Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Wise Dungeon Conquest (1)
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With a despairing Rainy slung over my back, the first place I headed was Laura's room.
*Knock knock.*
"Lady Laura, it's Raden Daven."
Even after knocking on the door, there was no response from inside.
Even if Laura was asleep, her bodyguard should have been awake, so the lack of any reaction meant Laura had ordered silence.
She hadn't mentioned anything about exercise, but it seemed Laura had instinctively sensed that she needed to avoid me.
They said she had talent for magic—her instincts were sharp.
"Hmm."
I pondered briefly in front of the door before pulling a key from my pocket.
A man picking the lock to a room full of women—what a scoundrel.
A twinge of guilt rose up, but all of this was for Laura's health.
Surely she'd understand once she realized it was all for her well-being, even if it meant shedding tears now.
*Click. Creak.*
The sound of the key sliding stiffly into the lock echoed.
"Hey! Stop that!"
Only then did I get a reaction from Laura.
"Oh, you're alive? I was worried you might have passed away since there was no response."
"..."
"The weather's nice today—why don't we go exercise together, Lady Laura?"
"Absolutely. No!"
I suggested it gently, but Laura—who had a voice rivaling any grown man's—rejected it vehemently.
Both Rainy and Laura... why did they hate exercise so much?
It was such a pity they couldn't appreciate its wonders.
"Hmm... If you won't exercise, I'll have to resort to my final measure..."
"..."
"Well, personally, I think it'd be fine if you just ate nothing but vegetables for your three meals a day, Lady Laura. What do you say?"
Laura was a smart mage.
She'd understand my true intent: exercise or stick to meat and bread cravings.
A brief silence hung in the air.
"Seriously, threatening me with food? That's so unfair. Unfair!"
Her grumbling voice came through.
Even I thought blackmailing her with food was a bit low.
But what could I do?
If not this way, how else could I show her the joys of exercise?
The duke would understand my choice.
"So, what'll it be, Lady Laura? Exercise? Or vegetables?"
"..."
"Silence, huh... Understood. Then for dinner tonight, it'll be cabbage salad with cherry tomatoes and cucumbers—no dressing."
"Ah, fine! I'll exercise!"
*Thud thud!*
The sound of Laura venting her frustration inside the room rang out, and the door flew open.
Laura was dressed in her usual favorite blue dress, while her bodyguard wore a form-fitting suit.
I flashed a cheeky grin at Laura, who had finally surrendered.
"We'll head out right away. Change into something comfortable for exercise."
"..."
Laura shot me a venomous glare, then spun on her heel and stormed back into the room.
It took a while, but I'd succeeded in dragging her out.
I'd threatened her with nothing but vegetables if she refused, but in reality, I couldn't starve her of proper nutrition.
If she'd held out, I'd have been the one waving the white flag soon enough—but luckily, the bluff worked early on.
***
The small mountain behind the Daven territory.
I led the way, with the half-dead Rainy and Laura trudging along behind me.
The mountain in our territory was so modest it suited the term "local hill"—perfect for building basic stamina in these two out-of-shape girls before any serious workouts.
"Huff... Baron! Slow down a bit..."
"Fuck... I wanna go back to the Church..."
Just walking slowly wouldn't yield much benefit, so I picked up the pace a little, and curses laced with resentment poured from behind.
This must be how the drill instructors at my past life's boot camp felt—I turned back with a bright smile.
Surprisingly, the two were supporting each other as they climbed.
It was just a hike for stamina training, but it was fostering their bond too!
What a heartwarming sight.
Beaming with satisfaction, I encouraged them.
"Not much left now. Just a bit more!"
"A... little?"
Life flickered back into Laura's dead eyes.
Rainy's eyes, meanwhile, burned with malice.
The innocent lady took my words at face value, but Rainy—who'd seen it all—knew I was lying.
Still, I was grateful she didn't open her mouth and shatter Laura's fragile morale.
The bodyguard sticking close to my side, clearing threatening branches and thorns for Laura, wore an odd expression.
"You mean that seriously? From what I see, we've got at least four times the distance left."
"Haha, doesn't everyone need a glimmer of hope that the goal's near to push on? It's a white lie. A white lie of goodwill."
"..."
"Besides, this is just a local hill, so saying 'not much left' isn't entirely false. It's a peak you can reach in three hours—what's the big deal?"
"Isn't that by your standards, Baron? At our lady's pace, it'll take six. And a 'hill'? That thing's gotta be at least 700 meters..."
I clamped the bodyguard's mouth shut.
"Won't that crush Lady Laura's motivation if it gets out? You want her to get healthy too—let's keep it quiet."
The silenced bodyguard nodded slightly.
"You're right. I've thought her current stamina is way too low anyway."
"So, I count on your full support for the stamina training, Bodyguard."
She made a strange face before nodding.
"Yes, I'll do my utmost without pushing our lady too hard. And my name's Yumi. Call me that."
"Yu... Yumi?"
The all-too-familiar name made me flinch.
"Yes? Is there a problem?"
"N-No, nothing."
Yumi eyed me curiously, but I couldn't exactly tell her some cat from my memories popped into my head, so I just averted my gaze.
"Whoa!"
As we climbed in silence, a scream erupted from Rainy and Laura behind us.
Yumi and I whipped around simultaneously.
There, Rainy was barely holding Laura back from tumbling into a pit.
We rushed over like ghosts and hauled Laura out just before she fell.
"Huff... huff..."
Freed with the combined effort of three, Laura panted raggedly, sweat pouring down her forehead like rain.
"Lady, calm down and breathe slowly. Hoo... hoo..."
While Yumi soothed her, I inspected the sudden pit.
It had looked fine when Yumi and I scouted ahead, so the entrance must have been camouflaged.
A hidden pit in a backyard hill like this—what the hell?
Rainy, peering inside just like me, furrowed her brow.
"Demonic energy's leaking from here."
"Demonic energy?"
"Circulate your holy power."
Following her instruction, I drew up the faint holy power I'd recently managed to manifest.
And jolted in shock.
Sure enough, a damp, unpleasant aura wafted thickly from within.
"Feel it?"
"Yes..."
"To sense demonic energy right away—you've got some talent. Most holy knights need years of training to detect it."
"Yeah, my talent's impressive and all... but why's it coming from here?"
Rainy dabbed some dirt from inside onto her finger and tasted it nonchalantly.
"Looks like there's a dungeon in there."
"A dungeon...?"
I'd thought our rural backwater—cut off from the world but peaceful—was nice.
A dungeon in our territory?
"Don't worry too much. The demonic energy's weak, so it's probably just a common low-grade one."
"Th-Then what do we do? Request Church support right now?"
The standard procedure upon discovery was immediate subjugation—dungeons left alone could erupt, unleashing monsters to ravage the surroundings.
Usually, the Church's holy knights handled it upon request.
"Hmm... Doubt the Church'll come."
"Huh?"
"The Church implicitly doesn't dispatch holy knight orders for stuff too far out in the boonies. They can clear two capital-area dungeons in the time it'd take to send knights here."
"Th-That's..."
"Especially for Daven territory, the edge of the edge—fat chance. Even if they decide to send some, it'd take at least two months to arrive, and the dungeon could blow by then."
"..."
Past life, this life—living in the sticks sucked.
As I inwardly cursed my ancestors for settling this remote dump, Rainy grinned and patted my shoulder.
"Don't sweat it. Who am I? The former saintess with the greatest holy power in history. Saintess. I can wipe out a low-grade dungeon like this easy."
"Ah!"
Snapping out of my despair over my forebears' lousy real estate choices, I perked up.
Right—we didn't need holy knights at all.
Why call the weaker ones when we had a former saintess right here?
I hugged Rainy tightly, unable to hide my joy.
"As expected, Saintess is the best!"
"Heh heh, finally appreciating my worth?"
We were chatting amiably when...
"Dungeon...?"
A bright, chirpy voice came from behind.
Turning to its source, I couldn't help but freak out.
Gone was the trembling wreck from moments ago—Laura's eyes sparkled.
"I wanna go into the dungeon too!"