Arc Lab 7
The Witch’s House.
The Witch cheerfully guides me into the living room.
Right away, I was served black Herbal Tea that whispered “Come over here” in a sexy voice.
She’s gone down another weird path. Hayyarn blatantly moved away from it and spoke.
“Please, Witch. I want to know how to get into the Dungeon.”
Hayyarn prostrated himself on the table.
“Oh my, oh my, this is quite something.”
“Please. I absolutely must get to the Lab.”
“Hayyarn… Um, please. We want to enter the Dungeon.”
The Witch looked at us and placed a hand on her lips.
“Hmm, hmm. What a strange request. The Dungeon will be reopened soon enough. Was Kon’s Wof-shounen always this impatient?”
“Witch. The Dungeon has been closed indefinitely. We went to the Guild today and received that notification.”
“Eh? Eh? Hmm, hmm. Could you wait just a moment?”
Looking rather perplexed, the Witch left the living room.
Hayyarn and I were left behind.
Along with the black Herbal Tea, which for some reason kept whispering “Come over here~” in a syrupy, sexy voice.
“Say, my friend Wof.”
“We’re not friends, but what is it?”
Hayyarn wore an unusually serious expression.
What’s wrong?
“The Witch. Don’t you think she’s definitely wearing sexy underwear?”
“……”
“No, sorry. Just kidding.”
“She is wearing some. I’ve seen it before.”
“W-Wha…t did you say…!?”
No need to look so shocked, like you’ve been struck by lightning.
The Witch’s underwear is mostly the thin kind.
“What’s with that puzzled look?”
“Ah, I just didn’t expect that kind of answer.”
“Is that so? Also, I’ve seen the Witch naked several times.”
“Wh-Whaaa—!? Aren’t you master and disciple!? You!”
“We are master and disciple.”
“Then why, how did you see her naked!?”
This is getting kind of annoying.
Maybe I should have just beaten him up normally.
“The Witch. Sometimes she walks around naked inside the house.”
“A nudist!?”
“Well, I’ve seen her like that.”
“I’m soooo jealouuuus!!!!”
Is it worth crying over? As I sighed with a ‘haa’, the Witch returned.
Saying “Heave-ho,” she sat down on the sofa opposite us and drank her Herbal Tea.
“Oh dear, oh dear. The indefinite closure was true after all.”
“Did you find out the cause?”
“Uh-huh. It’s a Dungeon anomaly.”
“A-A Dungeon anomaly—!? B-But we resolved the anomaly!”
I was extremely shaken.
“Indeed, indeed, Wof-shounen and the others certainly resolved that one. But this is different. It’s a new Dungeon anomaly.”
A-A new anomaly, now…? I-Is that even possible?
No wonder it’s indefinite. Still— I asked.
“Is there still a way to get in?”
“Ho ho. Wof-shounen. Unauthorized entry during a Dungeon closure and lockdown means permanent revocation of your Seeker license. Do you understand that when you ask?”
The Witch’s voice was unusually stern.
She was warning me as a Tier I Seeker, and as my master.
“…Wof.”
“There’s a girl crying. I don’t want her to cry.”
I looked straight into the Witch’s clear green eyes and said it. I’d said it.
The Witch stared intently at me like that, then gave a charming chuckle.
“Good grief. That’s right. You really are hopeless, aren’t you? Honestly, you’re Kon’s beloved disciple through and through.”
“Witch?”
“To begin with, a Dungeon closure or lockdown means it’s literally physically closed off. The entrances to all floors leading up to it. Breaking through is less difficult and more accurately described as nearly impossible. That’s why no idiot would ever try it. Still— there is a way in.”
“Really!?”
“How?”
“Now, now, you two. Especially you, Wof-shounen. Are you really going to do it?”
“Yes.”
I answered immediately, without looking away from the Witch’s face. The Witch gave a wry smile, looking pleased.
“Well then, Wof-shounen. Shall we have you take out a loan from Kon?”
“Heh?”
Heh?
“A loan…?”
“What do you mean by that, Witch?”
“Well, well, it’s because the things needed to get in are very, very expensive. You’ll need at least 100 million Oro.”
“100 million…!?”
I was at a loss for words.
Hayyarn continued for me.
“What exactly is needed?”
“Hmm, hmm. Uh-huh. First, what’s absolutely necessary is a Disposable Teleportation Array.”
“A Teleportation Array… You mean that Teleportation Array?”
The Teleportation Array we’d used many times. Hayyarn seemed lost in thought.
His long rabbit ears shot straight up, and his expression became one of realization.
“You intend to skip floors using the Teleportation Array?”
“Ho ho. You figured it out? Exactly. The floor entrances are sealed, so going through normally is impossible. If even one was unsealed, the Guild would find out. But with a Teleportation Array, that doesn’t matter.”
Floor skipping. Ah, that thing. The one we did in the Water Dungeon.
The method of using a Teleportation Array to skip several Dungeon floors.
“Originally, you see, Teleportation Arrays are installed on the floors of the city’s Dungeon. So if we connect to those, we can go there even from here. However, unauthorized connection is illegal, and setting up a Teleportation Array without permission is also illegal.”
“It’s all illegal.”
“But, but, you know. If you don’t get caught, it’s not illegal.”
The Witch flashed a wicked smile.
And the Witch is the one who can ensure we don’t get caught.
“What’s a Disposable Teleportation Array?”
“Well, well, that’s a Legacy. It’s a one-time-use Teleportation Array.”
“So using a disposable one destroys the evidence?”
“…There’s absolutely nothing legal about any of this.”
“Uh-huh. That’s what you’re about to do for Mineha.”
“Even so, I want to go to the 12th floor.”
I steel my resolve once more. The Witch tilted her head.
“Hmm? Hmm? Is the 12th floor your destination?”
“Yes. The Ark Ruins.”
“Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmm, I see. Perhaps this current Dungeon anomaly… isn’t unrelated to you two.”
“What do you mean by that?”
I had a bad feeling. The Witch spoke as if recalling something.
“Let’s see, let’s see, according to the information Kon gathered… the Dungeon anomaly seems to be a horde of pale, metallic Minotaurs. And that horde apparently emerged from the 12th floor.”
The 12th floor! Pale, metallic Minotaurs!— I instantly looked at Hayyarn.
Standing on the table, the white rabbit Hayyarn bared his teeth, eyes wide.
He looked shocked.
Those Minotaurs… they’re the ones we fought, aren’t they?
A horde of them? I didn’t even need to think to know the cause of that outbreak.
Yes, it was Hayyarn.
Hayyarn spoke to us, as if muttering.
“Those are Minos Units. Golems modeled after the Dungeon Monster, the Minotaur. They were still in the prototype stage… but were they completed?”
“Why did they activate?”
“They were likely activated by whoever turned me into a rabbit. It’s reasonable to assume, timing-wise, that they were set to activate simultaneously with my awakening.”
“Can they be stopped?”
“The Lab.”
“…Witch. No matter what, we absolutely have to go now.”
“Hmm, hmm. It certainly seems that way.”
The Witch laughed, looking exasperated. I managed a dry smile myself.
Becoming a Seeker and then facing license revocation less than a week later… what is this?
But I have to do it. There’s no other choice.
Because we caused this mess. Or rather, it was originally my fault.
Man, my life plan… it’s completely falling apart.
How did it come to this?
I miss the days from a few months ago when I was struggling just to scavenge in the Junkyard.
“Well then, well then, let’s get you indebted to Kon right away, Wof-shounen.”
“P-Please be gentle… So, what do we do first?”
The Witch didn’t answer. Instead, she took something from her bosom and tossed it up.
As Hayyarn and I reflexively looked up at it, the scenery completely changed.