Chapter 21

Chapter 21 : A New Party Companion

After we left the tavern, the boy who had marched off so confidently to buy reserve supplies came trudging back with his shoulders drooping.

It was because every merchant had overcharged him, forcing him to go over budget.

I happened to be sulking over what had happened in the tavern, so I pointed at the single stalk of herbs clutched in the boy’s hand and laughed.

“You… do not tell me you bought that as reserve supplies too?”

“…Be quiet. Whose fault do you think this is?”

“Do not worry, kid. I’m confident in my skills.”

“From the look of you, you seem like you would struggle to catch even a single Goblin… And stop treating me like a child. I’m an adult too, you know?”

While we were bickering, Malton returned from gathering information.

“Did something happen?”

“No.”

“No.”

“Hmm? I thought you would naturally be fighting, so this is unexpected. More importantly, I have brought fairly good news, so everyone, sit down.”

When we obediently took our seats, Malton’s green eyes gleamed as he spoke.

“First… I heard the dungeon was vast, but it is beyond imagination. Top-Ranked Adventurers and guilds are exploring it, and they say they have already passed the Fourth Layer.”

“Layer…? I have never heard of that kind of classification before.”

“They say that as one descends underground, the terrain changes so drastically that they have divided it by floors. From grasslands to rocky mountains, lakes, and so on… Of course, since the environment changes, the Monsters that appear there will surely be different as well.”

“That… is no longer a scale that can be called a dungeon, is it…?”

The boy’s eyes widened in shock, but since I already knew the scale of the dungeon, I quietly kept my mouth shut.

Each and every layer in this place was comparable to an ordinary open-world game.

‘If they are already exploring the Fourth Layer… then that S-Rank I heard about before must be leading the way at the front.’

It also meant that the kingdom was desperate enough to handle this Demonic Realm that it had sent out its most elite Adventurers without considering the consequences.

While we were talking about various matters related to the dungeon, I opened my mouth at an appropriate moment.

“…In that case, it is too late today, so let’s set out tomorrow as soon as the sun rises. We have also built up fatigue from riding in a carriage over the past few days. No objections, right?”

We left the village and settled down in a quiet vacant lot.

Since I had already experienced it a few times, setting up a tent was not difficult.

‘That completes tonight’s sleeping arrangements… Should I take a look at that kid’s side too?’

It was only natural to understand my party members before entering a dungeon. 

As I was looking around while filling my stomach with jerky and bread, the boy had a ship’s biscuit in his mouth.

When I saw that, I could not help but be appalled.

‘That thing is hard as hell!’

Ship’s biscuit was a dry ration made by baking flour several times in an oven until all moisture was completely removed.

It was light and easy to store for long periods for that very reason, but it tasted so terrible that even serfs avoided it. 

Worse, it was so hard that it was simply not something human teeth could break.

It was the sort of thing even Adventurers avoided unless they were truly starving, a last bastion of survival….

‘…Is he broke?’

But since he said he was an E-Rank Adventurer, he should not have been so poor that he could not even feed himself.

In that case, he either had some kind of circumstances or he was an unbearably frugal miser. It had to be one of the two….

As I secretly observed him, I suddenly noticed another strange point.

‘This kid… is a boy, right?’

I had not realized it because of the hood pulled low over his head, but he had an absurdly pretty face.

Beneath gray hair that resembled cold ash were sapphire-blue eyes so deep they felt almost chilling.

If this had been the world of another game, he might have lived happily, but it was pitiful that he had been born into a Dark Fantasy where such a terrible future awaited him.

What stood out in particular was the pattern on his face. Three red streaks of paint, resembling a mouse’s whiskers, had been drawn on his cheeks.

‘…I feel like I have seen something similar in a documentary about African tribes.’

However, while their tattoos gave off a frightening and powerful impression, this kid’s paint only made him look cute, like a small animal.

If it was meant to intimidate his opponent, it was a complete miscalculation!

‘Ah, come to think of it, we also have to register the party again at the guild….’

“How much was the registration fee for three men again…?”

As I muttered to myself, something felt strange, so I looked back. For some reason, Malton’s lips were twitching.

When I tilted my head in confusion, Radi stared at me with a complicated expression.

“……What?”

Did I say something strange?

｢Luck increases by 1 due to the [Chaos] skill.｣

***

｢Adventurer ‘Radi’ has joined your party.｣

We headed for the dungeon at dawn, but the entrance was already packed with people.

For a brief moment, I was lost in thought while watching the various Adventurers who had gathered from all over. Then I saw the sign in front of the dungeon, and my leisurely thoughts were mercilessly shattered.

[Dungeon Admission Fee: 2 Shillings]

““These damned robbers!!””

Malton looked at me and Radi as if he found us absurd.

“You two… argued all day, yet you are perfectly in step at times like this.”

“No, does it make sense to gorge themselves on silver coins just for an entrance fee?! They would not even let us into the village without a bribe!”

“Those filthy tax collectors… All they ever do is squeeze blood money out of people. They should shove their noses into lye and die.”

“I agree, kid. You are saying something proper for once.”

“You are agreeing with me for once too.”

“What can we do? They are telling us to pay, so we have no choice but to pay.”

“Damn it….”

“Damn it all….”

After paying our bloodlike silver coins and stepping into an entrance that looked like a huge crack between rocks, we were greeted by an extremely slippery and steep limestone cave.

As we descended while relying on the fixed pins and ropes embedded in the walls, people slipped and groaned here and there.

Before we entered the dungeon in earnest, I deliberately threw out a joke in order to grasp the boy’s personality.

“This means we will not be able to carry heavy luggage back when we return… Hey, kid, you be careful not to slip too. You are already short enough; you might get even shorter.”

“You should worry about not grabbing my ankles instead.”

“As if that would ever hap… WAAH─!!”

Just as we reached the end of the passage, my foot slipped in a puddle of limewater.

The problem was that instead of grabbing the safety rope, I grabbed Radi beside me as I fell.

“Aaaaaaagh!!!”

“Aaaaaaah!!”

Radi and I slid down the cave floor like a waterslide, tangled up with each other.

｢People’s attention has focused on you!｣

｢Agility increases by 1!｣

｢Strength increases by 1!｣

｢Luck increases by 2....｣

“Aaaaaaagh!! D-Damn it!!!”

We slipped past the Adventurers who were watching blankly and the rest of the cave, then crashed straight into the dungeon floor. A terrible pain surged through my entire body.

Yet the sight that soon unfolded before my eyes was magnificent enough to erase all pain.

“This is… impossible….”

Radi, who had been about to kick me, froze. Then he lifted his head and stared blankly at the sky.

Above our heads was a sky as lofty as the heavens of midsummer, and beneath it stretched a blue-green grassland that continued endlessly to the horizon.

Brilliant light poured down between clouds like flocks of sheep, warmly illuminating the grass that had grown up to our calves. Within that peaceful scenery, countless Adventurers were scattered about, resting.

｢You have entered the First Layer of Medaollinum Dungeon!｣

｢It is a space that is impossible to believe is underground! Most of this dungeon is still full of mysteries.｣

｢As someone who has frequently traveled through this dungeon since the past, you may be able to uncover the secrets hidden here!｣

｢By completing a Side Quest, Strength permanently increases by 2!｣

After confirming that my stats had permanently increased from completing the quest, I pulled myself together and saw Radi frozen with his mouth wide open.

‘Well, of course he is surprised.’

When I first arrived here, I had also spent about an hour wandering around, staring blankly at the scenery.

However, this pastoral landscape was nothing more than an illusion.

Once one descended farther below, Monsters that had grown exponentially stronger would leap out and steal one’s life in an instant.

As more time passed, those Monsters would overflow all the way to the surface and massacre the villagers.

Moreover, now that I was seeing the familiar scenery of the dungeon vividly with my own two eyes, the vague doubts I had been feeling all this time turned into certainty.

The suspicion that had slowly sprouted as I lived in this place for the past two weeks.

‘As I thought… this is not something like the world inside a game.’

I had not entered a game.

Velheim, the game I had played in my previous life, was the copy of this world.

The wild grass brushing between my fingers, and the scent of grass carried on the swaying plants and trees.

The temperature and humidity touching my skin from moment to moment, the astonishingly vivid sense of perspective, and the unfamiliar smell of soil.

Of course, there could be no game this real.

I had almost been deceived because something like a status window existed, but this world was unmistakably ‘real.’

Ding─!

｢You have obtained a Clue About the World Setting!｣

The game I had played on Earth must have been created and spread by someone who had imitated this world.

‘I do not know who did such a thing, or with what intention, but….’

“…At this point, it would be stranger to think this place is simply inside a game.”

Right?

I quietly stared at the Log Window, but of course, only silence returned from it.

***

“Honestly… Because you grabbed me and slid down like a drowning ghost, I am completely soaked!”

“I told you I was sorry. I apologized earlier.”

“That shameless attitude is the problem…!”

As I walked while bickering with Radi, who was wringing out the dripping hem of his wet robe, we eventually reached a quiet place.

Since the dungeon was so vast, it grew deserted after only a short walk.

Malton unfolded a map that was practically no different from a blank sheet of paper and spoke.

“They say the First Layer is composed of grasslands, forests, shallow wetlands, and the like.”

“Hmm… In that case, the Monsters that appear here must be more or less decided. Each type of terrain should have different species living in it.”

“That is probably the case. However… since it is so vast, it is difficult to decide which direction we should advance in.”

Malton and Radi looked down at the map and began a heated discussion.

Apparently, because this dungeon had only just opened and the people of this world knew little about it, they could not easily make a decision.

Ding─!

｢Medaollinum Dungeon is so vast that it can be compared to a small continent!｣

｢Many Adventurers lose their way and wander here, but you may be able to become an excellent guide!｣

When the conversation reached an impasse, I naturally slipped between them.

“Well, in the end, we are going to hunt while moving deeper in, right?”

“Of course. Since we even paid an entrance fee to come in, we have to at least make back what we spent….”

“In that case, I hear the entrance to the Second Layer is in the east, so let’s go that way. And it would be better to pass through the forest as we move.”

“The forest? Why the forest…?”

“The other Adventurers must have hunted mainly across the easy fields, so there should still be plenty of Monsters with decent experience in the forest. Besides, do you see those zelkova trees over there?”

Zelkova trees had broad crowns, and because of allelopathy, other trees did not grow well around them.

In other words, since there were fewer bushes, it would be easier to move through than it looked.

When I briefly summarized the situation, Radi looked at me as if this was unexpected.

He cleared his throat and spoke.

“Y-You are unexpectedly skilled at making judgments… Since you said you were an F-Rank Adventurer, I thought you would be a complete beginner. Then we will explore while passing through the forest….”

“Right. I will take the lead.”

｢You have chosen the forest route!｣

As we entered the zelkova forest, the thin wind unique to woodlands traveled through the leaves.

I drew my Cutlass and advanced while cutting away the occasional branches that blocked the path.

‘Still, it would be best to stay cautious, just in case….’

Most of the Monsters on the First Layer of the dungeon were weak, but exceptions always existed.

Sometimes, a mutant that had grown by consuming twisted mana would appear. On rare occasions, a fearsome predator from a lower layer, driven away after losing in the struggle for survival, would take refuge here and slaughter Adventurers.

Furthermore, this was the past, two or three years before the starting point of the game.

I did not know what variables might be lurking here.

As I walked with my senses sharpened, Radi suddenly shouted from behind me.

“It’s a Monster! Be careful!!”