## Chapter 37 – Dungeon
Having successfully recruited Elise, we finally became a party of four. I will never recruit a party of five. When five humans gather, one of them is bound to be trash.
“Alright, alright. Introduce yourselves. This is Sister Elise, affiliated with the Holy Light Crusades.”
We introduced ourselves to each other. Meria seemed very pleased that a seemingly strong nun had appeared. Copson seemed a bit suspicious. The Holy Light Crusades aren’t exactly well-regarded in our town, so I guess that’s why.
Anyway, in terms of positions, it’s a miraculous combination of tank, damage dealer, damage dealer/tank, and healer all in one party.
It might be nice to add a ranged dealer or mage as the cherry on top, but as I said, that would inevitably make someone trash, so let’s not do that. The four of us are enough.
“Greetings. I am Elise. May our God guide us.”
“I’m Meria. Nice to meet you, Sister.”
“I am Copson. I have heard of the Holy Light Crusades’ infamy, or rather, fame.”
“Don’t deepen your voice, you son of a bitch.”
Copson cleared his throat and deepened his voice again. It doesn’t make him look cool at all, so I wish he wouldn’t. Seriously, where did this trend of deepening your voice to look cool even start?
“Why do you keep saying I’m deepening my voice? Barbarian jerk.”
“You did it again.”
“Damn it.”
It wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Meria and I were done with our preparations, so today we’d help the other party members prepare and get a rough overview, then leave early tomorrow morning. That’s what I was thinking, and that’s what I was about to say.
“Then, shall we depart immediately?”
“Huh?”
“The sooner, the better, wouldn’t you agree? It takes time to get there anyway, so I think it would be better to leave now and camp out there.”
But Elise was one step ahead. Her tone was calm, but it was clear that she was itching to move right away.
“Hmm…”
Leaving now, huh? It’s a bit different from what I had in mind, but Elise was right. Dungeon exploration isn’t something you can finish in a day or two anyway. It wouldn’t be bad to leave now, arrive, camp out, and start exploring early in the morning. I did drink a bit of alcohol, but… honestly, I’m fine with this much. I don’t really mind leaving right away.
“I’m ready, though.”
Elise said. Meria and I were definitely ready. But I don’t know if Copson is.
“Hey, Copson. Do you have anything else to prepare?”
“Not yet. But I wouldn’t mind stopping by the general store on the way.”
There’s a store on the way out of the city anyway, so it doesn’t matter. He’s only buying sundries anyway, so there’s no need to go anywhere special.
“Meria. What about you? Are you okay with the alcohol?”
“I’m fine. It’s not a problem for me.”
The party agreed to leave immediately.
“Then let’s depart at once.”
And so, we set off for the dungeon.
According to Meria, the Orkota Catacomb of the Ossuary Palace was a dungeon recently discovered near Isvant.
Of course, “near” doesn’t mean just a subway or two stops away. We had to travel by carriage. Since we had to go to the city gate to take a carriage anyway, we decided to walk there and buy the necessary supplies.
“A lantern… It’ll be dark inside the dungeon, so it’d be good to have one.”
Copson said, picking up a lantern and buying it. There were clear limitations to just torches and Elise’s light spells in the dark dungeon. I was going to share the cost since we’d be using it together, but Copson waved his hand.
“I’ll be using it all the time, so there’s no need. Just share the cost of the oil. Barbarian jerk.”
“Heh. Look at this guy being so precise. Fine, fine. We’ll share the oil. Sister Elise. Meria. Did you hear that?”
The lantern is his, but the oil used to light the dungeon should be shared.
“Understood.”
“We will.”
Elise and Meria nodded, and I bought a few more bottles of oil with the money we collected. After finishing our shopping, we moved back to the city gate. Several carriages were waiting in front of the gate. It would take several hours to get there, so it would be better to choose a comfortable one to conserve our energy.
“How about that one?”
Meria chose a carriage with a roof covered in yellowish-white cloth. I asked the coachman about the price range, and it seemed reasonable, so we decided to take it. It was past noon when we officially began our journey.
“Please take us to the Isvant Territory Jungle Zone. We plan to go to the Ossuary Palace.”
“Aye.”
Elise took out a map and told the coachman. I heard that the Ossuary Palace was located inside the jungle zone, so neither Meria, Copson, nor I knew the way properly, so we entrusted this part to Elise. Elise’s map had many suspicious parts, but whatever.
“There are many adventurers heading to dungeons these days.”
“Coachman? You know the way, right?”
“Yes. I’ve been there several times, so you can rest assured.”
Perhaps because it was a dungeon frequented by many adventurers, the transportation was well-organized. We each contributed money to pay the fare and boarded the carriage, sitting close together and discussing strategy, listening to advice from Elise, who seemed to know the most about the dungeon.
“So… you’re saying there are undead?”
“That is correct.”
Unlike me, who asked in shock, Elise was calm.
Undead… really? That? Even though this is another world, the idea of the dead coming back to life and moving around didn’t seem very credible. There’s a chance it’s just some kind of wrong common sense, belief, or delusion.
There might be monsters that look hideous enough to be called undead.
I’ve never seen an undead with my own eyes.
“They are originally pitiful souls who were all human. My mission includes investigating the truth of the dungeon and also saving those souls wandering this world.”
“Hmm… Copson. Have you ever seen an undead?”
“My hometown is a bit remote, so zombies often appeared. We regularly joined forces with the vigilantes to exterminate them.”
“What? What the fuck.”
I’m hearing that story for the first time? What the hell, your hometown is in a remote place, so zombies show up? Copson had no change in expression, as if he were saying something obvious. I felt a kind of cultural shock. Are zombies natural?
“That zombie thing. Are you talking about the dead coming back to life?”
“Does the barbarian’s hometown have anything other than that? Historically speaking, it is not unusual for corpses resurrected by the evil magic that occurred during the Idol War to wander the world. They wander around every night and are drawn to the light and arrive at the village.”
“Fuck. What is this.”
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
With my common sense completely denied, we arrived at the jungle zone in the late afternoon. Well, there’s magic and monsters in this world, so it wouldn’t be strange if there were undead. If you think too deeply, you lose.
There are undead in this world. Come to think of it, there are gods, so it’s possible for the dead to rise again.
“We have to walk from here.”
What greeted us after getting off the carriage was a vast jungle zone. The Ossuary Palace is said to be a type of ancient architecture discovered inside this jungle. It’s an ancient building, but it’s been abandoned for a long time, so it’ll be filled with all sorts of things inside. That’s why it’s called a dungeon.
We made our way through the jungle.
“Eugh…! These bugs are disgusting.”
I hated bugs.
I used to like them when I was a kid, but people start to hate bugs as they get older.
It was my first time coming to a jungle zone like this, so I couldn’t get used to the sticky bugs. As I stood at the front, cutting through the vines with Copson, caterpillars kept falling on my shoulders. A groan naturally escaped my lips.
“Clang!”
Copson saw me shuddering and said.
“You’re the disgusting one, you barbarian jerk.”
“Hey. Catch this caterpillar.”
“Ugh! Don’t throw it! You crazy barbarian!”
“Hehehe, you coward.”
“Grrr!”
Because there were many visitors, a path-like formation had formed on the ground, but since it was a jungle, the vegetation that had grown back over it was blocking our way. Meria guarded the rear in case monsters popped out.
“Hmph, this isn’t going fast. This is why maces are inconvenient.”
Elise seemed impatient and started hitting the trees with her mace. True to a religion for humans, she had no mercy on nature. But unless you’re an extraordinary superhuman, it’s nearly impossible to knock down a tree with a mace.
ㅡThwack!
It seemed very difficult to clear the vines with a mace.
She wrestled with the vines, got tired of it, and sighed.
“Please move aside. I have to burn it all. Light Bolt…”
“Save your spells.”
I stopped Elise, who was aiming her morning star with a serious expression. By the time the sun set and the sky turned red, we had finally arrived at the entrance of the dungeon.
“Haa, we finally arrived. Wow, look at this sweat. Do I smell?”
Meria said, throwing off her coat. My eyes naturally went to the sight, but unfortunately, there was proper clothing inside the coat as well.
“Not at all.”
Anyway, I’m exhausted. That was so hard. It’ll be similar on the way back, right?
Around the entrance of the dungeon, there were several things that looked like other adventurers’ camps. Simple tents and traces of campfires.
They set up campsites like this in front of the dungeon and explored for several days.
We didn’t exactly bring such equipment, but we could just procure it locally. We just needed to spread leaves on the ground and gather trees and large leaves to make walls and a roof. Adventurers are masters of bivouacking and sleeping outdoors.
If not, we could just go inside and set up a watch schedule and sleep. That would be warmer since it’s indoors. I picked a suitable spot a little away from the other adventurers’ tents and said.
“Let’s prepare to camp here.”
I looked around. The faded brick entrance of the dungeon came into view. There seemed to be patterns drawn around the entrance, but it was so old that it was hard to tell if it was letters or pictures. It felt like both, though.
The entrance of the dungeon, surrounded by all sorts of vegetation and vines, was very dark, like a hole leading to the abyss. That’s what leads to the underground. The ancient people’s ossuary… We’ll be going in there tomorrow.
The scale of this underground dungeon is unknown. That’s what Meria explained. However, there is only speculation that even if any building in the kingdom were buried in the ground, it would not match the scale of this ossuary.
“It’s a bit late, but it would be good to take a look inside in advance.”
Elise strode towards the entrance of the dungeon. I grabbed her shoulder.
Let’s rest today…
“We’re going in tomorrow anyway, so it’s best to camp right away today. If the sun goes down completely, preparing the campsite will take a lot of effort. Let’s wake up early in the morning and start exploring right away.”
“Is that so? Then let’s do that.”
We prepared for camping. As expected of survival experts, everyone acted skillfully, and the campsite was created in an instant. The sun had completely set. We lit a fire and warmed up the food we had each brought.
