CHAPTER 7 - ADVENTURER'S BLOOD
1
I found the entrance to the second basement.
“The first one was a miss, but hopefully this one will be a hit.”
The first underground dungeon I and five idiots entered, there were no treasures there that could be called treasures.
I visited this dungeon many times in that Otome game, but my memory has faded about it.
Where was something? The traps? The mechanisms?
Due to some misremembering and other factors, things were not as smooth as I had hoped.
Jilk plants a bomb on the door and comes to us, pulling the wire.
“Please hide everyone”
Hiding in the shadows, Jilk put magic into the hand that was holding the wire.
As soon as the wire glows faintly, an explosion can be heard coming from the door.
There was a slight tremor and a cloud of dust rising from the stairs leading to the basement.
Greg heads over to check it out, but shakes his head when he returns.
“Useless. They have the only sturdy door here.”
Contrary to Greg, who looked disappointed, Brad was smiling as he put his hand to his chin.
“That is proof that such an important treasure is lying in the ground. Want to bring more explosives?”
Our eyes were on Jilk, who had the most knowledge about the bombing.
However, he has a troubled face.
“I’ve used up what I had. We need to go back to the ship and replenish the explosives, among other things.”
Brad shrugs his shoulders.
“We don’t have much ammunition left. I think we should go back and try again tomorrow”
Looking outside, I saw that the sun’s rays had turned red.
Julius is also concerned about time.
“At night, the monsters in the old castle come alive. Undead monsters are more powerful at night.”
If it were a game, there was no need to worry about time.
Many of them would have been immobilized during the day while taking on the dungeon.
There were times when events took place at night, but this should have been the exception.
Luxion flashes his red lens once and advises me to withdraw.
[Master, I propose to withdraw]
“Hmm, that said, it looks like this is the last time we’ll be here.”
Even if I went all the way back and took on the challenge tomorrow, the exploration would likely be over in a few hours.
Then I’m tempted to just finish it quickly.
However, I don’t bother to cross a dangerous bridge.
“――We’re retreating. We’ll meet up with everyone and head back to the encampment.” As I made my decision, Chris let out a small sigh.
“That’s good. We still have plenty of time on our schedule.”
As we prepare to withdraw, we are alerted to the sound of footsteps approaching from afar and pick up our weapons.
I try to raise my rifle too, but Luxion stops me.
[It’s Marie and her party]
Shortly after, it was Marie with Kyle and Kara who appeared around the corner.
Her long hair was somehow tangled with leaves and disheveled.
“Wait a minuteeee !!”
Seeing that we were preparing to withdraw, Marie approached us with a big step and pointed past us to the entrance to the basement.
“Let’s move forward!”
When Marie insists on continuing the exploration, Julius explains that it is best to withdraw.
“I understand your impatience, but it’s nighttime. If we try tomorrow morning, we can safely explore. Marie, let’s give up now.”
But Marie does not accept the withdraw.
“No. I’ll get it done today and get out of here and back to the Kingdom.”
The five idiots are bewildered by Marie’s reckless words.
I’m so tired of Marie’s selfishness that I try to force her to come back with us.
“I’m the rule here. Exploration can wait until tomorrow, but for now we’re withdrawing. You guys get ready to go back.”
I’m the one who makes the plans, brings out the airships, and is in charge.
If something goes wrong, it’s my responsibility.
I had no intention of going along with Marie’s selfishness.
When I try to force a withdraw, Kyle stops me.
“Duke, may I have a word?”
“What? I’m not going to change my opinion.”
“No, today’s goshujin-sama has been like this since morning.”
In order to obtain the treasure and become independent, she has been pushing herself since morning, apparently.
Looking at Marie’s face, she still looks impatient.
“A little more. Once we conquer this place, I won’t have to look so pathetic anymore.” I know why Marie is impatient.
I know, but I am wondering if it is right to change the policy and continue to give priority to exploration.
Luxion, noticing my concern, decides whether the strategy is feasible in the current situation.
[The risk increases, but the conquering itself is possible.]
“Everything all right?”
[I do not recommend it. As for undead monsters, we don’t have enough data because Master avoided fighting them. If I had more data, I could have made a more accurate judgment.]
Sounds like he’s trying to say, “We have a problem because you avoid combat because you’re afraid of it.”
“I wasn’t avoiding them. I just had no reason to fight.”
[You sure have become smooth-talking. It’s a shame, because I’m looking forward to seeing you grow in other ways as well.]
“Shut up”
Now, as I was wondering what we were going to do, Ange and the others joined us.
Behind Ange, Noel was holding a bag of treasure, while Livia was carefully holding what appeared to be nothing but junk.
Creare, who was leading the three of them, comes over to my side.
[Master, listen! We found the treasure! Master and your group may not have found it, but we did! Praise me, praise me!]
Can’t you read the atmosphere, or don’t you intend to?
“You did a good job. Look, get out of the way.”
[Cruel!]
I pushed Creare away with my hand and turned to face Ange, who was walking up to me.
“Do you think you’ll win?”
Although Ange and her team have acquired the treasure, they don’t think they’ve won the game yet.
“No way I can be proud of a win like this. Apparently, this is the room where the most treasure lies.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to the entrance to the basement, protected by a sturdy door.
Then they look to me for judgment.
I couldn’t stand the way everyone was looking at me, so I scratched my head.
“I got it. Let’s move on.”
Once the decision is made, Luxion confirms it.
[Are you sure about this?]
“Let’s finish this quickly and go home.”
[Well then]
As Luxion and Creare approached the sturdy-looking door, lasers were beamed from red and blue lenses to destroy the lock.
Jilk is watching the scene with a complicated look on his face.
“If you have a way to unlock the door, use it from the beginning. It was a waste of explosives” Sorry, Jilk.
I’ve told Luxion and Creare that this time they are only going to help with the bare minimum.
I looked at Ange’s figure as she watched the door about to open, and she seemed to be enjoying herself a lot.
That’s far different from when we dated.
Then Luxion and Creare return.
[Master, we’ve broken the door locks. Possible to enter inside.] I go ahead of everyone and then turn around.
“Let’s have a race to see who can get to the back of the room first, shall we?”
When I ask everyone, the color of everyone’s eyes changes.
Livia, Noel, and Kyle, who were not nobles of the kingdom, were perplexed by the strange atmosphere around them.
Ange removes the tools that are no longer needed and drops them on the floor.
“I like rules that are easy to understand. It makes it clear who the winner is.” Seeing Ange discarding useless tools, the others imitate and remove them.
The tools fell one after another on the floor and became noisy.
Marie seems to intend to immediately run out and outsmart the others.
“The first is meeee!”
“You stupid”
I caught Marie as she was about to enter the underground dungeon.
Carrying her as she is, Marie is restrained as she wriggles around.
“Are you all ready? Then start.”
When I announced the start, Greg was the first to reach the door.
“First in!”
With that said, the heavy metal door is pushed open and Jilk enters the gap.
“Thanks for going out of your way to open the door, Greg-kun.”
“Jilk, you bastard!”
Thanks to Greg’s opening of the door, the rest of us are passing through one by one.
Ange stopped when she came up beside me.
“You don’t go first because you have leeway?”
“If I had the advantage, people would complain after I won, right? Then I’ll make sure I win in a way that no one will complain about.”
Even if I outwit everyone and find the treasure, they won’t admit it, saying it’s unfairness or something.
Perhaps she liked my excuse, Ange runs off.
“Keep saying that”
I looked over at Ange, who seemed to be having fun, and Marie, who was being carried by me, began to rampage.
“Hey! Put me down! Everyone’s leaving me behind!”
I let out a sigh and put Marie down, and I give her an earful of warning.
“If you want to show Erika how motherly you are, be fair. Winning by underhanded means is not something you can be proud of.”
Marie pushes me away and calls out to Kyle and Carla, who are still there.
“That’s what those who can win say. People like me have to rise by any means necessary to win! Let’s go, you two!” Kyle and Kara walk past me.
“Please wait!”
“Marie-sama, please don’t leave me behind!”
Once everyone was gone, Luxion approached me.
[If you don’t hurry, you’ll really lose.]
“I wonder about that?”
――It would appear that it would be difficult to turn things around from here.
But.
“There are a lot of things I’ve forgotten, but I guess I remember quite a bit.”
[Is it game knowledge?]
“I may have forgotten the details of the old castle, but I do remember this passageway.”
[In other words, you also remembered the location of the treasure.]
“Correct”
[――I was impressed by your attitude of playing fair and square, but as I thought, there was something behind it. Master really doesn’t fail to disappoint me in a bad way.]
“I’m sorry to disappoint you. I will continue to live up to the expectations of those around me.”
[What a refreshing trash] I am fine as trash.
I’m the one who wins in the end!
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