This is the beginning of the next section/arc, “Dungeon Investigation Team” (chapters 140-191)
Section Five: Dungeon Investigation Team
Chapter One Hundred and Fourty: A Warning from the Princess
“First, we’ll descend to the forest at the foot of the mountains on the seventh floor, then begin the area investigation.”
After returning from the squad leader meeting, Waltride shared the plans with Karen as well.
Currently, Karen’s group had pitched tents on the first floor’s grasslands, carrying out their final checks before diving into the dungeon.
“So basically, we’re going down to the seventh floor, huh? This will be my first time diving that deep.”
“I’ve never even been to the first floor! …On my way back here, I saw slimes in the grass. I can’t take this anymore. It’s unbearable.”
Waltride said this while holding her head. Her face was deathly pale. Karen smiled wryly at the sight of Waltride, who was far more frightened than herself.
When Waltride appeared alongside Julius at the temple plaza, Karen’s blood had rushed to her head, but thinking back on it, Waltride had simply been desperately trying to hide behind Julius’s shadow. To do that, she had to stay within the range where Julius’s shadow extended, so she was only close for that reason.
From this behavior, it was clear that Waltride didn’t have even a fraction of composure to flirt with Julius. Karen calmed her feelings and looked at the princess with gentle eyes.
“Lady Waltride, you should basically travel by carriage.”
“Ah, yes, I’ll do that. I’ll close my eyes and plug my ears.”
Saying so, Waltride assumed a posture of listening to the pulse of blood flowing through her own palms.
And this, before they had even departed.
The first floor of the dungeon was grassland stretching endlessly. Beyond the grassland, forests could be seen, but no matter how much one walked, the forests could never be reached. Beyond the forests were mountains, but even continuing to walk, the mountains couldn’t be reached either. As one progressed through the grassland, there would eventually be a black gate, just like when entering the dungeon. Passing through it allowed one to proceed further.
A mountain peak visible even from the grasslands marked the tenth floor. While it felt like climbing upward, conceptually, it was called diving to lower floors. Every ten floors, powerful monsters served as gatekeepers, blocking humans from going to lower floors. The guardian of the tenth floor of the Earthfill Royal Capital Dungeon was an Elder Treant. It was said to be a massive tree monster with a threat rank of C. For this expedition, it wasn’t supposed to concern the investigation team—but the chance of running into it wasn’t entirely zero.
“The magical power in the dungeon has thinned, and the cause might be some powerful monster being born somewhere, right?”
While pulling down Waltride’s hands from her ears, Karen posed the question.
The princess nodded with a sad expression, saying, "Yes.”
“On top of that, deep-floor monsters that shouldn’t normally appear in the shallow layers have been observed.”
Normally, monsters couldn’t cross between floors.
But sometimes they did.
“There’s talk that a Great Collapse Stampede might be about to occur, right?”
“The adventurers insisted that since the royal capital dungeon has been continuously conquered, that was impossible… but when a representative from the Royal Guards pointed out that the conquest might have been neglected, the Royal Knights, who are responsible for maintaining the kingdom’s security, took offense, making the meeting atmosphere terrible. Thanks to that, I was distracted, though.”
It seemed that her fear of humans taking precedence had somewhat diverted her fear of monsters.
Waltride had been half-crying ever since arriving here.
This time, Second Prince Boromias was assigned as the leader of the dungeon investigation team. Boromias was the captain of the Royal Knights and was currently commanding the First and Fifth Units.
However, in the chain of command for this expedition, the Royal Guards were positioned above the Royal Knights. The Royal Guards were a knight order that protected royalty and followed Second Prince Boromias.
Karen had also heard about the bad relationship between the Royal Guards and the Royal Knights through Lyos. According to Lyos, the Royal Guards were a place for noble young masters to play at being knights.
Rumor had it that truly capable people, even among the nobility, preferred to join the Royal Knights. But in terms of status and position, the Royal Guards were superior.
“Right now is an emergency, so I won’t say they should be friendly. But I do hope there won’t be any pointless backstabbing.”
“Only royalty can control the Royal Guards, so I hope Brother Boromias will do his best.”
Though Waltride was supposedly royalty herself, she spoke as if it were someone else’s problem.
“Oh, right, I forgot to tell you something important.”
“What is it?”
“This investigation team is accompanied by many adventurers. I’ve heard that among them are many actual adventurers—nothing like those representatives from the guild who just attend meetings.”
“You mean the crazy ones, right?”
“That’s quite a direct expression, but yes, that’s right. Brother’s orders are to never provoke them. Some of them are as strong as A-rank monsters and can’t be reasoned with, and even state authority doesn’t work on them. If you cause trouble with them, even I might not be able to protect you, so be careful.”
“Thank you for your concern. Still, it’s remarkable that such people agreed to cooperate with the investigation team.”
Strong adventurers were very capricious and selfish, and sometimes even the Adventurers’ Guild couldn’t control them. While the staff members who had formed bonds with adventurers during their rise to strength served as individual reins through their relationships, she had heard that those bonds alone often weren’t enough to manage situations.
“—This is something I was told not to say publicly, but apparently several high-ranking adventurers have gone missing. And in the lower floors, no less.”
“Does that mean it’s related to the current anomaly?”
“The high-ranking adventurers probably think so and decided to cooperate with us. Since even they would be in danger in small groups, we ended up forming this investigation team.”
Waltride fixed Karen with a sharp gaze.
“Steel yourself, Karen. The dungeon right now is a dangerous place, even on the first floor.”
“Understood, Lady Waltride.”
Karen nodded with a serious expression.
This wasn’t the time to be flustered by Julius, who was inexplicably in full-throttle mode. Karen steeled herself anew and left Waltride’s tent.
Right outside the tent were Julius and a light blue-haired woman clinging to him. Karen forgot all of Waltride’s warnings and charged forward.
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