The More Rabbits You Catch, the Better (3)
The negotiation with Professor Neville Brix went surprisingly smoothly.
"If that's the compensation you're offering, there's no reason to refuse. You may take the full week freely. I'll inform the other two professors myself."
That was it. The man didn't even ask why I needed the time off. He was the very picture of cool indifference. Or maybe it was closer to apathy. I'd prepared a whole excuse about where I was going, but it turned out to be completely unnecessary.
"The support classes have a completely different vibe from the others. At this rate, you could probably skip without permission and he'd just shrug it off, wouldn't he?"
Just as Akasha muttered in disbelief, it really did seem like he wouldn't bat an eye even if someone pulled something like that. He probably wouldn't even ask why you'd missed two days and only shown up for one. He'd simply draw a silent line through your report card.
…Wait. Now that I thought about it, wasn't that actually more terrifying?
"What about the other subjects?"
Chase answered with a frown. "I've never seen anyone openly skip class. Though when a few students were late at the beginning of the term, they got a good smack on the head."
"Oh? That's cuter than I expected for a punishment."
"It cracked their skulls. Professor Emilio Lafer had to be called in urgently."
"Ah—that must've been why the professor was suddenly summoned in the middle of class during the first week."
"……."
When I'd played through these classes on the PC screen, the results had simply read [You attended class diligently. Strength, Agility, and Stamina have increased slightly!]. Reality, however, was far more brutal. It was a good thing I hadn't taken Combat Arts. That was a relief.
"And Support?"
"Professor Emilio Lafer? Well… he's kind, explains things in detail, has vast knowledge… so I'd say he's a good professor, I guess?"
Ligret tilted her head at Akasha, who sounded oddly hesitant. "Is there some other problem?"
"Hmm, how should I put this…"
Akasha fell into thought for a moment as if searching for the right words, then finally spat it out.
"A few of the female students' tastes are getting seriously warped."
"……."
"They don't say it outright because of noble pride or whatever, but whenever they see him smile they look like they're about to die from how cute he is. Or when he tilts his head, they cover their mouths and desperately try to fix their expressions, and then—"
"Nope. That's more than enough. I get the picture."
I could guarantee that old man was doing every single one of those gestures on purpose. What a terrifying geezer. As expected, there wasn't a single sane professor in this insane academy.
On the way to our destination aboard the special carriage I'd called from the Midas family, Ligret asked a question.
"By the way, is it okay to leave the princess like that?"
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't properly met her since that assignment ended. Is it really fine to not approach her quickly and just leave her hanging like this?"
"No, no. Actually, approaching her aggressively right now would be a mistake."
Even when cooking rice, if you don't let it steam properly and try to eat it right away, it ends up both tasteless and painfully hot. Besides, rushing over to her right after winning the bet and blabbering on would only come across as provocation. Since I'd been the one to approach her actively at first, now was the time to pull back a little and lure her into coming to me.
She's probably having people look into me and Ligret right about now.
Ligret's physical abilities that didn't match her slender frame at all, and my unusually high mana capacity despite not coming from any particularly distinguished bloodline. Those were more than enough grounds for suspicion. She might even conclude that I possessed some artificial means of enhancing my specs.
She might notice that I'd spent the past two years gathering various ingredients from across the continent and figure out they were related to consumption. But even if she did, that was all.
The Successor of Red and Blue Blood held a complicated position even within the imperial family. At this point in time, she likely had almost no personal forces to speak of. No matter how outstanding the princess was, without a proper network serving as her limbs, the information she could obtain had clear limits.
If she planned to pretend she hadn't lost and simply move on, that would be one thing. But if not, her curiosity alone would force her to seek me out. And that would be the perfect moment to hook her.
"You've got that face on again. The one that says you're cooking up something wicked."
"Can't you call it the noble visage of a strategist dreaming of a grand scheme?"
"Strategist my ass. You're just a conman licking his lips at the gambling table, trying to suck your opponent dry to the marrow."
"My, my. How can you have so little faith in me?"
Even as we traded pointless banter, the carriage continued onward. After roughly two days of travel, we finally arrived at our destination.
"…It certainly looks like a place where a dungeon might be hidden."
At Akasha's somewhat reluctant assessment, Chase replied coolly.
"It'd be fortunate if there were a dungeon here."
Sand, stone, rock. Another loop and it was rock, stone, sand again. There wasn't even the faintest scent of a green forest, not a single blade of grass. The entire mountain was nothing but dry, lifeless gray. It was the kind of desolate landscape that would make even the hardiest desert cactus say, "Yeah… maybe not," and refuse to take root. Doubt began to sprout in both Akasha and Chase's minds.
Normally, when people thought of dungeons, they imagined secret places untouched by human feet. But in reality, such cases were rarer than expected. Dungeons were fundamentally structures built by ancient civilizations, and buildings were made with the assumption that people would use them. Ancient people with any sense would have built their homes in places with good environments and easy access. Why would they bother constructing something in a hard-to-reach, inconvenient location?
Of course, there were exceptions—environments that changed over time, or eccentrics who deliberately built in secluded spots—but it was still suspicious.
"It's fine. Just trust me and follow along."
Despite the clear doubt on their faces, my expression was full of confidence. I climbed the unstable rocky mountain without hesitation, taking routes that could barely even be called paths. Every so often I'd stop and carefully examine our surroundings. Watching me, Chase realized something.
…It's like he's memorized a treasure map made entirely of text.
Maps weren't always composed of easy-to-understand pictures. Some used instructions like "Walk thirty paces east from the yellow rock," or "Turn right at the fork with the blue giant tree." Others were even more abstract: "Follow the path of life," or "Chase the traces of the burning bird." Coded or metaphorical maps like those existed too.
And as if to prove Chase's suspicion, I finally stopped walking.
"Here? It just looks like an ordinary cave."
In response to Akasha's question, I grinned, then raised blue mana in my hand and began running it along the cave wall. After a moment—
Click.
Something locked into place, and the floor began to move with a heavy rumble.
"Alright," I declared to the group. "Let's go in."
The three of them nodded.
The staircase leading underground was far more spacious than expected. The neatly trimmed walls were decorated with long, flowing lines that looked as if someone had dipped a giant brush in ink and swept it across the stone. A faint mana emanated from the lines, along with a soft glow. It seemed those markings served as lighting.
Chase's eyes sharpened. Even inanimate objects weren't free from the passage of time. Unmaintained weapons rusted, and neglected houses quickly became ruins. How much worse would it be for an ancient relic abandoned for at least several hundred years without a single human touch?
Among the structures called dungeons, many were little more than ruins where only the bare shape remained. But this place didn't feel worn at all. More importantly, the spells installed inside were still functioning properly. That meant the power and technology used to create it had been on an exceptionally high level.
It was a very dangerous fact, but also an incredibly attractive one. Because it meant there would be that much more to gain.
"Oh, finally the end… huh?"
Akasha let out a puzzled sound. Just as she thought they'd reached something other than stairs, another staircase continued downward. At the entrance stood a large door with seven grooves carved into it. Only one of those grooves held a jewel-like object.
"The path splits. Which way?" Chase asked.
I pointed downward. "For now, let's keep going down."
A short while later, we encountered another fork with a door and stairs, identical to the previous one. This door also had seven grooves and one jewel, though the jewel's position was different. If the first door's jewel had been set in the very last groove, this one was placed in the slot right beside it.
Chase observed, "It looks like the markings on the doors indicate the floor level. Shall we head all the way to the bottom?"
"Yeah. It's cleaner to sweep from the bottom up, isn't it?"
Strictly speaking, every other route is trapped, so we have no choice but to do it this way.
Pretending not to know was surprisingly difficult. I grumbled inwardly.