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Chapter 164 – Central Dungeon Strategy・Makyo and the Others Part 2
I heard Saketsu and Katan arguing.
I slowly got up and left the cave, only to be glared at by the dwarves and receive disapproving looks from Chel, Hel, and Sylvia.
“You’re full of energy this morning. Good morning.”
As I said something carefree, Ka-Ryu started shaking.
“Margrave, I actually have something important to discuss with you,” Saketsu said.
He probably wants to leave the demonic land. The women probably think I brought useless dwarves with me. But I think they’re suited to the demonic land. It was probably too much to expect of them, since they were used to living in a group. It can’t be helped.
“I understand. I’ll take you to the training facility later. But I have one favor to ask of you. Could you fix Ka-Ryu’s eyes? Or, you can teach me how to do it.”
“Huh? The training facility?”
The three dwarves, including Saketsu, looked puzzled.
“What? Don’t you want to go back to the elf kingdom?”
“No, that’s not it! I heard there are golems at the military facility. I would like to study maintenance and other things. Unfortunately, with my current skills, it’s impossible for me to attach an eye to Ka-Ryu-sama.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Margrave… Please. Don’t send us back to the elf kingdom.”
Kahiman, who had been hiding behind a rock, whispered.
“That’s right. If we go back now, we’ll probably be executed.”
Katan, whose face was covered with medicinal herbs, said with a carefree expression. Dwarves are persecuted in the Elf Kingdom, so it’s likely they’ll be executed because of the information they have about the demonic land.
It seems that Katan has come to the demonic land with the determination not to return to her homeland.
“I’m glad you haven’t lost heart. I don’t mind taking you to the military facility, and I think I can convince them to help you.”
“What? Is that okay?”
“But the military facility is in the desert. You’ll die if you stay like this. You need more training before I can take you there.”
“But if I can survive in the demonic land, can I go?”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe I can go on a gathering trip?”
Katan tilted her head and asked.
“In the demonic land, yes.”
“Yay!”
“Just don’t die. That’s the only promise I’ll make.”
“I understand!”
Katan and Saketsu held hands and rejoiced. Kahiman also seemed to be rejoicing as he held their hands.
“Dwarves are restricted from traveling outside their residential areas in the Elf Kingdom. They are not allowed many freedoms.”
Hel approached and explained,
“This morning, when we took a bath together, I saw countless whip marks on Katan’s back. She’s such an active girl. Maybe they’ve been testing us all along to see how much she’s allowed to move around.”
“I see.”
There’s always a reason for people’s actions. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words. I resolved to become a lord who can read between the lines of people’s smiles.
Sylvia said she would take the dwarves to the training ground.
“E-even if they know the way, they’ll get lost.”
With that, she cut the vines with her knife and led the dwarves away.
“Why are Chel and Hel looking at me like you’re disappointed in me since this morning?”
“It seems you did something crazy in East Kenya and the elf country!”
It seemed that Chel had heard the story from Hel and the others.
“I didn’t do anything reckless. I just did what I could. Got a problem with that?”
“You bet I do!”
A water ball thrown by Chel hit me in the face. At least I didn’t have to wash my face.
“Makyo, you should behave yourself a little more as the lord of the demonic land! You don’t live here alone. Your actions determine how we’re perceived when we go out. Do you understand? As nobles, appearances are important. I understand that you can’t afford nice clothes, but you need to act calmly…”
Chel lectured me earnestly, without a trace of her usual accent.
I appreciated it, but I was more interested in the breakfast cooking in the pot over the fire. It was probably turtle soup from the Haze Turtle.
“I understand, but elves are wasteful and only do what’s necessary. There’s no need to make the dwarves feel bad, is there?”
“That’s true, but…”
“East Kenya has been attacked before. Sylvia is more suitable than I am. I’d rather protect the people of my domain than uphold the nobility’s customs and manners. Did I put Hel and Sylvia in danger? Did I whip the dwarves?”
I asked Hel.
“No.”
Hel shook her head.
“I’m sorry. I’ve only been a noble for a short time, so I may not always behave perfectly. But I’ve done my duty as a lord to protect my people. Is there a problem?”
I thought I had come up with the perfect excuse.
“”Yes, there is!””
“Eh? There is?”
“Why don’t you trust us a little more?”
“Put yourself in our shoes! Even though we’ve been living together, it took us a few seconds to understand you. To outsiders, though, you’re just acting strangely!”
It seemed that I had caused them quite a lot of trouble.
“I’m sorry. From now on, I’ll let you know before I do anything.”
“You think an apology is enough!”
“I’m telling you to reflect on your actions and not repeat them!”
“But it’s a hassle. Besides, if we’re in this demonic land, monsters will eat us before I can explain anything.”
I poured my magic into Ka-Ryu and returned the plate of turtle soup.
“You’re not reflecting at all!”
“What an incredibly insolent attitude!”
“Who seasoned this? It looks delicious.”
“Don’t change the subject!”
“That plate is mine!”
Chel and Hel pulled my cheeks, trying to stop me from eating the turtle soup.
Ka-Ryu shook her head and laughed loudly. Then, Lipa came up the slope.
“It’s lively in the morning.”
Lipa was laughing, too.
“Look, Lipa. Hel drew a magic circle on a deep plate to keep it warm!”
“Don’t tell him!”
A noisy breakfast began.
There weren’t many wild herbs because Jennifer wasn’t there, but the turtle soup was delicious. Lipa must have made it.
As the saying goes, even a sharp stomach becomes round if you eat something delicious. Chel and Hel were also in a good mood. Sylvia had sent the dwarves to the training ground and returned; she didn’t seem to have any complaints about me. There was no need to force the issue.
“So, what are you going to do today? Are you going to go to the dungeon?”
Lipa asked while wiping the dishes he had washed.
“How was the central dungeon? I haven’t heard your report yet.”
“The plants in the botanical garden dungeon are bigger than those outside the demonic land, and the vines are much thicker. There are fire-breathing flowers walking around, so they must be powerful.”
“Powerful? You mean they’ve been modified?”
“I wonder. There were just a lot of plants that were bigger than anything we’ve seen outside the demonic land. It seems like they didn’t have much survival ability. They were the kind of plants that could only survive inside the dungeon.”
“So even if they’re strong, they can’t win the battle for survival.”
Why is that? You have to be strong to survive in the demonic land, but if you’re too strong, you can’t survive. I don’t really get it.”
Lipa asked a straightforward question.
“Did they have natural enemies?”
“If the temperature, nitrogen levels in the soil, or magic content differ, the balance is easily disrupted. The conditions for survival differ greatly between a controllable dungeon and the unpredictable demonic land.”
Hel explained.
It was obvious, but I could understand why Lipa found it hard to accept.
We’ll start by investigating the climate and soil. We have a long way to go.
“There’s a botanical garden dungeon in the center, and another one is a genetic research institute, right?”
Should we excavate those first? There weren’t any golems we could communicate with at the botanical garden.”
“It shouldn’t be too far from Midgard.”
Ka-Ryu showed us the locations of Midgard and the genetic research institute with her body. It seemed to be directly east of the Midgard ruins.
“Either way, we’ll explore both, right?”
“Yes, Ka-Ryu. Can we collect soil and wall materials from the dungeons?”
“Some things can be collected and some can’t.”
“We can collect them from the dungeons in the Kingdom of Meiju. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to take our improved crops outside.”
“That makes sense.”
If we can grow wheat in the demonic land, then we can make bread with it.
“Sylvia and I will prepare the items to collect from the botanical garden dungeon.”
I asked them to prepare a one-handed pickaxe, a shovel, and some leather bags.
“Who’s teaching at the training ground today? If no one’s there, I’ll…”
“I’ll go,”
Lipa said, stretching his body.
“Makyo can’t be the instructor.”
“Eh, why not?”
“You’re not a good reference.”
Sylvia stated bluntly.
“Makyo is unqualified to be an instructor. I guess I’ll have to go with you to the dungeon.”
“Chel. That means more luggage.”
Hel and Sylvia slept in the morning and prepared to gather in the afternoon. They would explore the botanical garden dungeon tomorrow.
Today, we will check out the genetic research institute dungeon.
At the time, I didn’t think we would have to explore the dungeon very deeply.
“I hope the golem is still there.”
We prepared a simple lunch. We put some small, empty leather bags in our bags in case we found something of interest. Sylvia told Chel that her robe was too torn, so she gave her a new white robe to wear.
“This robe looks like something a newbie magician would wear. It’s embarrassing.”
“Th-this is all we have. Besides, a robe that shows your butt is even more embarrassing.”
Perhaps from sitting too long, the part of Chel’s robe around her butt had become completely transparent. My pants were fine, but my underwear was in a similar state. Maybe it was time for a change.
Ka-Ryu shook herself, jumped into my bag, and curled up into a small cube.
“See you later, everyone. I’ll be off.”
“See you!”
Hel and the others saw us off. Chel and I ran down the slope and along the edge of the swamp.
We passed a group of Haze Turtles drying their shells and glanced at the crocodile ranch. Two large Rock Crocodiles were fighting as if deciding who was the boss. Other than that, everything seemed normal.
A Treant, stripped of its branches and leaves, basked in the sun. Sylvia had likely collected it as material. Imps shrieked around it as they caught small insect-like monsters.
As we approached central Midgard, the smell of beasts grew stronger. The ruins were still chaotic, and the hatchlings born there had grown significantly.
Before the Guardian Spider could activate, we charged forward, putting all our magic into our legs. When I looked back, the bushes had vanished, and leaves were flying through the air, leaving a clear path behind me.
Within seconds, vines and monsters blocked the trail.
Several small branches pierced Chel’s new robe.
“Sylvia is going to be angry with me again.”
She showed me the holes in her robe and complained in a pathetic voice.
“Why didn’t you ask Hel to draw a magic circle for you?”
“Why didn’t you tell me before we left?”
With no other option, Chel wrapped the fur she used for napping around herself like a cape.
“Why don’t the branches stick to you, Makyo?”
“Lately, I’ve been enjoying rotating my magical power inside my body. I’m using that power to knock the branches away. You have time to do that when you’re running, right?”
“That’s amazing! I don’t understand a thing.”
Chel didn’t understand the fun of rotating magical power. She also didn’t understand how it was possible to run while avoiding flying branches or how it was possible to have time to do that while running.
It was too much trouble to explain, so I decided to move on.
“We should be near the research facility ruins soon. Let’s search the ground as we go.”
The terrain in this area is complicated, and when Chel first arrived, she had to climb up cliffs.
It is also the habitat of the Big Moth, and egg mushrooms grow everywhere. Big Moth scales and the spores of the egg mushrooms both have a paralyzing effect.
“They’re trying to paralyze us.”
“Make sure you’re wearing gloves and a mask.”
I placed my hands on the ground and used my magic to probe underground.
The area was riddled with fissures, and I could see blocked caves and underground rivers. There were large Vespa Hornet nests and cicada monsters the size of large dogs, some of which were sleeping. There were also pill bugs the size of human heads eating rotten trees. The scene was straight out of a demonic land.
I couldn’t see any traces of a road, so it might have been destroyed by the fissures.
“With the terrain so collapsed, it’s hard to tell where anything is.”
This is going to take some time.”
Chel washed away the egg mushrooms in the stench-filled cave using water magic. Once enough smoke had accumulated, she used wind magic to clear it out and turned the cave into a makeshift base.
“I don’t think we’re too far off from where we should be…”
Ka-Ryu, who had gathered the surrounding soil and formed it into a human shape, tilted her head and said,
“There should be a dungeon door nearby, so we’ll be fine.”
Since the dungeon door connects to another space, it won’t be destroyed by a little damage.
“Let’s bring Hel and ask the buried bones directly,”
Chel continued.
“That’s it! There should be a graveyard for experimental monsters near the genetic research institute!”
“I see. Monster bones.”
Rather than searching the ruins of the building, we searched around the area where the monster bones were gathered.
As we descended the cliff and searched the bottom of the valley where the ground had split open, we felt a strange gaze upon us. It was dark, and we couldn’t see anything unless we peered down from above. Normal monsters would have passed by or avoided the area, but…
“Someone’s watching us.”
“I knew it.”
“Let’s try that thing to confirm. You know, the thing where you release your magic power.”
“That?”
I climbed out of the valley, read the wind, and slowly released the magic from my body.
As the magic left, it revealed the situation around me.
Among the plants and monsters moving around to survive, there were creatures unnaturally holding their breath and staying still in the shadows of the rocks. They looked like humanoid monsters.
“There they are. Are they goblins or orcs?”
“That’s rare in the demonic land.”
There are certainly many half-human, half-beast monsters here, but I’ve never seen goblins or orcs. I thought those species had lost the battle for survival, but here they were, living.
“I wish we could communicate…”
I raised my hands to show that I wasn’t going to fight and slowly approached them.
I saw horns peeking out from behind a rock. They were curled like sheep’s horns.
They weren’t goblins or orcs.
“Hey!”
As soon as I called out, they jumped away and ran off.
“Goat legs? Maybe satyrs? I can’t tell because I couldn’t see their faces,”
Chel explained casually beside me.
“Aren’t you going after it!?!”
When Ka-Ryu said that, Chel and I realized we weren’t moving.
The satyr, however, was running away and within range of Chel’s magic. If we wanted to, we could reach it in a single step. It wasn’t that fast.
“What should we do? Should we get ahead of it?”
If we knew which direction it was going, we could get ahead of it.
“Well, let’s take it slow. It’d be a pain if it set a trap with magic.”
We chased after the satyr, observing it one step at a time.
It didn’t set any traps, but it was passing through an area where razor grass, sleeping flowers, and bendgrass grew. The satyr ahead of us had cuts on its body, though.
We used tree branches to ward off the plants before they could cut or bite us. This wasn’t a colosseum; we couldn’t afford to take every attack.
The satyr entered a cave through a small hole in the cliff, wary of us as we approached.
I released magic into the cliff wall and investigated the cave, discovering many bones buried in the ground. Further ahead, I could see a door.
“So the genetic research institute is buried in a cave like this. There’s a door ahead. It’s probably the door to the dungeon.”
“Then that satyr must be a resident of the dungeon…”
“That means the dungeon wasn’t buried after all.”
Ka-Ryu added.
“So, the dungeon monsters are living in the demonic land?”
“Let’s go check it out.”
I kept my magical power inside me, rotating it in my lower abdomen, and put Ka-Ryu in my bag.
At the very back of the cave, there was nothing but a door.
I inserted the lightning-patterned key into the door and turned it with all my magical power. The dungeon opened.
A dimly lit passageway stretched out before us. It was made of an unknown material, but it was a straight, rectangular passageway. Small white magic stone lamps embedded in the walls illuminated the passageway at regular intervals.
There were no magic circles on the floor and no visible traps.
Knock, knock.
I tapped the floor and walls, which seemed like they would break if struck with enough force. They weren’t reinforced with magic circles.
Bwaaah!
A horn-like sound echoed from the depths of the corridor.
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