First Dungeon Clear (3)
“The commission fee is guaranteed, I take it?”
The reek of liquor grew thicker the moment he opened his mouth.
“It is. All you need to do is accompany me to the dungeon north of Breda.”
Ellen held out a few gold coins for the man to see.
“Then hire me.”
At that, the mercenaries nearby burst into laughter.
“Buddy, aren’t you overreaching a little?”
“Broke or not, know your place!”
“Hey, young master—that fellow there crawled out of some battlefield as a defeated soldier. Look at the state of him. Nobody’s hired him for a reason. Why not just toss him a few coppers and send him packing?”
Even under the mercenaries’ mockery, the man didn’t so much as flinch. He simply kept his eyes on Ellen.
“I appreciate the advice, but I’ll be hiring this man. Shall we step outside?”
“Very well.”
Ellen left the mercenary guild with the stranger in tow.
Walking a few paces ahead of the man, Ellen wore a bright expression.
He knew exactly who this man was.
Baron.
The man who would one day make his name known across the entire continent as a mercenary.
He had originally been a knight, until the lord he served fell in a territorial war. Impressed by his skill, other lords had tried to take him in—but Baron had refused to swear loyalty to anyone else and vanished without a trace.
For a time after that, he had haunted the mercenary guild in Breda like a broken man.
In his past life, Ellen had worked as a fairly capable mercenary himself and had heard no small amount about Baron. Knowing the man would be in Breda at this point in time, he had come looking for him on purpose.
To clear Hameron’s Dungeon without too much trouble, I’ll need someone of at least this caliber.
Ellen allowed himself an inward smile and stopped in front of a restaurant.
“Let’s start with a meal.”
“Ahem. My thanks.”
The man cleared his throat. Having survived on nothing but liquor for days, he decided to follow Ellen’s lead.
“My name is Ellen. As you heard at the guild, I intend to enter the dungeon north of Breda.”
“Call me Theo. That dungeon is famous for being impregnable, is it not?”
The man hastily swallowed the bread he had been chewing and spoke. He might once have been a knight, but hunger had shoved every scrap of etiquette he had ever learned to the back of his mind.
An alias, then? Best to play along for now.
Ellen decided to pretend he knew nothing of Baron’s real name. Knowing a stranger’s true identity at first meeting would only look suspicious.
“It would have been impossible alone—but with you, Theo, I believe it can be done.”
Theo studied Ellen in silence.
He looks like a child, yet his eyes run deeper than anything I’ve seen.
The boy was strange, but that only made him more interesting. The pay was nothing to sneeze at, either.
“Very well. When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow morning. Before that, though, there are a few other matters to attend to.”
After the meal, Ellen had Theo washed and dressed. By the end of it, the man looked every bit the sturdy mercenary he was meant to be.
“You needn’t have gone this far…”
“Not at all. This much is an employer’s responsibility.”
The next morning, Ellen and Theo arrived at the entrance to Hameron’s Dungeon. There was no one else in sight.
Even thirty years from now, no one would ever learn who had built the dungeon or why. Yet the fame, wealth, and rare artifacts that awaited anyone who cleared it were more than enough to draw adventurers. Most dungeon entrances saw parties gathering for a run—but Hameron’s Dungeon was so dangerous that not a soul could be found near it.
“Please don’t intervene until I say so. Once we’ve made it through the dungeon, I’ll pay you a bonus.”
Theo nodded at Ellen’s words.
“Shall we go in, then?”
They had barely stepped past the entrance when a pack of goblins appeared before them.
About ten of them?
Ellen counted them in an instant and thrust out a hand.
Whoosh.
Ten Magic Missiles bloomed into existence and streaked toward the goblins’ heads.
Crack!
“Kieeek!”
All ten skulls burst apart in a heartbeat. Ellen found himself quietly impressed by his own power. This was his first time using it in real combat, and the results of his training more than satisfied him.
I expected him to have some skill, but…
Theo had assumed a boy traveling alone would be able to protect himself at best. Watching Ellen annihilate ten goblins in a single breath left him stunned. The boy’s ability outstripped most Magic Assistants.
Goblins and the occasional orc continued to appear after that. None of them posed any real threat to Ellen. Deeper and deeper into the dungeon they went.
“Hold.”
Walking a step ahead, Ellen suddenly raised a hand, stopping Theo in his tracks.
This is where it begins.
Ellen crouched and began running his hands over the floor and walls.
The monsters inside Hameron’s Dungeon were not particularly strong—feeble, even, compared to those in other dungeons. What made this place impregnable were the bizarre traps that came after. Magically triggered and so cunningly concealed that even skilled mages struggled to detect them, they operated on principles entirely unlike ordinary traps. Until Hameron himself, no one who entered this dungeon had ever left it alive.
Click.
A latch released with a soft sound, and a magic circle on the path ahead of Ellen flared with light—the glow of a circle being dispelled.
Hameron had cleared the dungeon by brute force, using his overwhelming mana reserves to simply cut off the mana that powered the traps. Only a monster of a mage could have managed something so crude.
Ellen lacked that kind of mana. What he did have was complete knowledge of every trap’s structure and principle, allowing him to disable them one by one as he advanced.
In his past life, the bookish Ellen had once read Hameron’s own account of this dungeon. The book described in meticulous detail how each of its strange traps functioned. Knowing their locations and operating principles, Ellen—who had cleared countless dungeons as a Magic Assistant—could disable them with ease.
And so Hameron’s Dungeon, which in this age had never once permitted a human to set foot inside, was being broken open as if it were nothing.
“Hah… I never imagined this dungeon would look so easy.”
Theo knew full well how viciously difficult the place was said to be. Yet this boy had disarmed every trap as if it were nothing and brought them this far.
“I happen to know a few things about this sort of work. From here on, though, I’ll need you to take the lead, Theo.”
At Ellen’s words, Theo looked ahead. A single massive golem stood waiting.
That was why Ellen had hired him—to deal with a golem whose formidable mana resistance made it a nightmare for any mage.
“Ah. A golem. No wonder a mage would struggle.”
Thud!
Theo launched himself into a great leap, and a blue light bloomed along his blade—the Aura Blade, hallmark of a Sword Expert.