Baggage Carrier 14
It was a slanted hole that suddenly opened up in the middle of the forest, looking completely out of place.
This is the entrance to the Dungeon. It’s winding, and I can’t see the end.
“Be careful going down.”
“I’m going first.”
“Ah.”
Mineha-san left my shoulder and flew into the Dungeon hole.
“That girl…”
“She went ahead.”
“She’s as selfish as my seventh older sister. But I was a little envious.”
Just as Rell-san said, I felt a little envious too.
We slowly descended.
We reached the bottom. Torches were placed at regular intervals along the rock walls.
The surroundings were illuminated by their light.
“You’re slow.”
Mineha-san turned her cold eyes towards us.
Ax-san forced a smile, his cheek twitching.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have wings like some gnat.”
“Who are you calling a gnat?”
“Don’t fight in a place like this.”
“Yeah. If ya make too much noise, Monsters will come.”
“Hmph. If you mean Monsters, I already took care of the nearby ones.”
“What? Skeletons?”
“That’s right.”
“Skeletons…?”
The horde of Skeletons I fought in That Forest flashed through my mind.
I wasn’t likely to forget that. Ax-san answered.
“According to the reports, the Monsters appearing in this Dungeon are Skeletons, Slimes, and Treants.”
“Treants are tree Monsters, right?”
“Skeletons and Slimes aside, Treants are a rare type for a Dungeon.”
“Is that so?”
“Normally, they’re Forest Monsters. They’re common in the forests under our management too.”
“They ain’t Dungeon Monsters.”
“That doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”
Looking bored, Mineha-san… sat on my shoulder. She sat with her legs crossed.
“Hahaha…”
“Let’s get this over with quickly. This pointless exploration.”
“Quickly, huh? Even so, it’ll take over three days.”
Ax-san said sarcastically.
“Huh? Why would a mere three floors take three whole days?!”
“Is there some reason for that?”
“This is the first I’m hearing of it.”
“I didn’t hear it’d take that long either.”
In response to everyone’s words, Ax-san took out a map. It was a scroll.
“This is the map for the first floor of this Dungeon.”
He unrolled the scroll.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. It rolled across the ground.
“What is this…”
“This is the first floor?”
“Yeah, and there are two more scrolls of the same size.”
“It’s a maze…”
“And a huge one at that…”
Everyone except Ax-san gasped.
From one end of the scroll to the other, it was a maze.
It was complex, intricate, and full of dead ends.
Dungeons are fundamentally labyrinths.
Not mazes. This is quite irregular, even for a Dungeon.
“This is ridiculous. Something like this.”
Mineha-san spat out, flustered.
I understand how she feels. Ax-san turned to her with a calm face.
“Even so, it’s a request.”
“But it’s meaningless. This.”
“Even so. Tier III Seeker.”
“!? “
Ax-san. He’s angry.
It’s understandable in many ways, but she’s forgetting her place.
“That’s right. It’s a request.”
“Can’t be helped.”
Rell-san and Hoss-san shrugged.
So these are professional Seekers.
“What?”
“Mineha-san.”
“I know.”
She muttered quietly. I sighed.
“Oi. If there are no complaints, let’s get going.”
Ax-san and the others started walking.
Hmm. Maybe it’s better if I mention this later.
The Dungeon Exploration proceeded smoothly amidst an indescribable atmosphere.
The Monsters we encountered were two Skeletons and four Slimes.
We hadn’t seen any Treants yet.
Huh, Hoss-san is crouching down.
“What’s wrong?”
“Look. Mushrooms.”
They were indeed mushrooms. Three of them, with thick, red caps.
Hoss-san carefully picked them.
“Are they edible?”
“Redcaps. They’re the best for soup ingredients.”
According to [Danger Detection], they’re white.
Hoss-san also selected and picked wild plants.
Amazing. He’s completely avoiding the red and black ones from [Danger Detection].
“Is it cultivated experience?”
It’s not inferior even to a Relic.
I was impressed and eagerly helped him.
How long had we been exploring?
I realized the ceiling was bright. We had entered a wide-open, square space.
There was nothing around; it seemed like just a passage point.
Ax-san and the others stopped.
They were looking at something they took out from their pockets.
“I wonder what that is.”
“Isn’t it time to camp? It’s already late at night.”
Mineha-san, sitting cross-legged on my shoulder, spoke up.
It’s not like she sits there the whole time.
She whimsically flies off and comes back.
“How do you know?”
“If you’re a Seeker, you have one of these.”
What Mineha-san showed me was… a black crystal.
“What’s this?”
“A Day-Night Stone. It turns white when it’s day outside, and black when it’s night.”
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
“Dungeons are basically all underground, so it’s easy to lose track of day, night, and time. When you return to the surface, your day-night cycle can get reversed, messing up your body.”
“I see. So with this Day-Night Stone, you can at least tell if it’s day or night.”
“That’s right. Roughly speaking, when it goes from white to black and back to white, you know a day has passed.”
“Are those issued to you?”
“Yes. When you become a Seeker, you get one from the Guild.”
“Huh…”
A Day-Night Stone, huh? That’s one more thing to look forward to.
But they even have small ones for Fairials.
Wait, do they?
And just as Mineha-san said, we decided to make camp here.
This is my chance.