Chapter 82
Night had fallen, and the surroundings were completely dark. Beneath a sky illuminated by the moon and stars, Kagami and Menou sat on separate, suitably sized rocks, looking thoroughly dejected.
“We searched all over and found nothing... We were only supposed to be gone for a little while, but we’ve spent way too long here.”
“Hmm... What should we do, Kagami-dono? If we head back now, it’ll be the middle of the night by the time we arrive. Shall we go to town and come back tomorrow? If we camp out here, I’ll keep watch.”
“It’s one thing if we were going back to the royal capital, but the town’s pretty far away... It feels like a waste to spend all that time coming back to a place we already searched today without finding anything.”
“Then we’ll camp here. We can search again in the morning. ...It’s my fault this is taking so long. Leave the watch to me, so we won’t be attacked by monsters.”
“No, we’re in this together, right? Let’s take turns resting for three hours at a time. You’re tired too, Menou, so don’t worry about it.”
As he spoke, Kagami lowered the pack he’d been carrying and took out a sleeping bag Takako had given him in advance, just in case something like this happened. Then he began setting up camp.
“I’m sorry, Kagami-dono. In that case, I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. More importantly, you should work on making more witty conversation.”
“Yes... I’ll try.”
Kagami smiled as he said that, seemingly not bothered at all, then immediately curled up in the sleeping bag he’d prepared. Menou smiled softly too.
Satisfied by Menou’s expression, Kagami relaxed back and gazed up at the night sky.
“Still... are we sure it’s really in this forest? What if the book Menou read was wrong? If it contained lies, there’s nothing we can do about that, is there?”
“I admit I’m beginning to doubt whether it’s really in this exact place, but there’s no doubt that a dungeon containing a Dark Dragon exists somewhere in this area.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“When I asked the Demon King about the place mentioned in the book, he said he’d never visited the dungeon himself... but he did say there was something immensely powerful at a certain location. He also said it was somewhere around the place marked in the book.”
Perhaps remembering that moment, Menou’s expression clouded.
“What was he sensing when he said that?”
“I don’t know... I don’t understand what he sensed, either. Estellara also seemed to notice it, but perhaps it was something only beings as powerful as the Demon King and Estellara could sense.”
Kagami gave a wry smile, thinking that if only those lacking power couldn’t sense it, then he should have been able to.
“Either way, we can’t sense it, so there’s nothing we can do. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere, but that doesn’t help if we can’t get to it.”
“I’m sorry. If I could sense it, I might have been able to find the entrance... But all I know is that there’s supposed to be a dungeon in this forest.”
“Did the book say anything more specific than that it was in this forest?”
“No. There was only a mark in the middle of this forest on the map. But it clearly stated that a Dark Dragon was there.”
“A mark in the middle of the Holy Forest, huh...”
Kagami fell into thought at that.
Although the book said a Dark Dragon was definitely there, it only marked the general area of the Holy Forest. That fact bothered Kagami.
There were books in the royal capital’s library that recorded which monsters lived where and which dungeons they could be found in. Usually, such books didn’t just mark locations on a map; they also detailed exactly where each dungeon’s entrance was.
Kagami sighed, thinking that since humans didn’t even know there was a dungeon in the Holy Forest, books made by demons probably didn’t record information in as much detail as human books did.
“...Wait a minute.”
But then, using that information as a clue, Kagami realized what had been nagging at the back of his mind. He sprang upright in his sleeping bag.
“What’s wrong, Kagami-dono? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“No, what if... What if it’s...”
Once he thought about it, the two pieces of information fit together strangely well.
On the one hand, people who often visited the Holy Forest believed there was no dungeon here. On the other, there was information claiming that a dungeon containing a Dark Dragon existed in the forest, even though no exact location was known. The two claims seemed to contradict each other, but they could also fit together.
“What if there’s no entrance to the dungeon containing the Dark Dragon?”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t the Dark Dragon considered a myth because no one except the person who first discovered it has ever found it? There aren’t any books on the human side saying where it is, and there’s no record of anyone who comes to the Holy Forest finding a dungeon, either.”
“That may be true, but how does that lead to there being no entrance to the dungeon?”
“Isn’t it strange that the demons know there’s a Dark Dragon in the Holy Forest, but humans can’t find it? At first, I thought it might be in a hard-to-find place. But if the demons are certain it’s here, then maybe we should consider that the dungeon has no entrance. Maybe that’s why the book Menou read only said it was somewhere in this forest, without giving a specific location.”
“Impossible... Could a dungeon exist without an entrance? Then how did the person who supposedly discovered the Dark Dragon get into it?”
“Hmm...” Kagami pondered this. If there really was no entrance, it would be impossible to even become aware of the dungeon’s existence.
But the idea that it had no entrance made the demons’ claim that a dungeon existed here seem more credible.
“Maybe there’s some special way to get in... Or maybe it’s just invisible.”
“A special way, huh... If that’s the case, we’re out of luck. But if it’s just invisible, maybe it’s deep underground?”
“That could be it. It’s still a little early to go to sleep, so let’s try digging.”
At Menou’s suggestion, Kagami decided it was worth a try. He took out the shovel and mattock David had given him in case they found valuable ore in a dungeon, and started digging.
“W-wait, Kagami-dono. Is there any point in digging the ground at random?”
“We’re pretty much in the center of the Holy Forest, at least... If we’re going to dig, this seems as good a place as any. It’s not like we can guess where else it might be.”
“Hmm... You’re right. All right, I’ll help too.”
After that, the two of them spent quite some time digging, taking turns keeping watch so they wouldn’t be attacked by monsters while they worked.
“...What is this?”
After they had dug down about eight meters, Menou’s turn at the hole came to a sudden stop.
“Kagami-dono! Come down here!”
“What is it? We just switched turns.”
“Just come down here!”
Alarmed by Menou’s panicked shout, Kagami jumped into the circular hole they had dug, which was about eight meters deep.
“Look at this.”
As soon as Kagami landed in the hole, Menou, still wearing a look of astonishment, thrust the shovel into the ground and dug up a large clump of soil at their feet.
“...No way.”
Kagami had been looking confused, wondering what was going on, but his expression quickly changed to one of astonishment.
The hole left by the clump of soil Menou had dug up began to fill as soil spilled in from all around and piled up, as if the earth were regenerating itself—sealing the hole as though to say it would let them go no farther.