Charlotte (2)
Charlotte (2)
After that, Dojin and Charlotte continued their sparring. Sometimes she lost, sometimes she won. Their win rates were evenly matched.
Judging solely by the results, Dojin's swordsmanship seemed on par with hers, and overall, even superior at times.
'How on earth?'
It was unbelievable. Charlotte was a conqueror who had cleared up to the 50th floor of the dungeon in the Holy Kingdom, a Holy Knight who had achieved three level-ups and perfected her swordsmanship.
Even if she had no intention of using her superior physical abilities, they inevitably influenced the sparring, so Charlotte could witness all of Dojin's deliberately slow techniques in full.
Thus, her defeats against him stemmed from a technical gap that even overwhelming physical prowess couldn't overcome.
She couldn't accept that fact. Her heart refused it. Her head tried desperately to rationalize it.
'Yeah, so he's someone the gods would take an interest in...'
She glared at Dojin. At this point, denial seemed impossible. The Saintess had been right...
As she stared at him while acknowledging that truth, their eyes met, and Dojin subtly turned his head away. Charlotte felt something off and tilted her head.
"...Well then. I'll get back to work."
"......Yes, go ahead."
"Excuse me."
Heading back to her workstation, Charlotte realized that her maid outfit was torn in places from rolling around on the ground during the sparring.
In a pretty embarrassing state, no less.
Only then did she understand why Dojin had averted his eyes, and her face flushed red. She quickly straightened her clothes to ensure no one else saw.
One question had arisen while entering and exiting the dungeon. Why hadn't we encountered any other adventurers inside?
Apparently, I wasn't the only one with this doubt. Pion read from a meticulously prepared manual in response to my question.
When I asked her to summarize the headache-inducingly thick book in one sentence after just looking at it, she said, '4-dimensional unfolding of a 3-dimensional space.'
"......What does that even mean?"
"Hmm, shall I draw a picture?"
"Please......"
She should've started with that. Pion only pulled out paper and pen after I'd already gotten fed up and began her explanation.
"Here, I'll draw the x and y axes like this."
"Math even here......."
"Hehe, you know about functions too? Not many people do."
"Ah, well. A little from back home......."
"But why become an adventurer... Anyway, since you know, this'll be quick. Do you know what this unfolded diagram is called?"
"2D."
"Yes. Now, if we include the z-axis?"
"3D."
"Then, what happens if we slice this 2D plane with a 3D axis?"
As Pion said that, she lifted up the paper with two lines drawn on it. Countless non-overlapping 2D planes were created.
"......So, basically, the dungeon is a space infinitely sliced by a 4th-dimensional axis from 3D space, which is why we don't meet other adventurers?"
"Yes. You got it perfectly."
"Then how can we see our own party members if we enter together?"
"Oh, that's explained through Fabius's Paradox......."
I showed no interest in hearing more and stood up from my seat right away. Pion gave a wry smile as if she understood.
"It's a bit tough, right? I get it. I cursed about why I had to memorize this stuff for the guild exam too."
"......You memorize that?"
"Yes. That's why I can explain it like this."
"Guild staff have it rough."
"Yeah...... At least I'm one of the lucky ones."
"Why?"
"Because I met you, Dojin-nim, and became your dedicated guild staff?"
She seemed thrilled about being my dedicated guild staff. Makes sense—after seeing the staff working the 1st floor, anyone would feel that way.
Watching them deal with adventurers rougher than Earth's daily wage workers......
"So, in the end, no one knows the real cause."
"Yes, unfortunately. That's why some religious groups claim dungeons are remnants of the gods."
"Got it. Thanks for letting me know."
"No problem. Come ask if there's anything else you don't know. ......Honestly, come often. The boss thinks I'm slacking off."
"Will do."
I stood up, smiled, and left the guild. But a lingering curiosity stuck in my throat like food residue.
Not many people could resolve my doubts at times like this. Just Pion from earlier, or someone steeped in otaku knowledge like this guy.
"Deokgu— you alive?"
"......Ah, it's you."
Deokgu, looking gaunt beyond comparison to three months ago, greeted me. His increasingly hollow cheeks seemed to embody his hardships, pricking my conscience.
"Newspaper prep going well?"
"Of course... especially after leveling up with you."
Deokgu pushed up his glasses and showed me the newspaper draft he was working on. For something made in this otherworld without printing presses, it was decent quality.
"But you know this isn't enough to do much with."
"Newspapers spread widely in the 19th century, right?"
"Yeah, after the Industrial Revolution."
Without mechanical production, newspapers can't spread far. Maybe pivot to mass-producing books? As I pondered, Deokgu pulled something from a drawer.
"So I found this."
It was a common magic crystal orb from this world. Filled with tiny text packed inside......
"What's that?"
"A fantasy printing press."
"......There's a printing press? Then why no newspapers?"
"Because it doesn't even cover labor costs...... Know how much it costs to run this once?"
"How much?"
"Rough calc: one gold coin...... Even then, the unit cost doesn't beat paying farmers or slaves to hand-copy. Get what I'm saying?"
"Trying newspapers is stupid from the start?"
"Exactly. For newspapers to catch on, get ads, draw crowds... you'd need a mountain of gold coins...... Why bother?"
In this world, if you name the richest: nobles, merchants, adventurers.
None would make newspapers.
Nobles who want easy control over the masses don't want info spreading to citizens.
Merchants wary of nobles avoid anything upsetting them.
Adventurers hoarding gold don't understand or care about newspapers.
"Really...... only we can do this."
"Something only we can pull off."
Deokgu grinned as he said that and handed over the schedule, explaining.
"So, you guys need to grow fast and become our funding source."
"Sounds tough."
"You suggested it first? I honestly wanted to laze around."
"Yeah, my idea, so I'll grow quick. Don't worry."
Then, I shared the dungeon secret I'd heard from Pion, and we chatted away. Deokgu loved geeking out over this fantasy world's lore.
"The dungeon's a special space warped by 4D distortion......? Totally like an instanced dungeon."
"Instanced?"
"Instance Dungeon— in games, they assign each player an address value for a new map. Makes sense why magic stone mining never runs short......."
"Dude, it's not gonna run like a game. If it did, there'd be skips too."
"Skips?"
"Yeah, we're only at 10th floor now, but at 20th or 30th, just going up and down would take all day......."
"......Skip, meaning shortcut, right."
Deokgu glared at me as he said that. I looked at him with a 'no way' hunch. Sadly, he shook his head.
"Nothing shows up in my ability."
"See? Told ya."
"But just 'cause it doesn't show in mine doesn't mean it ain't there."
"What?"
"Let's find it. Piece of cake."
Deokgu laid out his plan as he said that. Pretty plausible, actually.
Two days later, we gathered at the dungeon entrance, waiting for someone. Soon, Han-young and his party arrived in fancy gear.
"Hey! Fuck, been too long."
"You good?"
"You too. Leveled up? Brought my hammer to crack your skull if not."
"Done that ages ago."
"Ooh."
Han-young scanned our group and paused at Deokgu, tilting his head.
"Who's this?"
"Deokgu."
"What? Deokgu? Look at this fucker slim down! Dieting?"
"......Yeah, good to see you."
Deokgu, clearly not thrilled with his old bully Han-young, greeted him sourly.
Han-young frowned at the expression but, socialized enough now, didn't pick a fight outright.
"Whatever. So why'd you call us today? Bus ride?"
"Didn't read the request?"
"Pfft, why bother? Just tell me when I get here."
"Fine. Let's head in. I'll explain on the way up."
We chatted about this and that as we ascended the dungeon: what they'd been up to, where they got gear, where they lived now, etc.
At the same time, a goblin horde swarmed us after spotting our noisy group. True to the dungeon's trait of sending monsters equal to party size or more, their numbers rivaled when we first dropped here.
But we'd grown incomparably stronger. Slashing with swords, hammers, abilities, we massacred them and reached the 10th floor.
There, I explained the request to Han-young.
"Here. Smash it."
"......What?"
"Dungeon wall. Break it."
"Why suddenly?"
"Hey, client says do it, just do it."
"Damn, no wonder the pay's insane."
Han-young hefted his hammer. His monster-crushing weapon and ability now aimed at the dungeon wall.
Sruruk—scales sprouted on his arms, protecting his hands. Then he swung full force.
Kwaaang!
A crack split the wall, but soon it began regenerating sruruk. Han-young pointed triumphantly.
"See? It heals anyway."
"Aram."
"Yeah."
At that, Aram applied her ability to the wall, reverting it pre-regen. Han-young gawked at me in disbelief.
But I ordered firmly.
"Smash it."
"Fuck...... gonna be sore tomorrow!"
Kwaaang!
The wall crumbled deeper than before. Still, it'd take a while to fully collapse.
I hunted incoming monsters drawn by the noise while waiting for them to breach it.
How many hours did they pound the wall?
Kuwoong!
"Whoa?"
Finally, the dungeon wall collapsed. A massive hidden door inside gleamed as if waiting, welcoming us.