Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne? Chapter 72

Some small updates/fixes later when I wake up along with the finis.h.i.+ng of chapter 70. Now if you'll please excuse me while I pa.s.s out on my keyboard.

Year 7442, Month 6, Day 1

After waking up before sunrise I immediately head out to go running. Ah, wasn't this place a basin. It's questionable if it's really before sunrise. In any case I ran and tried following the road up the hills surrounding the basin. After looking to the east through the gaps in the trees it was just as the sun started to appear. Since I tried climbing from the eastern side I guess I'll run a semicircle and then loop back.

When I returned to the inn I wanted to take a shower but there was no back yard like Bins Manor had so I gave up. However, after seeing me covered in sweat the guy of the inn told me about the shower room. It seems that they have water storied above the roof with water magic. What's with that it's fine even if I don't buy a bucket. I take a shower in the shower room and in addition made it into a warm water shower. Mm. There's no need to worry about being seen in this shower room so it's nice.

I dried myself off before exiting the shower room and put on the change of clothes I had prepared in advance. After closing the door I flipped the "in use" tag over to "empty". Furthermore, the fee of using the shower room is 100 Z per use. Even though it's just a cold water shower it's expensive~ If I think about the effort it takes to drain it the price is set so it vaguely weighs out buying a bucket and taking one in my room.

Now then, I guess I'll go and eat some breakfast. After that I'll take a walk around the town until lunch and try to start getting the structure of the town into my head.

After eating breakfast I started wandering around the town of Baldukk. Starting with the main road that stretches from the center to the outer circ.u.mference along the river to the west the roads are numbered one to eight going clockwise. It doesn't seem like a structure that it's easy to get lost so I should be able to get used to it quickly.

On stores there's of course the usual weapon shops and blacksmiths but there's even a prop store of things that would be useful in the dungeon. Stores dealing in magic stones, stores that deal in preserved and dried foods, various things. It seems that the farmers live close to the outer edge. It makes me realize once again that this town centers around the dungeon to the extreme.

Ah, that's right. Since I have the opportunity I'll go and take a look at the entrance of the dungeon. Thinking that I walk towards the central area of the town. If you follow one of the main roads that has a number with your back to the hills then you should definitely arrive there. Before long I arrived at the entrance. But of course it's not like there's just a big hole opened up in the ground. On the contrary it was a splendid two story building.

I guess the entrance is inside of the building. I can see two guards with spears standing at the entrance of the building. Centering on the building there's vacant land of about 40 m and there's various stalls lined up in the surroundings of the vacant land. However, rather than something like that what caught my attention was.. the filthy adventurer looking people who were sitting all over the place in the surroundings of the entrance to the building. There's enough of them that it would be annoying trying to count them. How many dozen are there? It could even be more than 100.

What's up with this guys? Without approaching them I enjoyed myself at the stalls while observing for a short while and I was quickly able to comprehend it. It's not all of the people crowding around in this area but fundamentally they're all trying to get groups of adventurers to let them in as members for challenging the dungeon. If there's a group of less than 10 people that tries to pa.s.s through the entrance of the dungeon then

"I've gone to the 2nd floor."

"I can get to the exit no matter where we end up on the 1st floor."

"Do you need a spear user?"

"I can guide up to the 3rd floor."

And just like that start trying to appeal themselves. Other than that and there's

"We're a three person group that can use fire magic."

"Hey, you guys, do you have any interest in including two more?"

"We've come from Viscount Yoraiz's knight group. Do you want to go together with us?"

And there's a couple of groups made up of several people as well. Rather~ what do you mean by "we've come from XX". Is this high-pressure sales of a fire extinguisher? I bet they don't have much skill at all. In the first place there's no way a real knight would be wearing ring-mail that worn out~ For the most part it seems to still be using metal parts so it's defense should at least still be better than leather armor though. Is what's drawn on that crude s.h.i.+eld that Viscount Yoraiz or whoever emblem? I'm sure if the person them self saw it they'd be p.i.s.sed. It's way too crude.

It seems that these stray adventurers are largely split up into two groups. One is they simply feel uneasy about the number of allies that they have so they're trying to pick up more members to explore with. This is fine. The other one is, and I don't think I'm mistaken but they seem to be parasites that can't pay the tax to enter the dungeon so they try to appeal themselves to groups and get added to the group of 10 so they'll pay the tax for them.

While I used the expression parasite, since they're still technically adventurers when added to the group it's not just limited to guys that are useless. I'm sure it wouldn't be unusual for guys to be selling their abilities like mercenaries as well. I'm sure there's also a reasonable amount of business in being a skilled guide as well. Though I'm sure the compensation isn't just paying the tax for them. Hmm, it seems that gathering information for stuff like this is also necessary. There's no need to get impatient and charge into the dungeon while lacking both information and preparations.

After watching for a while longer and I was able to figure out even more. The guides (?) who are skilled don't sit near the entrance but a reasonable distance away and they don't particularly call out to anyone but just sit quietly or stand with their arms crossed. At the very least it doesn't seem like they're progressively calling out to anyone from their side. If anything it seems more like when groups of several adventurers enter the plaza they start looking around and when they find a guide they're familiar with they call out to them. Though it might just be meeting up with group members.

About 30 minutes had pa.s.sed since I figured things out this far and the guys who were around the entrance had entered the dungeon and those who haven't end up scattering in small groups after giving up so it's started to get quiet. I chew on a skewer with some kind of unknown sinewy meat that I bought at a stall while looking around the area. If possible I want to talk to someone knowledgeable about things. However, the adventurer looking guys who were both nimble and properly equipped have already disappeared and this time even the regular people have started to move around so I wasn't able to find anyone I could have a conversation with about it. Hmm. I guess it's fine.

Thinking I should try calling out to the guards protecting the building that's the entrance to the dungeon I approach them. Ah, since the skewer wasn't particularly good I've long since threw it away so I don't think my appearance is too bad. I approached the guard that seemed to be middle-age and call out to him.

"h.e.l.lo, thank you for you work. I want to talk with you for a little bit but is it alright?"

After the guard looked at my appearance from head to toes he opened his mouth.

"What is it?"

He said it without a smile but I feel like his tone has softened up a bit.

"I'm sorry when you're so busy. My name is Greed and I'm someone that is related to Marquis Webdos. I'm sorry since I'm from the countryside and don't have any common sense, could you please tell me about this place?"

I said that while showing him the plate and the att.i.tude of the guard got a bit more formal but it seems he was somewhat used to these sorts of questions,

"Ah, if it's about the dungeon then it would be better if you go to the government office. If it's you then they should tell you about it in detail."

and replied like that. I see now, it seems that gathering information at the government office is the usual method.

"Is that so, thank you for teaching me so kindly. Would it be alright if I inquire as to your name?"

After making an unexpected expression the guard,

"I'm Johnston.Church. But why do you want my name?"

asked that. I lightly smile while saying.

"No, there's no way I can go without hearing the name of someone who has been so kind to me. When I offer my thanks at the government office then I will be troubled after all."

After saying that I lowered my head and turned around to the right as I left. This should be plenty as a start.

I killed some time by walking around different places until lunch and then went to the restaurant from yesterday. Zenom and Ralpha had already arrived and it seems they had secured a table and were waiting for me to come. I apologize for making them wait, order some food, and after eating lunch and paying them their wages of 1 gold Shu and 15 silver coins for this month, we started on our way to the government office.

The government office is a large three story building that's slightly off from the center of the town to the northwest. After entering the slightly small lobby and something like a bulletin board entered my sight. There was guiding information written on the bulletin board for residents pointing to the tax window and such. There wasn't any guide information for adventurers written anywhere. I wonder if there's no bulletin board intended for adventurers in this town? We continue further in while questioning it but when we approached a random window and asked about it they quickly told us.

It seems that the notice board intended for adventurers is in the back. In other words we just took the wrong entrance. Since we didn't know it can't be helped but write down something like that. After going around to the back we safely found the notice board. Just like in Keel's government office there's an official receptionist as well. I just glanced at the notice board but the details written don't seem all that different from Keel's government office. However, it seems that there's a lot delivery of luggage ones. There's quite a few delivery jobs intended to various places in the country. It seems that the artisans of this town are skilled.

I was thinking about that while calling out to the receptionist official. Obviously it's about the dungeon. Since it's pointless to have a meaningless conversation here I immediately took out the plate from Marquis Webdos and requested that he introduce me to someone knowledgeable about the dungeon and I was introduced to the knight group. Naturally there's a knight group here as well? though I quickly understood why. It's only obvious. Though it's the King's direct territory since it's probably being ruled by a governor or relative of the king, there's no way they wouldn't have some military force stationed for maintaining the peace. Saying knight group is a bad way of putting it. They're the same as the police or a force that protects the peace and in the interval between their jobs they also go on foreign campaigns or expeditions for defense as well, would be a more appropriate way of putting it.

In j.a.pan I guess it would be like the JSDF's military police using their policing authority against civilians. Whenever I hear of knight group I think of a someone on a horse wearing armor, equipped with a sword and spear gallantly charging into war even after living on Orth for 14 years I can't seem to shake the image. If you were to say it's strange for knight group to have several types to them then it's certainly strange but even in j.a.pan in the past there were samurai-like soldiers that held the right to police. The constables and secret policeman were only made during the Edo period. And even with that putting aside the secret policeman, the constables were one type of official position the soldiers that were the samurai held. Even if you look at it from a standpoint this is a correct flow and other than special senior officials there were many cases of soldiers who also acted as officials, it was mainstream that the army also held the right to policing.

In other words, I still haven't completely become a person lives on Orth I guess. I remain aware of the light and stiff self-derisive smile stuck on my face while asking the location of the knight group and started heading towards the quarters of the knight group together with Zenom and Ralpha.

The quarters of the knight group was located on the eastern edge of the town. After slowly walking there I start to feel the sweat gush out from the rays of the sun of early summer. Just as expected of a basin it seems that one factor is there aren't very strong winds that blow. While talking about how it might get considerably hot during the coming seasons we finally arrived at the quarters, after showing the squire gatekeeper the Marquis's plate I explain to them that I received an introduction from the government office.

The squire said to wait just a moment after that and went to confirm the whereabouts of the knight that we received the introduction for it seems. We kill time asking the remaining gatekeeper how hot it gets during the summer and talking about pointless things like that as we wipe away the sweat with hand-towels.

After waiting like that for about 10 minutes the squire returned. It seems that the knight we intended to meet gave permission for a meeting. After being lead by the squire into the building we were able to sit down in the reception room. Just the fact that it blocked the sun felt like it was cooler so I was grateful for that.

After waiting a few minutes and a knight entered the room along with the squire from just now. It seems that the squire just tagged along to make tea. After distributing the tea they immediately left the room. It seems that the knight we received the introduction for was one of the leaders a commanding officer. I politely thank him for taking the time to meet us and immediately got straight to the point. Though I'm a regional n.o.ble I'm sure it's part of the influence of Marquis Webdos for having such a large and fertile territory, the knight answered my questions considerably thoroughly.

-In the true sense, Baldukk is lined up with Rombertia as the King's direct territory and they're both pa.s.sed along with the generations. (Among the King's direct territories there's various towns but normally they have relatives or governors ruling them.)

-The reason is said to be because it's the land that was the cornerstone of how Rombert the First was able to found the kingdom but considering the fact that the capital is right next to it and the fact that the artisans are as skilled as those in the capital along with the large number of commoners and Free People acting as adventurers in reality the reason would be the high tax yields. Simply put it's a huge source of revenue. I'm sure the fact that adventurers cash in their magic stones in this town is a large contributing factor to the income.

-It's true that it's possible to get rich quick in the dungeon. If you defeat monsters you obtain magic stones and since most monsters have no interest in the money adventurers hold so if you can you retrieve that then it's a considerable amount of income. Also, it's extremely rare but there's occasionally humanoid monsters with magic equipment that can't be reproduced no matter what and if you defeat them you obviously obtain them. If you sell them then they usually exceed the level of platinum coins in value.

-One force can enter the dungeon (it seems that they often call this a party) and the limit is about 10 people but because of the size of the pa.s.sages it seems it's common for them to enter with less than that. Also, there's people making a living as guides that are like mercenaries. If you go to the entrance early in the morning you can meet them.

-Just as far as has been confirmed there's said to be 8 floors in the dungeon but over the past few decades it seems that no one has gone past the 5th floor. The only ones who made it to the 8th floor are the founder Rombert the First and the subordinates who accompanied him.

-The only way to get between floors in the dungeon is to use the teleport crystal. The small rooms with these crystals are all over the place in the dungeon. However, the only one you can move with is the teleport crystal you previously touched. Only the teleport crystal that is said to be in the center of the dungeon is special and can go to both the exit room (the room next to the first one with the crystal) and to somewhere on the next floor down.

-It's not guaranteed that the path you end up being teleported to will definitely have a path that leads to the small room in the center where the crystal is. In that case there's no other option than to return and start over again. (It seems that some of the parasite adventurers from this morning were lying.)

-The 1st floor of the dungeon is a cave-like den. A number of small rooms are connected through caves.

-It seems there's a pond where fairies live on the 2nd floor but since this is only known from the stories of the founder, Rombert the First and hasn't been confirmed. Also, it seems there's something like a fountain which spits out snakes as well.

-The 3rd floor is a stone dungeon and there's a variety of strange apparatus all around the rooms almost like a torture chamber.

-The 4th floor seems to be a nest for a type of monster called the Undead.

-On the 5th floor there's moving statues and something like an altar that has burning black fire that's been confirmed.

-From the 6th floor it seems that this is only known from Rombert the First as well but it's supposedly a maze-like place where teleport keeps repeating without crystals and there's boar like monsters rampaging all around it.

-The 7th floor is a dungeon protected by strong Ogres.

-The 8th floor seems to be a collective group of large caves and according to Rombert the first "I can't help but think there's various places overlapping each other". Rombert the First obtained his great treasure here and finished his adventure.

-At the very least up to the 5th floor the walls give off a strange light so there's almost no need to worry about light. Almost means that there are places where it still is needed.

-Up to the 3rd floor while they're incomplete there are reasonably detailed maps that are sold. They're sold in prop stores aimed towards adventurers all over the place but since there are no checks on the content of them it's best to think that the details of each of them can differ slightly. Also, information and maps on places which haven't been cleared yet can be bought for a high price.

-After the 4th floor only a handful of truly skilled people can get that far so for the time being there shouldn't be any maps sold for there yet. However, it seems that they're producing their own maps.

These are the new things that we found out. Finally I tried asking if the knight group doesn't enter the dungeon. After all, I was thinking they could challenge it for testing their strength or as a part of training. And I was told, "The knight group doesn't concern itself with what occurs in the dungeon. Even if it's a trained knight they can lose their life so in that case we could pointlessly lose the lives of skilled knights and squires. It would be completely different monsters came out of the dungeon in succession but since there's no way of testing if monsters can come out of the dungeon it's not seen as a problem". I guess that's true. Even if they fight against monsters it's not as if they get stronger as an army after all. It's fine as long as the knight group properly protects the peace in the town of Baldukk and partic.i.p.ates in defensive wars and foreign campaigns when needed.

It's not like it's known that you can acc.u.mulate experience points and level up in order to get stronger a bit at a time. And even if your level is high it's not like your combat ability springs up either. If your strength and speed increase then your HP increases as well, so you can say as a whole it's not like you haven't gotten stronger but in order to control that you need to acc.u.mulate experience training on a daily basis, slowly but surely cultivating your techniques and combat experience in the true meaning.

Even level ups if the person didn't already known about it before-hand and furthermore predict it then they probably wouldn't even realize it. Even if your strength goes up by 1 point it's not like you can suddenly easily lift things that were heavy until then. I feel like until each physical ability gets to 10 or maybe a bit higher they're all somewhat proportional but after that they're probably not proportional. The actual strength of a 30 year old male who has double the strength value as that of a healthy 15 year old male probably isn't actually double. I think that the value of abilities and your actual physical abilities are on a curve when they go up so the actual difference in value of 1 point just keeps getting lower as it gets higher. If I were to make it into a graph then starting from a straight line it would suddenly and then gradually after that get farther off along something like a reverse parabola. If that wasn't the case then there would be way too many inconveniences.

If you put some effort into it I'm sure you could make it to level 10 or 20 with just smas.h.i.+ng giant leeches but I wonder if someone like that could really so easily win against a squire that's properly trained until they could handle themselves reasonably even if they're only a couple levels. As expected if they were beyond level 100 then their speed or endurance would be abnormal so I'm sure they couldn't win but you know I'm not trying to say something like that right.

Putting it in reverse if two people both have equal levels of skill then the difference between level, age, and the values of each of their abilities will show more clearly. If the difference in ability is only slight then I'm sure you can cover for that difference with the values of each of your abilities. If you were at a level where each of your abilities was t 100 or 200 then I'm sure it would be different though. If you think about it normally I don't think anyone could ever make it there though.

In any case, it's joyous that I was able to obtain some new information. Oh~ I was about to forget. After using the name of the guard I met this afternoon Johnston.Church and how he treated me kindly I thanked him and left the knight group.

Together with Zenom and Ralpha we went to the entrance of the dungeon again but Johnston.Church wasn't there. I guess he changed s.h.i.+fts. I explained to the two of them that there was a guard who was knowledgeable about the skilled guides and we made a promise to meet again tomorrow at noon for lunch before parting ways.

I guess the time right now is about 4pm in the afternoon. I started exploring trying to get the geography of the town into my head by evening and after eating dinner at a random place I got in bed. After entering I suddenly realized. I hear that there are a lot of adventurers gathered in this town. Then shouldn't it only be obvious that it should exist here? But it's already night and I had alcohol and I took a shower so I guess tomorrow is fine. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.