Chapter 50
A vast space where a door presumed to be the boss room could be seen.
Dense trees obstructed our view, and the scent of hidden goblins wafted toward us.
“Master. There are goblins.”
“Are you sure this time?”
“Y-yes, of course!”
That was the incident when I once tried to launch a surprise attack and ran into people.
It happened because they had fought goblins so often that they mistook the scent.
Even so, I won't make the same mistake again.
Following my signal, the party members moved swiftly.
Because I knew where the goblins were and how many there were, we were able to deal with them all at once.
The problem was that this place was far too vast.
It didn't seem like an ordinary large dungeon, but a truly enormous one.
“It doesn't seem like something we can clear out entirely.”
“It would be better to make a rough map of the room sizes and the forest.”
The nepenthes's room had been quite large too.
There might be a red monster here as well, but Claude didn't let it show.
“Master. There are some here too.”
“Yes, I know. But the party's safety comes first.”
The red monsters were the very reason we'd hoped to come to the new dungeon.
Was Claude satisfied with just one nepenthes?
Its magic stone had been quite large, too.
“For now, let's mark the route as the advance party.”
Following Claude, we walked along the outer wall of the dungeon room.
Since this was the entrance to the boss room, every party that entered the dungeon would gather here.
As we walked along the outer wall, we found a large number of entrances.
“This is a semipermanent magical marker.”
Claude sprinkled glittering powder on the ground in the shape of arrows.
Then he cast a spell over it, completing the markers.
“Let's see….”
When he let his magic flow into the ground, the arrows he'd drawn began to glow brightly.
“Oh, as expected of a mage! It's so neat.”
“Sometimes the arrowheads get smashed, leaving markers that make it impossible to tell where they're pointing.”
To keep anyone from stepping into a dangerous place right from the entrance,
I drew a route toward an open area where we could guard against goblin attacks.
This also served as proof that we'd been the first to reach the boss room.
“Now that we've carved our markers, we'll begin the major construction.”
“Is there more to do?”
“It's something I can do as a mage.”
I had no idea what he intended to do from this point onward.
Until now, I'd relied on my own experience dealing with dungeons, but were mages somehow different?
But the mages in the mercenary company I'd belonged to hadn't done anything else here.
“Since we're near the boss room, the miasma is dense. I'll suppress it all at once.”
He took several small daggers out of his void inventory.
I didn't know what he was doing, but he cast magic on the daggers.
“Let's see…Aris.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Could you drive a dagger deep into the top of that large tree?”
“Ah, do I just throw it?”
Claude nodded, and I confidently declared that I could do it.
“What is that?”
“It will serve as a beacon imbued with my magic.”
It was a device that would make the safe area we'd chosen even more secure.
It would drive away the surrounding miasma with Claude's magic, creating a marker that would make monsters reluctant to approach.
That was Claude's explanation.
I threw the daggers one by one to the places he wanted them.
Thunk-! One dagger pierced the top of the tree.
The dungeon ceiling was high, too, so I flew up with Fly magic and embedded another there.
A little farther along, I put one in the floor, and one in each wall.
We made eight beacons in total.
“Wow, Lord Claude! I feel like it's really become easier to breathe!”
“I never even knew this sort of thing was possible… It's a technique I've never heard of.”
“The mages of Guvnel really are incredible, aren't they?”
The three of them marveled and praised Claude.
Somehow, seeing Master praised made me feel just as proud as when I was praised myself.
“Master. You're amazing as always.”
“Huh? Haha…thank you. Everyone, it's nothing special.”
Look how embarrassed Claude was.
We finished clearing the surrounding area.
There wasn't really any reason for the advance party to do this, but Claude's magic was impressive.
We cleared away quite a few trees obstructing the surrounding view and created an open space.
The monsters might be provoked into attacking us, but….
His beacons were definitely doing their job.
The monsters' scents seemed to linger around the beacons before turning back.
“Then let's get ready to receive our guests.”
The main duty of a dungeon advance party was to survey the dungeon's first floor.
The priorities were learning its geography, monsters, and traps.
The reason the first floor was used as the standard was that the dungeon had not yet been officially opened.
Dungeons were adventurers' workplaces and the Adventurer's Guild's main source of income.
Many shops would open near the entrance, including potion shops, smithies, enchantment shops, and treasure appraisal shops.
That was why information about the first floor was extremely important, so that ordinary people could move around safely.
Each advance party began from a different location, but if they all reached the same destination, the map of the first floor would be completed.
For this reason, all the advance parties gathered right before the first floor's boss room.
The room directly before the boss room was called the ‘waiting room.’
The first party to arrive at the waiting room was particularly important.
That party was called the vanguard party.
It was customary for the vanguard to deal with the monsters and traps in the waiting room whenever possible.
But if the area was too large for that to be possible, they were not expected to overexert themselves.
Parties that arrived later handed over the information they had gathered so far to the vanguard party.
The information they had to hand over concerned ‘geography, monsters, and traps’.
They didn't have to hand over any other information.
Based on the gathered information, they would create a map of the first floor or develop strategies for dealing with the monsters.
At this time, it was also customary to hand the ‘party's marker’ over to the vanguard along with the information.
The marker was the party identification tag issued by the Adventurer's Guild.
The reason for handing over the marker was that it made the information easier to organize.
Of course, none of the things I had explained so far absolutely had to be followed.
That was because these rules were not compulsory.
They were rules born from the wisdom adventurers had acquired while managing dungeons for many years.
It would be nice if everyone followed the rules, but many things happened in life.
All sorts of accidents occurred while progressing through a dungeon.
The annihilation of an advance party, disputes between parties, and so on.
Arguments over who would be the vanguard party, the possibility that the information handed over might be questionable, and so on….
Various troubles could arise.
That was why handing over a marker was a rather noble act.
It meant trusting the other party and acknowledging them as the vanguard party.
The Adventurer's Guild also knew what kind of hardships the vanguard party had to bear.
That was why it gave a slightly better reward to parties that brought back markers.
There were several ways to prove that a party was the vanguard party, but one was to return with the markers of multiple parties.
The important thing here was the markers, not the information.
They were proof that multiple parties had acknowledged them.
The reason markers were considered more important than information was simple.
‘Deceiving the Adventurer's Guild to profit from false information.’
There were people who did strange things in order to claim the vanguard party's reward.
That was why the party holding the markers at the end was recognized as the vanguard party.
Of course, if the quality of the information they brought was poor or there were other problems, their eligibility would be revoked.
Receiving guests meant preparing to accept their markers.
“Hmm, this is our first time being the vanguard….”
“Right? I knew it was a good idea to suggest that we come together.”
Claude seemed accustomed to receiving guests as the vanguard.
Claude took something…strange out of his void inventory.
“What's that?”
“A stall…right?”
What he took out was a somewhat crude portable stall of the sort used by street vendors.
It said, ‘Vanguard Group. Markers here.’
“You have a lot of dungeon experience, don't you?”
“Well, I've been going through dungeons as often as I eat, ever since I was little.”
The setup for receiving markers was complete, but the important thing was that we had no idea when the guests would arrive.
A dungeon was a dangerous place where one mistake could result in the annihilation of an entire party.
Not every party would be able to reach this place.
“I've cast detection magic at every entrance we've found, so let's wait leisurely.”
As expected of my capable Master!
It meant we'd know in advance whenever a party moved through one of the entrances.
“You're amazing as always!”
“Well, other mages can do this too.”
We had plenty of time to spare before the guests arrived.
“Aris. Are you tired?”
“I can still fight.”
Following Claude, we set out to subjugate goblins as the vanguard.
We didn't go very deep, instead gradually dealing with the monsters that protruded from the outskirts.
And we confirmed that there was definitely a red monster inside.
“It barely moves.”
Powerful energy seeped out, little by little….
I seemed to have become capable of distinguishing the scent of ordinary monsters from that of the red ones.
“Grrrrrrrr….”
“Aris. Are you all right?”
“Grrrrr….”
Was it that the scent made me feel strangely unpleasant? No, it felt more like I wanted to challenge it.
I could sense an extremely powerful force, and I found myself wanting to clash with it.
Maybe it was because, as a Wolpi, I was drawn to strength…I didn't know.
Red magical power definitely seemed to excite me.
“Aris!”
“Kya-!”
Claude suddenly gripped my tail tightly.
“U-uh…?”
I was lying flat against the floor.
My breathing was ragged, the fur on my tail was bristling, and my body was trembling….
“Aris? Let me see your eyes.”
“Ah, uh…Ma-Master…ngh…!”
When Claude's hand touched my arm, I felt a sharp jolt, as though electricity had passed through me.
My tail stood on end, and my nipples tightened, as if they were becoming erect.
“As I thought…the red miasma is affecting you.”
“Uh, uhe?”
Is something wrong with me…?
Chris approached and examined me as well, not just Claude.
They looked straight into my eyes….
“Aris's internal magic is stimulating the brain. Hmm…this seems like a physiological response.”
“Yes. That's probably an accurate diagnosis.”
“What should we do? Is Miss Aris all right?”
The sounds around me reached my ears as though I were underwater.
Everything sounded muffled. I sniffed at the air, and there was Master's scent….
I looked up blankly, searching for Claude.
Claude spoke to the party members.
“Don't worry, everyone… It's just a simple heat.”
Ah, heat….
That unavoidable phenomenon for a Wolpi.
Because this was when the chances of becoming pregnant increased.
If I wanted to have Claude's child, I'd have to do it without rest from now on….
“H-heat?”
“Suddenly… Is Miss Aris all right?”
“Aris should be fine. The symptoms are…clear, and I know how to resolve them.”
At Claude's words, Livnil covered her face with both hands and shouted.
“Kyaa♡ If that's the method?!”
“Is there a treatment? Lord Claude! Then treat Aris immediately!”
“N-no, Chris…that's not something we can do here!”
Chris was terribly embarrassed.
Hadn't we already enjoyed seeing every private part of each other's bodies?
Ah, of course, that didn't mean I wanted to do it in front of other people….
“Ma-Master…I'm fine. Now is the time to focus on the boss.”
“No, Miss Aris! You need to take care of your body! Lord Claude! Hurry!”
Chris urged Claude on with a determined expression.
Griff, who had been watching this, sighed and nodded.
“Then let's retreat for now. Chris and Livnil, come this way.”
“What? As a cleric, I have a duty to examine the patient's condition…Kyaa!”
Griff picked Chris up like a sack of luggage and carried them away somewhere.
Livnil approached me with a grin and said,
“I've heard a little about beastkin heat periods. I don't know what it's like for Wolpi, but I've heard they're difficult! As a fellow woman…I hope you overcome it well! Go for it, Miss Aris!”
What was this…? Was this really something worth cheering for?
Livnil clenched both hands into fists, cheered one more time, and disappeared.
“Then…Aris. Let's go somewhere safe too.”
“Ah, yes…but where did the three of them go…?”
“You seem dazed. They're fine, so trust me and follow me.”
“Yes, Master.”
Claude had told me to trust him, so I should.
The only place in this world where I could let my guard down was in Claude's arms.
I mustn't doubt Claude.
Claude was my one sanctuary.
Holding Claude's hand tightly, I followed Claude into the forest.