<purga> shaman 40

The Shaman can't become a Hero
Act 5: Worst Harem Party
Chapter 40: Remnants and Loot
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"... <Hh-!?>"

My eyes fling open, and I jump awake.

"T-the Boss is!!"

"Good morning, Momokawa-kun"

Instead of the heinous red Orthrus, the one sitting in front of me was Futaba-san with a bright and cheerful smile. The enemy seemed to be gone, and missing too.

"Eh, Ah... Morning"

This doesn't seem to be the Boss Room so much. More like, this is nothing other than a Fairy Square.

As soon as I realized that, I decided I'll try asking Futaba-san what's happened.

"By the time I got out of the wall of fire, Hirano-kun and Nishiyama-san, they were both, and the Boss had... But it was weaker, so I beat it alone"

So it comes back to her Berserker strength I see. If I were the last one standing, it'd have been game over right there.

Anywho, the fact is that Futaba-san skillfully overcame the boss, and taking me, who was half-dead from friendly fire, she escaped from the boss room, and arrived safely to the next dungeon area that starts off with this fairy square.

Really, I've been relying on her from start to finish.

"So, that's what happened... Sorry Futaba-san"

"Why are you, apologizing, Momokawa-kun?"

"Cause I was really, *really* useless... no, it's worse, because of me, our plan was a mess, and I even got myself done in my the boss"

If I'd chosen not to retreat, but boldly face the battle, if only, maybe Hirano-kun or Nishiyama-san, maybe even one of them would have been here now.

"Momokawa-kun, you didn't do anything wrong at all! It's because, those two, they only—"

"No look, I'm the one who tried to run off the bat, that's just fact. Them losing trust in me right then and there was inevitable."

"*But*, Nishiyama-san, she shot you! I, I get it you know, her and the boss full of cuts, that was obviously of your <Pain Return>"

Exactly. In a state of being bitten down and stuck still by the boss, Nishiyama-san's <Aer Blast> went for the critical hit. Like trying to solve a hostage situation, by killing both felon and hostage.

"That's my, just deserts, right..."

Honestly, from Hirano-kun egging her on, to Nishiyama-san herself actually having shot me, I can't really let it pass with a little grumbling. Like, *what the eff, the hell's wrong with you, go to hell.*

But, I just can't come out and say it. It's not about spitting on their graves, but like, *it's cause I'm the one who got everyone out of sync in the first place... so it really was, me getting what was coming.* I should've gotten it straight, done better.

"It's not your fault! Momokawa-kun, you have *not a bit* of blame in this!!"

"Thanks, just you saying that... no, you simply not abandoning me, and even saving me from there, Futaba-san, that's more that enough"

*This useless shaman, he was halfway there, it would've been fine to leave him behind as a stain on the boss room. And that alleged health potion, he even used that up. Unbelievable, such a waste.*[Note 1]
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*Note 1:  If you get it, then fine. This paragraph is just him being pessimistic in the 3rd person(?)
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Healing me from that miserable state, and so perfectly at that... that's so much of a cheat item, my ointments seem laughable. You should obviously hold on to something like that for a fighter like Futaba-san.

"I'd never, ever betray you. I won't run away anymore, I swore, that I'd protect Momokawa-kun!"

Thanks. Really, my sincere thanks, Futaba-san. Your trust in me, I'm so happy I could cry. If our genders were switched, I'd be head over heels harder than a cliche romcom heroine.

"Yeah, me too, I won't let you down either"

I'll make next time work. Hirano-kun and Nishiyama-san, they could've been real allies with us.

Trust. That's right, trust is important. I still have a will, to try and trust someone else.

Betrayed all too easily by my supposed friend Masaru, then because of those last two people, I was one foot in the grave. *But*, Futaba-san is someone who saved me. So it's still too early, too early to give up on others.

No, us human being, in the first place, we aren't supposed to live in extremes. It's when we can guarantee our individual safety, procure adequate food and clothing, it's only then that we can begin to reason, we can become social creatures abiding by the rules of society.

That being the case, going around fighting monsters in life or death scenarios every single time is just, plain wrong. Gathering allies, building our forces... It doesn't have to be perfect, but in an environment where we can actually relax, that's when we can show our best. Plus, we're still mentally immature kids, just highschoolers. So this applies to us all the more.

"Momokawa-kun... Ah, that's right, I brought back their things, let's see if there's anything we can use"

"Yeah, yup, let's"

*She even managed to get those*, I thought in admiration while we started sorting through the items of the two departed.

The thought of those two becoming sacrifices for our survival doesn't well up the slightest hint of crying or grieving in me, maybe, I'm already too far off the deep end from this dungeon life thing we've been doing. Just look, right now, I'm calmly looking through a couple of dead classmates' bags, searching objectively for useful things only.

"... Momokawa-kun, you're crying?"

"Eh... Ahh, yeah, crying, kinda, maybe"

*What's this "kinda maybe" bs. Aren't my eyes creating these nice little waterfalls here?*/

Ahh, I'm glad. I haven't, not yet, lost all my humanity yet.

Sorry, Sorry Hirano-kun, Nishiyama-san. I still can't like you, but that doesn't mean I think it's good that you died. I'm sure, we could've, should've gotten along better... sorry, I'm sorry.

I quietly cried, as my body trembled under the weight of those sacrifices.




I made a reapprehension of my conscience, but that aside, we really needed to sort our things out.

First, and this is a real treasure, we cave to consider how to use Hirano-kun's good quality sword.

"Here, it's for you, Momokawa-kun!"

"No look here, it's obviously gonna be your sub-weapon"

She offered me the sword like she was handing over Valentine's chocolate with romantic intentions attached, but I deny it outright.[Note 2]
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*Note 2:  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honmei_choco)[Honmei] as opposed to (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giri_choco)[Giri/Friendship]. This wasn't necessary right? Everyone and their dog has seen a Valentine's episode...
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"Eh... B-but, I'd feel bad getting all the good things"

"Futaba-san, you're fighting in the frontlines where it's most dangerous, so we'll have to equip you with the best of the best. And I don't think that Goma battle axe has a long life-expectancy."

"But you too, for the *just in case*, I strongly think you need better weapons too Momokawa-kun"

"I'm not saying you don't have a point... but unfortunately, my thin arms can't really swing around a sword like that, you see"

It's the case of the weapon being too high level to handle. I can't even imagine myself elegantly cutting down an attacking monster with this sword.

"Since I can't make any use of it, you're the only one I can count on for this"

"S-so you're saying... I got it, I, I'll make sure and kill all the enemies; I won't let a single one get close to you, Momokawa-kun!"

What fervor. I'm guessing it's because of her Berserker nature, even a girl like Futaba-san gets excited from a good weapon.

That being settled, the best piece of loot smoothly went where it should, and now we only needed to distribute the rest in order. But then, those two didn't have that many high value items either.

Even that miraculous health potion that saved me from the verge of death, Nishiyama-san only had one of those. Coming second best, there's only a few of those clovers. We already have ointment A, so it's not especially important to us either.

That and there's Nishiyama-san's wand of Wind magic. We tried it out even though we knew, but as expected, neither I nor Futaba-san could use it. I had the slightest hope of *just maybe*, but no matter how I prayed, I coudn't get a breeze out of it. You should just get rid of useless goods. But the inner miser in me simply wouldn't allow us to leave a genuine magic wand to just gather dust...

"Now, do it, Futaba-san!"

"<Eei!!>"

Swinging her axe with magnificence the likes of the legendary Kintarou, she severs the wand. She cuts off only the green orb part that seems to be screaming, *Look at me, I'm a real powerhouse here!* Futaba-san's blow was powerful yet precise, cleanly splitting the orb from the rest of the wand, and we easily obtained that beautiful green sphere.

I'll just hope it comes handy at some point, and stuff it deep in my bag.

"I don't know if they'll be useful, but I took these fangs from the boss"

Thanks to Futaba-san acting like a player in a game where you go around collecting monster parts, we have obtained Orthrus Fangs x 2. These were our item drops. Not really.

These fangs felt too small to be knives in my hands, but they're still thicker and longer than my thumb. An impressive pair of teeth you'd think belongs to a dinosaur.

"You know, if you hit these on something hard, sparks come out. Just like flint"

"Woah, it really does, this is great!"

When I tried knocking it on the edge of the fountain, quite a bit of sparks flew out. This amount, it's way too much to be caused by mere friction.

Since the Orthrus could blow out fire, maybe the fangs have magical properties too. Or maybe it used flammable gases with wind magic, with the fangs for ignition purposes.

"So, are they useful?"

"We can't make it a flamethrower, but as a firestarter, it's perfect. We do have the lighter, but the fluid won't last forever right"

The lighter we've been using was obtained from Takashima-kun from the baseball club, who's secretly a smoker apparently. It's thanks to this that we got to enjoy some delicious snake flesh.

And since we conveniently happen to have two, me and Futaba-san will carry one each.

"Oh that's right, *fufu*, I'm glad"

"So know that we know monster's can have naturally useful materials other than cores inside them, let's try and collect those too from now on"

*Sure*, she replied with a smile and delight; this Futaba-san sure is a great person to work with. Not a hint of finding the proposed dirtywork, of literally salvaging through blood and entrails, a pain or something.

But I shouldn't try and leave things to others, I'll learn and try to help out a bit. Next time we see a monster fitting the criteria, let's try getting her to teach me.

"Ah, Momokawa-kun, there's this too"

Finally, Futaba-san rummages a bit through her pocket and offers me the item retrieved. So this second present from her, what shall it—

"Ah! It's, Hirano-kun's G-Shock!?"

Black strap with a silver body, it was a wrist watch with an analog display. I recognized that familiar design instantly.

"You looked like you wanted one, a watch"

"Ah, yeah, since it's so convenient and all..."

Don't tell me, did I really look  wanting it so obviously? I never thought I was a person with too many material desires... gotta fix that.

"So I can, really have this?"

"Of course!"

Futaba-san seems to declare, but I'm kinda worried what Hirano-kun would say. I could just end it with, *dead men don't talk*... but really, I'm not so much a romanticist as to ignore useful items for sentimental reasons.

It hadn't even been a full day, we spent a truly short time together but still, as a comrade, I'll make full use of these remnants in the dungeon hereafter.

"Thanks"

And with that, we're all set. We'll rest in this fairy square a bit longer, then, once again, dive into the unknowns of the dungeon.