Chapter 214

“Coming at an hour like this—must’ve been tiring for you…”

“My apologies for arriving so late at night. One room for the three of us, please. As for our stay… yes, let’s say five days to start with.”

“That’s perfectly fine. We hardly ever get visitors from outside anyway. It’s actually nice to have some excitement for once.”

After arriving at the inn, we left the carriage in their care and were shown to our room.
At 3,000 rix per night per person—9,000 rix for the three of us—it did seem rather pricey, but given how remote this village was and how few people ever came by, it was probably inevitable that prices would be a bit higher in order to earn foreign currency.

That said, it raised another question: why did so few people come here when there was a dungeon nearby?

In the room we’d been shown to, we discussed exactly that.

“Simply getting to this village takes a lot of time, and perhaps the dungeon itself just isn’t very profitable,” 

Sheele suggested. 

“It’s possible the artifacts found there aren’t particularly valuable.”

“I see… I guess that also means there probably aren’t any shrimp monsters either.” 

Melt said. 

“And maybe no big shrimp you can eat.”

“Hahaha… yeah, I doubt there are any aquatic monsters here,” 

I replied. 

“Let’s turn in early tonight and check out the guild tomorrow.”

A quiet village.
No sound of waves—only the occasional call of an owl or some other creature from the nearby forest. An inn nestled deep within the woods.

It was about as perfect an environment for a good night’s sleep as you could ask for.

The next morning, we decided to properly greet the innkeeper.

Since we’d arrived so late the night before, it felt only right to go over our stay again and ask about the inn’s details.

“Morning. You said five days last night—are you planning to extend your stay?”

“That depends. We came to challenge the dungeon near this village, so if it takes longer, our stay may be extended.”

Sheele explained.

“I see. That’s rare. The dungeon here isn’t very popular, you know… Only real eccentrics try to clear it all the way. For now, let’s keep it at five days. The fee is what you paid yesterday, and breakfast is included. As for bathing, there’s a communal bathhouse in the village. If you show the token proving you’re staying here, you can use it for free anytime.”

“That’s very helpful. So we’ll have breakfast here, then?”

“Of course. It’s nothing fancy, but help yourselves.”

Free access to the communal bathhouse was surprisingly generous.
We headed to the dining area on the first floor, where we were served breakfast: one freshly baked round loaf of bread each, vegetable soup, scrambled eggs, and milk.

“This bread has nuts kneaded into it!” 

Melt exclaimed. 

“It smells amazing!”

“The soup is delicious too,” 

Sheele said. 

“The sweetness of the carrots really comes through.”

“…Yeah, both the bread and soup are good,” 

I agreed.

While enjoying what was practically the definition of a classic breakfast, we revisited the topic of why the village’s dungeon was so unpopular. Once again, we came back to the conclusion that the rewards probably didn’t justify the effort—but was that really all there was to it?

After finishing breakfast, we headed out toward what we assumed would be the village’s explorers’ guild, likely near the entrance. We strolled leisurely through the village in the early morning.

The sight of leaves on the surrounding trees sparkling with morning dew was refreshing, and the air we breathed was pleasantly humid, filled with the scent of woodlands. It was the kind of morning that made you think, This really is a good place to wake up.

“It’s so quiet,” 

Melt said. 

“Is everyone in the village still asleep?”

“I see a few people heading into the forest,” 

I replied. 

“They’re carrying axes—maybe they really do make a living through forestry, just like Sheele guessed.”

“Looks like it,” 

Sheele said. 

“Ah, there it is. ‘Mouldarm Explorers’ Guild,’ apparently.”

As befitted a small village, the guild building was only slightly larger than an ordinary house. There was no sign of crowds, but perhaps that was just because it was early.

When we stepped inside, the guild hall was indeed empty—there wasn’t even a staff member in sight.

“Excuse me! Is anyone here?” 

I called out from behind the counter.

From deeper inside, a sleepy-sounding voice replied.

“Yeees—coming!”

Maybe it really was too early. In Lindblum, the guild was open 24 hours, and while this building itself was unlocked, perhaps we’d come at an awkward time.

“Yes, yes—how can I help you?”

“Sorry for the trouble. We’ve come from outside the village to challenge the dungeon here.”

“Oh my! Really!?”

The woman who appeared looked exactly like a chatty middle-aged lady. Judging by her reaction, people coming to challenge this dungeon really were a rare sight.

“Let’s see… your ranks—so one of you is Red Copper. In that case, I’ll need you to take on a few requests for the village first. Is that all right? Of course, you could attempt the dungeon with only the Silver-ranked members, but…”

Her voice dropped slightly at the words “only the Silver-ranked members.”

…So there was something she wanted us to accomplish.

“That’s no problem at all,” 

I said. 

“We’re happy to take on requests. If there’s anything we can do to help and learn about the area, please let us know.”

“Really!? Thank you! The branch manager isn’t here right now, so for now, could you take a look at the requests posted on the board and complete any you think you can handle?”

“Is there a specific number we need to complete before we’re allowed to challenge the dungeon?”

“That depends on the manager’s judgment, honestly. But as you can see, hardly anyone comes here to take requests, so even non-urgent ones have piled up…”

I turned toward the bulletin board.
It was practically buried under a mountain of posted requests.

“Melt, Sheele, could you take a look and pick out some suitable ones?” 

I said. 

“I’ll handle the paperwork.”

“Understood. I’ll shortlist a few,” 

Sheele replied.

“I’ll gather some we can probably do all at once,” 

Melt added.

While they examined the board, I signed the documents at the counter—a contract stating that we would engage in completing village requests in exchange for permission to explore the dungeon. Of course, it was a contract we could terminate at any time.

And if a village ever tried to exploit us unfairly… well, they’d receive appropriate retaliation.

“Once you’ve chosen the requests, come back to accept them,” 

The receptionist said.

“This is a huge help. The last time explorers or adventurers came here was about half a year ago.”

“…Why is this dungeon so unpopular?” 

I finally asked.

It had been bothering me for a while. For it to be this unpopular, there had to be a solid reason. Even if the rewards were mediocre, clearing a dungeon should still yield a core or something. Yet no one came.

“Well, it can’t be helped. It’s been eighteen years since the dungeon appeared, and no one has ever reached the deepest level. That’s how difficult it is. And despite that, the monsters don’t drop anything particularly valuable, nor does the dungeon yield any special materials. It takes too many days and too many supplies for too little gain, so people just stopped trying.”

“So the difficulty is that high…”

“Exactly. There aren’t many other dungeons in this area either. It’s probably heavily influenced by the Forbidden Zone dungeon nearby.”

And with that, the mystery surrounding Mouldarm’s forgotten dungeon grew just a little clearer.

“Hmm… the influence of the Forbidden Zone dungeon…? Is this about how dungeons work?”

I thought it might be a good idea to look up some materials on it later.

For now, I decided to ask the receptionist what exactly that meant—

“I don’t really understand it myself, but that’s what they say. Many of the dungeons in this country were created by the overflow of power from three massive dungeons. Their energy spills over and gives birth to smaller- and medium-sized dungeons.” 

“I see… thank you for the valuable information. We’ll go check out the requests, then.”

Hmm… perhaps the natural large dungeons of the Dusterfil continent, if left alone, would have eventually given rise to smaller dungeons like in this country. If that’s the case, the dungeons on this continent must have existed since ancient times.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Did you find any suitable requests?”

“Hmm, well, some requests were probably posted a long time ago, like gathering quests for materials that can’t be harvested at this time of year. I filtered those out and collected only the ones feasible for this season,” 

Melt said.

“I focused on requests that might be difficult for ordinary people to handle—mostly tasks like hunting flying monsters or birds, as well as general investigation-type missions,” 

Sheele added.

It seemed the two of them had gone through the various tasks available in the vast forest surrounding the village and compiled them. The total came to seventeen requests. Clearly, a significant backlog had accumulated.

“If we explore the forest, I think we could probably collect all the gathering items in a day or two. The fact that they haven’t been completed yet probably means the collection spots are dangerous—there must be monsters or other threats.” 

Melt noted.

“There are also requests to investigate monster nests and for extermination, so the village might be at risk of attacks.” 

Sheele added.

“Perhaps they also post requests to outsiders. This village seems to have some sort of long-distance communication system.” 

Earlier, while talking to the receptionist, I had noticed a device inside that looked strikingly similar to an old Earth telephone. This suggested some infrastructure for remote communication was in place, whether magical or using some kind of radio waves—it was hard to say.

“All right, let’s start by exploring the forest. I’m excited—this forest is huge! Maybe it reminds me a bit of the one back home? I’m sure we’ll find plenty of springtime treasures to collect!”

“Yes, it looks like there are many requests for harvesting wild vegetables, so let’s gather some for ourselves too.” 

Sheele said.

“Great! And if we collect a lot, maybe we can send some to the inn—they’ll probably be happy,” 

Melt added.

After officially accepting the requests, we entered the forest from the far side of the village. Even though it was a sunny day, it didn’t feel very bright, likely due to the tall, dense trees surrounding us.

Though it was still morning, the forest was already dim.

Yet strangely, it didn’t feel eerie or frightening.

There was only calm and quiet, as if the gentle darkness were protecting us from the harshness of too much light.

Within this gentle twilight, we pressed on.

“This forest feels really strange, doesn’t it? I don’t think it’s that old.” 

Melt observed.

“Hmm… I understand what you mean. It’s as if the large trees grew first, and other plants sprouted later. There aren’t any medium-sized trees, and no vine-like plants seem to be growing.” 

Sheele analyzed.

“Yeah, there are very few plants that would naturally grow together. And these trees themselves are a bit unnatural—the bark feels too soft, not very old… hard but somehow doesn’t match? It’s hard to explain.” 

Melt said.

Since entering the forest, Shire and Melt had been examining the plants with puzzled expressions. They seemed to sense something unusual, a certain unnaturalness in the vegetation. I didn’t notice anything, but clearly their experience in forest life and Shire’s academic expertise made them pick up on it.

“…Could it be that the forest itself is rapidly growing due to the dungeon’s influence?” 

I asked.

“That could be it! The dungeon’s influence… that would explain why the forest feels so strange.” 

Melt said.

“Ah, like the changes around Yasha Island’s seabed or the way the land in Lendia went barren.”

Sheele added.

“Not barren, but maybe there’s some effect causing excessive growth. I don’t know for sure.” 

I clarified.

“The dungeon appeared eighteen years ago, right? We should ask the villagers later if the forest’s changes coincide with that.” 

Sheele said.

And so, within this overly fertile forest, we spent our time gathering materials, hunting, and completing extermination requests.

After a day’s work, the communal bath at the inn would probably feel incredibly good.