Not Here?!

Josh and Ana looked at the girl silently before lowering their weapons, but they kept their eyes on her, ready to fight back if she even showed a little bit of killing intent.

Both of them were experienced fighters against both monsters and humans, they learned that even the most innocent and harmless looking thing could be deadly. Slicing your neck before you could notice using their looks as a distraction.

The girl was smiling happily as she gave them a thumbs up, still looking at Josh and Ana nervously.

She coughed slightly and spoke.

"Ahem! I promise you that I'm not here for a fight, I simply wish to speak with you all." She tried to talk as politely as possible, just in case these humans would be offended.

"Well, we also have some questions for you too." Josh said in a serious tone.

"Oh! Then go ahead and ask away!" The girl responded cheerily without hesitation.

Seeing how cooperative she was being, Josh felt his unease subside. His muscles loosened, and his posture straightened. Since she seemed to be understanding, Josh would treat her as deserved. He also had Ana next to him who was still on guard, so if anything happened she would protect him.

"First of all, who are you, what are you, and why are you here?" While Josh wouldn't treat her badly, she was still was an unknown entity, so he had to get as much information out of her.

"My name is Jiji Don Gura, or just Jiji. I'm a Dwarf not from here. And I came here to work on some projects." She put her hand on her chest as she spoke honestly.

'A Dwarf? Hmm… Don?'

"Are you from Delord?" Josh asked.

"Huh? You know about Delord?" Jiji looked at him surprised. She had not expected him to know of her home planet.

Josh nodded and continued, "What are you doing inside of a dungeon?"

"Like I said before, I'm here to work on some of my projects in peace. And uh, I chose a dungeon because they constantly produce mana."

"And Tako cores are very useful for speeding up my work!" She crossed her arms and looked at Josh.

"Tako?"

"Yes?" She tilted her head, confused.

Even though Jiji was of another race, and planet, she was surprisingly able to speak the same language as them. Proficiently at that! But there are always some words that are difficult to translate.

Josh racked his brain trying to figure out what she meant, while also silently cursing at a certain person.

He didn't want to embarrass himself by misunderstanding the meaning of the word. But he needed to say something quick, or else this would get akward.

Thankfully Ana came to his rescue, giving the most accurate translation of what she meant.

"Do you mean monster? Like the ugly looking creatures outside?"

Jiji looked at Ana, she knew what a monster was but… Tako are just Tako?

"Uhh, Tako is Tako?" She didn't understand.

"Whatever." Ana sighed and shook her head.

Seeing Ana give up, Jiji decided that it was best if she just moved past the matter.

And since they had already asked her questions, it was only right if she also questioned them, "Well uh, that aside, since I answered your questions you should also answer mine!"

"So who are you, and what planet am I on?"

Josh replied without hesitation, "My name is Josh."

He pointed at the people with him, saying their names.

"Ms. Ana"

"Alex"

"And her brother Caron."

Jiji nodded and waiting for him to finish.

"You're on Earth, pretty far away from home huh?"

"It's fine, I can go back home whenever I want to." She said unworried.

They were talking casually, but a certain\ someone who was confused of the situation spoke out. Ana, who was a sick of the confusing conversation, interrupted.

"Wait, wait, wait… you know where she's from?!" She pointed at Jiji while looking at Josh in shock.

Josh looked at her silently, thinking about what to say.

"You know what! Never mind, you're probably going to give me some excuse anyways. Let's just get out of here already." She shook her hands, stopping him from saying anything else.

Alex also joined in, "What about Jiji? Is she coming too?"

Ana and Josh looked at Jiji, waiting for her response.

"Uhh, of course I'm coming! My servant has been bothering me about my mental health, and talking with other people and stuff."

Servant?

On cue, Jiji's servant walk out from behind her.

"Hello, my name is Vati." They bowed slightly.

The sudden appearance of the servant surprised the group.

'I didn't even sense their presence!'

I seemed like this duo had more to them than they seemed.

Jiji excitedly jogged past them to the exit, Vati followed behind.

Alex looked around the cave once more, 'I guess all that preparation and worrying was for nothing.'

She had expected more… But it wasn't like she wanted something bad to happen! No way! She just though that maybe she would have discovered more about why the gate opened.

Josh told her he'd explain more later, so she could only stay patient and wait for answers.

Alex closely followed behind Josh and Ana, with Caron at her side, as they followed Jiji out.

The exit seemed to be the same way they came in.

And so they exited the gate.

Josh and Ana felt a wave of mana wash over them as they took a step out of the gate.

A normal feeling, as gates were made from energy, and there was quite the difference from the amount of magical energy that Earth had compared to gates and other worlds.

So as you left a gate, the mana around you would change in quantity.

Ana who had been on guard the entire time relaxed. Nothing happened, and they didn't even need to fight!

"Now let's head back to base-"

A loud noise came from a gate as it changed color.

Ana, Josh, and Jiji's eyes widened.

Ana and Josh, who were closer to the gate were hit by an invisible force and flew into the buildings nearby.

Jiji's situation was better, as Vati had changed his arm into a shield, and countered the blast.

"Master are you injured?" His monotone voice seemed to carry a trace of urgency and worry.

Jiji, who was still trying to recover from the shock mindlessly answered.

"Y..Y-Yeah.."

The gate began to stabilize, and so Vati turned his arm back to normal and checked on his master.

Josh and Ana had a couple scratches here and there, but overall they were fine.

Ana who had just pulled herself out from the wall she slammed into said, "You guys ok?!"

"Yeah, ugh…" Josh had also removed himself from the wall and answered.

"Kids are you guys ok too?" He said while looking around for them.

But nobody answered.

"Alex?! Caron?!" Ana yelled worriedly.

Fear showed on her face as she searched for them.

Realizing they were gone, Ana bent down and grabbed her head.

"N-no way, it can't be. No, no, no-" She spoke in a hurried and panicked manner.

Seeing her, Josh grimaced.

"Fuck! Ana calm down!" He yelled.

Ana flinched, and calmed down.

"Sorry, just… sorry…" He held his head.

The four of them knew where the siblings must be, they couldn't feel their presence…

They were inside the gate.