Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Two: Snowy Plains
“Sooooo coooold!”
Upon entering the Forest’s Edge Dungeon, an unexplored dungeon, Karen cried out. The first floor of Ehlertt’s Forest’s Edge Dungeon was a vast snowy plain covered in pure white. It had been cold outside as well, but it hadn’t even started snowing yet.
“The first floors of dungeons in Ehlertt are almost all freezing winter.”
“Miss Karen, you should get in the wagon and cover yourself with a blanket.”
Gottfried spoke leisurely, and Alban immediately instructed Karen to get in the wagon.
“Ugh… there’s no point being stubborn here, so I’ll take you up on your offer…”
Above all, Karen’s steps, impeded by the snow, were far too slow. The knights from Ehlertt proceeded through the ankle-deep snow with practiced strides. They were probably accustomed to walking in snow.
In the outside world, each of them was attended by servants and apprentice knights from their households. But just as Karen had left Petra and Rosine behind, the knights had also brought only themselves into the dungeon. The only one who couldn’t fight was Karen alone.
“Karen, your hand.”
“Thank you, Master Licht.”
Karen expressed her thanks and borrowed Licht’s hand to board the wagon pulled by the riding dragon. The road wasn’t good, so there was shaking, but the tires in this world were made from monster materials and were quite excellent. Despite being a snowy road, the shaking wasn’t bothersome. Karen let out a relieved sigh and looked at Licht walking beside the wagon.
“I never expected even you to come along, Master Licht. You kept saying Mr. Julius would be fine, so I thought you wouldn’t come.”
Licht, who wasn’t worried about Julius, shouldn’t have had a reason to dive into the dungeon.
He glanced sideways at Karen.
“If you’re diving into the dungeon, I’m diving too.”
“…Ah, I see.”
When Karen showed understanding of something, Licht looked displeased.
“I’m curious what exactly you’re looking so convinced about.”
“They say people’s true nature comes out in desperate situations, don’t they? Thinking about it that way, inside a dungeon would be perfect, wouldn’t it? To confirm my true nature, right?”
“Obviously, I came to protect you!?”
“Huh!?”
When Karen’s eyes widened in astonishment, Licht shook his head.
“What are you surprised about? I wouldn’t put you in a desperate situation in the first place. I’d never be able to explain myself to Julius.”
Karen, who had been searching for a blanket among the cargo loaded on the wagon, stopped her hands and stared blankly at Licht.
Seeing her like that, Licht spoke with a bitter expression:
“To begin with, of course, I’m staying by your side to protect you.”
“Eh… Ehhh!?”
“You’re too surprised… Sure, I did want to figure out what kind of person you are, but there’s no way I’d spend every waking moment with you just for that.”
Licht clicked his tongue as he spoke.
“Damn, if Julius hadn’t told me to let you do whatever you want freely, I wouldn’t have let you dive into a dungeon…”
Even while grumbling under his breath, he still intended to stay with Karen. To protect Karen—because Julius had asked him to.
Karen wrapped herself in a blanket she’d pulled out from the cargo loaded in the wagon and muttered while staying warm by herself:
“Master Licht, you really are a good person.”
“Hmph. I’m not doing this because I want you to think I’m a good person.”
“You want to be a good person to Mr. Julius, don’t you? What a good friend.”
If Licht, who was the same rank as Julius, was accompanying them, the safety of this journey was practically guaranteed. Karen felt relieved, and the knights also welcomed Licht’s accompaniment.
His presence apparently didn’t provoke their pride. Diving into a dungeon was that much of a life-risking endeavor.
—There was something she wanted to confirm during this rare opportunity.
Karen picked up a bundle of papers she had pulled out from the cargo along with the blanket.
“…Hm? Karen, what are you reading?”
“A thesis.”
“Do you realize you’re inside a dungeon?”
“It’s rare to be able to read an alchemy thesis about dungeons inside an actual dungeon, isn’t it?”
Karen said while keeping her eyes on the thesis.
“Is that a thesis about dungeons?”
Licht said suspiciously.
The thesis title was "Cultivation of Medicinal Herbs outside the Sphere of Influence." A renowned thesis written by B-rank master alchemist Lacker, sponsored by the Gradlia Marquis household.
As the title made clear, it was a thesis presenting research results showing that medicinal herbs could be cultivated outside the sphere of influence.
Having become B-rank, Karen could now read this thesis. She was even permitted to take out a copied version of the thesis. She had left this thesis in the tent during the monster attack and fled, but it was one of the things she went back to retrieve as preparation before diving into the dungeon.
“It also writes about dungeons. Outside the sphere of influence is said to be an environment similar to inside dungeons, isn’t it? Medicinal herbs grow there just like in dungeons.”
“Yeah. Monsters appear there too.”
“But apparently medicinal herbs can’t actually be cultivated inside a dungeon. The really fascinating part is the section describing the cultivation experiments conducted there.”
Inside dungeons, medicinal herbs sprouted everywhere in abundance. Every herb was fresh and verdant, neither in a sprout state nor grown too much and withered. Always, constantly, every herb remained in the form of fully grown cotyledons, glittering brilliantly.
At the beginning of his research, Lacker focused on one plant growing inside a dungeon and hired someone to monitor that herb to investigate where these herbs came from and where they went. But the medicinal herb being monitored inside the dungeon disappeared as if slipping past the monitor’s eyes.
So Lacker switched to research on herb cultivation outside the dungeon zone. Outside dungeon territory, at the very least, medicinal herbs didn’t disappear and eventually withered. Lacker discovered that the time until withering could be extended by providing fertilizer. He found that magic stones and monster corpses could be used as fertilizer. When the time before withering was increased, the herbs dropped seeds, or the number of herb plants increased. Even so, no one could observe herbs in the process of sprouting; they only noticed them once they had somehow already appeared.
A plant that didn’t grow while being observed.
—Was that truly a plant?
“…Phew. Famous theses really are amazing.”
Karen gulped.
Thanks to this thesis, she felt her understanding of medicinal herbs deepening. She had once written a thesis bearing Sieg’s name while citing this thesis as an example. After boasting so much about it, Karen felt bad toward Sieg because she lacked confidence that her paper had reached this level.
Medicinal herbs. If she spent time inside the dungeon, her understanding of these plants that were the raw materials for healing potions might deepen further. If her understanding of medicinal herbs deepened, Karen’s potions would likely ascend to a higher level.
Licht sighed, watching Karen, her nose tip reddened, absorbed in the thesis.
“Fine, you can do as you like, whether reading your thesis or sleeping. No matter how much you stay alert and watch your surroundings, it would just wear down your nerves and be pointless.”
“Then I’ll read the thesis.”
“The knights are giving you cold looks, though?”
Told by Licht, Karen looked ahead.
The knights walking in front took turns looking back, watching Karen with expressions asking what on earth she was doing inside a dungeon.
She became fearlessly cheerful and spoke loudly enough for them to hear:
“This is the greatest effort I can make right now. I can’t contribute anything in combat or patrols, so I’m deepening my understanding of medicinal herbs. In other words, I’m improving the quality of healing potions. Someday, that effort might save all of your lives.”
“That’s the official reason, right? So what’s the real one?”
“I want to learn everything I can learn as an alchemist during this rare opportunity to dive into a dungeon! But both reasons are genuine, you know? Saying they’re both facts might be more accurate.”
If her understanding of medicinal herbs deepened, the quality of healing potions would improve. It was a fact that if the quality of healing potions improved, more lives might be saved. It was also true that Karen simply found it immensely enjoyable.
The knights turned forward with understanding expressions. Karen looked at Licht with a bright smile, then lowered her gaze to the thesis again.
Watching her, Licht muttered quietly, "You’re too thick-skinned.”
