“Seems there are some decent reincarnators after all.”
“Of course. If there weren’t, there would be no need to go out of my way to confine them. So, have you gathered information on that decent reincarnator?”
“Yes. Kunimatsu Yukio. His skill is appraisal. It seems he’s someone we know.”
“Ho. Looks like we hit the jackpot.”
“When those reincarnators were heading to the underworld, he stopped his actions and was treated as a coward, isolating himself from those around him. He is now continuing to strengthen himself alone.”
“Foolish… but this works in our favor. Prioritize Kunimatsu over the other reincarnators.”
“Understood.”
◇
“Kunimatsu-sama, please tell me your plans for today.”
“Well, I’m planning to hunt monsters to train… I mean, to level up.”
Since that day, I was moved to a rather luxurious guest room.
And on top of that, a beautiful maid has been attending to me, which is an extravagant and generous treatment.
Though I never cared much in the game, now that I’m in a castle, every maid is very beautiful. Having one of them taking care of me makes me uneasy…
“Are you going alone?”
“Yes, well… It’s easier to do it that way for now.”
“I see. If you ever need protection, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
The fact that they don’t push too much is honestly a relief.
So once again today, I decided to go hunt monsters by myself.
I have no companions. At first, I was with my classmates, but when I suggested acting cautiously, I gradually became an outcast.
Since I had no choice, I’ve been trying to make the most of my appraisal skill, which I got from the goddess.
I thought it was just a skill to check stats, but it turned out to be surprisingly useful in a good way.
First, I can appraise targets from a long distance.
Thanks to that, while fighting monsters, I can instantly see where and how many monsters there are.
Of course, I can also see their strength, so I don’t get into dangerous situations.
It’s not just stats; I can also see their attack methods, drops, and weaknesses, so I get way more information than I expected.
Since I know everything in advance, I can steadily and easily defeat monsters, and now that my level has increased, I can see how much stronger I’ve become.
It’s completely different from when I was blindly training myself without knowing how long I’d have to fight monsters.
“Kunimatsu-sama, thank you again for your advice the other day.”
“Ah, no… I’m glad if it was helpful.”
A soldier from the castle lowered his head.
He had been talking about a dungeon that appeared near a remote village, and it piqued my interest, so I spoke with him.
He showed me a map of this world and gave me general information about the location and the dungeon, but the details were a bit concerning.
It wasn’t a cave, but indeed a dungeon.
However, the enemies were just weak goblins, and the soldiers were optimistic, thinking that adventurers would eventually clear it.
But I knew that dungeon would be a problem if left unchecked.
After all, in the game, dungeons like that didn’t exist.
“If it weren’t for Kunimatsu-sama’s repeated warnings, we would have been wiped out there.”
“No, the fact that you managed to retreat is thanks to your own strength…”
I immediately requested the soldiers to investigate the dungeon, warning them not to let their guard down and to remember it was a dangerous place. They reluctantly agreed, though they looked puzzled…
It seems my prediction was right.
The soldiers got close to the dungeon boss, the Goblin King, but they triggered a trap with rolling boulders and barely managed to avoid total annihilation.
As a result, my warning was highly praised, and I ended up being treated differently from the other classmates.
I can sense some envy about why only I am being treated this way, but so far, there’s been no direct harm.
So, it’s probably a good thing… but what worries me more is that the dungeon, which I don’t even know about, is still there.
“…Um, I have a request.”
“What is it? If it’s within my power, I will gladly help.”
Since I happened to meet this soldier, I thought I should address my concerns now.
It’s best to check for myself how dangerous that dungeon really is.
Since it’s a dungeon I don’t know, it’s likely part of some extra content.
Things like that tend to be more difficult than the main game content…
If we leave it alone, it might grow stronger and become an even bigger threat than the Demon King, the final boss. I’d rather not have that happen.
It’s better to investigate, even if it means taking some risks.
“That dungeon… would you be willing to help me investigate it?”
“…Indeed, that place is more dangerous than we expected. If we could have your strength, Kunimatsu-sama, we might be able to clear it.”
“I’m not sure how much help I can be, but I do believe that dungeon needs to be dealt with soon.”
“Understood. I will speak to the platoon leader immediately!”
“I’m sorry. Thank you for your help…”
Well, there’s no turning back now.
If it’s too dangerous, we’ll retreat with the soldiers.
But for now, it looks like I’ll be stepping into a dungeon I don’t know.
“I hope it’s just low-level monsters at the start… If only there were baby monsters or something that we could kill before they grow stronger, that would make things easier.”
◇
“In the back room, there are three Goblin Soldiers and ten Goblins.”
“Understood! You heard that, right?! There aren’t even any Mages yet! We’ll definitely take them down!”
So far, things are going smoothly.
The path occasionally splits, but it’s not a structure where you can easily get lost.
Also, since monsters are only in the rooms, I can analyze the enemy’s strength in advance.
After that, the soldiers handle everything, so I don’t even need to fight.
“The contents of the treasure chest… seems to be a healing potion.”
“Really… You can tell even before opening it?”
“That’s my only talent.”
Inside the treasure chest are consumable items that can be obtained early in the game.
…This is strange. Despite being additional content, the monsters are normal, and the items are nothing special.
I thought there would be rare monsters or items in hard-to-find locations, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.
That means, maybe the dungeon is one that will gradually grow stronger as the story progresses.
“Kunimatsu-sama, beyond here…”
“Yes, it looks like a boss room. One Goblin King, ten Mages, and ten Soldiers. The King and Mages will buff the other Goblins. We should prioritize taking out the Mages first.”
“We should have already defeated them last time, but like the last time, they seem to have respawned…”
“However, their individual strength is inferior to yours. If we’re careful about the traps, I believe we can wipe them out.”
Honestly, I feel like we’ve already cleared it.
The monsters in this boss room are exactly the same in type and number as the ones I heard about before.
Last time, they retreated due to traps, but without them, we could have defeated all the monsters.
So this time, we should be able to clear it for sure…
“There are no traps left. It seems that the ones you triggered last time have consumed all of them.”
“Oh… You can even tell that? In that case, it looks like we won’t fall behind this time!”
I’ve thoroughly analyzed the boss room, but all I can find are monsters and treasure chests.
Before coming here, I tried looking at some monster traps, and after analyzing them, I figured there wouldn’t be any traps in the boss room.
“We’re ready. Let’s go in!”
At the platoon leader’s command, the soldiers rush into the boss room.
We must have already assigned roles. Some soldiers focus on holding off the Soldiers, while others head toward the Mages.
The King is being dealt with by the platoon leader, but mainly to buy time.
As for me… I have my own job to do…
I look around the room, but as expected, I can’t find any traps.
There are no rocks on the ceiling, and the walls and floor don’t show anything when I analyze them.
This means we really just need to defeat the monsters in this room.
“I’ve re-analyzed the room! There are no traps, so focus on the monsters!”
“Thank you! Leave the King to me! We’ll take out the Mages in groups, and then we’ll deal with the Soldiers!”
As they say that, the soldiers start reducing the number of Mages one by one.
The fewer Mages there are, the easier it becomes to defeat the remaining ones.
The platoon leader, who was struggling to suppress the King at first, now seems to be handling it with ease.
“Platoon leader! It’s just him left!”
“Ah, well done, everyone!”
And then, the last Goblin King was defeated without much trouble.
…It’s over. Huh, is it really over?
Despite it being additional content? We’ve only fought Goblins so far?
There were no enemies stronger than the final boss, no threats for the future…
It looks like this is the end of the road, and the only thing left is a treasure chest with better quality than the ones we found along the way.
Inside is… a silver sword. Well, this is about what I expected.
It’s a weapon you can get around the middle of the game, but it’s not particularly strong.
If you upgrade it, it can last until the end, but there’s no enchantment or special effect that makes it capable of defeating bosses.
Hmm… Maybe I was overthinking it.
It’s an additional dungeon, but maybe it was just designed as a beginner’s dungeon?
It’s full of Goblins, and once the traps are triggered, they don’t come back. It feels like a dungeon meant to teach players how to fight and explore.
And once you clear it, you get a decent weapon. Looks like that’s all this dungeon was.
“Kunimatsu-sama, thank you! Thanks to you, everyone was able to clear the dungeon safely!”
“Ah, no, it’s because you were all strong.”
“We have permission from the king. Please take the contents of the treasure chest with you, Kunimatsu-sama.”
“Ah, thank you.”
I wonder if that’s okay. I didn’t even fight.
But since it’s a chance to get a decent weapon, I’ll accept it graciously.
And so, our exploration of the unknown dungeon, which I had been worried about, ended up being a great success.
