The Tutorial Boss Finds the Dungeon
The tutorial boss finds the dungeon. A pouch stuffed full of gold coins. Even in the game, this scene had existed. It was the event where Barie handed over penalty gold to Elena and suggested breaking her contract with Lijet.
Guess I'll actually get to receive it myself.
I set down my glass.
"Can I at least hear the reason first?"
Barie's expression didn't budge. Her eyes, peeking out from under her silver hair, glared down at me like daggers.
"Do I need to explain?" Barie shot back coldly. "The materials for the gear the young lady will wear on her birthday—I'll harvest them with my own hands. Don't interfere with me."
Collecting the red materials was part of the contract with the lord, so that couldn't be broken. But the condition Lijet had added was different. It gave me control over Barie during the Red Moon. She clearly didn't like that.
The gold pouch gleamed faintly on the table.
"That's quite a sum."
"The right to control me isn't cheap, is it?"
"Fine."
I pocketed the gold pouch.
"Good, you catch on quick."
"Just one thing before we seal it."
"What?"
Strictly speaking, this wasn't breaking the contract. It was just exploiting a loophole in the terms. Even if it got found out, as long as Barie didn't play dumb, no harm would come to me. She was a knight, sure, but also nobility—and close to Lijet to boot. Any punishment would be minor.
Besides, with her personality, if it did get out, she'd just brag about her loyalty like it was a badge of honor.
Annoying personality, but one of the few you could trust to keep her word.
"I'm going after the highest-grade materials, so it could get really dangerous. If I think it's too risky, I'll step in."
"Hmph. That won't happen."
"This includes pathfinding, not just raw power."
Barie nodded. "Pathfinding? Can't argue with that."
"And we can't afford delays, so ignore all other prey until we reach the target."
"Why?"
"It's pretty far. Doesn't matter after we get it, but until then, skip everything else. Don't you want to present the young lady with the absolute best?"
Barie pondered, then nodded. "Fine. It has to be top-tier if it's touching her skin. But what are you aiming for to sound so confident?"
"Hard to explain, but you'll be satisfied once you see it."
Time passed, and the day arrived. The sun began to rise—not with warm sunlight chasing away the dark, but with a blood-red gaze overlooking the world. The Red Moon, fully eclipsing the sun, was neither bright nor dark.
I waited at the street in front of the city gates. The area around the gates was deserted. Even inside the city on Red Moon nights, almost no one wandered about. Merchants, adventurers, even guards holed up indoors. A few trained in the training grounds or swung swords, but they were rare enough to count on one hand.
The soldier guarding the gate was the junior who drew the short straw from the seniors. He looked terrified under the Red Moon's gaze.
Red Moon.
In the game, it was a monthly in-game event. Monsters turned ferocious en masse, rare breeds crawled out from deep in the forests—high risk, high reward. The dungeon sealing the magic sword was one of them. I'd left my gear with Pila to prep for conquering it, and it had turned out surprisingly well.
And next month, I can slot Elena in perfectly.
Then footsteps approached. Metal clanking roughly against metal, heavy and grating.
"You're here as promised. I heard commoners have no sense of time."
Barie was in full plate armor. Thick plating, even a helmet. If she'd shown up helmed, I might've done a double-take. Clad in silver-white armor, she walked out through the gates. She grumbled that her warhorse's condition worsened on red days, so she'd come on foot.
Her gaze lifted to the Red Moon hanging in the sky.
"Viciously red."
The corner of Barie's mouth twitched faintly. Expectation of showing off her skills for the first time in the Red Forest. Joy at gathering her lady's birthday gift herself. As knight and noble, she suppressed a smile to maintain decorum.
"...."
"Eck, lead the way."
I guided her toward the forest as her pathfinder.
The leaves of the forest trees had absorbed the red light, turning dark crimson. Thin fog blanketed the grass, dew on the blades like blood droplets. It was a different forest from the norm. Even the sounds were off—no birdsong, no insects.
Grrr.
In the silence, only beastly growls echoed faintly from beyond the underbrush. The moment the sound hit, a black-maned wolf burst through, charging with fangs bared viciously. Barie's sword slipped between its teeth, cleaving it in two.
Slash!
The wolf's corpse rolled across the ground in halves.
"Leave the monsters to me. Don't slow down—keep moving forward."
"Got it."
Looked reliable enough on paper. The deeper we went, the thicker the red fog grew. Visibility shortened. It didn't take long before we could barely see a few meters ahead.
Footsteps from the fog.
Thud thud thud!
Something heavy trampling the grass in a sprint.
"Groooar!"
An orc charged from the mist. White foam at its mouth, eyes bloodshot like burst veins. Maddened by the Red Moon, it raised its axe high in both hands. The moment it swung down, Barie leaped in, blocking its path. Drawing and slashing were one motion. The orc's head sprayed red blood as it flew. Its body didn't even land properly, tumbling noisily.
Barie shook blood from her blade and peered into the fog.
Thud thud thud.
Thud thud thud thud!
"Don't stop—keep going."
"Excuse me."
As she said, I ignored the orcs and pressed toward the goal.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The ground twisted like cracking earth, clumps of dirt erupting. A massive arm shoved through, uprooting and snapping thick tree roots. Green skin bulging with dark red veins. A troll raising its head. The dead troll, revived by the Red Moon's power, roared back to life.
"Kroooak!"
Rage filled the giant's hand as it swung at the human who'd killed it. Barie moved. Sword aura cloaked her blade. Silver light spread along it, afterimages tracing as it severed the green arm. It flew straight, and—
Splurt!
—the troll's head came off at the end. The severed head rolled into the red fog; its body slumped before fully emerging.
A near-boss troll dead in one strike. The knight's power was formidable. But Barie's shoulders heaved, breath ragged. Her blade tip trembled faintly. White vapor escaped her helmet slits with each exhale.
We'd faced plenty of monsters getting here. Red-maddened and empowered, they grew stronger deeper in. They charged without hesitation on spotting us. From the point B-rank monsters appeared, even knight Barie's breathing grew uneven.
Even a knight has limits.
A marathon of hours. How long since we set out? I shifted my gaze from Barie and scanned around. Red fog blanketed the forest thickly. Even plants maddened, growing wildly, warring for nutrients in real-time overgrowth.
Some things stayed constant: mountains and rivers. I gauged our position from them.
Somewhere around here.
The dungeon sealing the magic sword opened only on Red Moon nights. The issue was the exact spot. Reality dwarfed the game's scale, details mismatched. Feeling out terrain and landmarks, I advanced step by step.
Then, like a puzzle piece clicking into place, scenery and memory aligned perfectly.
Clang!
Barie's sword sliced the fog, grazing a shadow within. A deer's head fell at my feet.
"Hah... hah... Still far?"
"Almost there."
I stopped before a certain rock. The dungeon entrance was sealed by it, embedded like part of the cliff.
I drew my sword. Mana infused it. Stored mana seeped into the blade, boosting power. Eck's innate sharp eyes, honed by experience, spotted the 'grain' in the rock. Where and how to cut for easy severance. Phantom sensations overlapped in my vision; I swung.
Crack!
The rock split in two. From the fissure, the cave it hid revealed itself—dungeon mana overflowing out.
"Wai—it's ope...!"
"Hup!"
Barie snatched me and leaped into the crevice.