Chapter 122 (1/2)

Volume 2

Chapter 123

Ch 123 — A Small Problem at the Dungeon Entrance

Fer and Dora-chan headed off towards Doran’s dungeon with me following behind carrying Sui in her bag . Elland-san had given us simple directions, go out the gate we had come in, follow the city wall to the right and we’d arrive at the dungeon entrance .

About 500 meters from the gate we reached a place where a lot of people were gathered . There was what seemed to be a marketplace with stalls and small stores selling all sorts of food, goods, weapons and the like . What I took to be the entrance to the dungeon was surrounded by a stone wall with an opening guarded by two knights in armour .

“This looks like it . ” I said, looking around . It wasn’t like the small dungeon Fer had dragged me into to face Kobolds and such, that had been a simple cave entrance out in the countryside . This was, well, organised, almost like a business operation .

“Umu, no doubt about it . ” Fer said, licking his lips, his eyes focussed on the opening .

There was a long line of Adventurers at the gateway waiting to enter the dungeon . Next to them was a small building and as I watched more Adventurers came out of the building’s doorway and joined the end of the queue . Elland-san had mentioned in passing that there was a branch office of the Adventurers Guild where Adventurers were required to register otherwise they would be refused entry to the dungeon . That building was presumably the branch office .

“It seems we can’t enter the dungeon unless I register at the branch of that Adventurers Guild so we’ll have to go through there first . ” I said as I led the way into the building . Inside there were three windows and I stepped up to one that was not in use .

“Excuse me, I’d like to register please . ” I said to the receptionist, handing her my Guild card .

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“Yes, dungeon entrance registration, oh, would you be the Tamer, Mukouda-sama? We’ve been expecting you . ” the receptionist said .

Tamer, me? Expected? Huh? What?

“Oh, I’m sorry . ” the receptionist hurried to explain, seeing my confused face . “We were informed by our colleagues in the Adventurers Guild in the city that a certain strong Adventurer named Mukouda-sama accompanied by his Tame contracted monsters was expected to come here, wishing to enter the dungeon . ”

Eeh, really? Being expected like this was kind of troubling . . .

“Well, in my case, it’s not me that’s really strong but my contracted monsters . ” I explained . I was no match for Fer or Dora-chan or even Sui, really .

“Despite what you say, Mukouda-sama, they are part of your party’s assessed strength and are counted as such by the Guild . ” the receptionist explained . “Moving on, I see you don’t have much baggage with you . Is that right?”

Baggage? How was that a problem? The receptionist noticed my expression and continued .

“Perhaps this is the first time Mukouda-sama has planned to enter a dungeon?” Well, there was that time a certain Someone, I glanced down at Fer pretending to sleep beside me, dragged me unwillingly into a small dungeon to level-up my Earth Magic against a horde of Goblins and Kobolds but this was my, well our first big dungeon .

When I nodded, the receptionist explained that certain preparations were necessary to enter Doran’s dungeon since even a short journey exploring only the upper reaches of the dungeon would take at least three days . A full exploration of a large dungeon with many floors like this one might take up to a month depending on the abilities of the Adventurers in question . Collecting valuable drops meant a lot of searching, defusing traps and locating hidden passages and that added to the time spent underground, not to mention the encounters with various monsters along the way . There were no convenient supply points or places to obtain food etc . in the dungeon either thus any party of Adventurers had to take sufficient supplies with them to support themselves . Indeed, parties sometimes failed to come back out of the dungeon having perished there — it was not an uncommon story for such parties to have run out of food if they were insufficiently provisioned .

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“The street vendors and shops in the market outside sell preserved food and other essentials for Adventurers who are intending to enter the dungeon . There are also maps of varying accuracy covering the first fifteen levels for sale . If you go beyond the fifteenth level you have to be much more careful, of course, but taking sufficient food with you is a basic necessity . ”

I see . I asked if we couldn’t get our own food in the dungeon such as meat from monsters but it depended on them dropping meat randomly after they were subjugated — dungeons absorbed the monsters killed within them, I recalled from my own combat experience in the small dungeon a certain Someone had dragged me into . Rather than relying on lucky drops it seemed better to prepare enough food to take with us before we entered the dungeon in the first place . That sounded like the proper thing to do, I agreed . Safety first, after all .

The helpful receptionist went on to tell me that this dungeon consisted of thirty floors . One high-ranked Adventurer party was fighting on the 22nd floor at the moment, well ahead of all the other Adventurers currently exploring the dungeon but it had never been totally conquered . It seems that there had been a party of particularly strong Adventurers which had almost conquered the dungeon in the distant past . The receptionist’s description of that party’s members suggested to me that Doran’s Guild Master, Elland-san had been one of them along with his companion Rodolpho-san who was of course now Claire’s Guild Master . They had apparently reached the last floor’s final room and discovered the Last Boss was a Behemoth . They discussed what to do before entering the room and triggering the boss fight and sensibly chose to make a strategic withdrawal at that point . Wise decision, Elland-san, Rodolpho-san, I agreed . A Behemoth, brrrr . . . that was a top-rated Last Boss in many games .

“Huh, a Behemoth? That might be fun . ” Fer’s intrigued thought resonated in my head as I saw his ears prick up at the receptionist’s words .

“Fer, the words ‘fun’ and ‘Behemoth’ don’t go together,” I answered him telepathically but I feared that a flag had been raised .

I considered what the receptionist had told us . Fer and Dora-chan had rushed off here ready to enter the dungeon right away but it seemed we weren’t actually ready to do so . We’d have to go back to the inn and return here later . I was fairly confident Fer and Dora-chan (and Sui-chan too) could deal with any strong enemies within the dungeon but we had to eat . Our real enemy would be hunger and the only weapon I had to defeat that kind of boss monster was cooked food .

In the worst case we wouldn’t starve because I had Net Super but I couldn’t use it in front of other Adventurers we might encounter in the dungeon . For that reason I’d have to make lots of food beforehand and store it in my Item Box before we entered, I decided .

“Excuse me,” I said to the receptionist, “but we won’t be entering the dungeon today . Listening to your explanation made it clear our preparations are insufficient and we need to take some time to get ready . You have been most helpful, thank you . ”