Year 7442, Month 10, Day 26
Since that sort of thing happened the other day for a moment I worried about what kind of face I should make in front of Ralpha and Bel but I thought once again that I don't particularly need to change the way I act so I can just act the same as usual.
Since they didn't seem any different than usual as well I was relieved.
After confirming our equipment the same as usual we entered the dungeon.
We proceeded through the 1st and 2nd floors in ultra express mode and when we arrived at the teleport room on the 2nd floor it was just about noon.
We ate the soup made with hot water from magic along with some sandwiches we brought along and took a break for about an hour.
During our break I was telling some jokes to Ralpha and Bel, and Zenom, Zulu, Angela joined in on that.
It's the same as usual.
No, it might just be my imagination but it seems like Ralpha's expression is stiff.
"What is it? Are you tired?"
We probably walked close to 15 km to clear through the 1st and 2nd floors.
We've already walked through both of them countless times and we have a map where the traps are listed including several we added ourselves so the tension should have been considerably reduced.
Though I say that, since it's descending through the dungeon at a speed of close to 2.5 km/hour so there's no way it wouldn't be painful or exhausting.
"Hn, I'm alright. But, I guess I was a bit on guard? Didn't we talk about those sorts of things yesterday? That's why I thought I need to give it my best and not fail. Fu~ but, after all I think I might be a bit tired...Sorry, let me rest for a bit longer."
Come to think of it, among us only Bel's Endurance is 12 and considerably low. The next lowest ones after Bel are Ralpha and Angela but even then they have 16, so it's 33% higher than Bel.
I'm sure her Endurance will increase from here on out with level up and age but why did Ralpha get tired before Bel this time?
I wonder if it's related to the fact that Bel is a Rabbit-people race?
Or maybe Ralpha is just weak to tension and easier to exhaust herself?
I tried gently taking a look at Bel's state but she doesn't seem to have changed at all and is happily talking about something with Angela.
It's not like we're in such a hurry that we have to fight over one or two months.
Thinking about things from here on out so I think it would be best to clarify as many things as possible that I've put off around here.
"I see, don't push yourself. If it's painful then you can say so anytime."
Alright, it's a shame even though we've made it this far for today but let's just take a look in the 3rd floor and then return.
After tomorrow we'll take it a bit easy in the dungeon for a short while and I'll try doing something about the things I've been putting off for a while.
"Eh...Yeah..I'm sorry. Somehow, Al, have you become kinder? But, I don't want you to misunderstand."
Ralpha grabs both of her shoulders like she's protecting her body and moves away from me.
"You know, are you seriously trying to anger me? What about it?"
I've decided, Ralpha, I'm going to use you as an excuse.
I'll provide you with the perfect role for a terrible farting bug.
Rather~ after all let's go as far as we can on the 3rd floor.
........
The 3rd floor of the dungeon of Baldukk.
It's made of stone and dim, the width of the passages are narrower than the 1st and 2nd floors, there's not even 10 m.
It's probably gotten about 50 cm more narrow than those floors.
Of course, there's various places where it gets more than 10 m or becomes about 2 m as well. The air is stale, and you can't feel that it's flowing but it doesn't seem that it's not blowing at all since you occasionally feel it brush your cheek.
Angela is whispering something to Ralpha.
You two, focus on your jobs when we're working.
I'll let it off because it's not a loud voice but whispering though.
We steadily walk down that passage but hitting the floor with a 3 m pole doesn't help much at all anymore.
This isn't because there's no pitfalls but rather because the structure of the pitfalls has changed.
On the 1st and 2nd floors the pitfalls have a board covering them and that surface is camouflaged, so if you hit that surface the sound changes and you can easily see through them.
But, on this 3rd floor the pitfalls have undergone a complete change.
From a glance they appear to be camouflaged with the same sort of stone as the passage.
It seems like there's several poles inside of the pitfall and above that there's something like a thin stone wall or stone board placed on that to look like the normal passage.
Even though it's been made thin, that thickness is about 15 cm and even if you hit it a bit with a pole you can't hear the difference in the sounds.
Since Bel's skill is something that makes it easier for her to pick up on sounds, it's not like she can tell the vague differences in the sound itself. The best she can do is tell the number of legs something has from footsteps or how many sources are making sounds, and tell if they're moving.
The only way to see through the pitfalls is to move forward slowly and try stepping on them or try hitting the floor with the end of Zenom or Ralpha's hand-axe.
Even though it's a axe-hand, the pointed end of the blade is a mass of heavy cast iron so as expected if you hit it with that the sound changes and you can tell that the lid of the pitfall moves slightly.
Since it's troublesome I thought about using earth magic to make a large roller like thing and roll that along as we go but even if my mana is absurdly high it's only obvious that it would run out after a few Km keeping it running like that. It's to the point of not even needing to experiment with it. In the first place moving that much distance, putting aside mana, I wouldn't be able to maintain my concentration.
Though I've become able to use magic while moving or fighting, it pushes my nerves to the limit, and if that sort of condition continues for even 10 minutes I'm sure I would be mentally worn-out. If a monster were to come out at a time like that it wouldn't be a joke.
If it came to that then it would even be difficult for me to be considered useful in combat.
Taking into consideration the speed we're moving forward it feels too inefficient to move while hitting with the axe every time so it's about time we have no choice other than to proceed carefully. The person at the front will have to take one step forward and without putting their weight on that step as much as possible they poke the stone floor with their foot. If there's a pitfall there you can tell because it moves slightly. Then if you move to the side and do the same thing and it seems fine you can move forward from there.
It's different from the 1st and 2nd floors, the floors aren't made of dirt so it's difficult to stab something that would act as a landmark into it. It can't be helped so I'm just making dirt with earth magic and pouring it around that area.
It seems that various methods were used in the past and we've discovered something like paint or painting material scattered around in some places as well. Just in case we tried poking it with the end of our feet and after all it was a pitfall, since you can vaguely feel it move.
If you pay close attention it's not to the point where you can't see the gaps between the stone lid and the real thing but since it's dimly lit, so if we're being careful of them we end up with a speed of advance that is slower than a tired so I gave up on it right away.
However, there's no mistaking that a considerable number of people have moved along these passages since the past, we realized there's something like marks all over the place pointing to the pitfalls so it's a bit of a salvation that we can maintain our speed somewhat.
In other words, if it's a place where there's a mark then it's a place where someone has explored in the past.
Of course, we can'y deny the possibility of them overlooking something but it's a big help to have various marks.
However, we've ended up finding a large number of passages along split pathways that clearly no one has passed through as well.
In those cases, we just proceed forward a bit carefully and if we can't find any landmarks along that path we turn back and go down a different path.
If we can discover a mark then there's no problem with just continuing down that way.
I don't know if this is the correct way of doing it but if I don't believe it is then the efficiency drops to a point where it's absurd to even compare them so it can't be helped.
I found out the reason why the entrance to the 3rd floor that is the teleport room of the 2nd floor always has someone camping in it.
If you don't rest once before going into the 3rd floor it's very difficult to deal with it I'm sure.
When you go to step foot into the 3rd floor if there's no clear proof that someone has passed through there (First off is the number carved out near the teleport crystal. If that's there then someone has definitely passed through. Next is the marks near pitfalls and such. Since there's no other choice to remain careful until you find something like that it wears away at the nerves quite a bit at the start though) then you once again return to the 2nd floor, and teleport to the 3rd floor again.
The speed of advancing forward dulls even more than up until now and the mental exhaustion accumulates.
However, even then there's a lot of gain at on the 3rd floor.
It's a passage made of stone but it seems that there's two types of rooms ones made of stone and ones with exposed dirt. The stone rooms have the same powerful monsters making nests in them as up until now but very rarely they say there's something like a torture chamber with strange apparatus placed around that no one knows how to use.
Although, it seems that it's already after anything of notice has been taken out so the number is limited and it seems there's more adventurers who have never seen them before.
The problem is the ones where the dirt floor is exposed.
It seems that these are the same as the other rooms where a powerful monster is making them into a nest but if you dig up the walls then rarely you can discover raw ores or gems.
In short it's just that you're inside of a mine of gems but putting aside the reason, just that there's a possibility that you can gather the raw ores of gems is the reason adventurers come to this floor, no, it's one of the appeals to entering the dungeon of Baldukk itself.
Hearing this, I first thought, I see now, and at the same time several doubts came up in my mind.
It's fine if various gems and minerals can be gathered. This is Orth and not Earth, I won't be surprised by something like that at this point.
However, if the raw ores of gems that are discovered aren't normally cut then there's not much meaning. The cutting of gems is an artisans technique and there's various methods of cutting to make the gem look beautiful, I'm sure it's the same as Earth that there's various methods to change the value based on that.
However, in the first place do the tools for cutting and polishing them even exist?
It's not like you can't do the polishing with magic. IF you just keep repeating the {Cantrip} {Polish} it will take time but you can somehow polish it I'm sure.
If you can use void magic then I'm sure the efficiency will increase a bit so using that is fine as well.
But, what about the cut?
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