Dungeon Raid (1)
Dungeon Raid (1)
After Alex and the female mercenary left, Juan sat on the edge of the well and looked around.
The village was empty, abandoned, and swallowed by the forest. Thanks to the Great War and the monsters left in its wake, villages like this were a dime a dozen.
That was why, after the Great War, people had gathered together to live closer to one another. Even so, the powerless commoners had no choice but to rely on the strength of the nobles and knights.
"Well, they say that before the Great War, nobles ruled the commoners without possessing any real power of their own. I suppose this is better than it was back then."
It was the sort of statement that might get him grabbed by the collar if any struggling commoners or slum-dwellers heard it, but Juan didn't have much to complain about in the current system.
The Duke who ruled the territory was a great man, and his heir, Simon, though still young, was growing up well and had no bad rumors surrounding him.
Thanks to the Duke, the territory was safer and more peaceful than other domains, and Juan earned enough as a soldier to make a living.
Things had been tough lately because his mother had suddenly fallen ill, but thanks to Young Lord Alex, he no longer had anything to worry about.
No, if anything, the people around him were worrying more.
When he began taking orders from the illegitimate Young Lord Alex, his colleagues and friends had worried that he'd hitched his wagon to the wrong horse.
Their reasoning was that no matter how skilled or good-natured someone was, the illegitimate son of a noble family never met a good end.
His mother, who had recovered her health, had also worried about him. Unlike the others, however, she hadn't opposed his decision.
"If you receive help, it's only human to repay it. Help him until you feel you've fully repaid your debt."
He shared his mother's sentiment.
He wasn't thinking of currying favor with an illegitimate son to climb the social ladder, as those around him feared.
Young Lord Alex was certainly smart and mature beyond his years, and the skills Juan had glimpsed were superior to those of an average knight.
Even so, seeking success by latching onto a young boy simply wasn't in his nature.
Just as his mother had said, he was only helping him to repay the favor.
"Maybe I'll think about pledging my allegiance once he's grown up a bit more?"
Before that could happen, though, Alex might run into trouble and drag him down with him. But Juan could easily endure that level of risk.
In the worst-case scenario, he might die too, but...
'Was it "a life for a life"?'
He remembered the words the knights had boasted about in the tavern.
While he was passing the time so leisurely...
Whoosh.
The atmosphere around him shifted.
He stood and glared toward one side of the forest.
Footsteps echoed from the direction of the fortress.
Clank. Clank.
It was the sound of metal-clad feet treading on the ground.
As the footsteps drew closer, a knight clad in full plate armor emerged from the forest.
A heavily armored knight, encased in plate from head to toe.
A long spear and a greatsword were slung across his back, while a battleaxe and a warhammer hung from his waist.
An ordinary person wouldn't even dream of entering a forest like this in such heavy armor unless they were a highly trained knight.
Juan's expression hardened as he looked at the knight.
The knight's armor was incredibly well-crafted and intricate, but completely different from the armor worn by the territory's knights.
What's more, there was no crest anywhere on it to indicate his affiliation.
A knight concealing his affiliation. There was no way someone like that had come with good intentions!
Clank. Clank. Thud.
The knight came to a halt in front of Juan.
Standing before him, the knight left Juan's body frozen stiff, cold sweat pouring down the back of his neck.
'Is this the bloodlust of a knight I've only ever heard about?'
Juan was instantly overwhelmed by the technique used by knights and nobles, who could paralyze a person just by releasing their mana.
Fortunately, though, he could still move his mouth.
"I am Juan, a soldier of the Duke of Gracia. What business brings you to the Duke's forest?"
Though he couldn't bow his head, he spoke in the most polite tone he could manage, making it clear that he was a soldier of the Duke and that this was the Duke's land.
"The soldiers of this territory have some backbone."
A heavy, middle-aged man's voice echoed from inside the armor.
The voice alone marked him as a proper knight—and a highly experienced one at that.
Juan felt slightly relieved when it seemed the knight had no intention of drawing his sword right away.
"It seems the mercenary I'm looking for came this way. Do you know where she went?"
That relief vanished the moment the knight spoke again.
"A mercenary? There was no one here when I arrived. I'm alone here."
The knight paid no heed to Juan's answer. He scanned the surroundings, then immediately fixed his gaze on the well.
"Hmm. She went down the well. It's a pity, but I've already lost her several times. I don't have time to play along with your lies."
Juan sighed at the knight's words.
He hadn't expected to have to risk his life so soon.
It was like facing an iron club with nothing but a twig.
Even so, he couldn't bring himself to beg for his life.
'Would this be enough to pay for my life?'
It was a pity that his struggle would be so utterly futile.
"Ugh!"
Juan took a deep breath and let out a battle cry.
It was a method of dispelling bloodlust that he had overheard from the knights.
Fortunately, since the pressure wasn't overwhelming, his body could move.
Juan drew his sword.
Seeing this, the knight also gripped the hammer hanging from his waist.
"It would have been easier if you'd just stayed frozen..."
At the knight's regretful words, Juan charged.
Clang.
He swung his sword at the knight with all his might, but the blade was stopped by the knight's armored hand.
In the next instant, Juan saw the hammer flying toward him.
Whoom!
Juan closed his eyes.
Splash. Splash.
A brief impact coursed through my body, and I realized I was submerged deep underwater.
I'd fallen with some peace of mind, knowing there was water below from the falling rock fragments that had preceded me, but the water was much deeper than I'd expected.
A pool beneath a tomb at the bottom of a well.
Even after experiencing it firsthand, I found it utterly absurd.
To make matters worse, I flailed my arms and legs frantically, but this damn sword was so heavy that my body showed absolutely no sign of rising.
I could have just abandoned the sword and swum up, but I couldn't afford to lose it in a place like this.
As I flailed about, a small hand grabbed me by the scruff of my neck.
It was the female mercenary, the Firebird Hunter.
She grabbed the back of my neck and swam upward. With her strength propelling us, we shot rapidly toward the surface.
Splash.
I broke the surface and, with her help, managed to scramble out of the pool.
Panting with exhaustion, I caught sight of a bright light.
It was coming from the lantern hanging at her waist.
She'd managed to hold on to the lantern even as we fell.
Despite being submerged in water, it was still shining.
Come to think of it, that lantern was how she'd been able to find me underwater.
"Huff, puff. What a fascinating lantern. A waterproof lantern, of all things."
When I said that, she lightly tapped the lantern at her waist.
"Phew. You never know what might happen in the mercenary business, so I paid an alchemist a fortune to get it."
Even though I'd lived here for ten years, the technology of this world still baffled me.
A world struggling through the Middle Ages, yet it had waterproof lanterns?
This was total over-technology!
Besides, it was hard to believe her claim that she'd bought it for mercenary work.
She'd probably gotten it to search her ancestors' ruins.
In any case, the pool illuminated by the intact lantern was far larger than I'd expected.
It was at least the size of a small reservoir.
I'd been lucky to land near the edge; otherwise, I might have exhausted myself swimming and been forced to abandon my sword.
"I mean, if the altar was going to collapse, you should have warned me in advance."
She looked embarrassed at my complaint.
"I didn't know either. I was just told that a passage leading downward would open."
She and I looked up.
A massive hole gaped in the middle of the rugged ceiling. It looked to be over ten meters wide, and seemed bottomless.
The tomb we'd fallen from had to be at the very top, but the lantern's light couldn't reach that far.
If her words were true, the hole should have been sealed originally.
'Is it because it's too old?'
Just as cracks wide enough for a person to pass through had formed in the walls, the passage beneath the altar had failed to withstand the passage of time.
"Do we have to climb back up there?"
Even as I spoke, I shook my head inwardly.
We'd have to climb above the reservoir, toward the hole in the ceiling.
Apart from the water itself, the cavern containing the reservoir wasn't particularly spacious, but scaling the walls, hanging from the ceiling, and reaching that hole seemed nigh impossible.
On top of that, we'd have to climb up inside the hole for quite a long distance.
Climbing up without any mountaineering gear was out of the question.
In this absurd situation, the thought of suicide crossed my mind, but...
"Damn it, then I'll just fall again!"
The message was still visible before my eyes.
Oh, my god. Now even dying wouldn't help.
If I wasn't careful, I might end up repeating time eternally in this underground abyss.
I couldn't let that happen. I had to escape before I died.
Just then, after looking at me with concern following my sudden outburst, she spoke up.
"While we were falling, I saw several caves hollowed out in the walls. Those caves are probably why the hole we fell through collapsed."
It seemed she'd been able to survey the surroundings during our descent thanks to her lantern.
"They looked just like the caves over there. Maybe those caves connect to the ones inside the hole in the ceiling?"
She pointed toward the surrounding walls.
The walls of this underground cavern, where the reservoir lay, were riddled with holes.
Some were small caves barely wide enough for a single person to squeeze through, while others were large enough for two people to walk side by side with their arms outstretched.
Hearing her words, I finally felt relieved.
As expected, there was always a way out.
I immediately stood up. Now that we had a goal, we had to move.
First, I took off my outer coat and wrung out the water. To move efficiently, I needed to be light.
Seeing what I was doing, she also took off her cloak.
Beneath it, she wore form-fitting leather armor.
Her figure in the leather armor was in stark contrast to her somewhat androgynous face. If rough mercenaries saw her like this, they'd probably whistle and chase after her.
Only then did I understand why she insisted on wearing that cloak.
She channeled mana into her cloak and shook it, and the moisture on it dried in an instant.
I had no idea such a method existed.
I tried to follow her example and channeled mana into my outer coat.
As expected, it wasn't easy.
"Give it here. That's not an easy technique."
Seeing me struggle, she took my coat and dried it herself.
It was an extremely useful application of mana. I definitely had to learn it before we parted ways.
Thanks to her, I slipped back into my now-dry coat and picked up my sword.
"So, which cave should we go into?"
"Well..."
She looked perplexed at my question, too.
"Hmm. Since we need to move easily, let's go with the largest one."
After a moment's thought, she looked at my sword and made her decision.
Without the sword, my small body would have let me pass through even the narrowest caves. As time went on, I realized more and more that bringing this sword along had been a mistake.
Just as we were about to take our first steps toward the largest cave...
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
"These caves didn't just form naturally, did they? This doesn't look like a limestone or volcanic region..."
"Ah... Don't tell me?"
If they weren't natural caves, some creature had to have dug them out.
If we were lucky, they might all have died out a long time ago, but...
Rumble.
Judging by the sound echoing from deep within the caves, luck was not on our side.
The sound grew louder and louder, and creatures began to emerge from the darkness of the caves.
They were creatures I'd never seen before, with red eyes and bodies that looked larger than horses.
Beside me, her tense voice rang out.
"To think there are still monsters left in a place this deep..."
I'd suspected as much, but they were monsters, just as I'd expected.