Chapter 11: Wandering Dungeon (04)
After being introduced to the inn by Gahren of the Dawn’s Thunder party, we waited for dinner in the dining hall.
“Sfenia, you shouldn’t speak like that. When a man hears words like that, he can’t back down,” I advised.
“I apologize. However, I couldn’t stand seeing Soushi-san being belittled, so I—”
To be honest, I felt that the initial response to the incident with young Nielsen was lacking. I had cautioned Sfenia about it, but when she said that, I found it hard to retort.
“I appreciate you standing up for me, but you shouldn’t go out of your way to create trouble. Frei and Larni, you shouldn’t provoke him either.”
“I’m sorry, Soushi-sama.”
“Okay, I’m sorry!”
After admonishing the two of them, they showed signs of reflection. Freinir seemed genuinely downcast, but Larni looked a bit suspicious.
Honestly, I thought that regardless of Sfenia’s attitude, the outcome would have been the same. However, as the elder and leader, I felt it was necessary to say something.
“Mariane, was this incident particularly problematic for the guild?”
“Not at all. We had confirmed beforehand that they were a party that was difficult to handle. In fact, we were thanked for it.”
“So you were aware of that much…”
If that was the case, I could understand Mariane’s response, but it would have been nice if she had informed me beforehand, though the timing might not have allowed for it.
In the end, regarding young Nielsen, it seemed that on the surface, he had merely fainted during “training,” so the guild couldn’t lower his rank. Instead, he received a “personal” apology (essentially money) from his party members. They were set to leave Barbadoza tomorrow. Given that the entire party had been quite arrogant until now, it was understandable. Whether they would reform or harbor resentment towards me remained uncertain…
“But still, he did seem to have some B-Rank qualities. His movements were quick, and his attacks seemed powerful.”
“Indeed. Soushi-sama, your movements were also swift… I was impressed,” Freinir remarked.
When dinner was served, Larni and Freinir commented on that. Sfenia and Mariane nodded in agreement.
“Was I really that fast?” I almost asked, but then I recalled how rapid young Nielsen’s consecutive attacks had been. My perception might be a bit skewed. Perhaps I had acquired a skill that slows down my sense of time.
“Even so, just a light hit from you was enough to knock him out. Your strength is truly boundless, Soushi-san. If their reactions had been even slightly delayed, it could have turned into a serious situation.”
As Sfenia smiled and said this, Larni looked at me with a mischievous expression.
“Exactly! And after defeating him, you said, ‘Is that all you’ve got?’ I think you were provoking him too!”
“No, that wasn’t my intention…”
“After hearing that, the adventurers gathered around were quite intimidated. Thankfully, it seems we won’t have to deal with them in this town.”
“As expected of you, Soushi-sama. You had that all planned out, didn’t you?”
“No, I—”
Freinir’s eyes sparkled with admiration, but at this rate, I might earn the infamous label of “Arrogant Old Adventurer.” The existence of the “Black History” skill was becoming suspicious. Given the incident with Zaikal the other day, I needed to exercise restraint; otherwise, even if my rank increased, it could lead to undesirable outcomes.
The next day, I headed to the guild first thing in the morning to accept the count’s request.
At the counter, I received the “Investigation of Undead Monster Outbreak” request from Mariane.
That was fine, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the way the other adventurers looked at me had changed. It felt as if a path was naturally forming for me, and there was an atmosphere of keeping their distance.
“Hey, Soushi. Is that the special request everyone’s talking about?”
Gahren, whose attitude remained unchanged, approached me. I felt oddly relieved, perhaps because deep down, I was still a timid old man.
“Yes, it seems I’ll be leaving town for a while. I just arrived yesterday.”
“Haha, a trustworthy adventurer tends to get more work. Once you start gaining recognition as a B-Rank or higher, noble scouts come looking for you. Many of them drift towards that, and high-ranking freelancers never lack for requests.”
“Scouts, it seems there are indeed such routes. But even if I have some strength, I’m still a C-Rank, so I’ll take it easy and prioritize the dungeon.”
“You should also gain experience dealing with surface monsters. After all, what adventurers like us are primarily needed for is defeating surface monsters. The Kin of Twilight is a prime example of that.”
“Ah, now that you mention it…”
The words of those more experienced than me were indeed educational. My experience with field monsters through “Soul’s Guidance” wasn’t extensive. It felt like irregular encounters were significantly more common.
“Oh, it seems the paperwork is done. Take care out there.”
“You too, be careful.”
In any case, the investigation I was about to undertake today promised to be a valuable experience. With Freinir’s help against the undead, I wouldn’t fall behind too much. The real question was how much work the diligent “Bad Luck” skill would contribute.
The location of the undead outbreak was a deserted village about two hours west of Barbadoza. The path leading there was already overgrown, and what was once farmland was now sparsely dotted with trees, showing no signs of harvest.
It seemed unlikely that farmland would simply be abandoned in this world, so there might have been a reason for the village’s decline.
“Soushi-sama, there are a tremendous number of undead in that ruin. Just as the information indicated.”
Stopping at a distance where we could see the ruins, Freinir said this.
“I see. However, it’s strange that most of them aren’t coming out of the ruins… Regardless, let’s first take care of the ones that have appeared.”
While I had received some information when accepting the request, it stated that the large number of undead only occasionally strayed close to Barbadoza, and they rarely left the abandoned village. It seemed that an E-Rank party had stumbled upon this deserted village while hunting strays, leading to our request.
As we approached, the scale of the abandoned village wasn’t very large; it was merely surrounded by a wooden fence enclosing six dilapidated houses. The fenced area seemed to encompass land about twice the size of a soccer field.
The problem was the skeletons and zombies writhing within that fence, and just from a glance, there appeared to be around 300 of them. It was absurd to think that a single party was expected to handle this, highlighting the absurdity of high-ranking adventurers.
“Frei, use True Holy Magic ‘Ascension’ with ‘Range Expansion’ to cover that entire ruin… though that might be too much.”
“No, if I use ‘Remote Cast’ to center the activation near the village’s center, it should be fine.”
“You can do that? Impressive. Then go ahead.”
Even when we got within 50 meters of the fence, the undead showed no signs of noticing us.
After Freinir entered a state of Mental Concentration for about 20 seconds, she announced, “I’m going,” and a luminous entity appeared about five meters above the center of the village.
As that dazzling yet gentle light enveloped the entire village, the writhing skeletons and zombies began to collapse as if they had lost their strength. In just a few seconds, all the undead in the abandoned village returned to the heavens, leaving only silence and the stench of rotting zombies behind.
“Wow, Frei, that was truly amazing. I doubt any ordinary adventurer could pull off something like that.”
“Thank you. It’s all thanks to you, Soushi-sama.”
Freinir wore a delighted expression. If she had a tail like Larni’s, I imagined she would be wagging it vigorously… though that might be a bit rude.
“Indeed, there are not many adventurers capable of annihilating this many undead at once. Just this alone makes ‘Soul’s Guidance’ a valuable party.”
As Mariane said this, Larni exclaimed, “Wow, that’s incredible!”
“Alright, let’s proceed cautiously and investigate the source of the undead. There’s a possibility that the ‘Summoning Stone’ is set up here… Frei, do you sense anything?”
“No, I don’t feel anything at the moment.”
“It might be hard to tell from here. Let’s enter the village first.”
With Freinir casting Purification to eliminate the stench of the zombies, I led the way as we entered the abandoned village through a gap in the fence.
“Hmm…?”
As we stepped inside, I felt a subtle shift in the air. It was akin to the sensation I felt when enveloped by a barrier created by Frei, as if we had suddenly been cut off from the outside.
“Did you feel something strange just now?”
Larni’s ears perked up, indicating that I wasn’t the only one who sensed it. Freinir nodded in agreement and looked at me.
“I feel that some force is enveloping this village. However, it doesn’t feel malevolent. It reminds me of something I sense within a dungeon.”
“A dungeon, huh… Now that you mention it, it does feel somewhat like that.”
I hadn’t consciously thought about it before, but it was indeed reminiscent of the sensation of entering a dungeon. However, according to Freinir’s perception, dungeons aren’t inherently “evil.” That was an interesting notion.
As we picked up scattered Magic Stones and explored the village for a while, there were no sudden appearances of undead from the ground, nor did Freinir sense the presence of a “Summoning Stone.”
Just as I was considering peeking inside one of the dilapidated houses, I reacted to a Presence Detection.
“Over there,” Sfenia pointed to a relatively intact ruin, where three skeletons were emerging from the entrance.
We crushed the skeletons and entered the dilapidated house, where we came to a halt.
Right inside the entrance, there was a large hole in the floor. Conveniently, there were stone stairs leading down into the hole.
“This is… the entrance to a dungeon,” I said.
As Mariane noted, it was unmistakably the entrance to a familiar dungeon.