Chapter 58
Kron had sent a reply, but Raer, the Tower Master of the Red Magic Tower, could not believe it.
Deploying a thousand soldiers to manage a dungeon meant leaving a hole somewhere in the territory.
That might be fine in peacetime, when territories were on good terms, but in an Empire divided among several factions like this one, the news could surely invite someone to invade.
The Lord of Kron could not have been unaware of that.
Rather, after making such a statement, he might be setting a trap to launch a surprise attack on another territory that tried to invade his own.
Raer thought she could not believe it until she saw a thousand soldiers with her own eyes.
‘Just wait and see. They’ll surely suddenly claim that a problem has arisen in their territory and say they can’t send the soldiers. Damn bastards…’
As Tower Master, Raer had handled countless dungeons and developed a deep-seated distrust of lords.
She decided not to believe Kron until its soldiers arrived and began making plans on the assumption that they would not come.
Several days later, Zik suddenly burst in and shouted.
“M-Master! They’re here!”
“Who’s here? Did a Goblin King come bursting out of the dungeon?”
Zik spoke with a look that suggested he had seen something unbelievable.
She thought her disciple was making a fuss again.
“Kron’s soldiers have arrived.”
“…Really?”
“Yes! Really!”
She headed outside the tent to confirm it with her own eyes.
There, she found an army consisting of a thousand soldiers and knights.
They were carrying flags emblazoned with Kron’s symbol, a silver dragon.
Just as she was still unable to believe that the soldiers had truly come, a handsome silver-haired young man who appeared to be the lord, accompanied by a familiar face, approached her.
“I am Calix Kron, Lord of Kron. It is an honor to meet the Tower Master of the Red Magic Tower.”
“I am Raer Sialenis, Tower Master of the Red Magic Tower. I thank the Lord of Kron for his cooperation.”
Raer saw the Lord of Kron for the first time.
To Raer, he seemed like a lord who radiated a truly benevolent aura.
‘No, I can’t trust him this much. There have been plenty of kind-looking lords.’
After greeting Calix, she turned toward the familiar face.
She looked at her disciple, Sharen.
“It has been a long time, Master.”
“Yes, it has, Sharen. You look healthy.”
She was meeting her disciple for the first time in five years.
The last time she had seen Sharen, Sharen had claimed to be happily helping people, but it had been obvious to anyone that she was falling apart to a dangerous degree.
But now, she looked much brighter than she had then.
Raer gave the Lord of Kron a few more points.
* * *
Thanks to Kron’s soldiers, Raer was able to begin managing the dungeon in earnest.
She stationed soldiers alongside the Red Magic Tower’s mages in the areas around the dungeon where monsters appeared, and deployed them even more carefully around the dungeon entrance, since there was no way to know where monsters might be summoned.
Once they no longer had to worry about the monsters, the Red Magic Tower’s mages were able to begin analyzing the dungeon in earnest.
Moreover, that was not all Kron had brought.
“I heard that you already have enough food. So I brought consumables such as wine, cheese, and potions.”
“Woohoo! It’s wine!!”
“How long has it been since we’ve had cheese? Thank you, my lord!”
There was enough food thanks to the support sent by the surrounding lords.
But they had no luxuries such as wine and cheese, and the mages had been suffering because of it.
With the wine and cheese Calix had brought, the mages of the Red Magic Tower were able to enjoy a pleasant drink for the first time in ages and regain the strength to manage the dungeon.
Once the lord personally stepped forward to cooperate with the Red Magic Tower and spared no expense in providing various forms of support, the area around the dungeon began to come completely under control.
How long had it been since dungeon management had gone this smoothly…
Raer thought as she watched everything from the sky.
Sharen, who was flying beside her, spoke.
“What do you think, Master? Our lord is a good person, isn’t he?”
“Yes… I admit it. He is the most lord-like lord I have seen lately.”
Raer thought that one had to acknowledge what deserved to be acknowledged.
Calix Kron was the lord who had best fulfilled his duties among all the lords she had seen recently.
He was different from those damned bastards who had ignored her request.
Pleased, Sharen said,
“That’s right. Our lord is different from other lords.”
“Why are you happier when I’m praising your lord?”
“Because praise for my lord is praise for me. You can praise him a little more if you like, Master.”
Raer was astonished and intrigued by the sight of her disciple proudly showing off her lord with a shrug.
Sharen was Raer’s niece.
Raer’s younger sister had also been an elven mage.
She had been as gifted a mage as Raer and had grown under the expectations of their clan, only to fall in love with a human knight and cause a scandal.
Discrimination against people of mixed blood still existed on the continent, but it had been even worse fifty years ago.
Raer’s sister eventually became a fugitive alongside her husband, and the two of them joined with other fugitives to establish a small village where they could live.
But an attack by the pure-blood supremacists destroyed the village, and Sharen’s parents were killed.
Before she died, Sharen’s mother asked Raer for a favor.
She asked Raer to protect her daughter, Sharen, if anything happened to her.
To keep her promise to her sister, Raer took Sharen in as her disciple and raised her in the magic tower.
Sharen lost some of her memories because of the shock of her parents’ deaths when she was young.
Raer thought that was the best path for Sharen and deliberately did not help her recover those memories.
Because of this, Sharen believed that her parents were an ordinary elf and human who had met and married in a village.
After growing up, Sharen one day entered the human world, saying that she wanted to help people.
Knowing how filthy the human world was, Raer tried to stop her, but Sharen went through with it, and after that, she seemed darker every time Raer saw her.
Raer thought that leaving Sharen in the human world any longer would lead to another tragedy, and she planned to keep her in the magic tower by force if necessary the next time they met—when she received news that Sharen had become an exclusive mage.
At first, Raer worried that Sharen had been taken in by some strange lowlife.
But seeing Sharen now, smiling as she proudly boasted about her lord, Raer felt a little relieved.
At least her disciple and niece seemed to have met a decent lord and be enjoying a good life.
Raer gave the Lord of Kron another point.
Just then, Zik flew toward them.
“Master! Lady Sharen! It looks like the dungeon investigation is finished.”
“Understood. Let’s go down, Sharen.”
“Yes, Master.”
* * *
Everyone involved in managing the dungeon had gathered inside the Red Magic Tower’s tent.
Once Raer and Sharen entered last, the Red Magic Tower’s investigator in charge of examining the dungeon began presenting the findings.
“After examining the dungeon entrance, we discovered two things: bad news and even worse news.”
“Let’s hear the bad news first.”
The investigator’s expression was grim.
Raer decided to hear the bad news first.
“The dungeon that appeared here is a Grade 1 dungeon.”
“Good heavens…”
“A Grade 1 dungeon…”
Dungeons were divided into grades from 0 to 5.
Grade 0 dungeons almost never appeared, and when one did, it was a catastrophe that would prompt the entire Empire to mobilize all its strength. Thus, Grade 1 was generally the highest rank of dungeon one could encounter.
Since no Grade 1 dungeon had appeared in nearly ten years, many of the tower’s mages were experiencing one for the first time.
“After deciphering the hieroglyphs recorded on the entrance, we believe this dungeon was blessed and cursed by the goddess of the bow, ‘Mer’. Because of that, it seems we will need to prepare a thorough strategy against arrows.”
At least they had learned which god the dungeon was associated with.
With that information, adventurers would find it much easier to conquer the dungeon.
“What is the even worse news?”
“That is… judging from the state of the mana flowing through the entrance, there is not much time left before a Dungeon Wave.”
“How many days do we have?”
“Three days at the earliest, and five at most.”
The investigator’s words caused an uproar inside the tent.
That was because the remaining time was far too short.
“Three days! A Dungeon Wave will occur before the adventurers can even arrive!”
“We can gather adventurers somehow using teleportation magic. The problem is the danger level. If it is a Grade 1 dungeon, even renowned adventurers from the capital may be reluctant to challenge it.”
With only three days, the dungeon might erupt while the adventurers were still on their way.
Even if the tower’s mages transported them using teleportation magic, even the greatest adventurers would have to risk their lives against a Grade 1 dungeon.
Even with the standard reward, finding challengers was usually difficult.
“Then we’ll have to prepare for a Dungeon Wave…”
“No! If a Dungeon Wave occurs here, it will be a disaster. The western supply routes will be completely destroyed!”
Raer ultimately decided that preparing to deal with a Dungeon Wave was the most practical way to handle the situation.
But the official dispatched by the Platinum Council was horrified.
A Dungeon Wave was not a good way to deal with a dungeon.
The hordes of monsters unleashed by a Dungeon Wave would be filled with miasma, contaminating the land and turning it into a place where no one could live for several years at the shortest, or several decades at the longest.
The Argon Plains also served as a logistical route connecting the West and the South.
If a Dungeon Wave occurred here, it would cause enormous long-term damage to both the West and the South.
“Then do you have a solution? The dungeon is dangerous, and adventurers are difficult to recruit. Are you going to persuade the Platinum Council to pay for the hiring of dozens of Grade 1 adventurers?”
“Th-that…”
If they brought this matter to the Platinum Council, they would ultimately argue over who was responsible until the Dungeon Wave erupted.
Raer had no faith in them whatsoever.
Just as the discussion was drifting toward effectively abandoning the Argon Plains, Calix stepped forward.
“There is still one way.”
“Lord of Kron, what way?”
The Platinum Council official listened closely to Calix’s words.
He trusted that Calix would have some sort of solution.
Raer was also eager to hear what method Calix would suggest.
“We’ll conquer the dungeon without borrowing the power of the capital’s adventurers.”
Everyone froze at Calix’s words.
The official managed to regain his composure and carefully asked,
“By any chance… do you know a renowned adventurer, my lord?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then do any of your vassals have experience clearing dungeons?”
“No. None.”
The official grew frustrated at Calix’s answers.
If he had no adventurers and no vassals with experience, then who in the world was going to conquer that Grade 1 dungeon?
“Then who exactly is going to conquer the dungeon?”
The official was so frustrated that he asked directly.
Calix answered him confidently.
“I will.”
Sharen would later remember that moment as follows.
Even the strongest ice magic could never have frozen the air that completely.