“An engagement, you say?”
In response to Anais’s question, Oliver G. Daniel who was the current commander of the Knights of Judgment nodded his head.
“Yes. Anais, you know that there’s been a lot of talk internally due to Daira’s sacrifice.”
“…”
“His Majesty is greatly concerned. He worries that the creatures in the underground city accumulating power might pose a significant threat to humanity in the future.”
What does that have to do with the engagement?
Not wanting to interfere in the adults’ affairs, Anais remained silent for the time being.
“So, we’ve decided to plant a spy to directly interfere with the underground city.”
“And so?”
“That spy is the Clayton family. Since they mainly run a merchant guild, we believe they have considerable influence in the underground city.”
“I see…”
“But no matter how trusted the Clayton family is, we can’t fully rely on them. That’s why the engagement is necessary.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Anais understand the adults’ situation and nodded her head.
“Then, is this also for the sake of justice?”
“Yes, and also for the greater good.”
“…I understand.”
Anais nodded her head without much complaint.
She had no particular interest in romantic relationships.
For justice. For the greater good.
These two reasons were enough for her to accept it.
Justice and the greater good were always just other names for sacrifice.
The Knights of Judgment also shed their own blood and made sacrifices for the sake of great justice and the greater good.
Still, it’s regrettable.
It wasn’t her uncle Daniel’s choice that she regretted.
It was just that she was weak.
If she had possessed absolute and overwhelming power, there would have been no need to go through such troublesome processes.
In the end, Anais gave her consent and went to visit Shane the very day her engagement was confirmed.
“For that reason, Lindberg J. Anais has temporarily joined our team.”
“Whoa!”
At Anais’s sudden appearance, the team members were all surprised but the most shocked of all was none other than Dilaila.
Anais.
One of the Knights of Judgment to which Anais belonged was recently involved in Dilaila’s kidnapping. So her reaction was perfectly natural.
Moreover, wasn’t that person killed right in front of Dilaila?
“Uh, isn’t this strange? Why are there so many students from the Command Department on this team?”
Dilaila’s confusion was understandable, and her words were also reasonable.
Normally, students from the Command Department teamed up with those from other combat departments.
It was natural, given that the Command Department students who scored the highest as team leaders would be in high demand.
However, Anais’s choice was also understandable.
“Not really. Why is it strange?”
“Well, because you’re all from the Command Department!”
“It’s no big deal. Even as a Command Department student, there are plenty of reasons to join this team.”
Now that she heard it, it made sense.
After all, this involved entering the Great Mezaiya Forest which was one of the five great cradles.
Naturally, the points that followed were a given, and collaborating with the Raviata Adventurer Party would be a great reputation boost for any adventurer.
There was no need to consider departments; as soon as the rumor started spreading, students began approaching Shane personally.
Of course, when Shane ignored them all, it was Klein who ended up being annoyed by the attention.
“And I just came to see the team my fiancé is in. I won’t stay long.”
“Oh, really? Wait, fiancé?”
Before Dilaila could express her confusion further, Shane cut her off.
“Anyway, Anais will temporarily join us for this collaboration. Now, I’ll explain the dungeon we’re about to enter, so listen carefully.”
“Alright… okay.”
At the mention of it being temporary, Dilaila took her seat.
Although it wasn’t her place to interfere, Dilaila hoped to have minimal interaction with Anais if possible.
“I chose a dungeon with an environment similar to the Great Mezaiya Forest. Here, you’ll be conquering the dungeon with some restrictions.”
“Restrictions?”
Shane nodded at Klein’s question.
“As you all know, the Great Mezaiya Forest is a place with many limitations on using magic.”
The team nodded at Shane’s words.
The Great Mezaiya Forest was a dangerous place, more because of its environment than the monsters.
Even in various dungeon-type classes, they had heard that the Great Mezaiya Forest’s biggest issue was not just the climate but the persistent instability of magical power throughout the entire cradle.
“In order to regain your magical power there, the danger is considerable but the time it takes is even more of a problem. It would be fine if your magic adaptation ability was above a certain level, but at least for now, we are not at that point.”
Of course, Shane’s case was a bit different.
The magical power instability in the Great Mezaiya Forest was caused by an entity closely related to runes.
Compared to others, his restrictions were less severe.
“So, for the next ten days, each one of you will be under specific restrictions in this dungeon.”
“What kind of restrictions?”
“First, Klein. You must not use any magic except for what is necessary for physical enhancement.”
“Hmm…”
Physical enhancement was a basic combat technique that anyone who could use magic could perform.
For Klein, who fought using massive amounts of magical power, it was a huge restriction.
“Dilaila, take this.”
“Huh, what’s this? Dirt?”
When she opened the pouch Shane handed her, it contained only a handful of dirt.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“You must use only that dirt as your weapon.”
“Eh?”
Dilaila who was a member of the underfolk race was essentially an earth attribute mage.
So, even that small amount of dirt could become a deadly weapon for her.
But that wasn’t Dilaila’s style.
She preferred to use large amounts of dirt and relied on quantity.
“It’s a headache to handle things so precisely…”
“Endure it.”
“Ugh…”
Once part of a team, it was generally right to listen to the team leader.
In fact, an adventurer party leader often played a significant role in enhancing the skills of their comrades.
Next, Anais looked at Shane.
“What about me?”
“Hmm.”
At Anais’s question, Shane fell into a brief contemplation.
Anais wasn’t part of the strategy Shane had in mind from the beginning.
Though she would become an important figure in the future, she was someone he hadn’t planned to involve yet.
Anais would naturally grow on her own in time.
Of course, she would face many hardships like Klein but that wasn’t Shane’s concern.
Unless it was Klein, he didn’t feel the need to take special care of anyone, and it wasn’t like Dilaila where he had to prevent her from becoming an enemy of humanity.
“You should also use magic only for physical enhancement, like Klein. And one more thing.”
“Mhmm.”
“Swing your sword without a moment’s hesitation.”
“…? Okay.”
Though Anais still didn’t understand what Shane meant, she nodded her head. And Shane began explaining the dungeon necessary for the training.
“The dungeon type is a multi-dungeon that includes forest, cave, and tunnel areas. It’s medium-sized.”
“It’s bigger than I thought.”
“The difficulty itself isn’t too hard. The main monsters are ratmen, trolls, war boars, mass goblins, and leather kobolds.”
A multi-dungeon, as Shane mentioned, is a dungeon where various monsters coexist.
There are several ways to clear such a dungeon.
Usually, two or three adventurer parties enter and clear each of their assigned areas.
Besides that, there was the solo-clear method like Shane’s, where clearing the dungeon alone naturally extends the time spent inside and increases the risk of unexpected incidents.
Of course, this way, the rewards for clearing the dungeon are also taken solo.
“The start is the tunnel. Next is the cave, and in front of that is a dense forest.”
This information had been gathered by a specialist mage using familiar magic that involves summoned creatures.
Shane also briefly went over the dungeon’s traits and the monsters’ habits before speaking again.
“Although there are restrictions, if you judge it to be dangerous, disregard the restrictions and proceed with the subjugation immediately. Any questions?”
The one who raised a hand was Dilaila.
“But don’t you have any restrictions?”
“I always fight with restrictions.”
Shane who mainly used the Origin’s power could not use that power in his current condition.
So, if this wasn’t a restriction, what was?
But Dilaila who was unaware of this fact, continued to wear a puzzled expression on her face. Shane paid her no mind though.
Eventually, the dungeon subjugation operation began.
***
A place where dead monsters came back to life and destroyed terrain was miraculously restored.
Dungeons had the trait of endlessly regenerating unless their core was destroyed.
Many mages had dedicated themselves to uncovering the reasons behind the dungeon’s strange phenomena, but nothing had been definitively revealed so far.
This was because the environment was created by the great seal placed by Akasha, who was revered as a god. So most treated it as a natural occurrence.
Shane and his party arrived at the dungeon called [Forest of the Blue Sentinel] using the teleportation gate of the coalition.
“It’s really damp.”
This was Dilaila’s assessment of the environment as soon as they entered the dungeon.
As Shane had mentioned earlier, the entrance of the dungeon started with a damp tunnel.
At the same time, Shane added his own runes to the round magical tool he pulled out of his arms.
“Wow. Is this the magical recording tool I’ve only heard about? Amazing. It’s floating on its own.”
When magical power was injected into it, the magical recording tool recorded images according to the magic circuit stored inside.
It was a useful tool to prevent various crimes in the dungeon or to review battles and improve skills.
However, the downside was its price.
Even established adventurer parties hesitated to purchase it, and the top-quality model with guaranteed durability was said to be expensive enough to equip an entire adventurer party.
However, the costs for clearing the dungeon and the necessary expenses were all covered by Shane and Klein’s family, the Clayton family.
Normally, Lowell was not this generous, but due to their collaboration with Raviata and the mission to head to the Great Mezaiya Forest, Lowell uncharacteristically praised the two and provided such support.
“As you can see, we will record the upcoming battles with this tool and review them whenever we have time. So, don’t even think about slacking off.”
“Understood, big brother.”
“Ah, if we mess up, won’t our dark history be recorded forever?”
“…”
The magical recording tool that was now inscribed with the runes of “floating” and “tracking” floated and followed the group. And then the first battle began.
The monster that marked the first sign of battle was a Ratman.
It was a two-legged monster in the shape of a rat and the size of an adult human.
Cunning enough to rival goblins and more vigilant than kobolds, it was a tricky monster to deal with.
But conversely, it meant that it had the intelligence of a goblin and once it started to lower its guard like a kobold, it was merely a mediocre monster with strength just slightly above that of an adult male.
There were five Ratmen in total that appeared through the passageway.
On their side, there were only four.
Perhaps because they had the numerical advantage?
The Ratmen squeaked and closed the distance.
This was not typical behavior for a Ratman.
Normally, they were as cautious as kobolds.
‘But here the dungeon’s traits come into play.
Monsters within the dungeon rarely turned their backs and fled from humans.
If such a situation occurred, it would only be to call other comrades or to lure them into a trap.
Many scholars believed that this behavior of monsters stemmed from their hatred towards Akasha, who had sealed them. And so they harbored a deep-seated grudge against the human race as a whole.
Moreover, their level of knowledge remained frozen at the time the dungeon was sealed.
Back then, humans were considered an inferior race that couldn’t even use the basic force of this world, magic.
So to the Ratmen sealed by Akasha and trapped in time, the humans before them appeared to be nothing more than powerless prey.
Of course, the Ratmen could assess their opponents. If they faced even one more enemy than their own number or if the equipment was significantly superior, they would have fled without hesitation.
Shane quietly spoke up.
“Klein, show your skills first.”
“Understood, big brother.”
With this, Klein also adopted a battle-ready stance, drew his sword, and moved forward.
Leave a Reply