Chapter 7
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Dungeon (2)
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The interior of the dungeon was covered in countless scratches, as if something had clawed at it.
It felt just like a prison that had held something captive before the dungeon appeared.
Agnes scanned her surroundings.
Her pupils trembled.
Could something capable of leaving scars that big on a stone wall really be inside this cave?
She unconsciously gripped her sword hilt.
"Shall we stop moving? We need to get out before sunset."
"Ah, yes."
Deron looked at her with pity, as if she were pathetic.
Agnes felt her face flush.
"…."
The quiet echoes of their footsteps reverberated through the cave.
As they entered, Agnes had apologized for her previous rudeness.
Treating Deron like an invalid, as if it were natural.
Deron had stared at her silently before accepting the apology.
But a faint unease lingered.
And then.
"Before we go into the dungeon, there's one thing I need to tell you."
Deron wore an extremely serious expression.
Was it some information related to this dungeon?
Agnes leaned in attentively.
"If any spiritual medicine appears in this dungeon, it's mine."
"…Pardon?"
"Spiritual medicine is mine. You can have the rest or not, I don't care."
Who declares something like that as if it's some hugely important fact?
Agnes stared at Deron with a slightly incredulous look, but he waved her off and pressed forward.
She thought he was strange in many ways, but she acquiesced since she knew why he was so fixated on spiritual medicine.
'He must need it to cure his illness.'
Before coming here, during the spar with the instructor.
Agnes had confirmed the color of Deron's mana.
Gathered on his fist was mana of a black hue, different from ordinary mana.
It was proof that Deron had already reached the intermediate level in mana manipulation.
Beginners could handle mana, but intermediates could imbue it with color.
Intermediate users each developed their own unique mana color.
And once set, that color never changed.
That was why Agnes had judged Deron to be a powerhouse.
'A swordsman wrapping mana around his fist.'
Deron always had a sword at his waist.
Which meant he was a swordsman.
Someone who had honed a single discipline to perfection focused solely on that and couldn't utilize others.
An intermediate-level swordsman wrapping mana on his fist? Possible.
But could that fist knock out an instructor in one blow?
A hundred out of a hundred, a thousand out of a thousand—no one would believe it.
Yet Deron had done it.
And with a body that was coughing up blood, no less.
"What are you staring at so intently?"
Agnes glanced at his face once, then quickly turned her head away.
Lifeless gray hair.
Eyes like obsidian captured within.
Once seen, it was a face that drew you in, begging for another look.
With his frail beauty added, the effect was even stronger.
She fiddled with her sword needlessly, and Deron spoke up.
"I have one question. Mind if I ask?"
"What is it?"
"Why do you use honorifics even with fellow students?"
Agnes released her grip on the sword.
It was a question she hadn't expected.
Honorifics were a long-standing habit of hers.
Ever since the fall of the Bayern barony, to keep distance from others.
A habit she'd fallen into unconsciously.
Agnes opened her mouth to say it was just her habit, but...
"Don't even try lying that it's just a habit."
Deron cut her off.
He seemed to have already guessed what she'd say.
She kept opening and closing her mouth.
She couldn't share her circumstances.
It was a past she didn't want to speak of to others.
Seeing her hesitate, Deron sighed and said,
"You could just say you have circumstances you can't talk about. Why drag it out like this?"
"You've brought me to a dungeon you discovered, and said I could take all the spoils except spiritual medicine. Even practical training on top. It feels rude to brush it off like that..."
Bringing her to a dungeon he'd found, letting her take all the loot except spiritual medicine.
Plus real combat practice.
She owed Deron an enormous debt.
"Rude? I brought you because it's convenient for me."
Convenient for him? It sounded like an unbelievable lie.
She could only think he was making excuses to put her at ease.
What task could someone handling intermediate mana possibly have for a beginner barely handling mana?
A half-baked magic swordsman, at that.
"Still, I want to repay you somehow..."
"No need."
Deron stated firmly.
Agnes lowered her eyes slightly.
She was the type who couldn't live with debts, wanting to repay him somehow.
But the man himself said no, so she couldn't force it.
Deron watched her agonize, then tossed out a casual remark.
"If you really want to repay me, someday drop that stiff speech and talk to me casually."
"…."
Someday, not right now.
At that word, Agnes nodded.
She suddenly recalled that Deron, from a ducal house, rarely even appeared publicly.
No social gatherings, let alone festivals.
He probably needed someone to talk to casually.
Someone other than the servants in the ducal house.
'Someday, definitely.'
Could people truly trust others?
For her, trust was a gamble.
What if betrayed? What if they harbored other intentions?
It was still too soon for such a challenge.
But if that day came.
She would definitely grant Deron's request.
That was what Agnes thought.
**
Man, she's so rigid.
I clicked my tongue at Agnes's personality.
Why was she giving me those pitiful puppy eyes when I said no need to repay?
In a fit, I blurted out the favor I wanted.
'Agnes talking to me softly, without honorifics.'
In the novel, she spoke honorifically to everyone except enemies.
I'd once imagined a scene where she spoke softly.
The novel never explicitly explained why she always used honorifics.
I'd possessed before reaching the ending anyway.
As someone who'd read the original, my guess was that before the Bayern barony fell to demons,
something had happened.
The fall of the Bayern baron wasn't a huge event, but it had been minor gossip in high society.
Mostly spread because of the beauty Agnes Bayern, rather than the baron himself.
Thinking that, I glanced at Agnes.
Her face was expressionless.
Her white, lustrous hair fell to her waist, and her eyes, clear as ice, were enough to captivate hearts.
A chillingly steadfast and aloof beauty, just as described in the novel.
Agnes Bayern.
The meticulously crafted beauty I'd only sensed through text now moved before my eyes.
I couldn't believe this character died in a massacre drift.
How?
In the final battle with the Demon King, the hero and heroines all perish.
Honestly, that ending didn't make sense either.
The author dramatically revives the Demon King.
Ignoring the deaths of the protagonist and characters.
Seeing the story drag on like that, I left a long rant in the comments and dropped it.
Affection plummeted.
After that routine venting session, we arrived at the first testing ground.
"Is that... a golem?"
"Looks like it."
In the plaza wider than the path, two knight-shaped statues stood motionless.
They hadn't moved yet, but the flow of surrounding mana made it clear they would.
As we entered the plaza, the ambient mana converged on the statues, and blue lights flickered to life within them.
Giiiing.
With a chilling noise, blue light filled the statues' eyes.
At the same time, the stone knights assumed combat stances.
[Welcome to Lenoc's Dungeon.]
[Finding this place means you're prepared to seek Lenoc's will.]
"L-Lenoc?"
Agnes's eyes widened round.
The name Lenoc carried that much weight.
Especially for her, walking the path of a magic swordsman like Lenoc.
"Agnes, draw your sword."
"Yes."
Lenoc's Dungeon consisted of three forms.
The knights we faced now were the 『Sparring』 form.
The remaining two forms were also things Agnes needed to experience.
Lenoc's Dungeon was plenty to guide a magic swordsman on their path.
She could gain enlightenment on her own without my interference.
'Well, if needed, I can step in and advise.'
Though I hoped not.
[So, who will handle the sparring?]
[Personally, the male looks too frail for my taste. The female... intriguing.]
The statues even conversed among themselves.
I grimaced and looked at Agnes.
She was already poised to charge.
I didn't know what was so intriguing, but I leaned against the wall and stepped back.
Only then did the statues realize who the sparring partner was, drawing their respective weapons.
Axe and rapier.
And Agnes's sword.
The fight looked imposing even at a glance, stirring a urge in me to munch on popcorn.
'I wonder if she'll find it.'
The secrets hidden in those statues.
If Agnes didn't realize what the two statues concealed,
she could never win the sparring.