Chapter 15
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Northern Duke (8)
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The encampment interior looked even wider up close than I had imagined.
Not just the knights and mages handling combat.
Countless servants and support staff bustled about the camp.
In one corner of this bustling encampment.
An isolated tent that no one approached caught my eye.
"If you value your lives, never go anywhere near that place."
"You don't need to tell us. It looks like somewhere we absolutely shouldn't go anyway."
Powerful demonic energy leaked from the tent, isolated alone behind a waist-high stone wall.
"That's where the Duke's Daughter is, right?"
"Yeah. You can only approach it with a priest dispatched from the capital. Sigh... I wonder when we'll find a way to lift the curse."
On the day the highest-grade dungeon engulfed the Northern Duke's annex.
The fact that the Duke's Daughter there was found cursed inside the dungeon was a famous story known to every Northerner.
"Do we really have to find the curse-lifting method inside the dungeon?"
"Huh?"
Ray had asked something so obvious that the veteran knight's eyes widened.
"Never mind. Is His Grace the Duke in his tent right now, by any chance?"
I hurriedly changed the subject.
"He failed to conquer the fourth floor yesterday and is reorganizing now. It's only fourth circle, but being a disciple of Archmage Everrund should help."
The veteran knight answered me, then turned his gaze forward again.
Ray tapped my shoulder and whispered.
"You could just ask."
"Sigh... Curses contracted in a dungeon can only be lifted in that same dungeon. Do you think it'll look good if an archmage's disciple doesn't know common knowledge even flatlanders know?"
"Ah..."
I could feel Ray's hand trembling.
I whispered into Ray's ear.
"Don't show anywhere that you're lacking common sense. If you don't know something, just ask me."
"Ugh... That makes you sound just like a dad..."
Ray's voice trailed off smaller and smaller.
I chuckled at the absurd remark and followed the veteran knight leading the way into a massive command tent.
Inside the tent sat a middle-aged man with a colossal build reaching two meters tall.
To one side stood a young man in his early twenties who resembled the Duke.
"Your Grace, these are the new disciples of Archmage Everrund."
"From Everrund? Impressive guests we have here. Come on in."
In the center of the tent stood a massive table for meetings.
Scrawled across dozens of sheets of paper on the table were various mazes.
"Just in case, let me ask: is there anyone here who can decipher ancient script?"
"I can."
Ray stepped forward.
"Well, I'll be. Even when we begged the capital, they said no one could, and here they were in the North all along."
"Ancient languages aren't something you study; they're pure talent. Can't be helped."
The Duke's Son, who had been quietly listening from the side, spoke up.
The Duke's Son went to a nearby drawer and pulled out sheets of paper covered in strange characters.
"Decode these for us."
"This much volume... it'll take about a month."
"We'll provide every convenience. We appreciate it."
In the original story, it took Ray two months to decipher the ancient script and conquer the underground fourth floor.
In that time, the Duke's Daughter's condition worsened further.
In his desperation, the Northern Duke fell for the Archdemon's proposal and met his end.
I glanced at the ancient scripts Ray had received.
'Yeah, I have no clue at all.'
In the original, it just glossed over with "somehow solved," without detailing the method, of course.
Without a cheat-key status window, it was impossible for me to decipher ancient languages and find the answer.
I stared at the maze drawings for a moment before asking.
"How did you attempt to conquer the fourth floor up until now, just in case?"
"My knights and I mapped it out while exploring the maze. That's the result."
The Northern Duke asked me, who was quietly studying the drawings.
"What's your name?"
"I'm Eric... and this is Ray."
Ray was absorbed in the ancient script and didn't answer, so I spoke for her.
"We can't just leave it all to Ray and rest. There must be some rule to these mazes."
I looked over the numerous maze diagrams.
"What we've discovered so far is that the maze changes every twenty-four hours, and once someone passes through a spot, it glows green."
"More intuitive hints than I expected."
Dungeon puzzles like this deduction type weren't uncommon.
Correct answers glowed green, wrong ones red, and problems glowed orange.
"Right, at first we thought if we made every path glow green, it'd clear."
"What about flying with levitation magic..."
"We tried that already. It doesn't register unless you step every ten meters."
My plan to clear the maze using spatial teleportation magic failed before it even started.
"Doesn't the North have plenty of skilled knights? The maze looks vast, but five knights should be enough."
Having maps meant they'd explored every part of the maze.
Some drawings had incomplete sections midway.
But there were plenty with the full maze structure perfectly mapped.
"You can't pass through a spot twice. Even multiple people passing at once doesn't work."
"What does that..."
"At the maze dead ends, there's a magic device for inputting three-digit numbers. Probably uses that..."
The Duke turned his gaze to Ray.
"The ancient script at the entrance must hold the answer."
I eyed the maze drawings and roughly gauged the total size.
'This size... if he's good, the Duke could cover it all alone in twenty-four hours.'
I explained the idea that occurred to me to the Northern Duke.
"Are you really confident you won't mess up?"
"If you can't trust me, then trust Archmage who gave me this token."
"We have no other options anyway. Worst case, we lose a day, so give it a shot."
Leaving Ray immersed in the ancient script behind, the Duke and I headed to the fourth floor entrance.
Stairs leading underground at one side of the plains.
The Duke brought a large iron box to me at the temporary tent set up at the entrance.
"If we're following your plan, you'll need a lot of mana stones."
The Northern Duke opened the box without waiting for my reply.
"No, wait..."
Even knowing the Northern Duke was right in front of me, my jaw wouldn't close.
The massive iron box brimmed with countless mana stones.
Thousands that even an A-rank mercenary corps couldn't amass in a lifetime appeared before my eyes.
"Use them freely. I won't make you repay even if you fail."
Is this how the North treats capable people?
I suddenly understood a bit why the female leads fell for him despite him being a middle-aged uncle.
Of course, the one before me was a middle-aged man.
"The amount we can carry is limited anyway."
"Even if we fail today, if we see potential, we'll try again. And we'll cover mana stones used while operating in the dungeon."
Only then did I realize why A-rank mercenaries rushed to answer the Duke's summons.
"Embezzle in moderation."
"Who would steal from a place this secure?"
"I don't mind mercenaries' greed. But go too far, and you pay the price."
The Northern Duke smiled as he looked at me.
A-rank mercenary corps had operated in the North for a long time.
They might skim a little unnoticed, but no one would try for a big score.
"How many A-rank corps disbanded during the last summons?"
"Two."
The Duke's Son answered from the side.
The world had more people beyond my imagination.
"Well, those guys took top-grade mana stones and bolted. I don't blame them much unless it's excessive, so don't worry too much. Conquer the fourth floor, and the rewards will be even greater."
I recalled the rewards the heroine got in the original and engraved magic circles onto the mana stones.
About two hours later, the maze reset began.
"I know the reason, but... it's still unsettling to watch."
The Duke's Son's gaze darkened as he looked at me.
"If it's to save the Duke's Daughter, we have to do whatever it takes."
Even as he said that, the Northern Duke's chief mage turned his eyes to the wall.
"Preparations complete?"
"Yes. Your Grace just needs to run straight ahead."
I clung to the vast back of the Northern Duke.
The so-called piggyback position.
I was tall myself, but the Duke's massive frame made it easy to hang on.
"Confirming again. At forks, throw mana stones down the paths not taken?"
"Yes. When you hit a dead end, go back to the most recent fork."
"What if you loop back to a path already traveled?"
"Return to the fork before that."
The Duke nodded, seemingly understanding.
"Hmph. As ever, best to leave riddles to mages."
He hadn't understood; he'd given up.
"Oh, what happens if we don't exit the dungeon before the reset time?"
I suddenly realized I hadn't asked what occurred after twenty-four hours in the dungeon.
"No idea."
"Pardon?"
A curt reply came from the Duke.
"No one's tried passing the reset since knights went missing the first day."
"Ah..."
Even with space magic, moving between floors inside a dungeon was extremely difficult.
"Then, let me prepare briefly..."
"It's starting."
The moment I pulled out mana stones to return to the third floor if needed.
The stairs to the next floor opened.
"Wai...!"
"Bite your tongue."
Tremendous wind pressure battered my face.
I hurriedly covered my face with a transparent mask.
'Right, can't waste even a second, or it'll all fail because of that.'
I fixed my body to the Duke's back with space magic.
Green light filled the entire passage as we passed.
Moments later, a fork appeared.
"Right!"
I shouted in the Duke's ear and hurled a mana stone down the left path.
Three-way forks... four-way forks...
The maze grew more complex, but I did my best to toss mana stones into untaken paths without delay.
About an hour in, perhaps.
Finally, our first dead end appeared.
I immediately cast spatial teleportation magic.
The mana I'd expended flowed into the Duke's body.
Infusing mana into another person's body was extremely dangerous.
Unless you trusted them deeply, it would be refused.
'Is this... confidence?'
The Duke accepted my mana without a hint of tension.
Before I could think further, we teleported back to the previous fork.
I quickly pulled intermediate mana stones from my subspace to replenish.
'Moving with someone else takes a ton of mana, but...'
I doubted I'd ever waste mana stones like this again in my life.
Entertaining idle thoughts, I awaited the next fork.
Being carried by someone else is surprisingly exhausting too.
I stretched my numb limbs and checked my watch to gauge elapsed time.
'About twenty hours...'
Just hanging on was tiring enough.
Yet the Northern Duke, who had run nonstop, showed no fatigue.
As I counted the scattered mana stones, another dead end appeared.
I cast spatial teleportation once more.
"No more mana stones left to scatter."
I told the Duke charging ahead.
Would my calculations hold?
Theoretically, yes.
But dungeons defied physics.
Unknown variables lurked.
"A mere seventeen-year-old already tiring out?"
"Mages lack stamina... Pardon?"
I answered absentmindedly, then realized something was off.
"I'm twenty..."
"I'm the ruler of the North, you know. Think I'd fall for that flimsy disguise?"
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"That..."
"Old man Khalid must have had his reasons. Don't worry—only I know your true identity."
The Northern Duke mentioned the Principal.
"You should've been more careful coming here. If I'd been late, not just Northern intelligence, but the Empire too would've uncovered you."
"I was using a new identity..."
"That archmage is surprisingly sloppy. Don't rely on others so much yourself."
I realized the Northern Duke was smiling.
"Pass that promotion exam, and... you handled the Black Boar Mercenary Corps and Kane well?"
"You know that far? Then why not handle them yourself..."
"If I did, the mercenary guild would become my puppet too. Can't coddle you one by one like kids."
The being before me could stand alone against the Empire.
In the original, he exited early without touching the main story...
"How far would you go for your daughter, Your Grace?"
It might sound rude, but knowing the future, I had to ask.
"Everything I have."
"Then..."
"The North isn't included in 'mine.'"
My words caught in my throat.
"My son. The territory's people. Mercenary guild. Knights. None of them are mine."
"Are you aware you're the Northern Duke?"
"I can offer my life a hundred times over, but nothing more."
"Yet for your daughter, hasn't the entire North mobilized?"
I spoke without thinking, then instantly regretted the rudeness.
But the Duke replied nonchalantly.
"I'm not asking them to die. Helping this much is the least."
"I see."
I recalled the Northern history I'd learned since reincarnating here.
Over the past decades, the Northern Duke had earned the title of the North's guardian.
As the mood softened, I couldn't hold back my question.
"Why help me?"
The Empire and Papal Court were closely tied.
If the imperial family had my info, the Church surely did too.
Hearing my question, the Duke said as if it were obvious.
"I told you earlier. Because old man Khalid wanted it."
I suddenly remembered the Archdemon that appeared in the North twenty years ago.
It was slain by another archmage, but the Principal had fought there too.
"The North has received great aid from many. Seems my son doesn't know."
In the novel I read, the North and Empire were always at odds.
The reason: the previous Duke and his sister died without active imperial aid.
I realized saving this Northern Duke could change the future greatly.
'The cold war between North and Empire...'
Perhaps against invaders beyond the gates, North and Empire might ally.
'Nah, that's too far-fetched.'
As I pondered, the Duke's voice rang out.
"Looks like you're the real deal after all."
A massive monster appeared far down the passage.
The first monster encountered twenty-one hours into the maze.
No records of monsters in prior explorations.
Upper body of an eagle, lower of a lion.
The highest-grade beast, a griffin, said to shatter cities on appearance.
"Sick of running without fighting—nice parting gift."
The Northern Duke grinned broadly, wrapping his fist in aura.
His main weapon was a greatsword, as far as I knew.
But as his fist met the griffin's head.
The griffin's head exploded and vanished.
"Think carefully about what reward you want. Otherwise, I'll just toss you a treasure vault voucher."
The North's treasure vault voucher wasn't "just" anything.
But from the moment I arrived in the North, I'd wanted one thing.
'The unique training method passed down in the Northern Duke's house.'
A body-tempering technique usable not just by aura knights, but mages too.
In the original, the new Duke's Son handed it wholesale to the heroine.
But wresting it from this sturdy Northern Duke would require stacking favors.
Yeah, for saving the Northern Duke's life, that'd be fitting.