The Hidden Dungeon
"Six adventurers. Four of them women, two of them men. Their rank... they just got promoted to Rank 4 recently..."
I was going over the personal records of the party that had accepted the quest I'd put out when Seongha launched into an explanation.
Adventurer ranks are divided into five grades. The lower the number, the stronger the adventurer.
Rank 5: Novice adventurers.
Rank 4: Not quite veterans, but adventurers with a fair amount of experience in their own right.
Rank 3: Seasoned, highly skilled adventurers. This is the point at which one may reasonably be called a veteran.
Rank 2: Famous adventurers whose names are recognized wherever they go.
Rank 1: Those whom other adventurers call heroes — a rank granted only to those who have piled achievement upon achievement.
"I was hoping for something around Rank 5, but considering they only just got promoted to Rank 4, I'd call it an appropriate difficulty. What do you think?"
"It may prove a little difficult," Seongha replied.
"Why? Because they're Rank 4?"
"No. Because of what comes in the notes after that."
At Seongha's words, I went back over the papers Cecilia had procured — the ones with the adventurers' personal details written out.
Under special remarks, it said the party's cohesion was remarkably strong. They had only been together a year, but they enjoyed a good reputation with both their clients and the Adventurer's Guild, and they had never once failed a quest.
"The party composition isn't bad, either," Seongha went on. "Two in the vanguard, one in the middle, two in the rear, plus a thief who can move freely between the front and the back. A well-balanced party."
"Okay, now I'm getting a little scared. Should I call it off?"
I said it as a joke, and Seongha answered with a faint laugh mixed in.
"You don't need to worry."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm here."
Oh...
"I almost fell for you just now, you know."
"......"
"...Why'd you go quiet?"
"...Read the rest."
There were two sheets. One was an overview of the party. The other was each member's individual profile, with their histories and distinguishing features laid out in detail.
Getting my hands on these had cost a fair amount, but I didn't consider it money wasted. I'd been joking with Seongha, but the fact remained that this was a situation where I could lose my life if things went wrong. If I pinched coins now and died later because I didn't have enough information, I wouldn't be laughing then — joke or otherwise.
So why go looking for trouble? Why not just keep my head down and live in peace?
Bullshit.
I was a dungeon. I was a monster. The world — every living thing on this continent — called existences like mine evil, and they tried to kill us without even asking why. Someday, when what I was came to light, adventurers would come in droves to conquer me. For that day, what I needed was experience, and the ones who came seeking my dungeon. They would make me — the dungeon — stronger.
Which meant this was an investment. An investment to buy experience, and to lure prime breeding stock into my halls.
"Hahh..."
I grinned as I read through the traits and histories of the six adventurers: Aria, Serena, Ki-ana, Rene, Brom, and Gael. And of them, it was the four women who really caught my eye.
"A beastkin, a priestess, a paladin... and a mage. I really wonder what kind of monsters they'll birth once I turn them into broodmothers. Heh heh!"
My gaze was drawn most of all to the portrait of the priestess on the page. A golden-haired, blue-eyed cleric who served Selenia, the goddess of pure white. There was something unadorned about her, perhaps because of her vocation, but she was a beauty all the same. An unsullied purity seemed to reach me even through the paper, and blood surged downward. I could already see it — this innocent woman, this gentle priestess who preached the faith of her god, skewered on my cock, screaming through her tears.
"You should pay close attention to their traits and their pasts," Seongha said. "Those may become the keys to breaking them."
"I know, I know. You know I'm good at using this kind of thing."
"I'm well aware."
Seongha laughed in agreement, and I laughed too.
"I want to fuck them already."
Looking at the portraits of the female adventurers I had invited into my dungeon, my cock swelled endlessly hard.
Steel ripped through flesh. Death shrieks tore through the trees as our party's weapons found their marks.
After a brief skirmish with the monsters, we caught our breath and looked over the ones that had fallen.
"I was so tense because I'd never seen monsters like these before — but come on. They're ridiculously weak!"
Gael slung his sword over his shoulder, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
"They're weak, sure, but they look disgusting, nyang. They've got four limbs like a human, but... it's like they were only half-finished, nyang. I hate making this comparison, but it's like a baby that came out of the womb before it was done growing, nyang."
Ki-ana poked at one of the corpses with her dagger as she spoke. My friend's comparison was a bit graphic, but I had to admit I agreed with what she meant. They weren't... exactly easy on the eyes.
Most monsters look grotesque to us, of course, but these ones had a particularly strong impression of it. If I had to put it into words, it was as if the monsters were trying to imitate human beings.
"Don't let your guard down. There could be other monsters besides these."
"Well... setting aside the matter of letting our guard down, we haven't actually seen any monsters besides these, so it's hard to say. Truth be told, the wild animals we've run into here and there have been more of a threat than these things..."
Serena's warning drew everyone's attention back to alertness, and Brom scratched his head as he answered. The rest of us, myself included, found ourselves agreeing with him — and a small doubt crept in along with it.
The village chief had clearly said there were several kinds of monsters in this forest. And yet so far we had only encountered a single type. Had he been mistaken? Or had we simply not run into the others yet?
"Whatever~ All we have to do is take the money and go, nyang~."
Ki-ana hummed to herself as she sliced the ears off the monsters, collecting them for the quest's additional bounty.
"Hmm..."
Serena, on the other hand, seemed to have something nagging at her, and had fallen into thought. She was the one who had taken a large sum of money and given the villagers her word. Now that the quest was turning out to be far less than we'd expected, I think she was weighing whether the pay we'd received was truly justified. I felt the same way.
"Um, Sere— huh?"
I had been about to tell her what I was thinking when something caught my eye. At my puzzled reaction, everyone else's gazes followed.
"...A cave?"
Rene was the first to speak.
"No way...! It's a dungeon, nyang?!"
Ki-ana was next. She pulled out a map, confirmed there were no special markings anywhere in this part of the forest, and then her eyes lit up.
"It's a hidden dungeon, nyang!! We're the first ones to find it, nyang!"
She bounced up and down on the spot, utterly delighted. The rest of the party stared in astonishment.
A hidden dungeon meant an unexplored dungeon — one the world had not yet discovered. That dungeons accumulated items and riches was common knowledge. The first to find one held the right to attempt its conquest before anyone else, which meant that if we cleared it, every last treasure and artifact inside would be ours alone. Given that Ki-ana had her reasons for caring so much about money, it was only natural she'd be bouncing around with excitement.
"A dungeon...? In a place like this?"
Serena rested her fingers against her chin, looking dubious. Her reaction stirred the same doubt in me, and I found myself glancing around.
We had followed the fleeing monsters all the way into the deep heart of the forest. We'd been mapping as we went, so we knew the way back, but... something was... well. Something was off. As if... someone had lured us here.
The thought flashed through my mind, absurd as it was.
"What are you hesitating for, nyang! Let's go already, nyang! It's still daylight, nyang!!"
Ki-ana called out to Serena, who was still hanging back. Serena shook her head.
"We're in the middle of a quest right now, Ki-ana. Let's go after we finish this job."
"Are you crazy, nyang?!"
Ki-ana nearly leapt out of her skin at Serena's answer. Then an opinion came from an unexpected quarter.
"T-this is just a possibility, but... what if the monsters came from the dungeon...? If that's the case... then clearing the dungeon might actually... be for the sake of the village... people..."
It was Rene. She offered her thoughts carefully, in a faltering voice, and for a moment everyone looked surprised. Then Brom stroked his chin and spoke.
"That does make sense. It's rare, but there are cases where monsters emerge from dungeons. And even if they don't, having a dungeon near the village isn't a good thing."
With Brom adding his voice as well, Serena closed her mouth, her face sinking into deep thought.
"You heard that, nyang~!? C'mon, let's go, nyang!! The money's waiting for us, nyang!!"
Ki-ana shook Serena's arm, urging her along. The rest of us watched Serena and waited for her decision. She deliberated, then let out a short breath.
"Hahh... Fine. Let's go. But we're only checking the entrance, and if things look bad, we pull out immediately. Understood? This isn't for conquering the dungeon. This is for the village people. Keep that in mind."
"Got it, nyang!"
Serena's tone was firm as she spoke to Ki-ana, who had been staring at her with impatient eyes — but Ki-ana, for the moment, seemed simply thrilled, even her tail swaying as she beamed.
"Think there'll be any pretty girls in the dungeon? Or maybe a pretty monster?"
Once it was decided we would go in, Gael said it in a teasing voice. Serena and Ki-ana both turned on him with looks of pure contempt. Rene, from within her robe, was staring at him with a wordless expression of disgust. And as for me, the last of the women...
"I... don't think so, Gael..."
I gave a weak little laugh and ended up saying something a bit unkind. He looked a little stunned — I don't think he'd expected even me to react.
"Alright, let's move out, nyang!!"
True to her role as a thief, Ki-ana took point at the front of the party to scout ahead. As we all followed behind her, I could feel the excitement running through the group. Nobody was letting it show, but I think everyone was in high spirits after finding a hidden dungeon.
Truth be told... my heart was beating a little faster too. No. A lot faster.
A soft clink. I tightened my grip on my staff and steeled myself. I drew a short breath, and stepped forward.
Dungeon conquest.
It begins.