## Chapter 152 – Kobolds and the Underground Labyrinth
“These goddamn bastards, why the hell is it so expensive?”
The stew was ridiculously expensive.
These hick sons of bitches were ripping off the adventurers, taking advantage of the situation. Daring to exploit the people who came to conquer the dungeon threatening the safety of the village? They all need to die to come to their senses. I should skin them all alive.
Is this some kind of tourist trap?
Seeing these highway robbers fleecing the adventurers like a school of piranhas, taking advantage of the sudden appearance of the dungeon, an uncontrollable hatred surged within me. Humans are all worthless trash, not worth saving.
“Saintess, should we try another place…”
“Nah. It’s all the same in places like this. We just gotta eat, damn it. Hey, owner! Four stews!”
Normally, a stew meal for four people wouldn’t cost more than 10 coppers, but shockingly, we had to pay 20 coppers. That’s 5 coppers per person. At this rate, it was impossible to even guess how expensive the inn would be.
Screw it, I’d rather sleep outside.
“Katt, are you angry?”
“How can I not be angry? These bastards need to have their whole village crushed by the kobolds from the dungeon to wake up.”
“Calm down, Katt. It could happen. Shouldn’t it be okay as long as it tastes good, no matter how much they charge?”
Cloudy, who was sitting next to me, massaged the back of my neck.
“Ugh… there. That’s good.”
“That’s right, that’s right. Good boy, good boy. Let’s calm down.”
Well, yeah. It’d be fine if it tasted good. But tourist trap food never tastes good. The more expensive it is, the shittier the taste, that’s tourist trap food for you. I can’t even imagine what those bastards eat on a regular basis.
After waiting for a while, the waitress brought out the stew in separate bowls.
“Smells good, though.”
The smell wasn’t bad. Eliza said a prayer before the meal, so I also offered a brief prayer to Buddha and Hwanung, and Winia was the first to taste it.
I asked her how it tasted.
“How is it?”
“It tastes exactly like what a darkie would like.”
“You’re saying I’d like it?”
When did she figure out my taste?
It sounded like she was saying it was delicious, so I took a spoonful of the stew myself.
“Yeah. It tastes like some kind of livestock feed. It’d be perfect as feed for a darkie.”
“What did you say, you little…”
I won’t forgive you.
But after tasting it, it tasted exactly like the cheap soup you’d get for 1-2 coppers at a shabby inn during dinner time. It wasn’t so bad that you couldn’t eat it, but it was true that it wasn’t worth paying 5 coppers for.
It’s no wonder Winia, who has a picky palate, wasn’t satisfied.
But it’s amazing how the stew and soup taste the same. I don’t really know the difference between the two, though.
“I think it’s edible enough.”
“Looks like you and the darkie have the same taste?”
“Hehe, maybe? Here, Katt. Ahh.”
Cloudy, who smiled slightly at Winia’s jab, held a spoon to my mouth. No matter how bad the food is, it instantly becomes delicious when you eat it like this. I immediately took a bite.
“Ahh.”
“Ugh, darkie is so annoying! Why are you taking it?”
“It’s so delicious. Want me to feed you too?”
“…”
Winia, her face flushed, nodded as she chewed on a potato.
She takes it well.
After finishing our meal, we went outside.
“It wasn’t a bad taste. Shall we get going then? The adventurers are gathering over there, so I think we can just follow them.”
“Let’s do that.”
It was a good time.
It was only about 4 o’clock, the sun was still high in the sky, so it seemed like we could go check out the dungeon. The line of adventurers stretched out of the village. They said it was less than an hour’s walk. We didn’t have any more items to pack, so we set off.
Here and there, male and female adventurers with swords and axes were walking in the same direction. I looked around to see if there was anyone I knew, but there wasn’t.
“I heard it’s a fairly large-scale dungeon. We believe that the kobolds didn’t dig the tunnels themselves, but used an existing underground structure. Of course, since they live there, I think it’s been expanded in many ways.”
“An existing underground structure?”
“Yes. I don’t know the details, but I think there was probably some kind of underground facility, and the Kobold Queen nested there. It seems like they multiplied like that and were discovered this time.”
Eliza explained logically. She said she heard everything from the church. Unlike freelance adventurers, she has the trustworthy demeanor of a true member of society. I’m getting more and more curious about the identity of the Radiant Holy Cross Society.
Finally, we arrived in front of the dungeon.
In front of the entrance, which was originally the kobolds’ entrance, more than a dozen adventurers were camped out, and a party was entering without even ringing the doorbell. No manners.
The entrance was quite large. Kobolds don’t make entrances that big. They only need to be big enough for them to go in and out. Clearly, it was about 3 meters high, and the width was about the same as the height.
They wouldn’t have made the entrance this big, so as Eliza said, it seems like the kobolds are illegally occupying and using the original underground facility.
There’s no way such a large entrance would have been discovered recently, so it must have been buried and then revealed by some means.
“Shall we go in right away?”
Eliza, who looked around, said.
She already had her mace out, full of motivation.
“I don’t mind.”
“We came here to go in anyway. Let’s go in quickly. Winia. You have enough stored light, right?”
“Stored light? Darkie, you’re talking weird again. I’ll take care of the magic, so don’t worry.”
Eliza and I entered the dungeon first.
Well, entering, the inside was as bright as if the lights were on because of the adventurers everywhere, and there were a lot of people. I don’t know for sure, but there must have been dozens of adventurers already inside.
In this situation, the adventurers who find the treasure room first or find something that can be sold will be the winners. There are only three things in a kobold dungeon that can be sold. If I were to list them one by one,
The first is, of course, the belongings of the dead adventurers.
Unlike the kobolds that came out, the kobolds inside the cave swarm three-dimensionally, climbing on the walls and ceilings. If you’re careless because you think they’re pushovers, you’ll be caught off guard by this high-dimensional attack and be crushed by the numbers, losing your life.
The corpses and belongings will be dragged deep into the darkness, but sometimes kobolds with poor eyesight fail to pick up the dropped items. That becomes a field drop item, waiting for a new owner. If the drop item is a weapon, it’ll be great.
And the second is, as I said, the treasure room.
All sorts of treasures buried underground are sleeping there… Of course, most of them are just trash like tree roots, but there are often many useful items piled up. The items that the dead adventurers had are also sent straight to the treasure room.
Finally, the long-awaited third.
This is important.
The third is the Kobold Queen.
The Kobold Queen, who spends her entire life giving birth to babies in the deepest and darkest underground room, was a unique monster that was worth money just for her existence.
As far as I know, most of the queen’s body parts are traded as expensive magic materials, and the young female kobolds near her, the Kobold Princesses, are also bought at high prices in the arena. If there are females, it’s easier to supply kobolds, so the arena is looking for them with their eyes wide open.
Anyway, they’re friends that are worth money in many ways.
The land of opportunity. That was the kobolds’ dungeon.
And since it’s likely a nest based on an underground facility, we might be able to acquire something similar to the ancient relics we got in the last dungeon.
“There are so many people. Is this a tourist attraction?”
Going underground, we’ve already passed about three other parties. I was worried that they might suddenly turn into murderous robbers, but there were so many people that the possibility seemed low.
ㅡPshhh.
As it got darker, Winia cast a light spell. A sphere emitting pure white light was created in the middle of the staff’s ring. Well, at least she won’t get her neck caught in the staff. The darkness was instantly illuminated.
“What? There are stairs?”
What appeared in front of us was a staircase leading underground.
Kobolds don’t make stairs. This made it clear. This cave was a man-made facility made by a race with intelligence. A very long time ago.
The kobolds occupied the now empty facility… Is this also related to the necromancer? I don’t know.
“Winia. Do you have any idea what this place is?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“You’re a mage, so you’d know about ancient facilities like this buried underground, right? You do research with your friends on your days off. Don’t you know what was here hundreds of years ago according to the history of this area?”
“Don’t ask me, because I don’t know as much as the darkie is talking nonsense right now.”
“Oh, really? That’s disappointing.”
“Do you want to die, darkie?”
Anyway, we headed underground.
As we went down the stairs, we saw a party of adventurers sitting in the middle, taking a break. A woman with an axe, a male mage with a staff, and a boy with a sword, a three-person party.
I decided to talk to them.
“Hey. Hello. Have you seen any kobolds?”
“…Huh?”
The trio reacted to that.
I smiled kindly and asked them.
“Are there any kobolds nearby?”
“Ah… I don’t think there are any around here, you’ll probably have to go all the way down to see them. They all seem to have run inside.”
The boy with the sword kindly answered.
Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, it looked like he’d been through some hardship.
“Oh, is that so?”
“It seems like a fierce battle is taking place down there… We’re thinking of going up now. We didn’t get anything special.”
“That’s a shame. Thank you for your words.”
It seems like we need to go deeper to see the kobolds’ faces. Well, dozens of adventurers have rushed in recklessly, so the areas close to the surface must already be annihilated.
They’re all crawling inside and barricading themselves.
When we went down to what was estimated to be the second basement floor, a common area appeared.
It was a very large common area, with several passages leading underground scattered here and there, and about three parties of adventurers resting in various places.
It was moderately large, so it seemed like they were using this as a base for exploration. It felt like even street vendors would set up shop here.
“Do you want to go down further? Now that we’re here, we should kill a kobold or two to get the feeling. I’m craving blood.”
“Hmm… it looks like there are places to rest in between. I think we can go down like this.”
“I also think we should go down.”
The opinion was unanimous to go down. Winia, shrugging her shoulders, gestured for me to go down. Eliza was at the front, I was second, and Winia and Cloudy were behind me.
“It’s like an underground city. It might be a place where dwarves used to live. They’re good with their hands, so building facilities underground wouldn’t be that difficult.”
When Eliza said that, Winia replied.
“Dwarves, that could be it. This cave seems quite old, but seeing how well it’s preserved, it seems to have considerable durability.”
An ancient underground city built by dwarves.
We went down for a long time, then turned, then went down again and turned again. As we did so, the speculation that it was a dwarven underground city began to gain credibility. The structure was as complex as an ant nest.
Digging tunnels and making rooms at this depth is impossible for anyone but skilled technicians. It was certainly a good environment for kobolds to nest in, as it was wide and complex.
“Hey, there’s a kobold corpse here.”
“Oh, really?”
The decaying corpses of kobolds that were found from time to time reminded us that this was a dungeon.
We continued our exploration towards the underground, which seemed to have no end.
Will we be able to reach the treasure room?
