Chapter 47
Chase diligently wrote down all the information he had uncovered so far in his notes.
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Dreamland can manipulate key information about the dungeon.
However, the scope of that manipulation seems limited to text and images.
Before starting the 5th raid, I decided to interpret 'throwing away a rotten apple' as
'the truth that you must never go out into a corridor without lights.'
I also assigned meanings to the other items as well.
Throwing an item away means the truth.
Bringing an item back means a lie.
The beard-trimming scissors and the rotten apple disappeared.
The dagger and rope remained.
That meant the journal entries saying 'The elevator can hold multiple people' and
'We have to fight insect-men' were false.
This time, I'd actually gained something.
Dreamland couldn't even interfere with the act of bringing items back out, after all.
But it wasn't an efficient method.
No matter how many lies I uncovered,
the limited information meant I couldn't immediately connect it to the truth.
Escape scrolls are expensive.
And every time they enter, a significant number of dwarves lose their lives.
As expected, the only sensible approach was to explore as many areas as possible at once.
Gather as much information as possible, then determine whether it is fake or real.
If I uncovered false information, I'd leave the rest to the explorers, so to speak.
That was the Dreamland strategy I had come up with.
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Creak.
The door opened.
Chase stopped writing.
When he turned his head, Goldhand came into the room.
It wasn't often that the mayor came into the assistant's office.
He blinked.
Was there some urgent matter?
"Chase. I think it'd be best to stop the dungeon raid here."
"What do you mean...?"
"We can't gather any applicants. Which isn't surprising, since more than 40 dwarves have died so far. And the soldiers also seem to view the dungeon raid itself as ominous."
Chase's eyebrows twitched.
What a bolt from the blue.
"Mayor. There are still three escape scrolls left. Look at this. I've figured out a strategy for how to clear it. All that's left now is the dungeon raid."
"Yes. You've truly done your best. But no matter how I think about it, Dreamland is a dangerous place. Losing memories is bad enough, but the fact that information can be manipulated as well...."
Chase shot to his feet.
"Mayor. The manastone is right in front of us."
"……."
"More than anyone else, you know better than I do that a manastone is a treasure worth that much."
The North Kingdom, which was in contact with Fire Forge.
The reason they, living on barren, harsh land, had built such a powerful force was that they had already obtained many manastones in the past.
"Of course, Dreamland's manastone may not be that big. But if it's at least as big as a pebble rolling along the roadside, we'll be able to earn so much profit that the sacrifices up to now won't even matter."
Of course, Dreamland was a newly established dungeon.
There was a superstition that manastones were proportional to the size of the dungeon, so the result might be disappointing.
Even so, its value was undeniable.
There was value there that had to be obtained even if it meant sacrificing human lives and escape scrolls.
That's what a manastone is.
Goldhand didn't deny it.
"Please, reconsider, just once."
Silence hung in the air.
And then Goldhand spoke.
"There are still three escape scrolls left. Can you clear it before those three scrolls run out?"
Chase nodded without hesitation.
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No matter how brave the dwarves were, and no matter how obedient they were to their leader, that didn't mean their lives weren't precious.
The response to recruiting for the 6th raid party was tepid.
There had been no results.
Even if it was a place where you could strike it rich, what good was it if you died?
They hadn't shown any real progress yet.
So the prevailing opinion was that further exploration would be just as worthless.
Risking your life for something worthless is no different from suicide.
That was probably how most dwarves would think.
Goldhand wasn't saying to give up on the raid for no reason.
Of course, if it were just someone in the assistant's position, he might be able to drag them along by force.
Well.
In situations like this, morale is crucial.
And above all, he couldn't force his own people, who didn't want to enter the dungeon, to go in and die.
'Do I have no choice but to promise payment and bring in mercenaries?'
Chase ultimately had no choice but to take the next-best option.
Rather than bringing along demoralized dwarves, it would be better to hire human mercenaries.
Chase concealed his identity.
His new identity was Cheide, a greedy dwarf exiled from the city.
That was because if the mayor's aide from Fire Forge proposed dungeon raiding to the mercenary company, they would definitely refuse.
The dwarves of Fire Forge weren't hostile toward humans.
But they would obviously suspect why, when they had an army of their own, they were using human mercenaries in a dungeon with an entry limit.
Chase sought out a mercenary company stationed in a relatively remote fief in the North Kingdom, one where news was unlikely to reach Fire Forge.
"It's a newly established dungeon! You don't need to worry! Only I know its location. Those Fire Forge dwarves will never know. Even if it's near the city, I guarantee it—it's a snowy mountain crawling with vicious monsters."
"Oh? That's an enticing story. Strike it rich, turn your life around... I'm the type who thinks every man should try that sort of thing at least once. Fine, let's give it a shot."
Recruiting the mercenary company was easy.
The moment they heard the word manastone, the mercenaries' eyes were filled with greed.
The name 'newly established dungeon' was certainly attractive too.
Still, the biggest reason was Chase's smooth-talking, scam-artist-like pitch about how easy it was to clear a newly established dungeon.
'I can't trust these mercenaries completely, but this is the best option.'
Chase prepared the supplies.
And together with the mercenary company, he headed toward the entrance to Dreamland.
'This time, I'm going to bring back as much information as possible. Even if the information is manipulated, it doesn't matter. It'll be the foundation for the next expedition.'
And so the 6th Dreamland raid began.
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【6th Raid Results】
【Author: Chase】
Number entering: 12
Raid result: 11 dead, Chase survived, 1 escape scroll consumed.
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No gains
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Chase blinked.
When he came to, he found himself in front of the dungeon.
When he looked up, snow was falling from the sky.
His breath, exhaled like gritty cigarette smoke, vanished in an instant.
It felt like waking from a long sleep.
It felt like, just moments ago, he had definitely stepped into the dungeon with the mercenary company.
"Did I escape?"
This was already the third time, but still.
As expected, losing one's memories was an unpleasant feeling.
"The scroll was definitely used, and my belongings..."
Chase felt around his body.
The things that should have been there were gone.
He looked around, but
as expected, they were nowhere to be seen.
There was no way he would have let the backpack fall off his body.
He must have cherished it as much as his own life.
After all, if he couldn't come back with the backpack, it would be meaningless.
Starting with food, water, and exploration tools, he had lost everything, including the most important thing of all: the exploration information.
Had something happened inside?
"……."
And that wasn't all.
The beard he usually tended so carefully had disappeared, and his body bore the marks of a struggle.
From scars that looked like stabs and slashes to bruises from being beaten.
The stinging all over his body wasn't an illusion, but real pain.
'Did I clash with the mercenaries? Or was it a trap? Or a minion? Why on earth didn't I come back with the backpack?'
Without memory, there was no way to know.
I left the journal behind in the dungeon.
Chase felt miserable.
He had used an escape scroll and gained nothing.
There were only two scrolls left now.
The dream of clearing Dreamland was growing ever farther away.
'Maybe it'd be better to give up...?'
Life is precious.
Rationally speaking, quitting would clearly be the right choice.
"……."
There's a saying that unexplained phenomena make living things afraid.
Fear is a survival instinct.
It's a kind of defense mechanism that makes living things flee from predators.
It should be avoided, of course.
But considering there's a saying that curiosity killed the cat,
curiosity might be the one feeling that can beat fear.
Why was he so unwilling to let go?
Why did he want to see the end of the dungeon so badly?
Chase's heart was pounding.
Had he gone insane, or had he always been this kind of person?
He couldn't tell.
For now, he just wanted to let his body follow his heart.
He walked backward until Dreamland disappeared from sight.
His return to Fire Forge must have looked utterly irrational.
***
We successfully defended this wave too.
Now there's one dwarf and the rest are humans.
More than forty dwarves have already died.
Just like the veteran said, people really don't seem to be showing up.
This was already the third time that dwarf had come in with humans in tow.
His name was definitely Chase.
Last time, he almost got assassinated by one of his subordinates in his sleep, but he was lucky this time too.
If he barely managed to get an escape scroll before dying, he must have been favored by heaven.
I looked at the last page of the journal Chase had left behind.
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Never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here never come here...
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I took a screenshot and uploaded it to the gallery.
Sarang-i was the first to leave a comment.
Ssiggan Saranggae : Damn, is that the journal the intruder left behind??
ㄴNewbie : I'm a terrifying newbie.
ㄴSsiggan Saranggae : Newbie, so scaryㅠㅠ
ㄴNewbie : But I have something I'm curious about
ㄴNewbie : Will that bastard try to come in again?
ㄴNewbie : This time, the journal's disappeared too...
ㄴNewbie : Personally, I hope he doesn't come in ㅇㅇ
ㄴNewbie : Well, if he does, I won't go easy on him...
ㄴSsiggan Saranggae : I don't think he remembers being scared at all, so he'll probably come in again, won't he??
ㄴSsiggan Saranggae : He probably doesn't even know what kind of ordeal he went through and managed to come back alive, right?
ㄴNewbie : Hmm... honestly, after dying this many times, shouldn't he have stopped coming in by now??
ㄴNewbie : I don't get it...
ㄴSsiggan Saranggae : Maybe the newbie dungeon is just as lewd as the newbie!
ㄴNewbie : For real?