Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Northern Duke (12)
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"What? It's only natural for your cognitive abilities to drop when you're in a panic. Don't get too down about it."
"You knew that and still teased me?"
Having recovered her mental composure, Ray reacted to my voice.
"Ugh... Sorry about that."
In truth, teasing someone who's hurting was something a firefighter should never do.
But now that I was away from the scene, my real personality was starting to show.
"And you! What was that about? Are you my dad or something? 'Daddy's right here'—what the hell?"
"Ah."
I'd said it thinking of my team leader at the time.
But looking back, just quietly comforting her would've been enough.
I could feel my face burning up.
"Ugh... Maybe it's best not to bring that up. It might not be good for either of us..."
"Yeah..."
Ray, who had turned her back to me, nodded.
"Something to replace the mask with..."
"It's fine."
Ray stood up from her spot and walked over to me.
"I used to think I'd die of anxiety without my mask... but right now, it's okay."
I looked up, and Ray's face came into view.
Hmm, she's just normally pretty.
Scarlet, my childhood friend, was the same.
Since reincarnating into this romance fantasy world, I'd seen so many beauties that my reaction was more subdued than expected.
Noticing my gaze, Ray's face flushed red again.
Then, suddenly, I spotted a wound on her face.
I picked up the potion from the floor and applied it to her cheek.
"Trim your nails. What kind of scratch is this?"
"Ah... I can do it myself!"
The moment my hand touched her face, Ray flinched and snatched the potion from my hand.
It's just treating a patient—what's the big deal?
To me, who'd performed emergency aid on countless people in my past life, Ray's reaction felt novel.
While Ray turned her head to treat her own face, I surveyed the cavern.
There were no passages connecting to other paths anywhere.
Suddenly, the uneven walls struck me as odd.
"My dad only ever taught me magic."
Ray abruptly started recounting her past.
According to what I'd learned in training back in my past life, the best move here was to listen quietly.
"He said I had to reach the 4th Circle to inherit the disciple badge of an archmage. For some reason, he was in such a hurry that he skipped all other training..."
Ray pulled a badge from her pocket.
The badge symbolizing a disciple of the Everrund Archmage.
Unless it was a truly exceptional case, it was never passed down to one's child.
"The moment I hit the 4th Circle at 17, he dragged me to the academy. I don't know what he said, but that day, I became the badge's owner."
Reaching the 4th Circle at 17 was talent worthy of being called genius.
Having been trained by an archmage's disciple made her more than qualified to claim the badge.
"That day... was the first time I walked the city streets. It was so fun, I even thought about ditching Dad and running off."
Ray's voice began to tremble with emotion.
"I begged him through the communication artifact, 'Please, at least let me see your face... Come home...' But I wanted to see more of the city, even just a little..."
Among communication artifacts, there were crystal orbs that showed faces.
But there were also simple ones that only transmitted voices.
"By the time I finally got home... it was already too late."
I quietly approached Ray and placed a hand on her shoulder.
As she leaned into me, I flicked her forehead sharply.
"Ow!"
"Jeez, is that really about wanting to see his face? You just wanted to see you, didn't you?"
To be honest, in firefighting school, I always ranked dead last in patient care.
According to what I'd been taught, I absolutely shouldn't do this—but I couldn't hold back my temper.
"Your dad's a mage, right? He must've had portraits or photos. If you really wanted to see his face, you could've looked at those."
"Ugh..."
I must've misjudged the force, because Ray clutched her head and groaned.
"Now stop hiding that pretty face and just go around like normal."
"I'm pretty...?"
Ray asked out of the blue.
"You know you are. Now get up. Let's tackle this dungeon."
I remembered how, when she passed out recently and asked if I'd seen her face, she was relieved when I joked, "How ugly is it that you hide it?" Her ridiculous reaction had stuck with me.
Having heard all her boring backstory, I turned my gaze and scanned the cavern again.
"Looks like magic's off-limits... and probably aura too. Seems like we need to slot a stone in there..."
A awkwardly hollowed-out rock caught my eye in the direction I was looking.
"Hmm... The patterns on the stone might be a hint... Ah!"
"Isn't it just bumpy because it's a rock?"
Ray, who had come up beside me at some point, asked.
"If you combine the patterns on the opposite wall and this one, they form a crest."
I pointed alternately at both walls with my hand.
When I mentally merged the patterns on both walls,
a single massive crest emerged.
"Ugh... What are you talking about..."
Of course Ray couldn't see it since I'd only said it in my head—she grabbed her head in frustration.
Looking around the floor, I found a stone with a matching pattern for the crest.
I picked it up and slotted it into the hollow spot, and the ground began to rumble.
"What?! Earthquake?"
"Nah... Ah! A path opened up over there."
A narrow passage, wide enough for one person, appeared on one side of the cavern.
"What's this...?"
Ray didn't head for the new path. Instead, she crouched down and stared at the scattered stones on the floor.
Looking around, I noticed dozens of stones with different patterns.
Just trial-and-error them one by one?
It seemed like a place you could clear without solving any puzzles.
I couldn't understand why the advance teams who'd entered first hadn't returned.
"This probably isn't the end. Let's move on."
Having made up her mind about something, Ray nodded and stood.
"Alright. Caves are your department, Eric. Yeah."
"No, it's not about using magic."
"Everyone shines in their own field."
Ray neatly handed the puzzle off to me and moved to the next area.
Passing through the narrow passage revealed a new cavern.
"Ah... So that's why the advance teams couldn't get out..."
The massive new cavern held around twenty hollowed-out rocks and hundreds of scattered stones.
"Guess the last one was just practice?"
The patterns that had filled two walls were now split across four, and the wall forming a single crest had turned into a jigsaw-like array of varied designs.
"Can't brute-force this with luck."
"Wait... You can actually solve this?"
"This stone goes in the third spot over there."
"Huh?"
I picked up the stone and slotted it into the hollow rock.
The stone seemed awkwardly jammed, like it didn't fit right.
"Isn't this wrong?"
"That's correct."
It looked like a puzzle botched by a kid who didn't know the rules.
But my mind was already filled with certainty.
"Seems like you can just shove anything in..."
Ignoring Ray's skeptical mutter, I slotted every stone into place.
Stones arranged in what looked like a total mess, as if a child had thrown them together blindly.
But as I fitted the final stone, a massive vibration shook the area, and the wall slid away.
"See? It worked."
"What?! It actually worked?"
I entered the newly opened path, lost in thought.
These are the spatial perception tests from my past life's puzzles...
It was like they were custom-made for me—puzzles only I could solve easily.
The maze before was the same... Is this really coincidence?
The dungeon's true nature wasn't detailed in the original story either.
No point dwelling without info.
I kept solving the spatial perception tests that kept coming and pressed forward.
"Oh? Treasure chest."
The treasure chest that always appeared at a dungeon's end.
"Can you check if it's trapped?"
"Obviously."
After confirming with Ray's ancient magic that it wasn't trapped, I approached the chest.
"This is..."
"Mana stones for ancient magic."
Inside were a dozen palm-sized mana stones glowing white, and a blue-glowing pendant.
"That's it? All there is?"
"The pendant seems to dispel curses... The mana stones are top-grade, but..."
For a dungeon tackled by the North's top forces, the rewards felt insultingly meager.
Ray couldn't hide her bafflement.
"Dungeons always like this?"
"No way. If they were, why would people risk their lives clearing them?"
Dungeons followed the rule: higher difficulty, better rewards.
Rarely, low-difficulty ones yielded big hauls.
But tough dungeons never gave disappointing loot.
As I took the items from the chest and pocketed them, the world began to blur.
"Huh? Whoa!"
Ray rushed toward me.
"What the..."
"Stay calm. Some dungeons vanish right after clearing."
The dark, damp cave faded, replaced by bright sunlight.
A cold wind blew, so I pulled my robe from subspace.
Tall walls and guards came into view around us.
"Hey? Kelson! We're outside!"
"What?! We cleared it?"
"Who was it?! Who cleared it?!"
People who'd entered the 6th floor appeared nearby.
Everyone from other floors had exited too—the tents and equipment filled the inner courtyard.
I scanned around for someone to explain the situation.
"Silence, everyone."
The Northern Duke's voice, having appeared at some point, echoed through the fortress.
"Looks like the 6th floor was the dungeon's end. Besides slotting the right stones in the cavern, did anyone solve other puzzles?"
"Ah, damn, it was a puzzle floor?"
"We just smashed the walls like idiots..."
Mercenaries' murmurs filled the air.
"Magic and aura were sealed too, I assume for everyone."
The mercenaries fell silent as the duke spoke.
"Someone solved all the puzzles, it seems. Raise your hand if you reached the treasure room."
I quietly raised my hand.
"That kid again?"
"He's a real hero..."
"Quiet."
The duke silenced the crowd and approached us.
I handed him the blue-glowing pendant.
"The final treasure chest only had this pendant and a dozen top-grade mana stones for ancient magic."
My voice trembled faintly.
I'd told the truth, but hiding my nerves was hard.
What if they thought I'd hidden something?
Even the treasure room blocked magic, but others might not believe me.
I feigned calm as best I could, waiting for the duke's response.
"Ahem... Chief Mage, care to inspect the pendant?"
The duke cleared his throat awkwardly and passed it to the chief mage.
"It's got a built-in curse dispel. Obviously meant to lift the curse on the duke's daughter."
"Hahaha! I thought some ancient monster had disguised itself as a kid since you didn't seem like one—but you're just a nervous brat after all, Eric!"
"Haha! Look at the little guy tensing up!"
The surrounding mercenaries started laughing at me.
"What the..."
"Eric, look behind you."
I followed the duke's pointing hand and turned.
The annex, once shrouded in black mist, was back in place.
"Why is the annex..."
"Huh? Did the annex always have that much treasure?"
Ray's dumbfounded words reached my ears.
Through the annex's many windows, the interior was visible.
It brimmed with treasures of every color.
Swords, spears, axes, bows, armor, rings, necklaces...
It looked like every treasure in the world had been gathered there, visible beyond the windows.
"Ahem. Top-grade dungeons are rarely cleared and not well-known, but often, separate treasures are left behind upon conquest."
The duke cleared his throat again and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"What you got from the final room was treasure meant only for you two. Custom-tailored, you could say."
Only then did I realize why the final chest seemed so sparse.
"The ancient magic mana stones go without saying... And the hero who saved the duke's daughter—that's your reward."
"Everyone, back away from the annex! One rep per mercenary group to observe! We'll distribute based on contributions!"
The chief mage shouted at the crowd swarming the annex windows.
"Don't worry. I'll prepare a separate reward for you."
And with that, the long ordeal of conquering the North's top-grade dungeon came to an end.