Chapter 800: The Dungeon’s Mana
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 800: The Dungeon’s Mana
“This is it.”
Alicia must have sensed that saying anything more would only reveal her ignorance, as she seemed ready to follow my lead without another word.
She spread something out on the table and crossed her arms with a look of displeasure.
The motion caused her rather large breasts to be pushed up and pressed together over her arms.
What’s more, the dress she was wearing was designed to show off her beautiful, coffee-colored skin, leaving the upper portion of her gathered cleavage completely exposed.
Is this girl… still trying to seduce me? No. There’s no way she’s clever enough for that.
Judging by her attitude, it didn’t seem like wearing a dress was her choice in the first place.
She probably had no idea how she looked crossing her arms like that.
She really was dangerous in so many ways.
I forcibly tore my gaze away from her chest, where it was naturally trying to settle, and focused on the cloth spread across the table.
The cloth was a map.
And since she was showing it to us, it was probably a map of the Turtle Cave.
The map was so meticulously drawn that it filled the entire large cloth, and a quick glance revealed not a single empty corner.
“You finished it already?”
That was incredibly fast.
If they had simply been looking for the passage to the 5.5th sub-layer, finishing it this quickly wouldn’t have been surprising at all. But it looked like they had thoroughly mapped out every single nook and cranny.
Of course, Alicia, a veteran of the 6th floor, had been with them, but did this mean the trio’s skills were also improving by the day? Huh? Wait a minute.
Just as I realized something and was about to speak again, Alicia nodded and answered first.
“Yeah. Thoroughly. But we couldn’t find any secret rooms.”
It seemed Alicia’s foul mood wasn’t just because of our earlier conversation.
“It’s not like I’m you, so I couldn’t check the gender of every turtle, but you said it yourself, didn’t you? That the males are usually in hidden rooms. So I was planning to at least find the hidden rooms before coming to you.”
As she spoke, Alicia scratched her head, trailing off.
She seemed quite embarrassed to be stuck on a layer far above where she normally explored and to have to tell us about it.
“It seems impossible for us to find the passage to the next sub-layer. It might be another one of those things only you can find with your Saint powers.”
“Considering the patterns so far, I don’t think that’s the case. But it’s fine. I actually have an idea.”
I replied lightly, in a casual tone, to Alicia’s apologetic one.
To be honest, I’d had a rough idea of this layer’s trick ever since I first encountered the turtles in their den.
“If you’re thinking a turtle’s shell is camouflaged as a wall blocking a hidden room, you’re wrong.”
But as if reading my mind, Alicia shot me a look that screamed, Are you an idiot?
No, I’m well aware I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but having this girl look at me like that just pisses me off for some reason.
However, since she had guessed my exact thought, I had no comeback.
“What do you mean?”
“You bastard. I know you uncovered a dungeon secret that even we missed, but that was because of your Saint powers. How much more experience do I have in the dungeon than you? You think I wouldn’t have thought of something that simple?”
After saying that, Alicia crossed her arms again and leaned back against the sofa with a defiant thud, as if to show off.
Hey. I told you, stop emphasizing your chest.
Don’t you see my Diana glaring at me like she wants to kill me every time my eyes wander?
You know I’m not the only one she’s mad at, right? You’re earning her wrath, too!
Getting on the Archmage’s bad side will make the rest of your life very difficult, you know.
“Of course I hit all of them.”
Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, Alicia said something astounding with a look that said, Obviously.
“W-What?”
I knew what she was talking about, but it was so absurd that I had to ask for confirmation.
“What do you mean, ‘what,’ you bastard? Have you been listening? The walls. I’m talking about the walls. I hit every single one. See that passage leading to the 5th floor? We found that by hitting a wall, defeating the camouflaged Floor Boss, and uncovering it.”
…J-Just as I thought. You… are you really saying that with such a confident, proud expression?
She was amazing, in more ways than one.
I’d noticed it back on the 4th floor when we went to the ice cave, no, even long before that, but why does this girl investigate the dungeon in such a brutish way?
Then again, she immediately thought of the possibility of a turtle camouflaged as a wall, so it didn’t seem like she was dumb, at least when it came to the dungeon.
“…I see.”
There was nothing I could do but accept Alicia’s words.
“So, sorry, but it looks like you’ll have to be the one to find the passage to the next sub-layer. You can find it easily, right?”
“No, I’ll have to search every nook and cranny too.”
Well, it would be much easier for me since I have the map function.
But I couldn’t tell Alicia that.
“What are you talking about? It’d be quick if you used your Saint skills, right?”
But Alicia just tilted her head as if she found my answer strange.
“No. How can I, if I don’t know where it is?”
“You have that area-of-effect skill, don’t you? The one you used on the 2nd floor to milk…”
“Ah! Yes! I do! Of course I do! Yes!”
This girl! Why does she remember useless things like that!
I was trying so hard to forget!
“It’d be fast if you just walked around using that, right? You don’t even have to search for them; you can just make them come to you. Don’t tell me you didn’t even think of that? You really are a chick…”
“Ahem.”
“Ah, s-sorry.”
Alicia, who had gotten her nerve back and was about to tease me, immediately apologized at the sound of Diana’s cough.
Just like before, Diana was the best at keeping this girl in check.
No matter how wild and unruly Alicia was, she couldn’t act that way in front of Diana.
Besides, what Alicia had just said could have been taken as a jab not just at me, but at Diana, who had been with me at the time.
Well, it’s not like she was teasing me about something I hadn’t thought of, so it didn’t matter.
Holy Ground Proclamation consumes too much mana to be used continuously, and more importantly, it affects all party members, so I can’t.
But for her to think of that right away… she really does have a good head on her shoulders when it comes to the dungeon.
“Well, anyway, the conclusion is that I have to go.”
But there was no reason for me to explain all my skill’s weaknesses to Alicia, so I just glossed over it.
“Right. And while you’re at it, take us with you. We want to start exploring right away.”
“‘Us’? You and the trio?”
Alicia was always with the trio, so I asked without much thought, but she shook her head.
“No. The same members who went to the 5th floor with you before.”
“Huh? That’s your entire executive team, isn’t it?”
“After the Turtle Cave is the 5.5th sub-layer. The difficulty is higher than the 5th floor. It’s only natural, right?”
“I guess that makes sense.”
No matter how rapidly the trio’s skills had improved, she couldn’t just drag them to the 5.5th sub-layer.
In fact, now that they had cleared the Turtle Cave, they were skilled enough to handle the 5th floor, so maybe Alicia didn’t need to look after them anymore.
“Alright. Then… ah, before that. Umm…”
I was about to readily agree to Alicia’s request, but then I remembered something else I had to take care of first.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s just…”
As I spoke, I glanced over at Matilda.
Should I ask Alicia for advice?
Perhaps the Arachne Clan could give us an answer.
If it’s about the dungeon, the Arachne Clan knows more than even Diana.
“There’s something I want to ask. How do you guys send your priestesses to the lower floors?”
It was the sense of unease I’d felt when I thought about the trio’s rapid growth.
The fact that one of the trio, Amy, was a priestess.
How could she be improving so quickly and still be able to navigate the dungeon without any issues?
Her case was different from Leia’s, who was presumed to be of a race from the War God’s era.
That’s why I thought the Arachne Clan might have a solution.
Even so, if they had something like that, it would be a secret technique passed down within the clan, so I didn’t think they would tell me so easily.
But our situation was too urgent to just let it go, so I posed the question to Alicia in the most careful tone I could manage.
“Huh? What’s that about? I was about to ask you the same thing.”
But Alicia’s response was completely unexpected.
“Huh?”
“I mean, your party has two clerics, who are rarer than gold on the lower floors. And one of them is a Cardinal, no less. I thought you were doing something with your Saint powers?”
Ah, I see. So that’s how it could look to other people.
“No, it’s nothing like that.”
“But that Cardinal went all the way to the 5th floor with us, right? And didn’t you say it was her first time in the dungeon?”
“Ah, about that…”
I debated for a moment whether I should tell her, but I concluded it would be better to tell the truth.
It felt a little wrong to ask for information while keeping our own situation a secret, and besides, Matilda’s curse was already a widely known fact.
Still, it wasn’t a decision I could make alone, so I glanced at Matilda and Diana for confirmation. They both nodded, signaling it was okay.
With their approval, I confessed to Alicia that the curse had been helping Matilda descend into the dungeon.
I left out the part about the Demon God’s mana and all that, just the simple fact.
“I see… the curse… So, now that the curse is gone, the Cardinal can’t go deep into the dungeon.”
“Right.”
“Sorry, but there’s nothing we can do to help.”
I had hoped we might get some help, but Alicia just shook her head with an apologetic look.
“But what about Amy? And don’t you have a Holy Knight among your executives?”
“I told you before. Those kids are promising enough for me to personally mentor them. Amy had an aptitude for descending into the dungeon from the very beginning.”
“Aptitude?”
“Yeah. …Don’t you tell anyone about this, okay? We have a way of identifying that aptitude.”
Seeing my confusion, Alicia hesitated for a moment before whispering to me.
“What?!”
I was shocked by her words, for two reasons.
First, I was purely surprised that the Arachne Clan could identify such a thing. And second… I was surprised by the fact that the Arachne Clan might be hiding something incredible.
I’d had my suspicions ever since she’d said with such certainty that there had to be floors below the 6th, but could the Arachne Clan really have some connection to the War God?
“Let me be clear, don’t ask me to check your party members’ aptitude. I told you, I can’t share a method like this, not even with an ally. But… ah, what the hell. This one’s on the house. It’s pointless for the Cardinal over there anyway. She has the skill to become a Cardinal at such a young age, and she’s already shown a rejection to the dungeon, right? People with the aptitude can’t reach such high levels of skill as a cleric. You really can’t tell anyone about this, okay? Not even our Miriel.”
But Alicia seemed to have misinterpreted my reaction and said all that.
Well, if she moved on without realizing my suspicions, that was fine by me.
I see. It seems the theory Diana and I came up with earlier was spot on.
But for them to already know something that even Diana could only guess at… what kind of people were they?
Do they really have some connection to the War God? Or is it just something they learned from spending so much time in the dungeon?
“It’s fine. We had already figured out most of it. Like I said earlier, right? Matilda couldn’t descend once the curse’s mana faded. How else would we have known that?”
“Ah, right. I guess so. You do have the Archmage with you.”
“But if having the aptitude means you can’t become a high-level cleric, does that apply to Amy and your Holy Knight executive too?”
“Yeah. Both Amy and Lily had the aptitude, so they could reach the ranks of High Priestess and Holy Knight, but that’s their limit. They both took on other sub-jobs to supplement their skills. Even if they can’t use their powers like a high-ranking priest, just having someone who can use healing magic in the party is a huge advantage on the lower floors. That fox-girl of yours will probably hit a growth wall soon, too.”
Alicia seemed much more relaxed now that she thought we already knew, leaning back on the sofa much more comfortably as she spoke.
Well, what she was saying was completely wrong.
If my guess is correct, Leia’s growth won’t stagnate at all.