“Hurry up. Meiris.”
“Y-yes…”
Since we failed the previous request, our party leader, Kailan-san, is in a bad mood.
We were so close, but because the Kobold Lord interrupted at the last moment, we couldn’t defeat the Goblin King.
In the end, we had to retreat, so there was no reward, and we ended up in the red because of the costs of the battle.
Therefore, we need to take on simpler requests and make sure we earn money reliably.
“But seriously, a dungeon near a run-down village? It’s probably just some monsters that wandered into a cave or something, right?”
“No, actually, it seems the interior is properly paved. There are at least ten monsters, at a minimum.”
“Well, it’s just goblins, right? Ten of them isn’t dangerous at all.”
The magician, Riona-san, and the explorer, Sarios-san, are discussing the request.
A dungeon appeared near a village, and we’ve been asked to investigate and, if possible, take control of it.
The information indicated there are goblins and goblin soldiers in several rooms, and it seems there are treasure chests too.
“There’s treasure too.”
“Goblins or not, the treasure in a dungeon like that will probably be nothing but low-quality consumables. I doubt even a mimic will show up.”
I think the same. If it’s a dungeon full of goblins, it might have been recently rebuilt by the Demon King.
The heroes were defeated by the Demon King, but surely the Demon King is also being cornered by the heroes…
So, while the heroes wait for their revival, the Demon King is probably just focused on restoring the dungeon and his forces for now.
That means it’s probably a dungeon that we can handle, one that’s still in its early stages.
“I don’t want to fail again, so it’s better if it’s full of weak monsters.”
“Guess we don’t have much choice… The treasure inside is probably nothing to get excited about, so let’s just quickly get the reward for taking control of the dungeon.”
“Exactly. Let’s make a little spending money before the kingdom’s soldiers show up. We’ll do it before anyone else can claim it.”
Once the dungeon is secured, the kingdom will reward us.
Even though it’s full of goblins, it’s still one of the Demon King’s bases, so weakening it, even slightly, is necessary.
That’s why, when dealing with reasonably weak monsters like this, it’s usually adventurers like us who handle it first.
The kingdom’s soldiers, and especially the heroes, shouldn’t have to waste time on something like this.
◇
“Oh, here they come.”
It seems that Pilkaya has detected intruders inside the dungeon.
It’s convenient that he shares his vision with me and Primilla , but I’m still not used to it…
I try to focus on the shared vision by squinting, but eventually, it’d be better if I could perceive multiple viewpoints like the two of them.
“At first, only the villagers came, but now it’s people with proper equipment.”
“Yeah. The villagers probably gave up after a few attempts. That’s why these new intruders are adventurers who took the request.”
“Adventurers, huh… They’re a bunch of jack-of-all-trades from a guild, right?”
“Yes. Since there’s no guild in the village, they must have gone to the nearest town with a guild or branch and reported the dungeon.”
So, everything is proceeding according to plan.
Now comes the tricky part of the adjustment.
“Should we just wipe them all out?”
“Hmm… Well, I guess we can go with that this time.”
In that case, it seems like we won’t have to do much.
If we let them go, I’d have to give the monsters simple orders and, at worst, create a wall to prevent them from being helped by the intruders.
Since we don’t have to do that this time, it won’t be too busy, which is a relief.
There are four of them: two men and two women.
A warrior-like man, a light-footed man, a woman with a staff, and a small girl.
Since they’re just going ahead without caring about the signs, they must have some confidence in their skills.
They’ll probably make it to the boss room or so…
◇
As expected from the villagers’ information, the cave is well-structured with paths and rooms.
Inside the rooms, there are several goblins, and occasionally, higher-tier goblins mixed in.
Yeah, this is definitely a dungeon. The Demon King… even though his army was utterly destroyed by the heroes, he’s not giving up yet…
“Just weaklings.”
“Don’t say that. Think of it as an easy job.”
“Wasn’t Kailan enough by himself?”
“Well, sure, so far there haven’t been any hidden passages, no need for keys, and no traps, but that doesn’t mean the future will be the same, right?”
There really is nothing here.
There’s a path, rooms, and goblins inside.
We did find the treasure chest mentioned, but it only had some healing potions inside.
If Kailan-san felt like it, he could probably take control in a matter of minutes…
That’s right. The Demon King didn’t have the energy to create dungeons.
That’s probably why he built it in such a hidden location, hoping to stay out of sight until he regained his power.
Honestly, demons are so foolish… even after all that, the villagers found it so quickly.
“Hm? The paths are merging.”
“Wait, seriously? So, no matter which path we take, we’ll end up in the same place. At this rate, there’s no chance of getting lost. This isn’t a dungeon. It’s just… nonsense.”
“This seems like a good practice for the adventurers who are just starting out~…”
Everyone is dumbfounded.
Maybe they were disappointed. Riona-san looks like she has already lost interest.
“Next room. …Well, I expected this, but these enemies might be just right for us.”
The Goblin King was standing in front of Kailan-san, who was holding his sword ready.
There were various other goblins surrounding him.
It reminded me of the request we failed earlier.
Did everyone think the same? We quickly shifted our focus and began to act accordingly to fight.
“I’ll take care of the soldiers.”
“Then we’re handling the mages. Meiris, enhance us.”
“Y-yes!”
While Kailan-san holds back the King, Riona-san clears the soldiers, and I grant magical resistance to Sarios-san so he can deal with the mages.
That’s the best way to fight, so without hesitation, we took action.
“W-what?! Why, why is the magic not working?!”
Riona-san’s magic engulfed the goblin soldiers in flames.
Last time… the goblin soldiers were wiped out by that, but this time, they are charging straight through the flames.
“Th-this is bad! Why are the mages so tough?!”
Sarios-san stabbed a dagger into the goblin mage’s throat, but the goblin mage was still alive.
It will probably die soon, but before that, it casts magic to attack Sarios-san.
…Why? Why is this happening? Soldiers are weak to magic, and mages are weak to physical attacks.
“This… this one’s stronger than the Goblin King we fought last time!”
“W-what do we do? What do we do…?”
Riona-san has been slashed and pierced by the goblin soldiers, covered in blood…
Sarios-san has taken a concentrated barrage of magic from the goblin mage and is completely charred…
Ah… the goblin mage is casting magic… I see, the mages are strengthening the whole group, just like I enhanced Sarios-san.
Just like I enhanced Sarios-san, all the goblins must have been strengthened…
“Th-this… not here…”
Of course. The Goblin King has also been strengthened…
I never expected that the goblin mages would not only cast offensive magic but also enhance their allies…
“Ah… n-no. I wanted to be of help to the heroes… I wanted to help the heroes kill the Demon King…”
◇
“Well, that makes sense. She was human, so it’s natural she’d want to kill Fiona-sama and the demons.”
“She must have thought this dungeon was a new base created by the Demon King and came to destroy it.”
“It was supposed to be a small-scale dungeon. Still, they probably blame Fiona-sama for this.”
“The only one who could create a dungeon like this is the Demon King. An exception like you wasn’t something anyone would have imagined.”
“The Demon King who defeated the heroes might be trying to expand his territory. She probably came to destroy it, thinking that.”
I see. The villagers might not know that the heroes were defeated, but the towns with guilds probably do.
Information circulates more easily there, and adventurers belonging to those guilds would definitely know.
“This time, we managed to take them all down, but after this, there will be more intruders.”
“And each time, when we wipe them out, stronger adventurers will come. We’ll have to decide whether to take down the strong ones or deal with the weaker ones. I’ll leave the strategy up to you, Rey-sama.”
“Understood. I’ll figure out how far this dungeon can hold up and decide accordingly.”
The distribution of traps and monsters. Whether we should wipe them out or drive them back, or let them proceed through. We’ll manage the dungeon carefully from here on.
