Dungeon Conquest Operation

Morning in the Royal Capital.

After making love with Liricia in our forest manor, we used Kou’s passage to return to the cheap inn.

Then we made our way to the Adventurer Guild.

We were there to hear the strategy for the dungeon conquest.

The guild was packed with adventurers.

We went up to the large conference room on the second floor. That too was crammed with adventurers.

We had arrived a bit late, so there were no empty seats; Liricia and I joined the standing crowd at the very back.

At the front of the room there was a blackboard, and two people stood before it.

One was a familiar face.

It was Milford, a man of the Royal Knight Order, clad in imposing armor.

We had formed a hero party together several times.

He was a smart, rugged man, though a bit nagging.

His eyes met mine, but he looked away at once.

I supposed I was a man of his past now.

The other was a girl with blazing red hair done up in twin-tails.

She wore red garments over her slender body, with a cloak draped over her shoulders.

But she had gaudy gemstones piled all over her body.

Rings on every finger, multiple necklaces, a jeweled belt, earrings, a circlet, several anklets and bracelets—how many kilos of gemstones did she have on her alone?

That girl rattled her many-layered necklaces as she spoke.

“With that, all the party representatives are here, yes? We are short on time, so I will be brief. I am Rubel Vermilion, master of the Adventurer Guild’s Royal Capital Headquarters. The man beside me is Milford, vice-captain of the Royal Knight Order. I’ll skip the formal greetings and get straight to the point. As you all know, we have confirmed that a dungeon has invaded beneath the Royal Capital. There are seven entrances discovered so far. We believe several of the recent thefts and disappearances were caused by this dungeon. If we leave it be, the damage will only grow. Therefore, the Adventurer Guild and the Knight Order will cooperate to conquer it. —You lot, we are going to crush it, understood?”

Her flat, businesslike tone suddenly sharpened, her voice brimming with menace.

Though there was no wind, her red hair whipped as if in a gust; I could feel the aura of a true powerhouse.

I guessed that this Rubel must be the guild master who had shattered the crystal ball.

Rumor had it she was the only human of SS rank.

The adventurers nodded, shivering with battle-lust.

Next, Milford raised his voice as he read from a sheet of paper.

“Let me explain the strategy decided at last night’s meeting. Given that we have no preparation time yet must carry out a large-scale assault, adventurers will take the lead in the conquest. High-rank adventurer parties will be our main force, and the Knight Order will back them up. Here are the details. High-rank parties will clear the dungeon in sequence; when they find a safe zone, a Knight Order unit will be dispatched. They will build and defend a forward base there. The high-rank parties will not return to the city, but will use the base as a foothold—rotating out as needed—to push on to deeper floors. When they find another safe zone, they will build another base. We will repeat this process. Low-rank parties will be in charge of transporting supplies from the surface to these bases.”

Rubel’s red twin-tails swayed as she added an explanation.

“However, we have assigned missions on our side after considering each party’s composition, size, and dungeon-raiding experience. This time there are no exceptions—everyone participates. Later, go to the first-floor reception and check what mission has been assigned to your party.”

Then a lanky, rather unreliable-looking man near the front raised his hand, his black hair a messy mop.

Rubel fixed him with a sharp stare.

“What is it?”

“I kinda have a question, or maybe more of a concern. That okay?”

“Keep it short.”

“I’ll try. Uh, name’s Edgar, thief in an A-rank party. I get that, in theory, having the Knight Order backing us up is the right call. But the Knights tend to hate adventurers—thieves especially—so I was wondering if they’ll really give us proper backup.”

Rubel flicked a glance at Milford.

He gave a deep nod and answered.

“That is a perfectly reasonable concern. However, in this matter, the Knight Order exists to protect the city. Allowing a dungeon to invade this far is already a major failure on our part. The knights have no right to complain. I have already issued strict orders to the Knight Order to fully support the adventurers. If any knight refuses to cooperate or grumbles about it, tell me their unit and name. They will be severely disciplined.”

Edgar gave a casual nod of his head; his black eyes gleamed from beneath his bangs.

“Sounds like you mean it. Got it. This time I’ll trust the Knight Order and dive the dungeon.”

“I am counting on you.”

Milford bowed his head.

“Ohh.”

A small stir ran through the adventurers.

They seemed surprised that a prideful knight had bowed to a thief.

Rubel clapped her hands sharply; several of her bangles clinked and jingled.

“All right, check your assigned missions and begin preparations. The operation starts at noon! That is all, dismi—”

Before she could finish, the door at the front of the conference room banged open.

“Please wait a moment!”

“What is it?”

Rubel narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

A tall, handsome man with blond hair and burning eyes strode in with graceful steps.

It was Marius.

“Greetings, everyone. I am the hero Marius. As a hero, I am deeply pained by this emergency situation. Therefore, I would like to be the first to descend into the dungeon!”

A chorus of doubtful, almost reproachful “What?!” rose from the adventurers.

“I cannot simply sit by and do nothing as a hero! I absolutely want to use a hero’s strength to protect our people! The hero party will take the lead!”

Rubel glared at him with her red eyes.

“Unfortunately for you, Hero Marius, we do not have any thieves or explorers left to assign to the hero party this time.”

“Yes, I understand that. But this is an urgent crisis where every second counts, and we still do not know the enemy’s full strength! Everyone who can fight should be deployed! So I will recruit my own companions separately—once my party is assembled, you will have no objections, correct?”

“What you are saying sounds reasonable enough. However, the plan has already been finalized.”

Milford’s armor clanked unhappily as he spoke.

“Changing an already agreed-upon plan at the last minute is not something the two of us can decide on our own.”

Marius gave a fresh, breezy smile, documents in hand.

“I realize it would be difficult for just the two of you to abruptly change the operation we already settled on. So, I have already secured approval from the Minister, the Knight Commander, and the three ducal houses. These are the documents. —If we can form a hero party capable of dungeon exploration, the hero will be allowed to take the vanguard.”

“…If nothing else, your backroom politicking is first-rate.”

Rubel’s brow furrowed in open disgust as she spat out the words.

Milford checked the papers and grimaced with his rugged face.

“Understood. Once you have assembled a hero party, you will be allowed to go in ahead of the others.”

“Do not look so grim. For the Knight Order, it will be more honorable to support me, the hero, rather than a bunch of adventurers, will it not?”

Marius said it with an open, carefree smile.

He probably had no intention of belittling the adventurers.

But the superiority that seeped out at every turn in his remarks got on the adventurers’ nerves.

The mood in the hall grew very sour.

The only one who did not notice was Marius himself.

Rubel’s crimson twin-tails swayed; a deep crease had formed between her brows.

“Oh? Are you really such a hero that supporting you will be worth it? I heard you could not even defeat a B-rank Wyvern.”

The adventurers started to chuckle.

Marius forced a strained, evasive smile.

“…That was just bad luck, that is all. It is true, however, that I have produced results beyond those of the previous hero.”

“Numbers and eyewitness accounts are not the only kinds of results that matter, though.”

Marius tilted his head.

“What is that supposed to mean? Heroes are only judged by what monsters they have defeated, and how many, right?”

“Ah, that is one way to look at it. You, however, have not yet achieved anything as a hero. If you cannot even defeat a Wyvern, will you really be able to defeat a Demon Lord if one appears?”

The adventurers burst into even louder laughter.

Marius kept his smile pasted on, but his cheeks were flushed red with shame.

“I can. I have already defeated plenty of monsters. Unlike my predecessor, I am a real hero.”

“I look forward to seeing it, then. —In this world, you know, there are times when someone achieves something great in a way that never shows up on the record sheets.”

For some reason, Rubel glanced briefly in my direction.

Did she know I was the former hero?

Even though I had been almost completely unknown.

Back when I had just started out, I had gotten a bit of attention as the boy hero Alec—“So cute!” “Do your best!” and all that.

Once I turned into a middle-aged man, no one talked about me at all anymore.

I had been so useless that people would say things like, “Who is the current hero again?” or even, “Do we even have a hero right now?”

Marius spoke quickly, his smile stiff.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. In any case, I look forward to your support.”

Once he had said his piece, he all but fled the conference room.

The adventurers in the room began whispering among themselves.

“What is with that guy?”

“What an unpleasant hero.”

“He just picked a fight, did you hear that?”

“This is beyond questions of honor.”

“Is he even strong?”

I also found myself wondering.

—What is he so desperate about? I thought.

The Marius from before would have read the room better and handled things so everyone liked him.

Forcing himself into an operation that had already been decided on like this…

Adventurers could handle this on their own; it would be better for the people if the hero took on some other mission.

Well, whatever.

What the hero did or did not do was none of my concern.

I would just do what I needed to do in my own way.

Then Rubel shrugged as she spoke again, her jewelry clattering all over.

“All right, dismissed—oh, right. The one who defeated the Wyvern, and the one who noticed this dungeon incursion in the first place, is that man in the very back.”

Every adventurer in the room turned at once in the direction she pointed.

It was me.

Just seeing me, everyone’s eyes went wide.

“Huh?! No way!”

“The Hell Lich killer!”

“Isn’t he the one who took down Barial in a single hit?”

“The guy who showed an A-rank what hell looks like?”

“The crystal-ball crusher Alec?”

“He looks like a nobody but he is actually competent?”

“Isn’t that kind of cool in its own way?”

Everyone started gossiping about me and singing my praises.

It felt flattering and yet somehow ticklish.

—However.

“Wait, is he still in a two-person party?”

At that offhand remark from someone, the mood in the room changed viciously.

“Huh?”

“You are kidding!”

“A combo of a capable guy and a healer?!”

“I want them in my party!”

“No, mine!”

“No, mine!”

Eyes gleaming, everyone suddenly looked at us like predators eyeing prey.

I hurried to make excuses.

“I just happened to get lucky and do well, that is all! We will be sticking to just the two of us for a while, so—later!”

—If we joined up with another party, there was a chance Liricia would be exposed as a fallen angel.

More than that, she would not be able to use her angel powers in our adventures anymore!

With the atmosphere on the verge of us being swarmed, I grabbed Liricia’s hand and made a quick escape from the conference room.

Being all the way in the back really paid off.

After that, we picked up the sheet detailing our assignment at reception and hurried out of the Adventurer Guild.