Comprehensive Manga: The Master is not here today.

Originally they were a team of six, Kikuro was one of their members, and there was also a dwarf.

Kikuro is a tall man from the Eastern Islands. He is very strong and is the main attacker of his team. Like Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others, he came here just to gain knowledge and hone his martial arts, and he has no special needs.

However, when talking about the other party, Malucier couldn't help but grit her teeth and said:

"But that damn guy, he loved Falin so much that he proposed to her, but now he leaves the team without permission when Falin needs him the most! And Namaali is the same...!"

"Eh?"

Laos, who was helping Senxi, was stunned for a moment, and said with a blank expression:

"Kikuro proposed to Falin? Did he like Falin?"

"...That's why I said you were too slow!" x2

Malucier and Chilchak were instantly confused, and then Chilchak said:

"I know something about Namali's situation. She has her own difficulties, so there's no need to force her to stay. As for Kikuro, I think he didn't abandon Falin, but looked for other solutions, right?"

"At least I know that he originally came here with his companions from his hometown. Maybe he left the team alone to seek help from his companions."

"Is that right?"

Malucier opened her eyes wide in surprise, then seemed to have thought of something and said:

"If that's the case, why didn't he tell us so that we could all return to the maze together?"

"Who knows."

Chilchak shrugged and said:

"After all, all this is just my guess. Maybe the situation on his side is complicated, or maybe he simply thinks it's unreliable to continue following Laos."

Laos: “?”

"..."

Looking at the confused Laos, Malucel was unable to refute for a moment.

But then, she puffed up her cheeks and said:

"Forget about Kikuro, but I'm still mad at Namali because, even you, Chilchak, stayed here!"

Hearing her say this, Chilchak was rarely angry, but said with a smile:

"You don't think that I chose to stay because I care about my companions and the friendship between teammates, right?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you. The reason I stayed here is because my principle is to 'get paid first and then work', so I couldn't get away when something unexpected happened to the team."

"……Eh?"

Malucier was stunned when she heard this, and felt that her three perspectives were shocked.

However, at this time, Mashu smiled and said:

"But I think the reason why Mr. Chilchak stayed is probably because he was worried about Malucil and the others, right?"

"Well……"

Chilchak subconsciously wanted to deny it, but looking at Mashu's sincere smile, he couldn't say it for some reason. He could only turn his face away awkwardly and said nothing.

Seeing this, Malucier's eyes brightened again, and she came to him with a smile, rubbing his little head and said:

"What the hell! Chilchak, you are always so dishonest. Will you die if you honestly say you care about us?"

“Stop talking nonsense! And don’t touch my head. I’ve told you so many times that I’m not a child—!!”

Chilchak yelled in anger, and after pushing Malucier aside with great effort, he sighed helplessly.

But after sighing, he observed Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu calmly, with a thoughtful expression.

After a while, he suddenly said:

"Laios, I need to go to the bathroom. Do you want to come with me?"

"Ah, okay."

Laos temporarily put down the work in his hands and followed Chilchak out of the base. After walking along the only remaining corridor to the corner at the end, Chilchak stopped.

Laos was a little confused and asked:

"Is it convenient here? Isn't it a little too close?"

"It's so convenient!"

Hearing this, Chilchak rolled his eyes at him and said:

"I just asked you to come out and talk about something. Didn't you get the hint from my eyes?"

"Um...is there any?"

Laos scratched his cheek in shame and said:

"But, I really want to go to the bathroom."

“…We’ll talk about it later!”

Chilchak sighed helplessly, then immediately got to the point and asked him:

"What do you think of Ritsuka and Mashu?"

"How about it?"

Laos thought for a moment and said:

"They are very strong and kind. They helped us a lot. Besides, Ms. Lixiang and I have the same interests and hobbies..."

"Okay, no need to say more."

Chilchak interrupted him and continued:

"So what do you think? Should we try to invite them to join our team?"

"Invite them?"

Finally, Laos's expression turned into one of surprise.

They had just seen the strength of Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu, who were undoubtedly strong. If they could join the team, then their success rate in defeating the Flame Dragon and rescuing Falin would obviously be much higher.

but……

Laos scratched his head and said hesitantly:

"Our mission this time is so dangerous, and we don't have any money to pay them. Even if we want to invite them, they probably won't agree, right?"

"So you have self-awareness."

Hearing this, Chilchak couldn't help but complain, but he quickly adjusted his mentality and continued:

"Since they were able to make it all the way here by themselves, I think they are not afraid of facing powerful monsters, even a fire dragon, just like Kikuro."

"As for the reward..."

Chilchak paused for a moment and said:

"In fact, I think we might just have the reward that the other party wants."

"...Monster cuisine?"

"It's not that kind of mess!"

Seeing Laos's idiotic look, Chilchak wanted to jump up and punch him hard, but the reality was that even if he jumped up, he couldn't reach the opponent's head.

Therefore, he could only sigh deeply and explained helplessly:

"It's a map, a map!"

Although their team now looks very embarrassed, in fact, before they were wiped out by the fire dragon and Falin was eaten by the fire dragon, their team was one of the top adventurer teams on the island.

Because someone recently claimed to have discovered the entrance to the seventh underground level, the island owner entrusted them with the task of investigating the existence of the entrance. However, they got lost on the sixth underground level during the investigation, exhausted their food and energy, and unfortunately encountered the Fire Dragon at that time, which led to their demise.

If they were in good condition at that time, he didn't think that they, who had fought against dragons many times before, would lose to a fire dragon.

Back to the point.

The map that Chilchak mentioned was the topographic map they drew when they were investigating on the sixth underground floor.

Although their luggage and the map were left on the sixth underground floor, only a week had passed and it was not difficult for him to restore the map with his memory.

Ritsuka Fujimaru and the others are simply curious about the maze, and they don't look like people who are short of money. If you want to hire them with money, you might not get what you want.

However, if they plan to go to the sixth underground floor, or even continue exploring further down, then the map they have can help them save a lot of useless exploration time, and it is definitely a prop that they cannot refuse!

This was all they had on hand to pay the other party.