Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. Chapter 32 - D-Rank Dungeon: Bloodbird's Banquet (2)

Chapter 32 – D-Rank Dungeon: Bloodbird’s Banquet (2)

 

To reach the place where the young gemcrafter’s body lay…

We first had to spend some quality time strengthening both body and mind.

“This way.”

At the foot of a steep mountain trail… An endless staircase stretched upward as if it intended to reach heaven itself.

For a moment, I almost lost my breath.

Since this was originally the homeland of beastfolk, a race of exercise fanatics who were born loving physical activity…

There was naturally no convenient or easy way to climb the mountain.

“…Let’s go.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone hiking. After loosening up in place for a moment… I began climbing the stairs.

Rosalia silently followed me up the mountain, but I could tell there was still a question lingering on her face.

“You’re wondering why the dead explorer entered a dungeon that’s nothing but mountains, aren’t you? This place is enormous, so it’s filled with medicinal herbs, ores, and wild beasts that explorers covet.”

Most of the expedition teams we’d seen earlier were centered around craftsmen or hunters.

“Isn’t the Jewelwine Guild a gemcrafting guild? There’s a mining site hidden in these mountains. You can find incredibly valuable ores and gemstones there. It isn’t exactly safe… You can die if you stay too long. But if fortune smiles on you, you could become rich overnight.”

The young gemcrafter had probably chased that dream of striking it rich…

Only to meet with disaster.

Given the nature of this dungeon… It probably wasn’t another explorer who killed him.

The mine’s gimmick was the far more likely culprit.

‘Then again… It’s one of those places where you’re doomed if you don’t know the strategy.’

The infamous: “If you don’t know, you suffer.” gimmick.

On your first attempt…

There was practically no way to avoid falling victim to it.

But from the second expedition onward… As long as you stayed cautious, it was perfectly manageable.

The problem was… This wasn’t a game.

This was reality.

There was no second attempt.

Because District Three stubbornly refused to provide any dungeon guidance whatsoever…

Countless lives were being snuffed out for nothing.

Tap. Tap.

As I panted heavily while forcing one aching leg after another up the stairs… Rosalia tapped my waist before turning her back toward me.

“…Thank you.”

Back in the Earth Elf’s Tomb, she’d hesitated so much.

Now she was offering on her own.

I’d long since sold my pride secondhand, so I climbed onto her back without hesitation.

Burdened with the weakest half-elf imaginable… One who constantly slowed down the climb…

Rosalia nevertheless ascended the staircase with light, effortless steps.

“Until I’m fully grown… Please keep giving me piggyback rides like this. Thank you.”

There was still plenty of room for my Stamina stat to grow.

At the moment… It was disappointingly low.

I needed to improve it much further.

“……”

While sprinting up the stairs with me on her back…

Rosalia looked over her shoulder and shot me a meaningful glance… It was surely her solemn vow to diligently raise her pitiful little cultist brother.

I clenched my fist enthusiastically in response to such beautiful, unconditional faith.

Then pointed toward the middle of the staircase.

“We’re almost there. See that unusually spiky-looking tree over there? Just keep running toward it.”

Just as our client, the dwarf, had repeatedly warned… If we didn’t recover the body quickly, it would deteriorate.

There wasn’t a moment to waste.

“Please go a little faster.”

Rosalia increased her speed at my request.

She might grumble with her eyes… But she never refused.

It was the influence of her trait: Rapid Judgment.

If she considered an order reasonable… She obeyed first.

“There!”

Thanks to my assassin big sister running without pause… We reached the area just before our destination in plenty of time.

The mine entrance… A massive cave… Opened halfway up the mountainside.

After getting down, I pulled out the candle set I’d brought in advance from my leather bag and handed it to Rosalia.

“Could you light these?”

Unlike what I’d done to Marlin… I couldn’t exactly stick one on top of Rosalia’s head.

If I did… She might neatly carve out part of my scalp to make herself a candle holder.

Fwoosh.

Guided by flickering candlelight that drove back the darkness… We ventured deep into the cave.

“Looks like today was a bust. Let’s just take it easy and head back.”

Halfway through… We encountered another expedition team leaving the mine.

“Oh, hello there.”

“…Greetings.”

The dwarf blacksmith, who appeared to be their party leader, looked into my eyes before cautiously replying.

Why was he gripping the handle of his hammer with such a suspicious expression?

I’d only greeted him politely.

“By any chance… Have you seen an explorer who looks like this farther inside? He’s a gemcrafter. I heard he formed a temporary party before entering.”

I showed him the photograph.

The dwarf leader approached carefully to inspect it.

“Hm. Just to be sure… You’re not the one who killed him and are now pretending to look for him, are you?”

“My goodness. How terrifying. Surely you don’t think I’d do something like that?”

“…You’re a cultist, aren’t you?”

How did he know?

Come to think of it… The Jewelwine Guildmaster had recognized me immediately too.

“That’s right. But why do you ask?”

“I’ve heard rumors. They say there are insane cultists, dark mages, and demons who casually boast about the people they’ve killed.”

Having recited the holy trinity of discrimination… The dwarf continued stroking his hammer.

“At any rate… We were the only party in the mine.”

“Oh.”

“So this fellow’s dead, then.”

“…… You’ve misunderstood. I’m a kind-hearted cultist here to recover a body.”

“…We did see some unfamiliar figures over in that corner.”

After hearing the exact location from the dwarf explorer…

We each continued on our separate ways.

Behind us… Several members of his expedition let out audible sighs of relief.

“Why were they all so tense?”

“……”

Rosalia covered her own eyes with a V-sign made from her fingers.

At some point… We’d started communicating by playing charades.

Surprisingly… It was rather fun.

This clue was difficult.

“You mean… If I keep talking nonsense, you’ll gouge my eyes out?”

She shook her head. Wrong answer.

“Then what is it?”

Still throwing out guesses… We ventured farther into the cave.

Soon…

An enormous chamber opened before us.

It looked as though someone had combined three university campuses into a single cavern.

A vast hollow.

Everywhere we looked… Brilliantly colored ores glittered.

Most were gemstones.

If someone could haul them all away… They could spend the rest of their life flaunting unimaginable wealth.

But as always… Dungeons were never generous toward explorers.

 

[A mine that once served as the primary source of income for the primitive beastfolk. Precious gems lie scattered everywhere, but if you remain too long, your body turns into a mineral. Even the beastfolk only sent in those who were both swift and strong. Yet these explorers let greed consume them until tragedy inevitably strikes. Fools!]

 

Dungeons tempted explorers with enormous rewards… Only to punish those who became greedy.

There was nowhere to lodge a complaint against such unfairness.

The only way to survive… Was to humor the dungeon’s whims.

“Let’s hurry. We have roughly twenty minutes. If we exceed that by even a little… The mineralization begins immediately.”

The cave ceiling was densely packed with crude lanterns.

Candles were unnecessary here.

After placing hers on the ground… Rosalia looked between the mine’s entrance and its depths.

“You’re suggesting we leave once time’s almost up and then come back? Unfortunately… Dungeons aren’t generous enough to tolerate tricks like that.”

The twenty-minute daily limit didn’t reset simply because you stepped outside the mine.

To start over… You had to leave the dungeon entirely and re-enter.

That was why the party we’d met earlier had trudged out looking exhausted.

Tap! Tap!

“Throwing a tantrum on the floor won’t solve anything. Come on. Let’s get moving.”

Taking the elf, who was venting her frustration by kicking the ground for no reason…

I led her toward the location the dwarf explorer had described.

It was a depression carved into the lower part of the wall.

Climbing down… We found human-shaped minerals scattered everywhere.

“There are more victims than I expected.”

Approximately six.

Exactly the size of a full expedition party.

They had probably formed a temporary team for mining…

Without a single member knowing the dungeon’s mechanics.

The worst possible tragedy.

 

[I’ll tell you in advance: explorers who have become minerals are worth considerably less as offerings for human sacrifice. I know they’ll tempt you, but do try to restrain yourself.]

 

“I wasn’t planning to offer them.”

Just what kind of specialist in dark worship did it think I was?

I had absolutely no intention of using mineralized corpses as sacrifices.

“Which one is he?”

Since they all looked nearly identical…

I asked The Eye That Perceives Truth, and text soon appeared.

The body I needed to recover lay beside a brilliant emerald-green gemstone.

It had transformed into iron ore while reaching upward with one outstretched hand.

 

[The mineralized corpse of the dead explorer Eric (Human, 16), whom you seek. Delighted after discovering a beautiful gemstone, he eagerly tried to mine it. Mineralization began before he realized it. He desperately attempted to escape but died in the process. Incidentally, it contains very little actual iron and is scarcely different from an ordinary rock.]

 

Approaching the young gemcrafter’s body…

I found that his facial expression and clothing remained exactly as they had been in life.

At least… That was something.

Had more time passed… Even his outward appearance would have become indistinguishable from ordinary ore.

No funeral would have been possible.

I gently covered the explorer’s eyes, which he’d never managed to close… With a cloth.

Then offered a quiet prayer.

“Lady Artein… It feels a little inappropriate to ask our Evil Gods for this… So instead I pray to you. {lease guide this young explorer into the sacred paradise under your protection.”

Back then… And even now… I truly hated seeing children die such meaningless deaths.

 

***

 

After praying to Artein for the young explorer’s soul…

I immediately received a complaint.

[You dared pray to that hypocritical goddess?! The Wise One is fuming!]

Crackle!

“But surely I couldn’t ask the Evil Gods, whose only domain is a shabby hell beneath the earth, to guide someone’s soul. If he’d been an evil man, perhaps. But he was simply a child who wanted to earn some money. If possible… He deserves heaven.”

Faced with such perfectly reasonable logic… Our troublesome divine customers quietly withdrew.

“Still… I trust and rely on Lord Lidni and Lord Sue’je far more than Artein. Though I’m sure you already know that without my saying so.”

Since they might still hold a grudge… I even provided proper aftercare, gently soothing their feelings.

Only then did I stand.

“Lady Rosalia. Can your shadow store something this large?”

The assassin who carried a walking subspace answered with actions instead of words.

The explorer’s iron-ore body slipped neatly into her shadow.

As expected… Shadow Folk was an incredibly convenient Mystic.

However… It seemed she’d reached her storage limit.

Rosalia pointed at her own shadow before gently shaking her head.

“I understand. We don’t have anything else worth taking anyway. Let’s head out.”

Our request had been completed.

Just as we were about to leave to collect the Hidden Piece…

Something happened.

 

[I have discovered something new that may interest you.]

 

Without warning… The Eye That Perceives Truth displayed new text.

It even paused dramatically first… Something it normally never did.

 

[Among these explorers, I found one whose internal organs have not yet fully mineralized. That dull silver orc over there. I merely wished to inform you lest you unknowingly overlook such a fine offering suitable for human sacrifice.]

 

So that was what it meant.

It was telling me to offer him to Lidni.

I first examined the orc the Eye had indicated.

 

[The corpse of Ymir (Red Orc, 22), who died a dog’s death. A Berserker willing to do absolutely anything to become stronger. He secretly murdered fellow explorers in dungeons countless times. This time as well, he planned to kill every explorer who entered alongside him, but, ignorant of this mine’s gimmick, he himself became mineralized. A truly pathetic fool.]

 

‘Hm?’

As I read the text… My brow furrowed without thinking.

It couldn’t be helped.

Ymir. A Red Orc. Berserker class.

A character whose name ended with -mir.

One who never appeared in the game.

Whenever I grew tired of playing as a cultist… He was the Berserker alt I’d occasionally level just for fun.

‘…Why are you here?’

I was stunned.

Naturally… In a good way.