4-2 The Ring Search

The seventy-second day in another world.

“Antonio!”

I called out to the guy I spotted at the Adventurers’ Guild first thing in the morning.

“What is it?”

There stood a handsome, rugged hunk of a man, turning back as he replied.

“You free right now?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say I’m free. What about it?”

“Wanna come with me to the Adros dungeon?”

“I don’t mind, but the dragons still haven’t respawned, have they? What are we going there for?”

Ah—so if there wasn’t prey he wanted, he wasn’t interested.

Unlike me, he was a born-and-bred adventurer, and A-rank monsters and below were apparently beneath his notice.

“You’re something else, you know that? Whatever. It’s a job request. And I can’t exactly bring some weirdo along.”

“Oh?”

“Not here. Come with me a bit.”

The next moment, I snap—teleported us together to the Glass Garden.

“Hey. No refusing, huh?”

“Hahaha. Yeah, well… it’s not something I want people overhearing.”

And then I told him about the ring.

“I see. That does sound interesting. So if we find it, you’ll get me recommended for S-rank?”

“That only applies after you hit A-rank. But for you, the A-rank exam won’t be much of an issue. You’re already a Dragon Slayer. Honestly, that alone should be enough to get an S-rank recommendation through, but if we add one more undeniable achievement here, it becomes airtight. You never know what could happen later. This would be a royal recommendation coming from the Third Prince’s side. And since this whole thing was originally a royal decree the king gave to the Third Prince, it’s not a bad deal.”

“Hm. All right. I’ll do it.”

Antonio agreed instantly, clearly intrigued.

“That helps. I want some insurance. If I end up incapacitated, you can still handle a dragon. And with you in front of me, I can cut loose without holding back.”

“That’s a pretty unpleasant kind of trust.”

“The Guildmaster will feel better too, having a watchdog. He won’t be happy letting me go alone.”

I didn’t want to get nagged to death again.

That man could be really fussy.

“So you’re aware of yourself. That’s reassuring.”

“Well, I’ve caused a lot of trouble. All right—settled.”

After that, we went straight to see Guildmaster Amon and informed him before leaving.

“Again with this kind of job. Well, it’s a direct request from the royal family… I can’t exactly forbid you, but… hmm. I’m uneasy.”

“That’s why Antonio’s coming.”

Smiling, I jerked my right thumb toward Antonio at my side.

“Setting that up from the beginning… you’ve gotten even more cunning.”

“Call it growth.”

We reviewed the documents and also listened to the Guildmaster’s thoughts on the ring’s guardian.

“Antonio, you’re ready, right? We can leave anytime. Oh—and take this. A custom-made bracelet with unlimited storage. I packed it with strong weapons for this mission, water, food, a tent, potions, and mana stones for when you run out.”

“Hoh. You’ve got something nice there. Give me one too.”

Even the Guildmaster put in an order.

Thank you for your business?

“Sure. This work? It’s empty, though.”

“Doesn’t matter. Looks useful.”

We tested whether both of them could use the bracelets properly, and once it seemed fine, we set out.

As expected of people at this level—they could calmly handle brand-new specialized gear on the spot.

Our initial destination was the 40th floor of the Adros dungeon.

According to the records, the ring had been hidden near the deepest area.

That didn’t necessarily mean the absolute bottom, the 50th floor.

The ring was said to emit a unique “wave,” and those with excellent mana perception were said to be able to catch it.

One adventuring party had reportedly sensed the ring, but for some reason, they couldn’t find it—because it seemed to be moving.

The Guild’s final conclusion was that they had mistaken it for a monster’s presence.

However, the one who sensed it was a B-rank thief, and he left a report stating clearly that it felt different from a monster.

Their leader was a well-known A-rank adventurer, and he was skeptical of the “monster” theory.

His reasoning was that the sensed presence moved between floors far too often—so much so that they even checked as high as the 40th floor.

Even a straggler wouldn’t constantly range that widely, he argued.

“So that’s why we’re on the 40th floor right now. We’ll use this as a starting point and work our way down.”

“How are we searching? Knowing you, you’ve got something in mind, don’t you?”

“My skill can locate a specific object. The problem is, I’ve only seen the ring in documents, so the image in my head is vague… hard to say. But compared to other people, I’m still in a better position. And… also…”

I hesitated, trailing off.

Because, well…

“And also?”

“Let’s be clear from the start. The first king sealed this ring because it was dangerous, right?”

“That’s how it goes.”

Antonio nodded lightly.

“Which means it’s only natural to assume there’s some kind of defensive gimmick.”

“Of course. There could be traps at the sealed location.”

He looked at me like I was stating the obvious.

“But the ring might be moving with that defense system. Nobody ever said it’s sitting quietly on a pedestal.”

“No way…”

Antonio answered with a genuinely surprised expression.

“That ‘no way’ is still a possibility.

If something has been guarding it and moving for a thousand years, it’ll be tough.”

“A monster?”

“No. I think the first king built it. When I toured the kingdom’s treasury before, I saw plenty of magical tools that looked like his work. They were no joke.”

“What do you think it is?”

Antonio tilted his head, hand to chin.

“If the ring’s guardian really is something the first king made, then it’s probably a golem.”

A golem—rather, it had to be that.

“Why do you think that?”

“The first king was a Rare Visitor. In the lands of the Rare Visitors, there are many stories about golems—robots.”

“And why do you know that?”

What was he even saying?

“Because I’m a Rare Visitor, obviously.”

“…What?!”

“Huh? I never told you?”

“I never heard that!”

“Now that you mention it, I only told Amon.

Whatever.”

“It’s not ‘whatever,’ but it’s too late to complain now. So—are these golems tough?”

The guy really never rattled.

Honestly, it made things easier.

“Probably. Probably, but I think the first king was the type who didn’t hold back.”

“……”

Antonio gave me a flat stare like he wanted to say, You’re one to talk.

“Don’t look at me like that. Anyway, if it looks bad, we retreat immediately. Though I don’t know if it’ll let us go.”

“Got it. Still… to think there’s an enemy that makes you this cautious.”

Even he looked grim.

We had hunted a dragon together, after all.

He knew exactly how hard I tended to go—so of course it worried him.

“I mean, if the enemy is a system left behind by an extraordinary Rare Visitor… Who knows what it is. I can imagine it too well, and that’s what scares me. We’re doing this carefully.”

I didn’t want some anime-style thing showing up.

Eye lasers? No thanks.

And please, no B-and-C weapons.

I don’t want A-weapons either.

…Actually, these days you’re supposed to say N-weapons instead of A-weapons, aren’t you?

Back in the Cold War era, we called them A-B-C weapons.

A-B-C just rolls off the tongue better than N-B-C.

It’s clearer too—A for atomic bomb. Why change it from A to N?!

B and C didn’t change!

I tried searching for the ring, but it didn’t seem to be on this floor.

Instead, a monster appeared.

Our familiar “strolling monster,” the chimera.

It burst out of the dungeon ground and charged us, then shifted into a stance to breathe.

Magitech armor—activate.

In an instant, I closed in and took its head off with a magitech-armored knife-hand strike.

I used to struggle with these, but now they were complete fodder.

Annoyed, I deployed the attack pods.

I’d upgraded the spells loaded into them too.

We continued the search while wiping out monsters.

The ring’s guardian wasn’t on this floor.

It was probably at the deepest point.

But based on the report, it felt like attacking from above was better.

We pushed forward floor by floor, casually hunting the occasional big one.

I’d thought only boss monsters appeared around here, but regular monsters showed up too.

Well, there was no reason they wouldn’t.

No A-rank monsters appeared besides chimeras.

Like the dragons, it seemed the bosses on each floor hadn’t respawned yet.

Maybe chimeras were special.

They had been absurdly stubborn.

We packed the fodder monsters into the item box as we moved, and without encountering any floor gatekeepers, we reached the bottom floor—the 50th.

“Yeah. It’s on this floor. I’ve got a bad feeling. Antonio—how long can you keep your magic armor up? At the level of output you used against the dragon. If it feels even slightly dangerous, don’t hesitate—use the mana stones in your item box. If you need more, I can make more.”

“Right now, at that level, I can keep it up for an hour.”

Then maybe we could manage.

“If it gets ugly, we retreat. That thing is probably a true resident of the 50th floor—the bottom. Like a dragon serving as a gatekeeper. If an explorer shows up, it likely moves to protect the ring rather than fighting head-on. But if we actually meet it and try to take the ring…”

“Understood.”

Even on the verge of a raid, he stayed composed.

As expected of someone from the line once called the ‘Sword of the Kingdom,’ a house famed for martial prowess.

“Honestly, I underestimated it. If I hadn’t brought you, I’d retreat right here.”

“I see. Then let’s lay eyes on it. The first king’s ‘legacy.’”

And so, we set out to challenge the ring’s guardian.