## Chapter 35 – Dungeon
“That’s a damn good idea!”
“Right? We’re going together, then?”
Rarely this hyped up, I readily accepted the offer. A dungeon is, literally, a nasty, horrifying pit with teeth that eats people alive, but it’s also a new frontier where rewards as great as the danger are promised. Why else would adventurers be adventurers, throwing themselves into a place where they might die? Because all sorts of valuable things are hidden there.
I’ve learned some swordsmanship, so I’m a little more confident in my skills. But not overwhelmingly so. I know how to analyze my skills objectively.
It’s just the trend. The trend was leading adventurers to dungeons, and the more people who entered a dungeon, the lower the difficulty naturally became. I figured I wouldn’t make a fortune, but I wouldn’t lose money either.
“Then we need to recruit more party members.”
“How about five?”
“Five is a bit much. To split the profits… Meria, would four be okay?”
“Four? Wouldn’t that be fine?”
Meria’s personality is, well, she seems to live life following the wind, and her answer was so breezy it felt like she was leaving everything up to me. I don’t know if she thinks of dungeons as just caves in the neighborhood mountains, but considering her violent behavior in the goblin cave, she probably doesn’t feel much different.
“Okay. Let’s go with four, then. As for the other party members…”
If there are four party members, it would be good to have a priest, even if we don’t have a mage. I’m a damage dealer/tank, Meria is a tank. So we just need a healer and another tank. Who would be good as a tank?
“Oh, right. There was Copson.”
“Copson? Do you know him?”
“Yeah, there’s a name Copson on the list of people who want to join a party on the bulletin board? That bastard… no, I mean, that friend, if it’s not a person with the same name, I think I know him. If he’s the guy I know, can I call him?”
“I don’t care.”
Then I should make Copson one of the members.
Actually, because this isn’t an era where communication methods that are convenient for personal use, like the internet or phones, are common, there’s no way to recruit party members other than waiting at the guild for the person to come, or telling the guild receptionist and waiting.
“Then let’s register the party first.”
I went to the counter and registered the party. The purpose is dungeon exploration. There’s no specific quest, so there’s no need to register, but party registration is essential because accidents can happen.
“Excuse me, receptionist. There’s a person named Copson who wants to explore the dungeon.”
At the same time, I asked the receptionist about Copson. If someone put their name on the bulletin board, it was common sense to create a personal profile at the guild to join a party. It would be nice if I could view a photo, but that’s a luxury. We adventurers can’t have that.
“Wait a moment. I need to find the list of participants.”
I took the list the receptionist gave me. I found Copson’s name in the densely packed names and read the profile written next to it in small letters. [Blond hair] [Possesses breastplate and helmet] [Freckles on face] Seems about right.
“Seems about right. Please tell this person to join the party. Also, tell him I’ll be waiting here tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.”
“When will you be able to reach him?”
“We’ll compile a list of people who have been contacted before sunset and post it on the bulletin board again.”
He’ll be going in and out of the guild to find a party, so if I leave a message, he’ll get it soon. They said they’d update the bulletin board before evening, so if he visits the guild tonight, I should be able to see him tomorrow.
“Hey, Meria. Party registration is done. I’ve contacted the other person.”
“Good job.”
“Then let’s meet here again tomorrow morning.”
I needed to prepare this and that, so I turned around immediately. For long-term explorations like dungeons, you need more things than you think. You have to bring several days’ worth of food, and you also need tools to light oil or fire. The luggage itself requires about the same amount of miscellaneous items as when escorting a caravan.
Anyway, buying consumables is an essential investment.
“Huh? Are you leaving already? Wait a second. You’re not busy today, are you?”
“I don’t have any special plans.”
Today, I don’t have anything to do except go shopping. Buy miscellaneous items at the general store, stop by the blacksmith… Ah, should I also loiter in front of the church to recruit a priest? Anyway, whatever I do, it’ll cost money, so I’m just going to do those basic things and go in to rest, since I’ve squandered most of my wealth.
Meria stopped me.
“Well, since we’re going to a dungeon, shouldn’t we prepare properly?”
“We should definitely prepare. There’s nothing more foolish than entering a dungeon without proper preparation.”
As she said, I was planning to go prepare now. She said to me as if it were nothing.
“Then let’s go together.”
“Where?”
“To prepare for the dungeon exploration. We need to buy this and that.”
“That’s right?”
“So let’s go together.”
“Let’s go together?”
Seeing Meria say that so casually, my brain seemed to freeze for a moment. What’s with this naturalness like an old female friend? To be so affectionate to me, is she trying to seduce me!
As I was inwardly horrified and reacting stupidly, Meria frowned.
“Huh? No, why? Do you not want to?”
“No, it’s not that. I just didn’t expect you to suddenly say let’s go together.”
“We’re going anyway, so it’s good to go together. It’s also good to know who brought what.”
That was a reasonable reason.
“That’s true. Then let’s go to the general store first.”
Anyway, I left the guild and headed to the outskirts of the city. The closer the shopping district is to the city gates, the better they tend to organize and sell goods for travelers and adventurers. We went there.
“Come to think of it, Meria. You said something about your hometown last time, so you’re not from Isvant either?”
“That’s right. I also came from another place. I was originally going to go to Krassheim, but this place is better than I thought, so I’ve been staying here for a few months.”
“Really? I came from Krassheim.”
“How is it there? Are there a lot of jobs?”
“There are jobs every day.”
But Winia lives there… I vowed never to go there again. When I think about it, I should have escaped a long time ago. Unlike what I said, this place has a decent infrastructure for living as an adventurer, and the facilities are generally better than there. Not to mention the guild I joined here.
As we chatted and moved, we arrived at the shopping district before I knew it.
“First, dried rations, oil, and fire starters, right?”
Dried rations, which always solve my one meal a day, were essential, and tools for making fire were also inseparable from adventurers. In fact, there’s probably nothing else I need besides these two. I got beaten up by gremlins a while ago and bought medicine from the alchemist’s guild for 2 silver, so I don’t need to buy anything else.
As for cold weather gear, my quilted armor and cloak are enough. With just these, I can lie down and sleep anywhere. I wonder if Meria will be okay? Her clothes don’t look that warm. But women are more resistant to the cold than men, so she’ll be fine.
“Hmm… Is there anything else we should bring?”
“It’s enough to just buy what you usually buy.”
Meria and I bought some items at the general store and came out. What’s so special about dungeons? For adventurers like us, just going outside the city is like a dungeon. So what we bring is the same.
“I bought everything. This is practically the end of the preparation.”
I said, feeling like I had nothing to do since it ended so quickly, even though we came to buy things together. It’s like I came out with a friend, but there’s nothing to do and there’s no PC cafe, billiard hall, bowling alley, or anything around. This situation that evokes nostalgia was very unfamiliar.
“Meria. We came together, but now there’s nothing to do. What should we do?”
I was thinking of going to the blacksmith, but there’s nothing to buy and nothing to repair. It’s also awkward to loiter around the church together…
“That’s true. I said let’s come together, but… there’s nothing more to do.”
“I’m embarrassed… Damn it, let’s go eat.”
“Should we? I’m hungry. Is there anywhere to go?”
“Do you like soup? I went to a soup place last time and it was delicious. Do you want to go there?”
“Sounds good.”
That place was the soup place I went to when I first came to Isvant. It was delicious, but I didn’t go there after that. To save money on food. But if I went to eat with a girl, I shouldn’t be stingy and go to a place like that.
I retraced my memories and led Meria to the soup place from that time. [Chef Patrick’s Soup Specialty Shop] It’s open.
“Welcome!”
When I opened the door and went inside, the girl who was being exploited again came out and greeted us. In addition, a savory smell flowed out, and Meria said it smelled delicious and liked it.
“Ah! The person who gave me 1 copper!”
“Nice to see you.”
She remembers me. Has she never received a tip before? We took our seats and ordered. I thought I should eat something delicious since I came, so I ordered the bacon soup I had last time. Meria ordered the same thing as me.
“Meria. Do you know anything about dungeons? To be honest, I don’t know anything, no lies.”
While waiting for the menu to come out, I expressed my honest feelings. No lies, I didn’t know anything about the dungeons of Isvant. I was just going to follow along spontaneously because she said let’s go. Until then, I didn’t have any interest, and I didn’t even think about finding out, so it was natural that I didn’t know.
“I don’t know much either, but should I explain about the Necropolis, which is said to be the least dangerous?”
As expected, Meria, as the person who made the suggestion first, said that she knew something. Necropolis…? The first thing that came to mind from that word was a charnel house. The very place I visited every holiday. It was a place where the bones of the dead were cremated and enshrined.
“Necropolis? Are we going there?”
“If we go, that’s probably where we’ll go. There are other places, but I heard they’re just dangerous and the profits are terrible, so I don’t know much about them.”
“Good. Then explain about the Necropolis.”
Meria’s explanation followed.
