Chapter 341 Turning a Blind Eye

The exploration team emerged from the narrow passage and arrived at a massive room.

It was a space so vast that torches alone couldn’t illuminate it entirely.

Everyone looked around cautiously, but there were no traps, and soon the room was brightly lit as lighting equipment was installed.

On one side, several passages led to other rooms, including the one they had just entered from, while a massive door stood against the opposite wall.

’We’ve arrived.’

Ellen spoke while looking up at the large door.

It was the entrance to the storehouse located at the center of the dungeon.

Perhaps thanks to quickly breaking through the trap zones using the potions, they had arrived three days earlier than expected.

Having reached the primary destination, it was now time to find a way to get inside.

After investigating the room to ensure safety, the exploration team set up a temporary camp there.

Investigation equipment and supplies were brought in from the outside along the passage where traps had been removed and safety secured.

After finishing a brief investigation, Ellen came to Ian and spoke.

’I’ll have to look into how to open the door from here.’

’That will take some time.’

’Yes. From the outside, it looks quite complex.’

Ellen nodded at Ian’s remark.

He would need to investigate further to be sure, but considering the excellent state of preservation of the dungeon they had seen so far, it was highly likely that the entrance’s defenses were still intact.

’Can’t we just break in?’

’That would be difficult.’

Ellen replied to the question from Mika, who had been listening nearby.

’This is the place where the defenses are strongest, and some storehouses are designed to collapse if forced open. Breaking in is truly a last resort.’

Ultimately, it meant they had to wait until the exploration team found a way to open the door.

Well, either way, there was nothing for the mercenary group to step in and do.

The Ian Mercenary Group took their place on one side of the exploration camp and entered an indefinite standby while the team searched for a way to open the door.

＊ ＊ ＊

As the camp was established inside the dungeon, the Ian Mercenary Group was also assigned a tent.

However, since it was a tent used inside a dungeon, its size was on the smaller side. Just enough to barely sleep in.

Ian and the members set up a simple spot in front of the tent and gathered to talk.

While the Ian Mercenary Group sat leisurely, the exploration team members were all moving and shouting busily.

Exploration was strictly the other team’s job. As the escort, the mercenary group had nothing particular to do in this situation.

Rin, who was observing the scene, asked Ian.

’How long do you think this will take?’

’Usually a few days... if it takes long, it could even take months.’

’What? Months?’

Rin asked Ian in shock at the mention of it potentially taking months.

’Then do we seriously have to keep waiting like this until then?’

’Probably not...’

Ian shook his head at Rin’s question.

Usually, if the duration became that long, the exploration team would return midway to restock supplies and rest. The mercenary group would likely be rotated out as well.

Moreover, there were no signs of monsters inside the dungeon, and it didn’t seem like an escort was particularly necessary.

Since it appeared the other side had contracted them for the potions rather than a genuine need for an escort anyway, there was a high possibility they wouldn’t extend the contract once the initial period ended.

The remaining period was about two weeks.

’Two weeks.’

Hearing that, Rin sighed and leaned back in her chair.

’What are we supposed to do during that time?’

’We should at least pretend to be guarding...’

’Sigh...’

No matter how idle an escort group is, they couldn’t just openly play while everyone else was working.

Being inside a dungeon under investigation, they couldn’t just wander around freely either.

In the end, Ian and the members had no choice but to gather in the mercenary tent and spend their time quietly.

＊ ＊ ＊

The mercenary tent was tucked away in a corner of the camp, quite far from the center of exploration.

While the exploration team clustered near the storehouse entrance for their investigation, the mercenary tent was located on the opposite side.

This was partly so they wouldn’t get in the way of the research.

And also for their nominal role as escorts; to prepare for any potential monster appearances, the mercenary tent had to be positioned at the outermost edge.

In other words... it meant they were isolated in a very secluded spot.

Borrowing and reading books.

Gathering to talk.

Slighting wandering nearby without being a nuisance...

Spending time like that was finally reaching its limit.

Which meant, in the middle of a boring dungeon life with nothing to do, the only game left to kill time... was ultimately just one thing.

’...’

Airi, tucked inside her sleeping bag, quietly tossed and turned.

Since they were inside a dungeon, they couldn’t tell the time, and because the exploration team worked in shifts day and night, the lights were always on.

Spending a long time in such a place caused everyone’s sense of day and night to become quite blurred.

First of all, there was no need for everyone to act together right now, and a few people had to be awake for the escort duty anyway.

Everyone was just living individual schedules, entering the tent to sleep and waking up whenever they felt tired.

If it were a dungeon where monsters appeared, they would have to set a rotation and take turns guarding, but here, not a single trace of a monster could be found. They were essentially in a continuous standby state.

Airi, who had her eyes closed inside the sleeping bag, heard the tent open and the sound of someone lying down a short distance beside her.

Is it the Captain...?

Airi, who checked by slightly squinting her eyes, quietly closed them and pretended to sleep.

Then, someone else entered the tent.

The sound of someone getting into a sleeping bag came from right next to her.

The voices of two people whispering quietly could be heard.

’Who is it?’

’It’s me.’

Mika replied to Ian’s question.

’There’s space next to me.’

’Let’s sleep together.’

Airi, who had her back turned, snapped her eyes open.

Turning her head ever so slightly to look, she saw Mika slipping into Ian’s sleeping bag.

...Inside the same sleeping bag?

What little drowsiness Airi had vanished instantly.

’Airi is here too.’

’She’s sleeping. What does it matter?’

When her name was suddenly mentioned, Airi quickly closed her eyes.

Perhaps thinking Airi was fast asleep, the two didn’t seem to pay much attention to her side.

Maybe because she had her eyes closed and her nerves on edge, the small sounds coming from beside her were heard vividly by Airi.

The rustling sound of clothes rubbing inside the sleeping bag.

The low whispers of the two people.

The small breaths filled with excitement.

She tried not to mind what was happening next to her, but the more she closed her eyes and tried to clear her thoughts, the more clearly those sounds flowed into Airi’s ears.

Since Airi had her back turned, she couldn’t directly see what was happening.

However, from the sounds alone, numerous vivid imaginings bloomed in Airi’s head.

The conversation cutting off... and likely the sound of kissing.

A faint, pleasurable voice leaking out.

The sound of the sleeping bag rustling as they twitched.

Airi’s heart pounded as if it were about to explode. To the point she worried the two might hear her heartbeat.

Because her heart was racing so much that she couldn’t possibly sleep, Airi eventually opened her eyes quietly.

Behind Airi’s back, the small sounds of the two engaging in lewd acts continued to leak out.

Airi recalled the masturbation in the bathhouse from last time, which remained vivid in her memory.

It had felt good.

She had done it several times since then, but she could never feel as good as that time again. The more she did it, the more her thirst intensified.

...If I do it now. Could I feel that sensation again?

Airi, while keeping her back to the two and pretending to sleep, secretly reached out her hand.

Slowly, inside her underwear.

As soon as her fingertips touched that place which was already damp, a stinging pleasure surged up like static electricity, as if it had been waiting.

Airi’s body trembled with a spine-chilling goosebump, as if it had been waiting for this exact moment.

The whispering voices of Ian and Mika could be heard right behind her back.

It was a position much closer than that time before.

A narrow sleeping tent. A place so close that if she turned over and moved her head, they would be right in front of her nose.

The two lowered their voices so they wouldn’t leak outside the tent, but they were clearly audible to Airi’s ears as she lay right beside them.

The lewd sound of membranes tangling and sticky fluids squelching.

Mika’s silent moans and tremors as she sobbed with a closed mouth.

Listening to those sounds, Airi moved her fingers very quietly.

Her whole body was excited to an unbearable degree.

Biting her lip. Rolling her nipples that had sprouted through her thin shirt with her fingers.

While teasing her clitoris, which had heated up to the point of pain, with her fingertips.

Airi lost herself in masturbation quietly while holding her breath.

Every time her fingertips touched anywhere, her whole body twitched and trembled.

Very occasionally, a small moan that Mika failed to suppress leaked out briefly.

Every time Airi heard that sound, she felt a chilling sensation as if her own lower abdomen were throbbing in climax.

Trembling at the pleasure spreading quietly through her body, Airi continued to move her hand.

’Nnh...’

Was it because she was too immersed? A small voice leaked from Airi’s mouth.

She tried to stop in a panic, but her body, trembling toward a climax, didn’t listen to her words properly.

Airi bit her lip hard to stifle her voice, barely suppressing her twitching and trembling body.

...Did they not notice?

Airi, who was holding her breath quietly, let out a small sigh when there was no reaction from behind.

’...’

Airi has masturbated 1 times.

Mika looked at Ian with eyes that seemed to say, ’She’s awake, isn’t she?’ and Ian quietly shook his head as if telling her to pretend not to notice.