The dungeon has been parasitized

Chapter 58 Rat People

Dozens of flaming arrows were raining down from the sky. To the left was a shadow wolf, and to the right was another shadow wolf that had just leaped out of the shadows. In front of them stood a blue-haired human mage...

Behind her were daisies tied to her by vines.

This is hell!

There's nothing else I can do... There's only one thing I can do now.

"Please don't kill us! We'll do anything, sob sob..."

"Huh? Hyacinth, you—"

Before Daisy could finish speaking, Hyacinth nudged her with her elbow, but the silly Daisy didn't seem to understand what she meant.

"We can't betray the rat race, Hyacinth! How can you say we can do anything!"

"Ouch!"

Hyacinth gave her a hard nudge, never expecting her partner to be so stupid.

"Idiot, I was just begging for mercy! It's not like we really did anything. Do you think they would let us go if we didn't say that?!"

"Eh? Is that so?"

That guy is such an idiot.

"Cough cough."

Yanami, who had been watching from the sidelines, coughed lightly twice, interrupting the two's bickering.

"Ah, ah... human, um, could you please let us go... we didn't mean to trespass on your territory."

"Yes, yes... we just wanted to go to the forest, we didn't mean to bother you."

Hyacinth looked at the human in front of her who was squinting slightly, and swallowed nervously.

"That's possible, but you'll need to answer some questions for me."

"W-What's the problem?"

In Hyacinth's eyes, Yanami's blue eyes sparkled, and she wore a faint smile that left Hyacinth completely bewildered.

………………

The rats...

After Yanami tied them up with vines, she finally had a chance to take a closer look at them. It was clear that they were not human.

They all have round ears on their heads and a long, thin tail behind them. The ears are covered with fine, dense hair, as are the tails, but the hair is very sparse and short.

They are very small; not counting the ears that stand up on their heads, they are only about 1.5 meters tall.

These characteristics clearly identify them as rat-like beings.

Yanami recalled the knowledge from the book: the Rat-people often lived underground, were skilled in digging and earth magic, and were a rather timid race.

Although they are relatively friendly to humans, their timid nature often leads them to live in seclusion in settlements, but they still occasionally use tunnels to find human society to trade goods.

These two rat-like creatures looked like young girls, even wearing work robes, and frankly, they didn't seem like they were there to invade the plantation.

Moreover, they were carrying pickaxes for digging holes, explosives, and a huge guinea pig pet, which had just blocked their escape route.

The guinea pigs were equipped with saddles and carrying bags, making them look like their mounts.

"What are you here for?"

Yanami spoke to the rat-like creature called Hyacinth, whose ears twitched as if in thought.

"Uh, we're here to scout ahead."

"Scouting ahead?"

"We just came to scout out the forest. We really wandered in by accident; we had no idea there were humans in the Wild Dog Forest..."

"Yes, yes."

After the hyacinth finished speaking, the daisies behind her nodded in agreement.

"What is the purpose of scouting this place? Do you intend to invade?"

"No, no! We're just an exploration team!"

Upon hearing Yanami's guess, Hyacinth quickly shook her head, her two adorable big ears swaying back and forth.

"We just discovered there was a forest fire in Wild Dog Forest, so the pack sent us to check on things here..."

Hyacinth paused noticeably, not finishing her sentence, her ears drooping down her head.

"Anything else?"

"Also, we'd like to get some charcoal here... If there's a forest fire, there'll definitely be plenty of charcoal, right?"

Yanami nodded, acknowledging her statement.

"How did you know there was a fire in Wild Dog Forest?"

"Well, our tribe has many passages connecting different caves, but the passage in Wild Dog Forest suddenly collapsed, so they sent the two of us to check it out. We found that the rocks in this area were brittled and cracked by the high temperature, which caused our passage to collapse."

"So, we know that the forest here must be on fire."

That makes a lot of sense. When I went to find rock frogs for barbecue with Klein before, I did see that a lot of the rock walls had collapsed due to the heat.

The plantation was spared because Yanami had prepared firebreaks in advance.

"Then why did you dig here?"

"Because the rocks here don't seem to have been burned. If they had been burned, they would be easy to dig, but they would also collapse easily, making them unusable as passageways."

"We just wanted to open a passage here so we could get some charcoal back."

After they finished speaking, they waited for Yanami's response, only to find her lost in thought, seemingly preoccupied with something.

"that……"

"Ah, I'm listening, I understand."

Yanami smiled, but they were completely confused.

Yanami recalled the conversation she had overheard, and it was indeed the same as what they said.

Moreover, if they were really here to invade the plantation, there would be no reason to send two such weak people.

"So, you didn't come here specifically for this place; you just stumbled in by chance?"

"Mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm."

Both of them nodded vigorously. Yanami pondered for a moment, then squinted her eyes and nodded slightly, her expression ambiguous.

"I can trust you for now. Don't worry, if it's really as you say, I won't hurt you."

In fact, Yanami was basically certain that this was just an accident. The most crucial point was that her hostility reading had never been triggered on them.

This suggests that they never actually intended to attack him, although it cannot be ruled out that they were simply too cowardly to make a move.

"Then... will they let us go?"

"Probably."

The reason Yanami hasn't released them yet is that she wants to wait for Klein to return.

"Is it... just supposed to be?"

The daisy behind the hyacinth trembled.

"Don't worry, I'm not a bad person."

"Oh, I see..."

Hyacinth swallowed hard as she looked at the fiery arrows still rolling in the air with heat.

Seeing this, Yanami raised her wand and waved it, and all the fire arrows disappeared.

Then he snapped his fingers again, and the shadow wolf clone next to him melted into a black puddle and disappeared.

"Huh? It was just a clone?!"

"This one is real."

Yanami looked to her right, where the Shadow Wolf's claws were pressing down on the giant guinea pig, preventing it from moving.

"Woof!"

"You...you actually tamed a shadow wolf..."

Hyacinth glanced at Shadow Wolf with trepidation, her tone filled with disbelief.

"Didn't you catch a big rat too?"

"It's different. Shadow wolves are very proud and can't be tamed at all."

"Hmph~ Is that so?"

Hyacinth lowered her head and looked at Yanami. Suddenly, she froze, and countless fears surged across her face. Without the slightest hesitation, she shouted at Yanami.

"Human! Watch your back! Be careful!"

Behind Yanami was a pair of large mouths with countless sharp teeth.