Chapter 49
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Fairy Forest (2)
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‘The reason I must resolve the Kitten Forest dungeon.’
When I returned to Banheart territory, I read the synopsis involving the Kitten Forest and doubted my own eyes for a moment.
The benefits to be gained from this dungeon were beyond imagination.
First, the dungeon was a mine buried with an enormous amount of mithril ore.
Second, Damian was in the ruins located deep within the dungeon.
And finally, the third was the ‘reward’ Beatrice had just mentioned.
‘The scabbard made from Beatrice’s Fairy Wood.’
The power and strength imbued in Fairy Wood varies depending on the Fairy Queen’s power.
Beatrice, the Fairy Queen of the south.
She was a fairy possessing strength among the top of all Fairy Queens.
Fairy Wood containing her power was not only as hard as orichalcum but also imbued with various blessings, exhibiting tremendous abilities.
‘I look forward to it. Please make me a fine scabbard.’
Just thinking about the scabbard she would create made my heart race.
[The Fairy Queen’s eyes must be cloudy. What on earth does she see in this guy to entrust him with such a request out of the blue?]
‘Where will you find someone as responsible as me?’
[Ugh, I should’ve kept my mouth shut.]
I chuckled at Gransesia’s grumbling and fixed my gaze on the fairy flying ahead.
‘It’s farther than I thought.’
Currently, I and the three adventurers were traversing the Kitten Forest. The fairy flying ahead was the one Beatrice had assigned to guide us.
「This way, this way!」
The blonde fairy, who had introduced herself as Shasha, fluttered along, energetically beckoning us.
“I never imagined I’d experience something like this in my lifetime.”
Vince muttered as he watched the fairy.
Red and Herdin, his comrades, felt the same.
“I’ll have something to brag about to the guild guys. To think I’d set foot in fairy territory! Isn’t this something out of a fairy tale?”
“Exactly. How can you stay so calm, Count?”
How could I stay calm?
‘Maybe because of everything I’ve been through, this level is…….’
The ring on my finger right now contained the soul of a legendary saintess, and I’d met a half-human half-dragon, a demon, and even a human who turned into smoke.
A fairy was a bit novel, but not enough to be that shocking.
「Right here. Shasha will wait at the entrance!」
Soon after, we arrived at the entrance of a half-collapsed cave. It looked more like a mine shaft than a dungeon, sharpening Vince’s eyes.
“This…… isn’t a naturally formed dungeon.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look here. A natural dungeon couldn’t have such a flat path. It’s clearly man-made.”
Indeed. The path leading into the cave gave a relatively clean impression compared to the shabby entrance.
“We’ll know the details once we go inside. Please follow behind us, Count.”
At Vince’s words, Red and Herdin drew their gear and took the lead.
‘Good thing I didn’t come alone. I might’ve wandered in blindly.’
I knew the location to some extent from reading the settings, but information was scarce for dungeons like this, so that alone wasn’t enough.
“Look out! Monsters!”
Herdin hurriedly hid in a crack in the broken wall and gestured to us. As he said, a few monsters were walking not far away.
“I sensed a considerable amount of death aura since we entered, but as expected, there are many undead-type monsters.”
They were the same skeleton groups I’d seen before. The unusual point was that the skeletons were equipped with proper gear.
‘And not a speck of rust?’
Skeletons are dead bodies revived with grudges. Generally, skeletons use whatever they had at the time of death as weapons.
As much time as it takes for a body to weather into a skull, the gear should rust accordingly. Yet the skeletons’ equipment before my eyes gleamed like new.
“This seems suspicious. Better to avoid them.”
Vince noticed it too and furrowed his brow.
The others nodded in agreement with Vince, but I was different.
“No, we take down those skeletons here.”
“Pardon? But there’s no need to fight…….”
We didn’t know what lay ahead, so avoiding was best. But letting those skeletons go felt like too much of a waste.
Because I could see it with my eyes.
What equipment those skeletons were wearing.
“That’s mithril gear.”
“……Pardon?”
“All the equipment those skeletons are wearing is made of mithril.”
My words left the party visibly shocked.
“I-Is that true?”
“Definitely. Think about it. Otherwise, how could skeleton gear be in such pristine condition?”
“Indeed…… that makes sense, Count.”
The party nodded, convinced by my words. Gear left abandoned for so long couldn’t remain intact if made of ordinary metal.
‘Jackpot.’
I knew mithril was buried here, but I hadn’t expected the monsters to all wear mithril gear.
No need to mine ore—just selling that would fetch a fortune.
“Take every single one without leaving any behind. Time doesn’t matter.”
“Understood!”
No matter how good the gear, skeletons are skeletons.
Especially to me, they were just scarecrows walking around with money bags.
* * *
About 30 minutes later, we succeeded in turning all the wandering skeletons in the area back to dust.
“Count, we got them all, but…….”
Catching the skeletons wasn’t hard, but the problem came after. Gathering their gear in one place revealed a substantial amount.
“We’ll ask the Fairy Queen later to bring laborers to carry it.”
“Then we’ll store it here until then.”
“Yeah. Of course, I’ll distribute the profits from this fairly, so don’t worry.”
“Gasp! Thank you!”
The party bowed more respectfully than before.
Not just the reward, but because they’d witnessed me fighting firsthand.
“But it feels like you took down almost all the skeletons alone, Count…….”
“No, it was possible because everyone appropriately drew their attention. Alone, it might’ve been tough.”
In fact, they’d pulled the others’ aggro so I could handle them one by one.
If I’d been alone, facing them all at once would’ve been grueling.
‘Got the mithril gear, which is great…… but this doesn’t seem like an ordinary dungeon.’
I narrowed my eyes at the gear from the skeletons.
==
[Armor of the Dalros Kingdom Knights]
Armor of the Dalros Kingdom, destroyed by the mage Rugal Necris.
Made with the Dalros Kingdom’s excellent smelting techniques, it remains in excellent condition despite the long passage of time.
==
‘Knights of the Dalros Kingdom…….’
I’d heard the name before.
The Dalros Kingdom was a small kingdom near the Talua Kingdom long ago. It had many mithril mines and was especially renowned for its smelting techniques.
[Ah, right. Dalros was near Talua. I remember visiting once. It’s destroyed now?]
‘It suffered near-annihilation from a single mage.’
[What?]
That’s how it’s recorded in history books.
The Dalros Kingdom was attacked by a certain mage, suffering massive damage that led to its downfall.
The mage’s name was unknown, though……
‘Who would’ve thought it was Rugal Necris.’
[Rugal? That kid, the head disciple of the Magic Tower Master?]
‘Kid? One of the first Seven Heroes alongside Damian…….’
[I don’t know about Seven Heroes, but he was still a child when I met him.]
From Gransesia treating an ancient hero like a child, I could tell the timelines matched up.
‘Maybe that’s why Damian is here—connected to Rugal.’
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be mentioned in the settings.
“First, leave the gear here and head deeper.”
“Understood.”
Afterward, undead monsters appeared sporadically, but no more skeletons. Those initial ones were probably all.
‘What a shame. More would’ve been nice.’
I scanned around in case some were hidden, when something caught my eye.
‘Ah, there it is.’
One reason I must claim this dungeon.
The mithril vein came into view. Buried in rubble, hard to spot with the naked eye, but it couldn’t escape my setting-seeing eyes.
‘Mark it on the map for now.’
With paths already formed, mining wouldn’t be too hard.
Following the three adventurers, I mentally mapped the path so far.
“Count, it seems we can’t go much deeper.”
Our steps halted after at least two hours.
“Some problem?”
“As I mentioned earlier, this place was artificially made by someone.”
We could tell from the traps we’d seen coming here. So I couldn’t help but question bringing it up again.
“We’ve been fine so far…… but the traps ahead are beyond our skill.”
Following them, I’d felt these three adventurers were indeed skilled as Sara recommended—proficient in various techniques.
Including disarming dungeon traps; they hadn’t missed a single one.
“Are those traps completely different from the previous ones?”
“Yes. The entire passage downward is one big trap.”
Vince picked up a small pebble from the floor and tossed it lightly.
Kwaaaa!
No sooner had the pebble hit the ground than fierce flames burst from the left wall, melting it.
“And the flames aren’t the only problem. As you can see…….”
Tossing more pebbles triggered not just flames, but stone pillars crashing from the ceiling, sharp grates, and arrows flying as a matter of course.
‘Made so no one can enter.’
I couldn’t think otherwise.
And the maker was surely Damian, in my mind.
‘This passage is the part mentioned in the synopsis.’
It said Fabian passed using a ‘sword’ obtained in Aintban. Likely one of the Seven Heavenly Swords like Genova.
‘Of course, without that sword, I’ll use another way.’
If I can’t pass, I can’t meet Damian.
And the Fairy Queen’s commission was undoubtedly below.
‘Fabian has his methods, and I have mine.’
First, I widened my eyes and stared at the passage ahead. Various settings of the passage appeared.
‘Add Insight Eye to this…….’
I took a deep breath and stepped into the passage.
“Count! What are you doing?!”
Vince shouted urgently, but I had no mind to reply.
‘Three steps here, then half a step right. Then a big leap forward…….’
The passage was laced with mana threads invisible to the human eye. Brushing one triggered a trap.
Safe stepping spots were extremely limited.
Some sections forced stepping on traps. There, I stepped on the least dangerous arrow trap and deflected it with my sword.
“Hoo!”
Finally, throwing myself forward, I barely escaped the passage.
“Easier than I thought.”
Wiping sweat from my brow, I turned back to see the three staring in shock.
I waved lightly at them.
“I’ll handle below alone first, so wait there!”
“C-Count!”
Unable to follow, they could only call out pathetically. Natural, not knowing the dangers below.
‘Finally, meeting him.’
But anticipation outweighed worry.
The one I’d meet now was the hero of heroes who heralded the start of the Seven Heroes.