upright again.
“Even so, I must repay you somehow. The Storm would challenge even the most hardened dungeon-conquest veterans.”
“In that case, since I’m an adventurer, could you do something about the Adventurers’ Guild branch?”
Tauro asked the branch manager to improve the barely functioning Dragonfolk Village branch.
“The Adventurers’ Guild? Wait… you’re an adventurer? That’s another surprise! I’m a branch manager, yet I’ve never actually met one before. I leave the branch to the receptionists while I earn its operating funds in the dungeon. Ha ha ha!”
After hearing that answer, Tauro suspected that asking much of Salaman’s branch might prove difficult after all.