It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

If Remia felt like a wildflower that had bloomed but wasn’t tended to, and Sonia was a flower bud that couldn’t fully bloom due to poor health…

Maria was a fully bloomed flower.

While the previous two were quite beautiful, they couldn’t match a genuine beauty who knew she was beautiful and had started to cultivate herself.

Of course, all three paled in comparison to the seductiveness of Scarlet the succubus, but that was in a different league.

‘Now all three have withered.’

Remia by death, Sonia by depression from loss, and Maria by the newly heard loss.

The three beautiful flowers had withered after receiving a great shock.

Yet their beauty remained, and two out of the three had a high possibility of blooming again. However, whether the flower that blooms again will be a bellflower, a sunflower, or a poisonous rose is yet unknown.

Still, they remained flowers.

‘How devoted.’

Perhaps because of this, something that was either a butterfly or a bee was already clinging to her, who was already in full bloom.

The green-haired man who introduced himself as Daniel.

His eyes never left Maria. On the surface, it was concern but rooted deep was affection.

Truly a fresh love.

“Don’t forget to prioritize your body.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll arrive not long after Maria reaches the city anyway. They said it’s only about a day’s distance from here.”

“Right. I suppose so.”

That love not only watered Maria, who was about to wither but also seemed to try to make her bloom even healthier.

Whether she could properly bloom again depended on what was to come…

Anyway, it was pleasant to see for now.

“…”

As Daniel, who had conversed with Maria like that, looked at me again, I bowed my head, pretending not to know anything. The man flinched and turned his head away as before.

He seems to be skilled at the advanced level but not yet a veteran in terms of experience.

Well, he’s still young, after all.

Although I wasn’t paying attention, it seemed Maria couldn’t help but notice.

“Please forgive his rudeness, Miss Angelita.”

“Pardon?”

“Adventurers and mercenaries often have experiences of being betrayed by people, so they don’t trust people easily.”

“Ah, I see. It’s fine. I don’t mind.”

“Even so…”

“Really, it’s alright.”

“…Thank you.”

When I casually took her hand and smiled comfortingly, Maria bowed her head in gratitude and moved away.

Her shoulders still looked powerless.

Trudge trudge…

The journey to Solemio that started again like this was much quieter than when it was just Sonia and me. It’s natural when two out of five maintain silence throughout.

Perhaps that’s why.

The voices of the two adventurers who came with Maria sounded particularly loud the next day.

“But in this case, is the request a failure?”

“No, it’s a success. Just bringing that young lady back safely is enough.”

“Ah, I see.”

Maria, who was at the lead, seemed to pretend not to hear and just kept walking, but there’s no way she didn’t hear the words that were clearly audible to me at the back.

Although I was a Dungeon Lord and had become quite stronger than before, I still couldn’t match a high-ranking adventurer.

Yet she kept walking normally.

Until she heard this.

“This is what they call an act of God. Even in such a remote area, it’s not common for novice adventurers to die in a dungeon that has just appeared. You could say they had really rotten luck.”

“Is it okay to say that?”

“Uh, um…”

“You two. Watch your mouths.”

“Yes, ma’am!!”

The two adventurers stopped chatting only after Maria, who had momentarily stopped in her tracks, warned them.

Although she might not say anything at this moment, the weight of one’s words tends to have a significant impact on performance evaluations, is greater than one might think.

This is based on my experience from Earth, but it probably isn’t much different here.

“Phew…”

“Damn…”

Luckily, the one who seems to be an apprentice adventurer appears to have learned the lesson that it’s better not to open one’s mouth too freely in adventurer work, thanks to the senior’s slip of the tongue.

The mouth is the root of all evil, so it’s a golden realization.

On the other hand, the formal adventurer seems to have developed a clumsy resentment towards Maria.

Probably thinking he should understand since she was in a position of having lost relatives, he gradually calmed down, but just now, his eyes shot up, looking quite angry.

I spoke to them.

“You two.”

“Um… are you talking to us?”

“Yes! Miss mage.”

Still, the difference in experience can’t be ignored. While the apprentice adventurer responded somewhat dully, the formal adventurer answered my call with vigor.

The latter probably knows that there are many eccentric individuals among mages. The perception of mages in this world is something like eccentric quasi-nobility.

In the end, he’s being wary of me.

Knowing this, I still smiled and spoke to them. While holding out some jerky with a sweet and salty taste that Eve had made.

“Have you two been in Solemio for long?”

“Um… I haven’t been an adventurer for long. About half a year now?”

“I’ve got a firm grasp on this area! I’ve been here for 5 years already.”

I see, so that’s how it is.

Just by looking, he seemed to have struggled in this frontier for quite some time. Now that I look closely, it seems there was a reason why it had to be so.

It’s a useful trait for me to exploit, so I suppose it’s good.

“Is that so? That’s great. I have some questions. I haven’t been here long.”

“Ask away! I’ll answer anything!”

“Thank you. Let’s talk while walking. My hand is getting tired.”

“Th-Then I won’t refuse…”

The senior of the two seemed to glance at Maria for a moment but soon approached me, bowing deeply and accepting the jerky.

Food is precious to adventurers.

They probably don’t want to miss the chance to eat something special.

“This is delicious! I’ve never tasted anything like this before.”

“It really is!”

When I didn’t ask questions and just watched, his eyes widened slightly after taking a bite of the jerky while observing me.

The apprentice adventurer who followed suit was the same.

“Really? It’s a rewarding response for making it.”

“Did you make this yourself? As expected of a Miss mage…”

“No, this is just hunting skill.”

“Wow… So you can even hunt yourself! I thought that bow looked extraordinary.”

“It’s nothing special.”

“How can you say it’s nothing! I’ve never seen such a taste, even in my hometown.”

Narrow-minded yet subservient to the strong.

It’s a personality that seems destined to be discarded while clumsily seeking opportunities for advancement among the strong, but there’s no need to point it out.

Unless he does me a favor, that is.

“What are your names?”

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself yet! I apologize. I’m Gyeonghan. A tracker.”

“Velvet. An archer. Though still an apprentice.”

The formal adventurer Gyeonghan was a man of Western Continent origin, which in Earth terms would be an East Asian style, while the apprentice Velvet was a sturdy Western-looking man.

A tracker specialized in finding traces of monsters or beasts rather than traps and an archer who mainly moves for sniping from a distance are both adventurer and mercenary classes that use bows.

In the game, they would have been promoted to names like Hunter or Ranger, but in this reality, such detailed distinctions in titles probably weren’t made.

Still, if I were to roughly guess based on their appearance and use game terms, Gyeonghan would be a ‘Hunter’ using a short bow and dagger, while Velvet would be an ‘Archer’ aiming to become a ‘Marksman’ using a longbow.

Anyway, since both of them use bows, they were sending curious and friendly glances towards me, an unusual mage carrying a bow on my back.

“I noticed earlier that the bow you’re carrying seems to be a composite bow. May I perhaps take a look?”

“You seem to know a lot about bows?”

“I wouldn’t say I know a lot, but I’m confident in my eye for them! The bows from this southern region are excellent, but they still can’t match those from our continent.”

Velvet glanced at Gyeonghan with disapproving eyes.

But the fact that he brushed it off as if used to it suggests that Gyeonghan probably often made such proud remarks about Western Continent bows.

However, knowing that the Western Continent of this world had a culture that mixed elements from East Asia on Earth, I inwardly agreed to some extent.

The Korean composite bow is indeed something to boast about. Of course, my bow isn’t exactly that composite bow.

“This is a really well-made bow!”

“Is it?”

“Yes, really. Perhaps due to a lack of materials, the adhesive and finishing are a bit rough, but… the center of gravity and necessary elasticity are all perfectly captured. If materials were lacking, this level would have been really difficult.”

“…”

At Gyeonghan’s words, after pulling and aiming the bow a few times, I was newly reminded of Eve.

It was also Eve who made this bow and helped with my practice. She was also the one who recommended a bow when I said I might need a weapon.

The praise for the item must have been genuine.

Gyeonghan’s eyes clearly sparkled after just holding the bow, and he even licked his lips before quickly quieting down.

Whether it was greed or truly the admiration of an archer seeing a good bow, it was quite an immediate reaction.

“However, you’ll find it difficult to use it for long in this state. When you get to the city, you should definitely visit a workshop.”

“I was thinking of doing that.”

“I didn’t need to advise you. Truly a wise decision.”

The flattery is a bit burdensome.

But thanks to becoming friendly like this, I was able to ask various questions about Solemio without hesitation.

About who the famous people or lords in the city are, whether there are any specialty products in the domain, or if there are other cities nearby, etc.

All of this was thanks to the bow Eve had made. I should pat her head more when I return.

“A dungeon rampage, you say?”

“Yes. That’s why the South has been noisy lately. I think an expedition might soon depart from Solemio, too.”

Among them, this was the most valuable information.

The rampage of a large established dungeon that was said to be in the south.

‘Someone seems to be in great pain.’

A dungeon rampage is not something that happens easily.

It occurs when one of two conditions is met, those conditions being ‘when the dungeon core is stolen from outside the dungeon while the Dungeon Lord is still alive’ and ‘when only the Dungeon Lord dies and the core is intact.’

Although the core and the lord are closely related in terms of survival, the death of one doesn’t necessarily mean the destruction of the other.

Of course, if the core is destroyed or moved too far away, the lord’s power is halved, and if the lord dies, the core becomes almost unable to do anything until a new lord appears.

However, if both aren’t sealed or destroyed without much time difference…

Whichever it is, it starts to go berserk.

Whether it’s a lord who has nothing left to protect or needs to reclaim something. A core that needs to somehow capture another powerful life form to make it a lord or secure additional magic power that the lord can’t secure.

In this case, there’s no ending it with negotiation or threats involving the core. That’s what going berserk means.

“How did such a thing happen?”

“Apparently, some greedy fellow succeeded in outmaneuvering the Dungeon Lord and stealing the core. I heard the Border Count is grinding his teeth, saying he’ll find out who did it.”

“Is that true?”

The one who suddenly interrupted this conversation was, of course, Maria.

Her face was seriously hardened. She probably knows very well what this information means to her.

“Miss Maria… Yes, it’s true.”

“How…”

Judging by her look of hearing this for the first time, it seems she didn’t think to inquire about the situation when heading to the dungeon, probably due to thinking about her sibling and friends.

The Solemio Adventurers’ Guild, which didn’t send additional search parties despite novice adventurers going missing, wasn’t very cooperative even when a high-ranking adventurer came in person.

The unsettled state of Solemio, and now the news of the dungeon rampage.

The information points to one thing.

Solemio City was planning to dispatch support troops for the rampaging dungeon soon. That’s why they had no intention of sending an additional workforce to search for ‘mere’ novice adventurers.

This news was poison to Maria, but medicine to me.

“Misa Angelita.”

“Yes. It seems it will be difficult to get much cooperation.”

“Haa…”

It meant that it would be difficult to get support from the city in the future.

Ahead of us, the walls of Solemio gradually came into view.

“Damn…”

The emotions contained in my and Maria’s eyes as we looked at those walls were contrasting.

To my eyes, the walls backlit by the sunset looked extremely beautiful, but Maria’s eyes, looking at the base city of Sonia’s group, were filled with just irritation and resentment.

It was the end of a short six-day walking journey, greeting the setting sun.