Chapter 16: Chapter 16. A Taste of the Dungeon (1)

“The weekend starts tomorrow, right? Finally, a break.”

Kane stretched as he spoke after our afternoon lecture.

“Eriol, what are you doing this weekend?”

“Reading.”

“…”

We had lectures Monday through Friday, with no lectures on Saturdays and Sundays.

But having no lectures didn’t mean we could spend the whole day resting. We had a fair amount of free time now, but apparently, as we progressed through the academy, the work would pile up until even our weekends were busy.

“What about you twins?”

“Hmm. I’m planning to climb a mountain. Want to come?”

“I promised some friends we’d look around the shopping district. It’s just us girls. Want to tag along?”

“Damn it…”

Kane slumped at Karis’s and Milia’s answers.

“Oh, what about you, Senia?”

“I’m planning to review our lessons and study ahead.”

“You’re such a model student! Studying on your precious weekend!”

“But there’s so much difficult material…”

“How boring…”

Getting no promising answer from Senia either, Kane heaved a sigh.

“Hey, Eriol. Come out and have some fun with me this weekend. You’re not going to spend two whole days doing nothing but reading, are you?”

“I am going to spend two whole days doing nothing but reading.”

“Oh, come on… How can you spend your precious weekend like that?”

“Why should I spend my precious weekend going out with you?”

“That’s harsh!”

While we were talking…

Several people strode into the classroom, where everyone was getting ready to leave.

“Who’s that?”

“Aren’t those the Lore Department’s teaching assistants?”

They were people we sometimes saw during lectures.

“Quite a few of you are still here.”

The male assistant who looked the oldest stepped onto the teaching platform and surveyed the students.

“This is short notice, but the Lore Department will be holding a special hands-on event this weekend.”

A special hands-on event.

The unexpected announcement set the students murmuring.

“You should thank Professor Klein for arranging this opportunity for you. The event has been prepared especially for the top class, so I suggest you don’t miss it.”

What sort of event could warrant all this?

“Anyone interested should gather in front of Entrance Three of Labyrinthos tomorrow at nine in the morning! We in the Lore Department will give you a taste of the dungeon!”

Labyrinthos.

At that name, the students erupted.

“Labyrinthos?”

“They’re letting us into the dungeon?”

“Isn’t that dangerous? We haven’t had any training for it yet.”

“If the Lore Department’s mages are coming with us, we’ll be fine!”

“I can’t miss this! I’m definitely going!”

Amid the excited students, I closed the book I had open.

Labyrinthos…

Labyrinthos was the dungeon beneath the academy.

It was a vast underground complex believed to have been built by a civilization from the remote past. The academy itself had begun as a group of mages investigating this dungeon.

Hundreds of years had passed since its discovery, but the survey was still incomplete. Even today, many mages ventured inside to explore it.

It’s full of dangerous traps and monsters, but you can find rare materials and ancient relics unavailable anywhere outside…

Had this been any other event, I probably wouldn’t have been particularly interested.

But Labyrinthos was the setting for numerous adventure novels.

In particular… it was the main setting of one of my favorite series, Memoirs of Labyrinth Exploration.

I get to see the setting of those novels with my own eyes.

My heart fluttered with excitement.

This was a chance to experience the world’s greatest underground dungeon, a place that appeared so often in fiction. It would be worth spending a day of my weekend on it.

It’ll make the books feel more vivid when I read them afterward, too… I should go.

---

The next morning.

Almost everyone in the top class had gathered in front of Entrance Three.

Even Karis and Milia, who had said they had other plans, were there.

“It looks as though everyone’s here.”

Professor Klein appeared with his teaching assistants in tow.

“As you know, the Lore Department seeks to carry on the magical legacy of the past. As such, we play a considerable role in exploring Labyrinthos.”

“…”

“Labyrinthos is believed to have been built by a civilization from the remote past… one that existed before our known history. We sometimes excavate relics that, despite clearly being ancient, outperform modern artifacts. Studying them to uncover the true nature of that civilization is another of our department’s goals.”

Klein, who had been speaking as though giving a lecture, paused and smiled.

“But you needn’t concern yourselves with any of that today. Enjoy the world’s largest dungeon to your hearts’ content—this thrilling underground world full of mysteries. We mages of the Lore Department will guarantee your safety. Understood?”

“Yes!”

Klein nodded at the students’ resounding reply.

“Then we’ll enter the upper levels through Entrance Three. Follow me in two columns.”

Klein took the lead, and we headed inside under the assistants’ guidance.

“Wow…!”

The students cried out in wonder.

An immense underground space had opened up before us.

“It looks like a natural limestone cave, but we’ve already established that it was artificially constructed. They disguised the entrance as an ordinary limestone cave to conceal the fact that this was an artificial facility.”

“For an ordinary limestone cave…”

“It’s far too beautiful and grand.”

We couldn’t help being overwhelmed by the enormous limestone cavern.

A bluish light seeped in from somewhere, beautifully tinting the giant stalactites.

“Groundwater flows in here, so many areas are submerged. The ground elsewhere is also wet and slippery, so keep to the installed walkways.”

“P-Professor! I think something moved over there, in that lake-like area!”

“A monster. It won’t come out of the water, but don’t approach it. If you slip and fall in, you’ll have a hard time getting out alive.”

“…!”

Peering over, I saw a red fish the size of a person swimming in the water.

The water didn’t look particularly deep. It was strange that something so large could live there.

I don’t know what that is. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it in a monster guide.

I had read all sorts of monster guides, but few covered aquatic monsters in detail.

Could it be a monster found only in Labyrinthos?

As I watched it, lost in thought, I sensed someone beside me.

Senia was looking at my face and smiling.

“What is it?”

“Oh, n-nothing.”

Senia blushed when I looked at her.

“It’s just surprising to see you interested in something other than books, Eriol.”

“What kind of person do you take me for…?”

“Y-you’re right. Ahaha…”

As we were talking, Kane spoke up beside us.

“No, this really is fascinating. Even someone who wasn’t interested would be captivated by this view.”

Kane looked around in wonder.

“It really is a mysterious place. I never knew anything like this existed.”

“Yeah… I agree.”

I nodded.

I had imagined it many times while reading, but the reality was far more magnificent than anything I’d pictured.

Is this why people make pilgrimages?

As that thought crossed my mind, I heard Klein’s voice.

“The area we’re walking through now is part of the ‘upper levels.’”

Klein raised a hand as he spoke.

“The term ‘upper levels’ refers to areas where mages have completed the basic work of ‘clearing’ the dungeon. We’ve finished mapping them and identified all the monsters and traps present. We’ve also installed paths, stairs, ladders, and so on, along with shelters here and there to take refuge in during emergencies.”

“…”

“But that doesn’t mean the upper levels are safe. There are countless dangerous areas even here, and a considerable number of people are killed or injured every year.”

As we continued through the limestone cavern, even the bluish light seeping in from somewhere disappeared, leaving us in darkness.

Without the assistants conjuring magical lights, we wouldn’t have been able to see a thing in front of us.

“Look up and to your right.”

Looking right as instructed, we saw an iron fence.

“There’s a goblin settlement in that direction.”

“Goblins…!”

Goblins were bipedal monsters that mainly lived in caves.

They often attacked humans, so they were a common presence in adventure novels.

“That fence was installed to keep the goblins out of this area. Without it, we would have come under attack by now.”

“Professor, aren’t goblins weak monsters?”

One of the students raised a hand to ask.

“I understand they’re smaller and physically weaker than humans.”

“Do we really need such a large fence to keep goblins out?”

The other students seemed to share that opinion.

But Klein snorted.

“You’ve all been reading too many adventure novels.”

“Pardon?”

“Goblins are certainly weak. Even if hundreds attacked me, I could wipe them out with a flick of a finger. And if you fought a goblin in a one-on-one duel, you would ‘usually’ win.”

“Then…”

“But if you entered this area without us… and encountered an equal number of goblins, there would be a ninety-nine percent chance of your entire group being wiped out.”

“…!”

The students were startled.

A ninety-nine percent chance of being wiped out by goblins, the monsters portrayed as the weakest of all in novels? They must have found that hard to square with what they knew.

“Why might that be? Who would like to answer?”

At Klein’s question, one student’s hand shot up.

“Because we have no combat experience, but the goblins do!”

“Hmm. Can you elaborate?”

“Goblins could be called veteran warriors, having fought fiercely against other monsters to survive in the dungeon! We might win in a simple contest of strength, but that wouldn’t be the case in a real fight!”

The students nearby were impressed by that answer.

“Yes. Adventure novels portray goblins as weak monsters to be dispatched early in the story. But in real combat, they’re quite a threat.”

When Klein nodded, the student who had answered looked proud.

“But that isn’t the answer I was looking for.”

“Pardon?”

“Does anyone have another answer?”

Leaving the bewildered student unanswered, Klein swept his gaze over the others.

Apparently, he intended to wait here until someone gave him the right answer.

“…”

I glanced at Kane and Senia, but both were deep in thought.

They could probably have answered confidently if this had been about fighting humans. Since the question concerned monsters, it seemed they needed time to think.

I suppose I have no choice…

Somewhat reluctantly, I raised my hand and spoke.

“Because they’re good at hide-and-seek.”

“Hide-and-seek?”

A murmur ran through the students at my answer.

Some even burst out laughing.

“An interesting comparison, Eriol Valencia.”

But Klein was looking at me with a serious expression.

“Could you explain in more detail? So that every student here can understand.”