Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 5 by Fujino Omori

passed.
    “I’m sorry, Lyu. Save him. Save Bell.”
    Lyu gazed deep into the silver pools of Syr’s eyes.
    Lyu could clearly see the fear of losing someone special, as well as a great deal of helplessness. She was particularly sensitive to human emotions. Syr was shivering, practically begging her to go. Lyu forced a smile.
    “I am in your debt, Syr. I cannot refuse your request. Nor do I,” Lyu continued, “wish for the death of Bell Cranell.”
    Her voice was clear and steady.
    Syr bowed over and over, apologizing many times and, at last, offered her heartfelt thanks.
    The other waitresses who had watched everything unfold gathered around Lyu. Ahnya and the others gave their own words of support.
    “Leave the bar to us, meow! We’ll tell Mama that Lyu had a tummyache and can’t work, meow!”
    “It’s irritating that Lord Hermes can push us around like this…but it can’t be helped.”
    “Mya-ha-ha, Lyu! Save him tonight and he’ll owe you forever, meow!”
    The airheaded catgirl Ahnya, the smiling Runoa, the scheming Chloe, and all of the other staff members said their piece in turn.
    Even the cooks poked their heads out of the kitchen to offer words of encouragement.
    Lyu looked at each of them, overwhelmed by their support. Lastly, she smiled and weakly nodded at Syr. Her voice quivered as she said:
    “My apologies. Please cover for me.”
    Lyu sped toward the door, untying the ribbon on her uniform along the way.

    Sweat keeps rolling down my face and off my chin.
    I think part of it has to do with the stuffy air down here in the middle levels. Of course, I have no idea if I’ll get out of this alive, but this humidity is killing me.
    Unfortunately, I don’t have any choice but to fight my way through it as we press forward.
    I’m still lending my shoulder to Welf. Physically, my eyes and ears are on high alert. But mentally, I’m praying my heart out—almost pitifully so—that no monsters show up. Lilly’s walking just a few steps back, making sure nothing comes up from behind.
    We’ve covered a lot of distance since deciding to go to level eighteen. Unfortunately, we haven’t found a single one of the holes leading down.
    I do my best to keep calm and stave off the rumblings of my hungry stomach.
    We’re alone in this dark tunnel—the one thing that we can’t do isstart panicking. All of us are on edge, but the moment we give in to the fear will be the beginning of the end for us.
    We come to a fork in the tunnel, one path leading left and one path right. At the end of our meeting I told everyone that we should go right whenever we have to make a decision. Just as we agreed, we all go right.
    Haa…haa
…Lilly’s small breaths sound painful behind me. I bet she’s really tired. Welf’s body is pressed right up against mine. It’s really hot. But we can’t slow down, no matter how much pain we’re in.
    “…Li’l E, can’t you do something about that smell?”
    Welf tilts his head and looks at Lilly out of the corner of his eye.
    I take a look over my opposite shoulder. Lilly’s eyes glaze over at Welf’s question—maybe she’s lost the will to argue.
    “Please put up with it…Lilly’s just saying, but the smell is much worse back here.”
    The “smell” they’re talking about is coming from a pouch hanging from Lilly’s neck.
    It’s so putrid that I want to rip my nose off my face. It’s amazing I can hold back the tears welling up behind my eyes.
    “This stink bothers us, but it’s like breathing poison to monsters. As long as nothing drastic happens, the smell will protect us for as long as it lasts.”
    Just as Lilly explained, this stink pouch called a “malboro” is the main reason why we haven’t encountered any monsters for a while.
    The thing really works; I’m seeing the effects with my own eyes.
    No matter how powerful the monsters in the middle levels are, none of them wants anything to do with this stench.
    “You got that from Nahza, if I remember