The Golden Nest
The dungeon? After walking about five more minutes from the Adventurers' Guild, we finally reached our destination.
“Oh, so this is....”
The largest vault in Bastion, where every valuable in the Dungeon City was said to be stored.
The Dazzlingly Beautiful and Also Great Golden Dragon's Astonishingly Sturdy and Safe Vault
“Shortened to the Golden Nest, nyang!”
“...Sion, you don't mean to tell me that was the official name you mentioned earlier?”
“That's right, nyang! But it's way too long, so people usually just call it the Golden Nest or the Golden Dragon Vault, nyang!”
Okay, I can understand shortening it to Golden Dragon Vault. But how in the world do you shorten that ridiculously long name into “Golden Nest”? For starters, the word “nest” doesn't even appear in the full title. And besides—
“This building has an incredible presence, doesn't it...?”
Just as my contractor said, the Golden Nest boasted an overwhelming aura even from a distance. It felt like someone had dropped a massive amusement park attraction right in the middle of an otherwise ordinary shopping district. It was definitely not normal. Not the building itself, nor the official who approved its construction permit, nor the architect who designed and styled the damn thing.
“Sion, you don't mean the entrance is...?”
“Correct, nyang. You just walk straight into the mouth of that dragon statue up ahead, nyang!”
“Oh my god.”
“This should be fun.”
The building was a perfectly square structure built from dark stone bricks with no windows whatsoever. Its presumed entrance was a massive dragon head carved from the same stone. I couldn't tell if it was roaring or yawning, but the sculpted dragon had its jaws wide open. The slightly funny part was that while the dragon head looked incredibly lifelike and imposing—as if carved from a real dragon—the body of the building it was attached to looked like a generic stone house someone slapped together in five minutes in a famous survival/crafting game. And it was a ridiculously oversized stone house, seven stories tall.
“Alright, that's enough sightseeing! Let's head inside, nyang! We need to finish this quickly so we can prepare for the next dungeon exploration, nyang! Time is money—er, dallants, nyang!”
While listening to the extremely useful piece of information that the statue's eyes glowed at night, my contractor and I followed Sion as we stepped into the giant dragon's maw.
We passed between rows of large, sharp teeth and stepped onto the dragon's tongue, which was covered in a plush red carpet.
They even replicated the texture of the tongue and the wrinkles on the roof of the mouth....
“Whoa....”
It was so vivid and detailed that my contractor's mouth refused to close. It really was impressive. It felt like looking at one giant work of art. I never expected to feel that nostalgic, childlike wonder inside a fantasy bank of all places.
Following the light spilling from the magic lamps embedded on both sides of the tongue sculpture, we walked along in a daze of admiration until we reached the end of the red carpet. There, a massive pitch-black hole reminiscent of an abyss waited for us.
“...There's no more path?”
“Thief, where do we go from here? Don't tell me we have to jump down there?”
Having once been shoved by Sion straight into a dungeon entrance, both my contractor and I kept a safe distance from her. Looking at us with an exasperated expression, Sion answered our question.
“If you jump, you'll go straight to the underground prison, nyang. If you want a tour of the jail, feel free to leap right in.”
Then what the hell are we supposed to do?
“It'll be here soon, so just wait a bit, nyang!”
It'll be here?
“Huh? Raven, something's sparkling on the other side.”
“You're right.”
Almost as soon as Sion finished speaking, something emitting a faint glow slowly approached from the opposite side of the darkness-filled hole.
Wait... that was...
“A ferry boat?”
How?
There's nothing down there right now, is there?
It wasn't that it was too dark to see if there was water below. Even now, my contractor was waving her hand frantically into the hole with a look of disbelief, but no sound came back at all.
“...Is that ferry boat actually floating through the air right now?”
“That's what it looks like to me too.”
We turned to our guide with faces that clearly screamed for an explanation.
“I don't know what principle makes it float like that either, nyang! When I asked the staff, they said it's a trade secret, nyang!”
Even our reliable guide didn't know. Security so tight that even a veteran like her had no clue? An infinite well of trust in this vault surged up from within me.
I admit it. This really is an astonishingly secure vault. If the entrance alone is this over-the-top, I can't even imagine how strict the security must be where the actual valuables are kept.
Don't tell me a real golden dragon is guarding it or something?
While my imagination ran wild, the ferry boat had already reached right in front of us. Other than the wooden dragon head at the prow holding a golden lamp in its mouth, it looked like an ordinary ferry. The only unusual thing was—
“What? There's no one on board?”
It was unmanned.
What is this, a Tesla?
A ferry boat equipped with both autopilot and levitation functions. This was supposed to be fantasy, but it felt more like science fiction.
As my contractor and I stood there blankly, doubting the safety of this unmanned ferry, a polite voice flowed from the dragon head mounted on the boat.
Greetings, visitors. Thank you sincerely for coming to The Dazzlingly Beautiful and Also Great Golden Dragon's Astonishingly Sturdy and Safe Vault. This ferry will do its utmost to ensure your comfort and safety.
“It talked...?”
“It's speaking.”
For a ferry boat, it seemed to speak better than I did. Damn it. Maybe I should've gone with the concept of a smooth-talking demon instead?
Whether I felt a subtle sense of defeat or not, the ferry continued speaking in a clear voice that didn't sound recorded, but rather like it was speaking live.
You may be quite surprised. However, there is no need to worry. This ferry is a living, breathing work of art. A fountain of inspiration for artists. The eternal idol of both lovers of women and lovers of men. The most splendid male in the entire world—the dazzlingly beautiful and also great Golden Dragon's astonishing invention—
“Artifact appraisal.”
“.......”
With a frown that clearly said she didn't want to hear any more, Sion cut off the ferry's rambling and stated our business. Immediately—
Confirmed. Destination has been set. This ferry will depart for the artifact appraisal center thirty seconds after this announcement ends. Visitors, please board promptly.
The ferry had been normalized like some skipped automatic voice response system. Without a word, we stepped onto the kindly ferry that had tilted its body sideways and lowered itself for easy boarding. We grabbed onto what looked like safety handles you'd find on amusement park rides and pierced through the pitch-black curtain, heading toward the artifact appraisal center.
Like a storyteller gently reading a fairy tale to a child in deep darkness with only a single lantern for light, a soft and polite voice echoed quietly.
The favorite breakfast of the owner of The Dazzlingly Beautiful and Also Great Golden Dragon's Astonishingly Sturdy and Safe Vault and the great Golden Dragon, Aurion, consists of roasted eggs, a touch of pepper, Bastion rock salt, and.......
“Roasted eggs with salt? That's actually pretty sophisticated for a dragon, isn't it?”
The lineup somehow made it seem like he'd also really enjoy a jjimjilbang and sweet rice drink. Was this so-called Golden Dragon actually Korean?
“So you can eat eggs roasted whole? I'd like to try that sometime.”
“Really? In that case, I'll roast some soft-boiled for you later.”
I wasn't good at proper cooking, but I could manage simple things like roasting or boiling. It was basic life skills for someone who used to live alone. Of course, it had been decades since I'd last done it, but my body should still remember. Surely.
“Soft-boiled? What's that?”
“It's a cooking method where you don't fully cook the yolk, only halfway.”
“Only cook the yolk halfway... That sounds quite interesting. Is it like sunny side up?”
Thanks to the endless stream of TMI about the Golden Nest and its owner that the ferry kept spouting the entire way, we weren't bored at all despite the darkness that held only a single lamp.
“Agh, seriously! I've filed complaints to stop this nonsense who knows how many times, and it's still doing this, nyang! I'm really going to lose my mind, nyang!”
Unlike us first-timers, Sion—who was practically a regular—looked genuinely tormented, but watching her suffer wasn't exactly unpleasant.
We have arrived at the artifact appraisal center. Please disembark carefully and watch your step.
Listening to what could be considered useful, gentle TMI, we reached the appraisal center. The moment we got off, the ferry departed to pick up other visitors. We watched it leave, then slowly turned our heads.
“So this is....”
“The artifact appraisal center?”
Tap. Tap-tap.
A massive wooden door so enormous that even I, who stood over two meters tall, had to look up at it. Moss-covered stone walls. Torches hanging from them burned silently. It looked less like an artifact appraisal center and more like the entrance to a dungeon. Was this really the right place?
“It's the right place, so don't be so on guard, nyang. Oh, and one warning: you must not touch anything in here, nyang.”
“Anything?”
“That's right, nyang. Even if there are sparkling jewels lying on the floor, you absolutely must not touch them, nyang.”
Sion looked at me with a dead-serious expression as she said this. Did she think I was some kind of real crow? I wasn't going to touch anything, so I wished she'd stop giving me that look.
Gulp....
“What happens if we do touch something?”
My contractor, who seemed slightly tense from Sion's serious face, swallowed nervously and asked. Sion leaned in close to her and whispered quietly.
“Those who covet the Golden Dragon's treasures inside the Golden Dragon's lair will be cursed by the Golden Dragon and turned into golden statues, nyang...!”
“...!”
“That's....”
It's just a damn dungeon, you stupid cat.