Dragon-san Wants a Friend

Volume 3 Chapter 12: The Spirits Conquer the Dungeon

The new dungeon that was discovered recently was located at the foot of the Sendere Mountains, visible from Melias.

The dungeon itself was spread beneath the whole mountain range, and all of its mechanisms were still perfectly in operation, such as traps, automatic repair system and the automated guardians. It was as though time has stopped in this place.

It was truly a rare case to find a dungeon that was so well preserved.

And thanks to new passages and materials being discovered almost on a daily basis, this dungeon here was currently the most popular spot in all of Hesat.

Even though it wasn’t that long since its discovery, there was already a whole town developed around the dungeon’s entrance, and there was already a Guild branch erected there to support the Adventurers going inside of it. There were also shops and workshops selling tools and weapons necessary in Adventuring, as well as various information brokers.

Overall, the dungeon was a place that attracted all kinds of people, swallowing the reckless and fortune-hungry, and tempting the rest with promises of fame, riches and Heroic deeds just waiting behind every corner.

Nectar was slowly walking through the upper floors of the dungeon, illuminating his way with a magical light emanating for his staff.

Nectar, who was scouting the rooms ahead with magic, suddenly opened his eyes.

「Found them. On the right there is one golem, and about four gargoyles on the left. They are aware of our presence. Contact in about twenty seconds.」

「Understood.」

「Roger that.」

Twenty seconds later, the guardians of the dungeon got caught up in the magical trap that Nectar deployed some time earlier.

As soon as the slow moving golem was stopped in its tracks, the four gargoyles rushed in front of it.

But Senjiro was even faster than the gargoyles, jumping right in the middle of them and cutting through all of their joints with his sword in a few swift strikes.

They tried to crush Senjiro by swinging their tails at him, but just then Kyle blew them all right into the wall.

「Kyle, we want to collect some materials from them, so try to kill them in a little more gentle fashion, okay?」

「I know, but it’s hard to damage them in any other way than a brutal force!」

「But Senjiro-san is somehow managing to do just that.」

Senjiro in question was getting busy with slicing and dicing the gargoyles with his sword into huge pieces. His ears twitched slightly upon hering Nectar’s words.

「I get it, I get it, okay!」

Kyle pulled back his hammer that he used to crush the gargoyles into the wall and pulled out his own staff, chanting up the spell in the ancient language.

「Electrocute!」

He swung his staff at the gargoyles, and when it touched them, a grid of lightning began to surge through their bodies.

The gargoyles then all fell onto the ground, and after a few seconds Nectar slowly raised his hand.

「Let’s just hope that there weren’t any damage done to their internal part!」

「Relax, it was only a a short burst of lightning. Their insides should be more or less untouched.」

「Nectar-dono, the golem!」

Hearing that, Nectar immediately began to chant the spell, while Kyle and Senjiro focused on evading the attacks of the golem that managed to get out of the magical trap.

「Ice Prison!」

The battle ended in the next few seconds, when the golem’s body was trapped inside a huge cone of ice.

Although they managed to emerge from the dungeon with piles of top quality loot, Nectar’s face was far from being happy.

「Umm, I was wondering, but why are we searching through the dungeon while Lava is in the same country?」

「It is for the sake of investigating the monster activity. And we are here since this dungeon is currently the most popular one.」

「I know that, but this dungeon seems like there is nothing out of the ordinary in there. Even if we go really deep, there are just normal monsters and guardians…… So wouldn’t it be quicker to do our job and just rejoin Lava in whatever is she currently doing? Don’t you think so, too, Sen-san?」

「I’m terribly sorry, but I wasn’t paying attention. What were we talking about, again?」

Senjiro was currently looking at the stone entrance to the dungeon, and only when he was directly addressed by Kyle his ears twitched and he turned around.

「No, it’s nothing. Please pay it no mind.」

Nectar shook his head as he said that, realizing that Senjiro was inside of his own little world throughout the vast part of their conversation.

Additionally, Kyle seemed to look depressed as well.

「In the past, the work tended to be so rough that I could only meet with Lava about once a month. The situation right now is not all that much different from how it was back then.」

「But, it’s not like you can’t go and see each other. And what about Aru? Do you really think it’s alright to just……?」

「You, for some reason I get the feeling that your character got much worse after you died, you know?」

Beeing irritated by Nectar’s comment, Kyle turned towards Senjiro.

「But I’ve gotta say, I was surprised just how well synchronized you two were. You were really going at those monsters without being caught in Nectar’s spells.」

「It is because we used to go to the dungeons together in the past. We know just how they work, and since Nectar-dono’s spells are always very accurate, I can focus on fighting and let him support me.」

「There are many good teams out there, but when you are constantly hitting your allies with friendly fire you cannot really hope to accomplish anything.」

「Oh, is that so?」

Kyle smiled, hearing something like that for the first time.

「It is a rather common practice to make sure that your aim is just right when you’re firing magic projectiles. In the past, way too many people died as a direct result of friendly fire. That’s why Belga and I were really careful, couldn’t you tell?」

「I was just thinking that you were being considerate of your teammates…… But speaking of which, it seems like you think really highly of that partner of yours you just mentioned, right?」

Next, Senjiro asked Kyle while cocking his head to the side.

「Kyle-dono, who is this Belga person that you just spoke of?」

「Hm, oh, yeah, right, she was my wife. We used to be magicians serving in the same squad.」

「In other words……」

「No need to worry about it. You must have noticed it already. That I’m not wearing my ring anymore.」

Nectar added softly.

「According to Lava, it is a possibility that Belga’s soul might one day come back to this world and be reborn. So there might be someone out there with Belga’s memories inside of them.」

「It’s not that I’m having high hopes for that, but if it is indeed true, I would like to meet that person, even if it was only once.」

Kyle was looking into the distance for some time, but then he turned towards Senjiro who was shaking his tail.

「That’s right, you also remember your previous life from before coming here and meeting Lily, right? What was it like?」

「It’s hard to put into words. To be honest, I don’t possess anything like actual memories, but it more like ‘feelings’ or ‘impressions. And when I am with Ligurila, I get this strange feeling of nostalgia going on.」

Senjiro puts his hand to his chest, as if trying to remember this particular feeling.

「I felt this strange warmth inside of my chest. Something in my gut was telling me that she was the one, the one woman I was looking for my whole life. Noct-dono said to me that it was the feeling of love, one that would endure almost any kind of hardship. That’s why I didn’t like the tow of them spending so much time together in the beginning. Now I know it was jealousy. But honestly, I don’t think it was so bad of a feeling.」

Having said all that, Nectar and Kyle were overwhelmed by the amount of depth coming from Senjiro’s words, who now got all shy and bothered, and what followed was a long period of awkward silence.

Finally, Nectar made up his mind and opened his mouth, saying with just a little bit of envy in his voice.

「Lava knows Lily way longer than she knows me, you know? And I feel jealous that Lily knows things about Lava that I will probably never get to know.」

「I see, it so basically it is a special kind of connection that only dragons and demons can have. Have you ever tired asking here about it, Nectar?」

「This is, umm…… There are some things I got to know.」

Saying that, Senjiro smiled wryly and continued where Nectar left off.

「Ligurila-dono often used to challenge Lava-dono to duels to see which one of them is stronger, but more often than not they were unable to determine the victor, so they had to postpone the duels and have rematches.」

「So Lily was like that long time ago, huh?」

And just like that, when no one had any more wise words to say, the three men finally arrived at the Hunters Guild.

When they stepped inside, there were loud whispers from all around them.

「Those three are yet again stocked full on materials from the dungeon.」

「And they have so many of them!」

「And those materials are all high quality. I have heard from someone who happened to see them that they can only be obtained from the most difficult monsters inside of the dungeon.」

「Just how powerful those guys are……?」

While everyone were talking like that, Kyle went ahead to the counter, where the they could cash in today’s findings.

「We have found a new isle on the sixteenth floor and a hidden room on the fourteenth. Could you please put the according information about them?」

Upon hearing those words, everyone present went basically speechless.

This dungeon –– aptly named Sendere Dungeon –– was infamous from the fact that the lower you go inside of it, the more ferocious the monsters were becoming. Traps were becoming more deadly and the level of skills you needed to survive was also much higher.

Therefore, only first ten levels of the dungeon were completely captured and mapped to this date.

That is, until those three came in.

As soon as they received a permit to enter a few days ago, that magician and his companions managed to come to the tenth floor with frightening ease.

Not only that, but on the very next day they managed to reach the eleventh floor and even managed to defeat the floor’s main guardian with only three people. Ever since then, they were exploring the dungeon at the pace that no one could possibly catch up to.

However, they weren’t interested in material gathering in the slightest. They would just defeat all the monsters, and if they find any hidden room they would basically leave it to other Hunters and the Guild to take care of.

It seems that their purpose was to only conquer the dungeon.

Hunters were always drawn to the perspective of filling their pockets with lots of gold and becoming famous, even if it was only a temporary kind of fame, and having their names known throughout the land.

「Thank you very much for everything! Well then, we shall go back now!」

「What are you going to do now, guys?」

Kyle looks back at the receptionist who saluted them and asked them that since they managed to complete the request, and it was then that Senjiro stepped forward.

「I would do exactly the same, so if you can confirm it, go for it.」

「Alright then, I will go back to the city.」

「I understand.」

Then Nectar separated from the others and went into of the city.