“Still, the Demon King is such a fool, huh~?”
A young man, barely more than a kid by my standards, casually muttered this. His amateurish air was painfully obvious.
“Don’t say that. Thanks to him, I’ve been making a tidy profit.”
“That’s true, I suppose. Though, honestly, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Yeah, this guy is probably a lost cause.
The type who looks down on the Demon King, looks down on someone like me doing this job, and thinks everyone but himself is an idiot.
No matter how much information he has, with an attitude like that, he’ll mess up somewhere.
And messing up here means losing your life.
“Well, that’s fine. It just means I can collect a few things.”
“Sorry, did you say something?”
“Nope, nothing at all.”
That was close. I can’t afford to let my guard down.
Whether this guy’s an idiot will become clear soon enough.
Will he clear the dungeon with my guidance, or end up a corpse as I predicted?
Either way, I’ve already been paid in advance, so it doesn’t really matter.
“Oh, here we are. This is the Goblin Dungeon.”
“Ah, yes. The dungeon where the Demon King continues to foolishly expend magic power to maintain it, despite us adventurers hunting monsters and looting the treasure chests.”
“Thanks to that, we get to grow stronger fighting manageable monsters, and sometimes, if we’re lucky, we find some unclaimed loot. It’s a win-win.”
And I make money guiding adventurers like this.
Truly, a win-win for everyone.
“As I’ve told you before, my job is—”
“Just guiding, yes, I know. With all the traps, enemy intel, and paths laid out, I can handle the rest myself.”
“As long as you understand.”
Eager to enter the dungeon, he cut me off mid-sentence.
Since he seems to get it, I might as well focus on doing my guiding job properly today.
“You can handle goblins, at least, right?”
“Are you underestimating me? Sure, they’re tougher than regular goblins, but knowing that in advance, there’s no way I’d lose by being careless.”
“Their real strength comes when they start boosting each other in groups.”
“I’m aware of that too. No worries. I’m much stronger than some goblins.”
He certainly has the skills to back up his words.
I thought he was just some cocky idiot underestimating the dungeon, but he’s surprisingly capable.
Still, my opinion hasn’t changed much. His overconfidence will get him killed eventually, probably for some stupid reason.
“Alright, first off, we take the left path. If there’s a treasure chest, it’ll be there.”
“Hopefully, it’s got something worthwhile in it~.”
“Don’t get your hopes up. Most of the treasure here gets looted often, so there’s usually only junk left.”
Sure enough, as expected.
The chest contained only a few low-grade healing potions.
Even having a chest at all was lucky, but he didn’t seem too pleased.
“Up ahead, there’s a spot where boulders come rolling down.”
“Oh, the infamous slope where several people have died?”
“Exactly. When the trap activates, we retreat and wait it out.”
“Got it~.”
Even knowing people have died here, he’s that relaxed?
Really, this guy’s a fool. At this rate, he’s bound to meet a miserable end somewhere else.
Not that it’s any of my concern, and I certainly don’t owe him a warning.
When the boulders started rolling, we sprinted full tilt.
For once, even the cocky young man who had mocked the traps was running in earnest.
If only he’d keep up that attitude all the time in the dungeon. What a fool.
“Huh?”
“What the—?”
We rounded a corner, watching the boulders roll harmlessly past us.
I was just about to relax when something came crashing down from above.
“What the hell is this?”
“Hey, old man! I didn’t hear about this!”
The kid I was guiding was shouting, but I didn’t know about this either!
If I had, do you think I’d be dumb enough to get myself trapped in an iron cage?
Dumb… I see now.
Maybe I’ve been just as foolish as him, smug in my knowledge of this dungeon.
I thought I knew it inside and out. After all, it’s been cleared so many times that adventurers freely shared information about it. I gathered all of it, becoming more knowledgeable than anyone.
But clearly, there were things even I didn’t know.
And realizing that now is too late.
The sturdy iron bars of the cage can’t be broken or lifted.
There’s no way to pick the lock and escape.
All that’s left is to get killed by the goblins.
“……”
“Whoa!! W-What the hell are you?!”
Standing before me, as I prepared for my end, wasn’t the goblin I had expected.
It was… a golem? A massive stone figure with a sturdy-looking body.
Could it possibly be planning to crush us, cage and all?
The unpleasant thought made me want to shut my eyes, but it seemed my fears were misplaced.
The golem began dragging the cage we were in, pulling it somewhere.
… Still, I couldn’t relax. It was entirely possible we’d be thrown into a goblin den and slaughtered.
After all, the only thing that might change now is how we die. There’s no chance we’re getting out of here alive…
“Alright! Let’s work hard today, everyone!”
“Yes!!”
I reflexively responded loudly along with everyone else…
Wait, what the hell?
The golems had brought us to a place filled with humans.
The leader, a middle-aged man, explained the situation to us, and I felt like burying my head in my hands.
Apparently, we’d been captured by demons.
There were other traps similar to the one that caught me, and this group was made up of fools like me who had fallen for them.
The leader had ended up here the same way and was now stuck helping demons cultivate farmland.
“Hey, what’s wrong? If you’re not feeling well, take a break. Pushing yourself won’t do any good.”
“Dartle-san… No, I just can’t wrap my head around this situation.”
“Ah, I get it. I don’t understand why demons need farmland either. But for now, it seems like they don’t plan to kill us. And if their promise is true, we might actually get out of here someday. Might as well work hard for them in the meantime.”
“Right. It’s not like I have a choice. If it means survival, I’ll work—even for the demons.”
“That’s the spirit. But don’t overdo it, okay?”
“Got it!”
At least the leader, Dartle-san, seems like a decent guy.
The people around us have been influenced by him and are relatively considerate, too.
Honestly, this might be a better environment than life outside…
No, no, no! There’s no sunlight down here, and we’re working for demons!
There’s no way I’d call this an improvement…
sigh
Oh well. I might as well work diligently.
Though I’ve only met Dartle-san so far, it’s clear the demons who captured us need manpower.
Supposedly, they don’t plan to keep us forever, and if we work hard, they might release us someday.
It’s not like there’s another option, so I’ll focus on tilling the soil—if only to pass the time, stay fit, and hold onto a shred of hope.
“Rigma is pretty good at acting and being considerate, huh?”
“Ugh, I’m exhausted! Old man’s been working too hard—I’m going to keel over soon!”
“Sorry about that. The burden on Rigma is always heavy, huh?”
“Well, the old man can handle a lot. Once these humans become halfway competent, I’ll take a proper break.”
Despite his words, I had the feeling he’d keep taking care of everything.
This self-proclaimed slacker seems suspiciously hardworking…
“By the way, the name Dartle—how’d you come up with that?”
“Hmm? Oh, it was kind of… an inspiration?”
“So, basically, you just made it up.”
“Made up is good enough. It’s a fake name for a fake persona—no point worrying about it.”
Rigma said this while watching over the fields, but he seemed to be paying a lot of attention to the humans.
Not a straightforward guy, is he?
