Chapter 31 - (Chapter 85): Anxiety 1

Year 7442, Month 8, Day 16

Today when we were about to enter the dungeon, I was called out by Church-san who was guarding the tax official at the entrance. It seems that on Friday of next week the knight group of Baldukk is going to enforce the punishments of criminals they're holding including Dereonola. Bel and I were told to be there as witnesses. It can't be helped so we'll have to make that into a day off from entering the dungeon.

Furthermore, when I tried asking the reason why there was over two months between the arrest and the judgments and it seems it was for the convenience of the lord. Since Baldukk is the King's direct territory then the lord is the King but obviously there's no way the King would go out of his way to come to Baldukk for this stingy job so normally it's the governor who manages the government of the town. However, as a matter of fact that governor isn't a representative with full authority like in Japan. They're limited to just the administrative authorities. In the first place it's not even an official governor. Since Baldukk is lined up with Rombertia as the King's direct territory in the true meaning of the expression so there's no official governor.

The only one who can administrate justice is someone that has been officially appointed as governor by the lord. Since that's the case the administrative secretary (they're treated as and actually called governor out of custom) that's appointed to take care of only practical work in Baldukk can't perform the judgments of criminals. For that sake, around 4-5 times in a year, when he has some leeway the official lord that is His Highness Count Baludukk Thomas Rombert the Third goes out of his way to come to Baldukk just to perform the judgments. It seems that reason this time was that it wasn't convenient for the official lord, His Highness to make it.

In any case, so it's Friday of next week huh? I need to make sure I don't forget. Thinking that I thanked Church-san and was about to return to everyone else when I was called out again. This time it was some advice. Bel is a foreigner. She's a noble but since her family isn't in the Kingdom of Rombert her treatment is the same as a commoner. Obviously that means it's the same for taxes and she's going to the government office every month to pay taxes. It seems that just in case it would be best for her to have the documents proving that she's paying taxes at that time. I'm sure it won't be necessary but it's nothing more than a just in case so I guess I should be grateful for the advice.

Bel and I exchanged glances as we returned to where everyone else was and explained to them that in order to stand witness to the judgement and enforcement of Dereonola's punishment we would have a day off from entering the dungeon Friday of next week, then we entered the dungeon.



..............



Year 7442, Month 8, Day 20


The combat potential of our party went up a bit since Angela joined but what was more useful than that was her special skill as a Dog-people race "Super Sense of Smell". Almost all of the monsters that live in the dungeon give off indescribable sour and raw smell that will make you feel like throwing up. She can accurately differentiate the smells of these monsters.

At least until the end of my experiment I'm grateful that we won't end up charging into a place where a dangerous enemy could be. Even with just that it was worth buying Angela. Thinking that, I was grinning on my own over how I profited, but it was quickly proven that something like that was just a bonus. Her true value was something much more important. Just as you could expect from Angela who has been entering the dungeon longer than we have, compared to us she had a wealth of knowledge about the dungeon.

For example, the location that you teleport to in the dungeon, it seems that there's some restrictions on this place you teleport to. It seems that currently there's over 400 locations confirmed that you can teleport to but in most cases there's a mark left in the area of where you teleport. Was there something like that? thinking that and since I was interested I tried asking and it was simple. The pedestal for the teleport crystal where you end up teleporting to has a variety of symbols like numbers carved into it but among those it seems that there's always at least one symbol that points to the direction. On the wall where that points to there's a small number written. The number is obviously something was carved out by the adventurers that visited until now. Also, even if you teleport to the same place it seems that the symbols carved into the pedestal aren't fixed so while we obviously noticed the symbols carved into the pedestal, until now we just ignored them not properly investigating.

What the, there was something this simple? With this we should be able to almost pinpoint the location we teleport at the start but I don't get it. Even if there's a number of inaccuracies written on the map I purchased there's a considerable portion of the 1st floor and information about the traps written on it. There's no information included in there about the teleport locations. Was it a partial map I guess? However, Angela quickly answered that question as well.

Normally, the maps that are sold are divided into four types. The first is obviously the one that has the terrain drawn. The next one is that with the information about the traps added. That's the map I purchased. And one more is the one that has teleport information listed. It seems that there's numbers written all over the map. Since this one and the map with traps from just now both have a lot of information on them it's normal that the map isn't just one page. Even the map I'm holding is made up of 9 pieces of parchment about the size of A3 and along with the terrain the information about traps is written but since there's no way it could fit with just one page it's split up. Even on this map the terrain is drawn extremely small. I think in terms of scaling it would be roughly 1/3000 - 1/5000 or so? The roughly is just going off our feeling but even what is it drawn on just one piece of parchment I can't help but think that the scaling differs depending on the location. That's why even if we say it's a picture of the terrain there's some inaccurate parts to it as well.

If you were to list the teleport information on this as well then obviously the amount of room you can fit for the map on one piece of parchment will get smaller. In other words it becomes a map with larger scaling so you suddenly need several times the amount of paper. Since it's parchment if it comes to tens of pieces it's heavy and bulky so it seems you split it up. I didn't even know that sort of information existed. I've never heard about it from anyone. As if it was only obvious, according to the story I heard from Angela this information and the way to obtain the map itself is special. The normal dungeon map dealers who come to the entrance plaza in the early morning don't deal in it and in order to obtain it you have to go to the edge of the town of Baldukk where they're stealthily doing business almost as if to avoid being seen.

It seems that normally unless you have the introduction of an influential adventurer party they won't sell it to you. I used the large amount of 7,000,000 Z to forcefully purchase that map. With this my fortune has decreased quite a bit. I need to earn...Though impatience is forbidden.

Furthermore, there's one more type of map with even more detailed information listed on it and it seems that it's the map created by adventurers who sell it when they retire or who's party collapse and they intend to leave Baldukk. Since it seems those almost ever appear on the market it's best to think we won't be able to easily get our hands on one.

Even with just that portion of information Angela was useful but even more importantly is that she remembered several locations where there were strong enemies. Though even if I say that she could only remember four places but even then it's a big piece of information knowing the information about strong enemies before-hand. Scavenger Crawler, Blue Slime, Propeller Tail, Gargantuan Spider. All of them are dangerous opponents if you enter without knowing them.

It's necessary to test various ways on how to insert Angela into the party for a short while after this. Until things stabilize I'm sure we should slowly train without overdoing it. However, even with being in possession of this much information Angela's skill with the sword is the lowest in our party. Though even if I say that it just falls a bit behind Bel who was born a noble and officially learned how to use the sword so I have no real complaints. The young squires in Bakuddo were like this.

The biggest question I had was how all of her parties until now almost completely collapsed. They weren't literally wiped out but they took enough damage that they can't continue entering the dungeon anymore. I think it's impossible to clear the 1st floor with just her level of skill. Even if you could clear it then I'm sure you'd take damage on the 2nd floor. I wonder why they didn't proceed more slow and safely? Could it be Angela is receiving money or something from a different party to take on the role of luring her party into destruction?

I can't tell how much of her origins and how she met her masters until now is true so I can't help but worrying about something dangerous like that. If I think about it calmly then it's clear that possibility is so minuscule that it can be ignored but I couldn't help but ask Angela.

"Angela, why did your previous masters try to head to deeper floors? It's weird saying this and don't take it the wrong way. Your skill with the sword isn't all that bad but most likely you've realized it yourself, you probably can't win one-on-one against any of us. I don't understand the thinking of someone trying to head to deeper floors with a member with only that level of skill."

After I said that during a short break in the dungeon and Angela gave me a surprised response.

"Eh? I don't understand why master would say something like that. Slaves like myself are usually made to stand at the front and while I'm enduring it or being killed the other members kill the enemy right? On the contrary in masters party I'm grateful because I don't have very many chances to stand at the front of but.."

And replied like that. Well, it's something that I had somewhat predicted.

"It's not that I don't understand that. But, if by doing that you end up collapsing won't the combat potential of the entire party drop? Since I'm not rich I can't do something as wasteful as using you until you collapse. Were all of your previous masters rich people?"

After I tried asking that and she replied a bit troubled.

"Umm? It's weird for me to say it but slaves are shields. I've heard that it's normal to use us to get through combat that can't be avoided. Of course, we avoid combat as much as possible until that point, but even then, before you can get to lower floors there's always combat that you can't avoid so slaves are something like insurance for those times. If you can just make it to the 2nd floor then after that if you put some effort into it you can find enough treasure to buy one or two slaves.."

"It's not as if I don't understand that logic but I've never heard that you'll definitely find some treasure. You say one or two slaves lightly but there's close to 8,000,000 Z on just you and your equipment. Alright? It's 8,000,000 Z? If you add up two peoples worth that's 16,000,000 Z. Even if you find treasure worth 20,000,000 Z it's not worth it right?"

"Eh.."

"Eh.."

"Umm, why isn't it worth it? With the calculation from just now won't you profit 4,000,000 Z?"

"Eh.. What are you saying? Like that's the case. As proof of that, while there's slaves in the parties that are said to be the top teams, but don't they say that the members haven't changed much at all over the last few years? That sort of wasteful spending...I'm sure no would do such wasteful investing right?"

I don't get what she's saying. It seems that Angela still has something to say.

"That is.. isn't it meaningless to use the top teams as a comparison? The majority of parties use slaves as shields. During that time they aim to clear through to the next floor."

This is, not going anywhere. I was about to stick my lower lip out and say something in anger like Chousuke*. I couldn't help but look at the faces of the other members and Zenom and Zulu were just quietly listening but Bel and Ralpha had the same opinion as me. Bel says.

"Angela, why are you saying something like that? Do you want use to use you as a shield? I've never used a slave myself so I can't say anything much but I think that what you're saying is strange. Even if you're a slave, you're a living person. I don't intend to say something emotional like you're pitiful. However, listen carefully. You're a living person. Do you know what this means? Putting it more simply and...I guess so, I think I can explain it better based on the financial results. Al-san bought you for 8,000,000 Z. In order to recover this money and make enough to profit from it you can't say it was profitable unless he makes back several times that amount."

Did Bel major in business? No, it's unrelated though.

"The amount you're worth isn't just the amount of money spent to buy you. After that there's invisible money that's used up through our time spent training together like Saturday morning of last week, or time spent checking our coordination. For example, let suppose you died today. In that case and it's not just the amount of time we spent confirming our coordination last Saturday. All of the time we've spent entering the dungeon together will become pointless. Because our party has been training and fighting under the premise that you're with us. If you die then everything will become pointless. If we changed you out with a new slave then we'd have to start out from the beginning. That's why we can't do anything that would cause us to lose you so easily."

Yeah, well, there's that as well.

"And you know. For as long as you're alive the things you experience are a fortune worth so much you can't buy them with money. There's a lot of things about the dungeon that we didn't know until you came. It's the same about the map and about telling apart the teleport locations as well. That's information that people who are living can bring back with them right? It's living knowledge. It's the same for dangerous monsters. Just listening to stories about them and having someone who's actually fought them is completely different. Just the fact that you're used to fighting in the dungeon is a large asset."

That's right. What was it again? Ah, "leveling up". It was even in Dragon Quest. Since I haven't done it much I'm not too familiar with it but in order to safely move to the next area even in games don't you slaughter countless weak and innocent monsters and earn experience points in order to expand the players combat potential? Something like the hunting I did with Myun at night when I was younger. Even training with the sword in a wider sense can be applied to leveling up. The experiment I'm doing alone on my days off is the same as well and even inside of my right now there's a feeling close to that. However, it seems that Angela still doesn't understand.

"However, in that case wouldn't it take more time to reach the 2nd floor? They say that time is more valuable than money after all. The possibility of earning even more money should be increased by reaching the 2nd floor even a bit faster. My previous master said that this is was a question of probability. I can't think that person had any sort of special way of thinking."

Angela still isn't willing to bend her personal opinion. Does she want to try and commit suicide or something? this woman. By the way, on average it seems that it takes about one year to one and a half years for a newcomer party to clear the 1st floor. I think it's around there that's the key to convince her, or rather help her understand.

"Bel, it's already fine. But, Angela. Try thinking carefully over what Bel said later. Also, how is our skill compared to the parties you've been in until now? Are we lacking?"

After I asked that and Angela replied immediately.

"No, let alone lacking, even though you have such low numbers I think you're several levels higher. You almost never take any sort of injuries that can be called an injury. But, do you intend to aim for the 3rd floor or 4th floor? I thought that was the reason for coordinating movements and having me participate in the combat. Of course...even I understand that it's a waste to just let me die after one fight. However, I've heard that in order to get to the teleport crystal to the lower floors it's always necessary to pass through at least one room with a powerful enemy. I thought it was my job in order to pass through there though.."

"Hmph, so you think it's difficult for us to clear through the strong enemies in the rooms on the 1st floor even including you. Ah, we still hadn't showed you. Well it doesn't matter. Then I'll declare it to you. Once we enter the next month I intend to seriously start progressing through the dungeon aiming for the 2nd floor. And, since we already have the map I'll show you that we can reach the 2nd floor during next month. After we've earned a bit there I'll buy the map for the 2nd floor this time. It seems that the enemies on the 2nd floor are stronger than the 1st floor but I've heard that they fundamentally they aren't all that different from the 1st floor. After buying the map for the 2nd floor..I guess so...within two months we'll get to the 3rd floor. I'll show you we can arrive there without missing anyone. Obviously since there's danger in combat depending on the situation I might end up ordering you to become a shield and protect someone. However, I wouldn't use anyone including you as just a shield to clear through a specific place. Let me hear your opinion again at that time. Now then, the break is over. Let's go once more."

After saying that I stood up and started advancing through the cave at the lead.



...........



Year 7442, Month 8, Day 23


Today is the day of judgement for Dereonola. After waking up in the morning I changed into the highest quality clothes I have and went to the restaurant I always eat breakfast. Since I told Bel about it ahead of time she's wearing some decent clothes as well but they're at best clothes that say she's a slightly skilled adventurer. Well that's actually the case, so even though she's a person from a Sub-Baron family, since she's the second daughter that's left the house and her occupation is now an adventurer it would be strange for her to stand on the witness stand in a dress, so it should be fine. While they're cheap ones she's wearing boots for the time being after all.

We talked about things in the world until close to noon while slowly killing time and when it was close to the time we started towards the government office.

I thought they would confirm the offenses of each person one at a time and then punish them like Keel but they were processed even more carelessly than that. There were even more criminals than Keel and the judge's bench was far from the seats where witnesses wait so I could only get a glance of the King from a distance but just from seeing him he seems like a normal old man. When I tried Identifying him and his age was 48 years old, level is 10. He's either training a reasonable amount or trained when he was young. I'm sure the King is obviously busy so it would be different if it was someone who's committed a grave sin or the greatest thief under the heavens but since it was just at the level of stingy theft, rape, or murder that occurred from a conflict between adventurers so the punishments proceeded smoothly like an operation. They don't even let them complain about the reason why they were captured like in Keel. Since they're all gagged.

The crimes are stated and after they're informed about the evidence and testimony the majority of them quickly recognize their crimes and nod to it. Occasionally there were some who would shake their heads when it comes to punishments of execution or cutting off limbs and during those times the witnesses are called but after giving a simple testimony and the punishment is enforced without problem. They're already giving out the punishment of the next criminal next to a whipped criminal. The punishments are enforced so quickly that it even feels like that.

Since the King was going out of his way to decide the punishments, I thought it would be more dignified, and how do I put it, would proceed much slower with everyone bowing in dogeza mode, but that wasn't the case. Of course, we're giving testimony according to the law as politely as possible and the surrounding people are trying to act with the proper behavior towards an aristocrat but I think it's only obvious. There's commoners, Free People, and slaves in Baldukk and the majority of the victims and witnesses related to criminals aren't a part of the noble standing. I'm sure they understand that there's no point in expecting the same type of refined courtesy and manners that are expected in the royal court every time. As long as they don't completely deviate from the normal with their manners then it's not seen as a problem.  

The judgments gradually pass by and when it was finally Dereonola's turn the incident occurred. Of all things, it seems Dereonola attempted to escape. Obviously he was immediately captured, tied up, and dragged along.

It was abduction and attempted rape of a noble. Bel is a foreigner but she's still a noble. The conflicts with the Kingdom of Devas over the southern border are still periodically continuing. There was a period where I was a bit worried what would happen but according to the stories I've heard from various sources there's no mistake he'll be executed. However, because he caused a disturbance with trying to escape at this time and ended up delaying the progress, it seems that he caught the interest of the King. We were told to stand on the witness stand and give testimony.

I wanted them to quickly get to punishing him without giving testimony but it can't be helped, after Bel and I stood up from the waiting seats and moved to the witness stand, status open was used on us to confirm we were the actual witnesses and that our social standing was just as recorded, then we gave testimony. We said all of the facts we could other than fact that we're Japanese. Since Dereonola is still biting down on a gag and he can't scream anything so he isn't even permitted to object to our testimony.

After hearing our testimony the King thought for a moment on the stage. In the next moment there was someone who whispered something to the King. He must be the commander of his guard or something since he's wearing expensive looking metal armor. After that person whispered something to the King he asked me a question before handing out the punishment.

"You, you said you were a member of Viscount Greed family right. Were you born in Marquis Webdos territory?"

Eh? What's that? Is it related?

"Yes, I was born in Bakuddo village of the Marquis Webdos territory. My father Heguryiyal is the lord."

"After all so that was the case. Do you have an older sister?"

"Yes, one"After this show me your face.""

Eh?

"Ha..Then afterwards I will visit."

After I said that and Dereonola was handed his punishment. As expected it was execution through decapitation. He was glaring at me with an expression filled with resentment but since he's still gagged he can't say anything. Well, since you did something bad so just die. And it was the worst that the other side was a noble.

Dereonola was executed at the edge of the execution grounds.



...........



After receiving a summons from the King I was about to worry myself to death.

I wonder what in the world this is about? The only thing I can think it's related to is about Mill. Since he went to the trouble of asking if I have an older sister. She's an up-and-coming new knight in the elite first knight group of the country after all. I wonder if she did something? Since it's that older sister. Like being told to "serve" the King and after refusing, she slapped him... Since she's a beauty and her outward appearance is good... But, I don't think she's that much of an idiot. Then what is it?

..Could it be..She was killed in action?

Suddenly my body started trembling in fear. I returned to the witness waiting seats and Bel was worried about me as I started thinking with a pale face so she held my hand.

"It's alright. Isn't it just words of praise for cooperating with capturing the criminal?"

That's wrong, that's not it. I see, I never told Bel that my older sister was in the knight group under the direct control of the King...