"Suzuki! Suzuki! Suzuki!"
"HUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"I am so glad! I'm so glad! I'm so glad!"
"WE ARE SAVED!"
"I LOVE YOU, SUZUKI! AH, I'M SORRY, YAEGASHI-SAN! DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!"
No one could hold back their emotions. The relief was so palpable that even the seasoned royal knights and Captain Meld were fighting back tears, genuinely overjoyed to see Suzuki return from the abyss.
"Stop! Everyone, stand back!"
Shizuku instantly stepped in front of the crowd, playing crowd control with her usual authority to stop them from swarming him. "He is hurt! Let Kaori heal him first! What if you aggravate his injuries?!"
"Ah! Oh, right!"
The frantic class quickly settled down, giving them space. Every eye locked onto Kaori, who was kneeling beside him, radiating holy light as she focused entirely on healing him.
Regardless of the crowd, Suzuki's acting was absolutely Oscar-worthy. He perfectly displayed the heavy, trembling exhaustion of a man who had barely survived hell, and the superficial wounds he had deliberately inflicted on himself sold the illusion perfectly.
"Thank you..." he whispered hoarsely.
"It's no problem. You just need to sleep, Suzuki-kun," Kaori replied softly.
She wore her signature, angelic smile. Although she knew full well his injuries were staged, her heart still ached seeing him bruised, and she poured her genuine effort into the healing magic.
Yet, completely hidden from the crowd's view, her soft, beautiful hand was being decidedly naughty, wandering dangerously high up his inner thigh.
"Are you okay, Suzuki-kun?" she asked sweetly.
"...Thank you, Kaori," Suzuki replied, utterly speechless. He subtly tried to push her hand away, but despite his efforts, she stubbornly kept her grip firmly on his thigh.
Her actions were incredibly lewd, yet because of her pure expression, the surrounding classmates simply thought she was desperately trying to heal him as fast as possible.
"Don't move. You should be resting!" Kaori chided him lightly, her tone resembling a mother scolding a naughty boy.
Yet, looking into her eyes, Suzuki could see exactly how much she was enjoying teasing him!
Regardless of the secret game happening on the floor, the class was ecstatic. Suzuki had returned, which meant their logistics, their money, and their safety net were back. Everything was going to be okay.
Yet—
"Wait a moment, everyone!"
Kouki suddenly shouted, desperately trying to seize the crowd's attention. But in that moment, most of the class ignored him, completely focused on Suzuki. They were silently praying for Suzuki to reclaim the leadership role as soon as possible, because under Kouki's command, they had been a disorganized, miserable mess!
Kouki still had his core group of followers, being the "Hero" and the popular boy, but deep down, he could sense that even they wanted to follow Suzuki right now. His pride simply couldn't accept that. He needed to reclaim his advantage immediately!
More importantly, seeing Kaori and Shizuku hovering so intimately over Suzuki made Kouki almost lose his mind with jealousy, leading him to make a colossal, unforgivable mistake.
"You all need to be careful! Shizuku, Kaori, step away from him! What if he is a monster in disguise?!"
Kouki's frantic accusation died in his throat as Suzuki casually reached into thin air, pulling a high-grade mana potion from his spatial storage and handing it to Kaori.
"Drink this. You're running low on mana, right?"
"Thank you, Suzuki-kun."
Shizuku didn't let go of Suzuki. Instead, she slowly turned her head to look at Kouki, her eyes filled with absolute, freezing disbelief. "Did the thought of him being a monster genuinely just cross your mind, Kouki?"
"Shizuku... I... no, I..."
Kouki instantly realized how badly he had screwed up. If Suzuki was a shapeshifting monster, how could he possibly use Suzuki's unique job skill?
Suzuki's spatial storage was a one-of-a-kind anomaly. It held their wealth, their premium food, and their lifelines. Even if a monster somehow mimicked his face, it was conceptually impossible for it to perfectly replicate a spatial-realm skill!
"HOW DARE YOU DOUBT HIM?!"
Shizuku wasn't going to let him off the hook. She glared at the "Hero," her voice shaking with genuine rage.
"I... I... I just..."
Kouki panicked. He had just committed the ultimate taboo: publicly doubting the man who had supposedly crawled his way out of the abyss to return to them! Even as the charismatic Hero, Kouki wasn't immune to the crushing peer pressure of the entire class, who were now glaring at him in unified disgust.
Captain Meld realized the situation was rapidly deteriorating. Just as he stepped forward to diffuse the tension, Suzuki spoke up, his voice weak but magnanimous.
"Calm down, Shizuku. Amanogawa-kun is right to be cautious. We are in the depths of a labyrinth; anything is possible. Don't blame him. I understand completely." Suzuki then turned his bruised face toward Kouki, offering a weak, forgiving smile. "Thank you for being so vigilant, Amanogawa."
"I... I..."
Before Kouki could even stammer out an apology, Suzuki's eyes rolled back, and he passed out cold.
Naturally, it was a perfectly timed act. But swooning at that exact moment solidified the illusion that he was the real, traumatized Suzuki. More importantly, his public display of unearned forgiveness permanently elevated his standing within the group while completely utterly destroying Kouki's reputation.
"Suzuki!" Kaori cried out in perfectly faked panic.
Taking advantage of the chaos, her wandering hand made a bold dive for a very sensitive area, forcing Shizuku to swiftly grab her wrist to stop the succubus from entirely compromising the situation.
"Captain, I want to take him back," Shizuku said firmly, looking up at Meld.
Meld, being a proper adult and military commander, nodded immediately. He knew the class was in no psychological state to continue the expedition.
"Understood. We are returning to the surface."
Hearing that order, the vast majority of the class—especially those terrified of the dungeon—let out massive sighs of relief.
The journey back was a blur, and naturally, the moment they breached the surface, Suzuki's utility shone. He didn't just book them the best inn in town; leveraging his Merchant Guild connections, he simply bought the inn outright so the class could rest in absolute, uninterrupted luxury.
"I AM SO GLAD! OH, I AM SO GLAD!"
Aiko-sensei sprinted away from her Church escorts the moment she heard the expedition had returned. When she had first received the report that Suzuki had fallen into the abyss, her entire world had fractured. She felt like an utter failure of a teacher for letting one of her students die.
So, when she laid eyes on him, alive and resting in the inn, she burst into tears and clung to him with all her might.
"Sensei..."
Suzuki maintained his exhausted facade. He projected the aura of a boy suffering from intense, agonizing trauma from his time in the dark. Looking at his weeping teacher, he delivered the lines he had been preparing all week.
"I... I don't want to go back into the dungeon anymore. I want to follow you. Please, Sensei... let me go with you."
"Yes! Of course, you should come with me!" Aiko agreed instantly, tears streaming down her face. "You never should have been on the frontlines to begin with! You have a non-combatant job!"
"Wait! Hold on!"
Kouki panicked the moment he realized Suzuki was actually defecting from the main combat group. If Suzuki left, the logistics and the money left with him!
"Thank you, Amanogawa," Suzuki smiled softly, playing the victim card to perfection. "I know you're worried about me, but I think this is for the best. I've realized just how deadly the dungeon truly is. With my job, I'll only ever be a burden to you all. Instead of holding you back, it's better if I leave with Aiko-sensei. Don't worry. I believe in you to clear the labyrinth."
"I..."
Kouki was completely at a loss for words.
"I will go with Suzuki as his guard!" Shizuku declared, stepping forward without a second of hesitation.
"Me too!" Kaori instantly chimed in, rushing to his side.
Kouki stared at them, completely and utterly dumbfounded. The two strongest girls in the class were abandoning the frontlines.
Before Kouki could even attempt to argue, Aiko-sensei stepped up, her maternal instincts fully engaged. She looked at the rest of her exhausted, terrified students.
"For those of you who no longer wish to fight in the dungeon, please, come with me! Sensei will protect you!"
She had a duty as their teacher. While she lacked combat prowess, her status as the "Goddess of Fertility" meant the Church would cater to her every whim, ensuring safety for anyone under her wing.
And just like that, without a single drop of blood being shed, Suzuki had masterfully fractured the Hero's party directly in two.