Dungeon Conquest (2)
Bell watched as the arrival of a single man flipped the entire atmosphere in an instant.
He didn’t need anyone to spell out why the clan leaders’ expressions were curdling by the second.
The moment a top-tier adventurer known as one of the Five Stars joined a raid, the bulk of the credit would naturally flow to him.
And why else would the imperial family be able to summon someone like him? Ordinary terms would never move a man of his caliber; something far beyond the ordinary had clearly been promised.
“I hear the dungeon we’re clearing this time is the Entrance of Hellfire.”
The ordinary-looking blond man opened his mouth, and the low murmur filling the hall cut off as if someone had snipped a string.
Everyone present focused on his words as though they had made a prior agreement to do so.
A man who could stand at the center of any room with a single sentence. The moment laid bare just how far his influence reached.
“I’ll keep it short. What I want is the ancient knowledge that can be obtained there. You could call it equipment, I suppose. No one knows what will actually turn up. But all of you already know what kind of work I do, don’t you?”
What he coveted was neither the carcasses of magical beasts nor expensive magic stones. It was the ancient remnants that might still be sleeping somewhere inside the dungeon.
His tone was calm, yet arrogance and certainty were strangely mixed into every word—faith born of experience, and pride in his own skill.
Bell wasn’t the only one who felt it. Everyone in the room did.
The first to step forward was Ren, seated directly in front of Bell.
“Lord Rice.”
Ren seemed already acquainted with him.
“Even if you are one of the Five Stars, the credit for a dungeon ultimately goes to those who earn it through their own ability. You know that, don’t you?”
“Of course I know the rules. This is just a notice. There won’t be anyone here who can rack up more credit than me anyway.”
Hearing that, Bell thought the man’s mindset was exactly like his own.
Of course, the way he said it was far more insolent.
Either way, Bell now had something of a rival.
“….”
A heavy silence settled over the hall once more.
To break it, Tern rose from his seat and let out a mediating laugh.
“Haha, of course. Naturally the rewards should match the credit earned. I don’t think any of the adventurers here would disagree.”
“…So that’s all you want?”
“That’s right. With this much, as Marquis Tern said, I don’t imagine any of you will have major objections.”
The other clan leaders began exchanging subtle glances.
Their expressions were uncertain.
They had been tense, half-expecting Rice to make even greater demands; now they seemed almost relieved that he had stopped at this line.
No one raised an objection.
Had they originally expected him to take far more?
The unexpectedly taut atmosphere eased the moment Rice stepped back—enough, at least, for everyone to catch their breath.
After that, the real meeting finally began.
The one who rose and naturally drew every gaze was Ren.
No one could deny that he was the man who had pushed this raid hardest and thrown himself into it deepest.
Of course, the appearance of a so-called Five Star had shaken the center of gravity, but Ren had no intention of yielding.
With every eye on him, he spoke calmly.
“If anyone has a good idea, don’t hold back.”
The words seemed aimed at the entire gathering, yet in truth they were thrown toward the seat where Rice sat.
Naturally everyone hoped the knowledge and experience of a Five Star would help the raid—so long as the man didn’t reveal further greed.
But Ren’s real purpose was simply to secure the pretext. The pretext to firmly seize control of this meeting.
When Rice answered with a mere shrug of his shoulders, Ren quietly spread two sheets of paper across the table.
The first was a detailed map of the terrain surrounding the dungeon. The second was a simple sketch drawn with little more than lines—a rough estimate of the dungeon’s internal structure.
“These are the diagrams we provided.”
Marquis Tern spoke while looking down at the map.
“Yes. The preliminary survey of every Calamity-class dungeon is conducted by imperial troops themselves. Once again, we are grateful.”
“It was nothing.”
Tern smiled modestly, yet the words carried a quiet reminder that imperial power stood behind this operation.
Ren treated the remark as trivial and moved straight to the point.
“The core of this dungeon is ultimately the heat felt through the fire laid throughout it. Whether we can endure that heat is the key to the raid. More precisely, whether we have the skill to fight magical beasts while standing inside that heat. And the one who advances at the very front, breaking through that heat… should receive credit equal to the risk. Our taking the vanguard was already decided earlier.”
It was less a simple declaration of principle than a preemptive claim on the reward structure.
Standing at the front meant being the first exposed to danger—and at the same time the position that could most reliably claim the greatest credit.
Any clan confident in its strength, not merely those who only wanted their names on the joint raid roster, would covet that place.
In truth, Ren had already secured the guarantee of that position before today’s meeting. His clan held the greatest influence among those present. Of course, he had also earned that position by personally driving the entire operation forward.
“Breaking through the heat… do you have some clever method?”
The speaker was one of the clan leaders, a middle-aged man whose seasoned air was unmistakable.
Ren gave a light shake of his head.
“We intend to mobilize as many water-attribute mages as possible.”
A clear, unadorned answer that left no room for alternatives.
Someone else immediately latched on.
“According to the preliminary survey, it’s different from ordinary fire. If the lower levels are like that, who knows what the depths will be like?”
A preliminary survey was, after all, only a preliminary survey. Its limit was that it could only map the outermost edges of a dungeon.
Voicing concern about the depths was not wrong.
Ren did not deny it. Instead he addressed the point directly and countered.
“That variable doesn’t change no matter who stands in the vanguard. From the start, this dungeon’s structure appears to be the guardian type—powerful magical beasts holding the gates. In the end, isn’t it only natural that a skilled clan capable of facing those beasts head-on should take the front?”
Dungeons generally fell into two types.
The guardian type, where powerful magical beasts held the gates. And the trial type, where one had to prove one’s qualifications or overcome various traps.
The Ruins of the Cliff that Bell had previously cleared belonged to the latter.
But the Entrance of Hellfire this time clearly leaned toward the former. Of course, the information came only from a preliminary survey, so it might not be entirely accurate.
The man who had raised the objection nodded as if convinced. Then, as though he still had more to say, he spoke again at once.
“Then isn’t it impossible for you to take the vanguard? I heard your forces suffered heavy losses from that recent unpleasant incident.”
As if they had been waiting for the opening, others chimed in.
“I share the same opinion. Trying to stand at the front in your current state is just reckless pride, isn’t it?”
The atmosphere was one of collective dissuasion. Having heard the rumors that Deep Night’s strength had weakened, they had clearly been waiting for exactly this moment to tear him down—to drag him out of the vanguard.
Judged rationally, their words were not wrong.
Everyone might harbor their own hidden agendas, but the final goal was still the successful conquest of the dungeon.
Only after the raid succeeded could those other intentions even be revealed.
He had led and pushed the operation, yet even so, stepping back was the realistic choice.
“I think the same. Isn’t it overreaching?”
Rice added his voice as well.
Rice was a man who did not care who stood in the vanguard. As a solo fighter, he could never take the absolute front line himself in the first place.
Yet he was perhaps the one with the strongest right to speak in this room.
Once Rice himself called it overreaching, the atmosphere became unstoppable.
The delicate balance that had hovered in the chamber shattered completely.
At that moment, Ren—who had kept his mouth tightly shut—turned his gaze toward Bell.
Bell met his eyes and conveyed his meaning without words. Don’t back down.
Even in an atmosphere that had tilted hopelessly to one side, that silent message gave Ren a strange, solid certainty.
A brief silence passed. At last Ren slowly nodded and spoke.
“We have enough strength to stand in the vanguard.”
“I heard half of you died.”
Even against the sharp rebuttal that shot out at once, Ren did not waver.
“…Even if that were true, we are confident in our skill.”
It meant those who remained were enough.
“We didn’t postpone the raid until now because we lacked strength, did we? We have already proven ourselves thoroughly through ability, and you all know we are not foolish enough to let empty greed get in the way of a proper conquest.”
“Of course, no one can deny that among us you have the most experience with Calamity-class dungeons. But the dungeon we’re clearing this time is one that has gone untouched for a long while, isn’t it? It’s different from a newly formed dungeon.”
“We are aware of the danger and have prepared accordingly. To be clear, our forces are still intact.”
“Is that because of the mercenary?”
The air in the meeting hall wavered for an instant.
The questioner’s face remained casual, yet faint suspicion and mockery were mixed into the words.
A few gazes turned toward Bell. Even then, they neither mentioned nor looked toward the Luen Order.
“Adventurers who die from reckless pride… I’ve seen countless of them. I never expected you, of all people, to say the same thing the moment you’re in the same situation.”
Ren lifted his eyes and fixed them steadily on the speaker.
“We’ll find out when the time comes.”
“With dead bodies?”
Sneers and mockery poured out one after another, yet Ren’s voice remained clear and unshaken.
Faced with that stubborn stance, the other clan leaders finally found no further opening to intervene.
Watching the situation, Rice let out a short snort of laughter.
“Exactly as you said—we’ll see when the time comes.”
The tone seemed to carry some deeper meaning, but Ren paid it no mind and continued the meeting.
And a long while later, the meeting finally ended.
On the road back to the clan headquarters.
Bedeia, who had not spoken a single word throughout the long meeting, suddenly opened her mouth.
“You seem to place excessive trust in this man. Is there a reason?”
“Because there is a reason worth it. I’m not a fool either.”
“…Is that so?”
After that, Bedeia said nothing more.