Chapter 36

Since the qualifiers were set to take place the following day, the gathering was dismissed for the time being.

Many of the adventurers grumbled and complained, but once they realized that Bent would be covering their travel expenses as well as their lodging and dinner for the night, they all left the estate in high spirits.

They likely intended to stay in hotels they normally couldn’t afford and gorge themselves on dinners they’d otherwise never eat.

In cases like this, a person in a civil servant-like position like me is at a disadvantage. If I were to indulge in that kind of luxury right now, it would reflect poorly on Shark’s reputation.

So, I decided to stay at a small inn nearby. It was a truly tiny place with a few rooms on the second floor and a small dining area on the first.

“Oh.”

In that dining area, which was crowded with day laborers, I spotted the red-haired girl.

She was the one at the Treasure estate who had answered Bent’s question with a flustered look on her face.

Our eyes met.

“Van Holmes?”

Asked my name so suddenly, I nodded vaguely.

“Yeah, more or less.”

I sat down across from her.

“Eni. Flame Elementalist.”

The girl introduced herself briefly.

This was how Eni and I first met.

“You should have stayed at a better inn,” I remarked, trying to start with some harmless small talk.

“No way. It’s the qualifiers, after all.”

“Hm?”

I didn’t follow.

“Since the qualifiers are tomorrow, that makes us rivals. If we stay in the same place, you never know what might happen. Someone might try to poison your food or something.”

“Ack!”

The unexpected suggestion made me let out a weird noise.

“That’s pretty cynical. Do people really think like that?”

“Listen, adventurers are fundamentally cynical and dirty. A refined ‘Sir Detective’ like you might not understand that.”

“Ah, actually, now that you mention it, that might be true.”

Jin’s face immediately came to mind.

“Well, I’m sure everyone else chose the expensive lodging and fancy dinners knowing full well what they were getting into. They probably believe that even if the other adventurers try to sabotage them, they’ll be the ones to win and come out on top. Most adventurers are overconfident like that.”

“I can see that.”

Jin’s face popped up in my head again.

“You’d have to be overconfident to do something as reckless as diving into a dungeon, wouldn’t you?”

Since she said it in such a strangely detached tone, I asked, “Are you—er, Eni—different then?”

“Me? I don’t have any confidence. When I dive into a dungeon, I’m always thinking that I might die today.”

“Then you should just quit being an adventurer.”

Right then, the food was served.

It was a stew of meat and vegetables simmered with spices, served with hard round bread.

“It’s not that simple. There are two types of adventurers. One is the overconfident type I just mentioned.”

Eni broke her bread and dipped it into the stew.

“The other is the type obsessed with dungeons. That’s me.”

“Obsessed? With dungeons?”

“Yeah. Day and night, all I can think about is diving into them. I spend all day wondering if a new magical formula could defeat a certain monster, or how I can reach the deepest part of a specific floor.”

“It’s a disease,” Eni added before popping the bread into her mouth.

“Is it really that great?”

“You’ll understand once you try it. The hope that you might bring back a Holy Relic like a legendary adventurer, the tension of being constantly side-by-side with death, the exhilaration of defeating a monster and getting an item, the sense of achievement when you reach the deepest depths, and the feeling of liberation when you return to the surface alive. It’s all the best.”

“I… I see.”

I felt a little put off by the rapturous expression on her face as she spoke.

“By the way, Van, have you never dived into a dungeon before?”

“No. I’m a detective, after all.”

Being a detective isn’t exactly a profession that involves dungeon diving.

“But I have done quite a bit of research in preparation for this job.”

And once I started researching, I found it surprisingly interesting and got quite absorbed in it.

“Heh, well then, why don’t you teach me a thing or two?”

“Why?”

Neither of us had a reason to help the other.

“Are you confident you’ll win the qualifiers?”

“No.”

I stated it flatly.

I didn’t think that someone like me, with only a superficial knowledge of dungeons, could win the qualifiers against a bunch of adventurers.

“Let’s cooperate. With someone like you, I don’t have to worry about being betrayed like I would with an adventurer, so it works out.”

“With me? Is there any benefit for you in cooperating with me?”

I have to admit, I didn’t think I’d be all that useful when it comes to dungeon-related matters.

“For someone who’s supposedly Merlin’s top disciple, a master mage, and one of the Seven Detectives, that kind of humble act is gross. Cut it out,” Eni said, scowling.

“My bad. But I really am an amateur when it comes to dungeons, you know?”

“That’s why I’m telling you I’ll check to see just how much ‘homework’ you’ve actually done.”

Her condescending tone was annoying, but if it meant getting her cooperation, I wasn’t going to complain. I decided to show off the knowledge I had gathered in preparation for this job.

Dungeons.

They are structures composed of Holy Relics, said to have existed in this world since before the establishment of the Spiritual Era. As the phrase “diving into a dungeon” suggests, the entrance is usually on the surface, and one descends underground from there.

Like all Holy Relics, despite every nation’s best efforts to research them, their mechanisms and true nature remain almost entirely shrouded in mystery.

Monsters and items spawn infinitely within them. The types of monsters that appear in a specific dungeon are fixed, and the deeper you go, the more formidable they become. For some reason, these monsters never leave the dungeon to wreak havoc outside; they only attack those who intrude upon the interior.

Naturally, the difficulty varies by dungeon, and even within the same one, the challenge ramps up the further down you go. The higher the difficulty, the more precious the items you can find.

Because of this, since ancient times—well before the Spiritual Era—the profession of “adventurer,” those who make a living by diving into dungeons, has existed. A handful of adventurers possessing both luck and skill have returned from the depths with Holy Relics, earning immense wealth and honor.

The Holy Relics brought back possess such absolute power that the number of relics a nation owns can be a direct reflection of its national strength.

Even if it’s not a Holy Relic, rare items can be found in the depths of high-difficulty dungeons and traded for high prices. Furthermore, a significant amount of money changes hands as adventurers gear up and stock up on consumables to prepare for their dives.

As Bent has demonstrated, one can generate massive wealth by tapping into this. Even simply owning the land where a dungeon sits and charging adventurers an entrance fee can yield substantial profits.

Naturally, wasteland and fertile land have different values even for the same area, but the number of dungeons on a piece of property is a crucial factor in determining its worth. The Treasure family, for instance, used their wealth to acquire land; they spent enough money to buy a vast, developed territory but chose a small patch of wasteland instead. The reason was simple: a popular dungeon was located there. Through dungeon management and doing business with adventurers, they recouped the cost of the land in no time. I have to admit, that man Bent Treasure is a genius when it comes to making money off dungeons.

“That’s about the gist of it, I guess.”

When I finished my explanation, Eni furrowed her brow.

“Hmm. It sounds like shallow knowledge you just lightly skimmed from a book.”

“Well, it is shallow knowledge I just lightly skimmed from a book. I’m a detective, after all.”

“Well… I can feel your enthusiasm, so let’s call that a passing grade.”

The girl puffed out her nonexistent chest with a “Hmph.”

“I appreciate that. So, with this, you and I will cooperate to get through tomorrow’s qualifiers.”

“That’s the plan. Don’t you dare betray me.”

She glared at me with half-lidded eyes, but there was no benefit for me in betraying her. Even for the main job, a collaborator like Eni is absolutely indispensable. I’m the greenest of amateurs when it comes to dungeons.

If anything, I’m the one who should be worried about Eni betraying me, thinking about it realistically.

But despite that thought, I couldn’t bring myself to be truly wary of her. Realizing the reason for that, anexpression that was a bit too bitter for a self-deprecating smile crossed my face.

“Hey, what’s with you?”

Seeing me look like I was laughing and suffering at the same time, Eni looked at me suspiciously.

“No, it’s nothing. You don’t have to worry about me betraying you. I’m a coward.”

The truth was a little different. It was a simpler matter: my heart is weak, so once someone becomes an ally, I don’t want to think about betraying them, nor do I want to doubt them. Someone somewhere left a wound, and I suppose it hasn’t fully healed yet. It’s a real pain.

“A coward, huh?”

As Eni remained skeptical, I looked at her earnestly.

“So, please, let me trust you unconditionally.”

Eni stared at me blankly for a few seconds, looking exasperated.

“L-look, what are you doing trusting someone you just met unconditionally? If you were an adventurer, that would be fatal, and it’s pretty bad for a detective, too.”

“You’re right.”

At that, I let out a short laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“No, I just thought that if you were really the kind of person I shouldn’t trust, you probably wouldn’t give me advice like that. You’d just say ‘Sure, believe whatever you want’ and be done with it.”

“Ugh…”

Loss for words, Eni scowled.

“That just confirmed it for me. You are trustworthy.”

“Just because you say that doesn’t mean I trust *you!”*

“Yeah. That’s fine. I just want to trust you, Eni. As a partner.”

When I said that while looking her in the eye, Eni suddenly turned her face away for some reason. Her cheeks were slightly flushed.

“A-are you an idiot? Calling us ‘partners’ all of a sudden.”

“Wait, are we not?”

“It’s not that we aren’t, but… ugh, you’re totally throwing me off. There aren’t any guys like you among adventurers, jeez!”

Frustrated by something, Eni shook her head vigorously.

“Fine! You can trust me if you want! We’re partners, after all!”

She said it toward the side, sounding like she’d just given up on being stubborn.