I just 'moved' a little, that's all?

A large door covered in reliefs appeared suddenly in the cave. Apparently, it's the entrance to a boss room.

That said, it's not the dungeon's final boss. That comes after passing through this boss room and going to the lower floors. This is basically a mid-boss room.

"Who sets these up, doors like this? Do you know, Aishia?"

"Um, it's a Magic Tool that keeps the boss from getting out. I once heard a story at the Adventurers' Guild tavern from someone who went into an undeveloped dungeon to install doors. Apparently they hire elite adventurers as escorts."

"Oh, so these are actually installed by people."

So having doors installed is proof that a dungeon has been developed.

And even after this boss room's boss is defeated, it'll eventually revive. Thanks to this door's effect, it has a fixed spawn inside. Handy.

"Eh, Karikari, are you really gonna challenge it? The boss room?"

"Yep. I mean, it's been a breeze so far, right? The boss probably won't be a big deal either."

"Boss rooms are a different story though… If you die, it's game over, so there's no need to go somewhere dangerous, right? We're merchants, after all. We should have adventurers go and buy the materials from them instead. Right?"

Oops, Sati-tan stopped me.

"It's fine, Sati-san. We can defeat it safely. We have a plan."

"Is that so? Tell me?"

Dea-kun started convincing Sati-tan. I'm hearing this for the first time too, so I'll listen in.

"First, the boss here is a Red Hornet. The minions are Yellow Hornets. And all of them are weak to fire. And I can use fire magic."

"Oh, you can use fire magic, Dea-san? You weren't using it though."

"Because it ruins the materials. I was voluntarily sealing it."

But a boss fight is different.

"We give up on the minions' materials and wipe them out in one swoop with Fire Wall. If we're only dealing with the Red Hornet, Karina-onee-san definitely won't lose."

"That's right. It'll be a piece of cake for me."

Even with minions it'd be a piece of cake, but I don't need to say that in front of Sati-tan.

"It's a Red Hornet though? Three times faster and bigger than Yellow Hornets. Will you be okay?"

"Heh, I'm not going down that easy, Sati-tan. Though I wouldn't mind if you went down… Maybe tonight? Just kidding!"

"Hmm, make sure you can escape right away if things look bad, okay?"

By the way, Red Hornets apparently show up as small fry on the deeper floors.

(At the deepest level, there's apparently a Mother Hornet queen waiting along with her nest. Dea-kun and Aishia sure sneakily gathered a lot of info. Impressive.)

"If it comes to it, I'll go all out too."

"Sati-tan going all out… I'm curious."

"It costs money, you see… I'd have to use expensive sake…"

"Oh, I see."

Probably better not to count on Sati-tan's trump card. We won't need it anyway.

"Master, Dea-sama. If I may be so bold, this Aishia shall open the door!"

Aishia put her hands on the double doors and pushed them open—inside the room were five Yellow Hornets and one Red Hornet. Yep, it's red. And this bee is about the size of a puppy. Scary. It makes me instinctively shudder, so don't come near me.

"Wall of flames, block my enemies, Fire Wall!"

When Dea-kun cast his spell, a wall of fire appeared and engulfed the Yellow Hornets. And just like that, the materials were gone. Rest in peace.

"Onee-san, the rest is yours!"

"Roger that. Now, what should I do with this thing…"

With that, I moved behind the Red Hornet, firmly grabbed its thin wings, and ripped them off. There, now you can't fly anymore.

"Wha, so fast. Karikari, what did you just do?"

"What? … I just 'moved' a little, that's all?"

I said it coolly, striking a pose. I've always wanted to say that line.

Well, actually I used Spatial Magic to teleport and freeze the Red Hornet in place, so I didn't just "move" at all. Plus, I'd been watching Sati-tan and timed my teleport with her blink. Her cute face looked so serious, and I loved it. Love.

"… Karikari, you really were strong."

"Yep!"

I smiled at Sati-tan while ripping off the Red Hornet's head, and our first boss fight came to a close.