Chapter 43: The Dungeon

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/44/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Nn? A dungeon?”

Lunchtime. At the Adventurer’s Guild, Liza brings up something like that.

“Apparently a new one was found near the capital.”
“Heh, that so.”

A dungeon. Untamed land where monsters live.
Caves, ancient ruins, that sort of thing, but anywhere monsters have nested is generally called a dungeon, I hear.
There’s apparently more to it, but honestly I don’t get it well.

They show up at some point and monsters start spawning, I guess.
I remember hearing that once you find one you have to survey it, and periodically hunt a certain number of monsters.

Frankly I wasn’t that interested, so I don’t know the details.
Looking after the kids mattered more than dungeons.

But now, going to try one might be on the table.
I’d like information that could be a clue, if there is any. Hnn.
And I want to go to the Gernika ancient ruins again too.
…Whatever. For now, maybe I’ll try a dungeon once.

○○○○○○○○

So. I come to the rumored dungeon.
Looks like an ordinary cave. But the surroundings are a pretty weird scene.

Why are there stalls around a cave.
The smell of skewers is amazing.
Farther back there are lodgings and a field clinic and such.
What is this. It’s like a little town.
You could probably live here if you tried.
Adventurers come in droves, so shops come out, I guess.

Fumu. Anyway, shall I go in.

○○○○○○○○

So I go into the cave.
Oh. Inside it’s an ordinary cave too.
The rock face is rough, but there are glowing stones here and there, so it’s bright inside.
Hnn. Mysterious, but convenient, so no problem.

“Ah, hey Ring. Can you make a map?”
“—Analysis complete. Displaying.”
“You’re seriously convenient.”

With Ring I won’t get lost even in a new place. A real help.
From the map, it seems to go down to the seventh basement.
The layout doesn’t look that complicated.

Just in case I draw the handguns from the holster and tighten up a little as I go.
A first-time place is tense after all.

I spot goblins now and then, and hunt them quick as usual.
Besides being narrow it isn’t that different from usual.
Fumu. Anyway I’ll try going to the bottom.

After a while I hit a dead end.
Huh. From the map there should still be more.
But it’s a wall no matter how you look.
I knock it; a light kon kon.
Hnn… orya!

Bokon.

All right, I kicked a hole in it.
Looks like it was just a thin wall covering the passage.

Ah. Kind of, long ago our kids blocked a church hallway with branches they’d picked up.
They called it a secret base; boys like that stuff.

Well I like secret bases too.
I used to play in a hut I made in a big tree.
That hut got torn down by the adults because it was dangerous.
I cried like crazy then.
Yep, a good memory now.
Ah, found a goblin. Shoot, shoot.

○○○○○○○○

Fifth basement. Progressing without incident.
Now that I think of it, there’s wind moving through this cave.
How does that work underground. Magic, maybe.

“—Warning: mana reading. A ghost.”
“Uge. For real.”

A sudden warning from Ring.
Ghosts come out here. I don’t want that.
I hate those things; punching them does nothing, I hear.

Ah, wait, will bullets work.
They’re lumps of mana, but I wonder. They didn’t work on slimes.
Well, if they don’t I’ll just run home.

“…Tei!”

Ban!

Pashun!

Oh. What, they hit. If they hit, nothing to be scared of.
Fuhaha… ah, sorry, wait, a group is a bit much, wait… hyaaaa!

Strategic withdrawal.

Ah, that was close. Carelessness is the enemy.
Sixth basement. I push on little by little, hunting goblins and ghosts.
At this level I can manage without Sakura-Drive.

I mean, ghosts don’t leave a proof part; how do you prove a subjugation.
Or maybe requests don’t go up because you can’t prove it.
Well, if you can use magic they’re easy to put down, so I guess it isn’t a problem.

Now then. I feel like something big should show up soon.
In picture books there’s always some gatekeeper type.

…Wait? Found stairs. Weird.
Uumu. Well, shall I go.

Seventh basement.
The whole floor is a hall, and right in the middle is something like an iron golem.
Eh, it’s there as soon as you come down?
Not a “you shall not pass these stairs” thing.
I guess that’s how it is.

Well, anyway, shall we, shall we get serious.

“Ring, shall we.”
“—Sakura-Drive Ready.”

“Ignition.”

Sakura-pink blizzard rising from my feet, raging through the cave.
Quite a big one. Let’s tighten up.

“Shall we dance, big guy.”

I run in. First a feeler.
A shot at the torso. But as expected it glances off the iron skin.
I slip the descending arm with a gun butt and go forward as I am.
I shoot the joints from melee; no effect.

Then. I cycle mana and concentrate it at the muzzle.

An arm sweeping sideways. But it’s slow.
I drop as if licking the ground, dodge. Go forward as I am and put a muzzle on the wide-open torso.

Trigger. A sakura-pink flash punches through the golem and gouges the cave wall.

As I pull away I shoot the chest. Same, punches through.
Attacks are landing. After that I just punch through while slipping the counters.
Except the golem puts out smoke and crumbles on the spot.
…Oi. Don’t tell me that’s it?

“Ring. Mana readings?”
“—Vanished.”
“…Right. Situation over confirmed.”

I return the handguns to the holster and drop Sakura-Drive.

Uyaa. For real. Talk about an anticlimax.
The ghost pack on the way was the scariest part.
…Well, whatever. Can’t be helped; I’ll take the golem core home.

○○○○○○○○

“I’m home. A souvenir.”
“Oh, a golem core?”
“It was at the bottom of the dungeon.”
“…Um. Don’t tell me you went to the bottom in one day?”
“Yes. Nothing else came out but goblins and ghosts. A miss, personally.”
“I see. That’s unfortunate, or something… you cleared it in a day, huh.”

I feel like I haven’t seen Liza’s strained smile in a while.
Huh, did I do something bad.

“Ah, but it looked interesting. The stones were glowing, too.”
“Oh, there were light-stones. We’ll have to send a survey team.”
“Then shall I draw a map?”
“You can do even that? Then, could I ask?”
“Got paper and a pen? Ah, thanks.”

I copy Ring’s map as-is and get a silver for the information.
No danger is a good thing, but I don’t know.

Incomplete combustion. I should go to the Gernika ruins soon after all, yep.