Chapter 9
Critically ill patients came flooding in all at once.
Most of them were armed soldiers.
“Hngh.. S-Someone, please bring me some strong liquor..”
Some of the soldiers who were still conscious were even asking for alcohol, unable to bear the pain.
For a moment, I wondered if a war had broken out nearby, but their wounds were too crude to have been caused by weapons.
It felt almost like seeing the patients who had been attacked by orcs not long ago all over again.
‘I heard all the orcs had been exterminated.’
I had questions, but this was no time to ask them.
“Please gather the patients in one place.”
While the soldiers carried in the stretchers, I slowly gathered my strength.
‘Healing Wave.’
Fwoosh-
Radiant light filled the surrounding area.
The wounds of the soldiers engulfed in light quickly healed, and the groans of those who had been writhing in pain gradually died down.
But that wasn't the end of it.
No sooner had I finished treating them than new casualties began arriving one after another.
‘Healing Wave.’
‘Healing Wave..!’
It was only after casting Healing Wave about three more times that I was finally able to hear what was going on.
“A dungeon has been discovered within the territory.”
“A dungeon, you say?”
It was the first time I'd heard the term.
But without letting on that I didn't know what it meant, I searched the Gallery.
After filtering the results once through a tab, I found the information only after turning through page after page.
Title : An Introduction to Dungeons (1)
Author : DungeonIsTheAnswer
A dungeon is not a physical space that exists in reality.
It is a space from another world connected to reality. That is what people commonly call a dungeon.
.
.
(Excerpt omitted)
The first two lines were enough to grasp the definition of a dungeon.
What I was curious about, however, was why the soldiers had entered the dungeon.
I learned the reason from what one soldier confessed while nervously watching my reaction.
“Actually, the lord said he'd give a huge reward to anyone who found the priest's luggage. So, while following the trail left by the orcs, we thought there might be luggage in the cave we discovered..”
…
“Of course, we had no idea the place we entered would be a dungeon.”
In the end, he was saying it was all because of me.
The soldiers had been injured trying to find luggage that had never existed in the first place.
“Tell the lord this: it isn't valuable enough to recover at the cost of people's injuries. And-”
I let out a sigh despite myself.
“The day you find my luggage and bring it back, I'll simply leave for another city.”
Of course, it was a bluff.
But considering the lord's personality, it would probably work quite well.
“Be that as it may about your luggage, looks like we'll be in for some trouble until the dungeon is dealt with.”
Priest Margaret said, clicking their tongue.
It sounded as though something terrible would happen if the dungeon were left unattended.
I finished reading the rest of the dungeon primer, of which I'd only read a few lines.
…
Once a dungeon is created, it releases the monsters inside at regular intervals as time passes.
And when these occurrences accumulate, all the monsters inside the dungeon are released at once. This is called a dungeon overflow, or a monster wave.
There are roughly two ways to prevent an overflow.
…
‘So that's why it seemed familiar.’
I already knew of something similar.
The Tower.
The mysterious structure that had appeared in my hometown one day.
The dungeon resembled that structure.
‘In fact, it's basically just a miniature version of the Tower.’
The Tower, too, was a space that extended without any connection to the outside, and if its floor count wasn't updated, it eventually collapsed and monsters poured out.
The dungeon described in the post was not much different.
‘Is it just a coincidence?’
There might have been a connection, but it was difficult to judge without seeing a real dungeon.
I considered asking the Gallery, but asking users who didn't even know the Tower existed would hardly get me a proper answer.
In that case, the solution was simple.
“Priest Margaret, I'll be going out on an assignment.”
I only had to check it for myself.
At that, Priest Margaret slowly nodded and said,
“We don't get an off-site allowance, so don't say anything later.”
“That's unfortunate.”
For the record, I meant it sincerely.
Though my expression said nothing of the sort.
…
“Hop in, Priest.”
“Then I'll gratefully accept the ride.”
The wagon the soldier invited me to board was a shabby supply wagon loaded with provisions.
Naturally, the ride was not comfortable, but it had to be better than walking.
“Have a safe trip.”
Priest Margaret, who had come out to see me off, seemed worried, perhaps out of sheer concern.
“And don't go shouting at an orc just because you lose your temper, like you did with that nuisance.”
“Do you really think I'm that fearless?”
I wasn't.
“I suppose you wouldn't, if you valued your life.”
I did value it, but I still would have.
“Hehe, then I'll see you in a few days.”
“Take care.”
We exchanged brief farewells.
It was about time to set out.
Clatter, clatter-
The wagon gradually began rolling at marching pace.
By the time Priest Margaret, who had seen me off at the city entrance, disappeared from view, a soldier walking beside the wagon approached and spoke.
“At this pace, we'll arrive before sunset. Get some sleep.”
It was the best consideration he could offer as a soldier.
But with everyone else laboring through the march, I felt awkward sleeping, so I smiled lightly and shook my head.
“I'm not sleepy. I'll just enjoy the scenery.”
“Yes, sir.”
‘Come to think of it, if we'll arrive before sunset at this speed, it must be quite far.’
We had set out a little after noon, so was the distance roughly fifteen kilometers?
It was quite a ways from the city.
‘At this distance, I can't help wondering if they couldn't just leave it alone.’
It wasn't something I could say after hastily following the soldiers out here, but I couldn't really understand why the lord had sent soldiers in such a rush.
But after seeing the scenery stretching along the road, I understood why.
‘There are farmers out here.’
Then again, not everyone would live inside the city.
And considering the farmland surrounding it, I could understand the lord's position.
“A wheat field.”
Perhaps I'd been lost in thought as I gazed at the scenery.
Maybe he thought I was interested in wheat fields, because the soldier spoke.
“For your information, that's my parents' field. Every year at the beginning of fall, they brew beer with the wheat left over after selling it. It has a special flavor unlike barley beer.”
“Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.”
“Haha, Priest, I'll treat you to some anytime.”
The soldier who had struck up the conversation was quite friendly.
But just when I wondered if he was being overly familiar, I realized his face looked familiar.
And there was only one kind of soldier whose face might look familiar to me.
“..You're the soldier I treated last time.”
“Haha, that's right. You remember me.”
Once he realized I'd remembered him, the soldier's face brightened.
“You saved my life back then. And I wasn't just making polite conversation earlier, so please do come by.”
“I will.”
The soldier glanced around warily and returned to formation.
Apparently, he'd briefly left his place to come thank me.
‘..Come to think of it, liquor brewed from wheat they grew themselves.’
Not bad.
More than anything, what I liked was not the liquor itself but that it had been brewed from wheat they'd grown themselves.
‘I heard crops grow well if you sprinkle Heal on them.’
If I ended up receiving a church, tending a vegetable garden didn't seem like such a bad idea either.
We arrived at our destination while I was considering what crops to plant in a garden.
“We've arrived, Priest.”
I came to my senses at the soldier's call and looked around.
Not far away, I saw a cave radiating a suspicious aura.
“That cave you see is the dungeon entrance. We've posted guards, but be careful. I'm sure it won't come to that, but you must never go inside.”
“All right.”
I nodded in agreement with the soldier.
Even I wasn't confident I could take on several orcs alone.
‘Two might be possible, but it'd be close.’
That didn't mean I had no intention of entering.
I decided to find a suitable pretext to enter later with the soldiers, and helped with odd jobs such as moving supplies and putting up tents.
“Oh! Priest, you don't need to help us.”
“How could I just stand by and watch while everyone else is working hard?”
Besides, I'd served in the military myself, so I knew. There was nothing more infuriating than one person relaxing while everyone else was busting their asses.
But this behavior seemed quite unfamiliar to the soldiers.
“Are priests always like that?”
“Of course not. I spent a long time as a mercenary, so I know. Most priests capable of using miracles are heavy in both foot and head.”
“What if the priest hears you?”
“Priests always keep quiet, so they can't hear well if there's even a little noise. Don't worry.”
“R-Really?”
For the record, I heard them perfectly.
‘Apparently, people here treat healers similarly.’
In my hometown, they called healers “heal-dragons.”
As the soldier said, it was a term derived from the fact that they held their heads stiffly despite climbing the Tower alongside everyone else.
‘But I shouldn't do that.’
There was no need to unnecessarily offend companions climbing a place that was practically a deathtrap alongside me.
Since it was obvious what choice my companions would make when things truly became dangerous.
“Phew, that's the last of it, Priest. Good work.”
Once all the supplies had been moved, the soldiers who had been putting up tents also finished around the same time.
I was assigned a tent immediately afterward.
“This is the tent you'll be staying in, Priest.”
The tent was spacious.
But after looking inside, I couldn't help frowning.
The spacious tent contained nothing but a single blanket.
It wasn't that I was dissatisfied with the lack of blankets.
“But it seems I'm supposed to use this spacious tent by myself.”
“Haha, you should rest comfortably, Priest.”
I shook my head.
I had no intention of openly accepting special treatment while pretending to be a priest.
“You don't have to do that. I'll sleep with the soldiers. I don't expect special treatment even in a place like this.”
“But won't you be uncomfortable?”
“If you're going to whine over something that minor, you should have your dick cut off.”
“Pfft..”
The soldier hurriedly covered his mouth.
Fortunately, perhaps because the vulgar joke had worked, the soldier's attitude relaxed considerably.
In the end, several blankets for the soldiers were brought into the tent as well.
“..Oh, right. The dungeon expedition is scheduled to begin before noon tomorrow.”
“Are we not going today because it's getting late?”
“The time of day isn't much of a concern. I don't have a lot of dungeon experience either, but the time inside a dungeon is fixed, at least.”
The soldier paused.
“The reason we're not setting out right away is that it's better to enter in peak condition, and there are still some people who haven't arrived.”
“There already seem to be quite a lot of soldiers. Are more troops coming?”
“Rather than troops..”
The soldier glanced around and lowered his voice.
“The knight is coming.”
A knight.
Could it be a knight of high rank?
The soldier seemed excessively intimidated despite the person being merely a knight.
“And the lord's daughter.”
No wonder he was intimidated.