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–––Karin’s viewpoint.

“An investigation of the dungeon? Not a hunt this time?”
“Yup. And the one requesting that is the governor, so it made the rounds. The payment is quite incredible as well.”

Lapis told me that while we ate dinner at Ciel’s place. Soon it would be two months since she came to the city so by now I was pretty used to living around her and Ciel, and almost every time we had no work, I would go hang around with them. Lapis was also getting used to her job as a receptionist and could do it quite well without much help. From time to time she would also give us important information like this.

“Could you define incredible?”
“Apparently it’s five times more than a regular quest of that type.”
“Five?!”

An investigation inside the dungeon could net one quite a hefty sum already. If it was on the first floor, one could earn a bit more than a regular dayjob, if it was up to the middle floor, it would be enough to live a week or two without having to work, and if it was all the way to the last floor, then one could earn enough to live for half a year without having to work a single time. So five times that…just thinking about such a large sum made me spring up inadvertently.

“Calm down, Karin. Don’t jump on something you don’t know all the details about, it might end up like what happened a while ago.”
“Uh…”

I calmed down a bit after remembering how I got in debt after gambling. It still sounds like a really good opportunity, but five times the amount still sounds a bit fishy. Abnormal even. If anything, it probably meant that it was simply that much dangerous. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, then fixed my seating posture.

“Lapis, can you tell us the details of that quest?”
“Sure, the thing is–––”

We were able to know the details of the quest from Lapis, without having to go all the way to the guild.

The investigation of the dungeon was related to the increased appearances of monsters close to the city–––to find out the source of that, an investigation to the upper floor of the dungeon was wanted.

The guild master and the governor think that the cause of those increased sightings is the existence of a variant of monster called a ‘king’. If the monsters are allowed to keep increasing like that, it might lead to a disaster similar to one that happened fifty years ago, so they want to make this investigation to avoid a repeat of that.

“If the king is found, the quest will be completed, but if you manage to slay the king, you’ll receive an extra bonus. The bonus will be the same amount as the original payment, so doing that effectively doubles the earnings.”
“But wouldn’t that be really dangerous?”

Ciel had a complicated look. I felt the same. Me and Ciel, as well the other adventurers had all gone to the dungeon to the north many times before. But the monsters there were really strong, and the pitch black darkness chipped away at my sanity, it was also impossible to get water and food like outside, and even when we endured and pushed inside, the middle floor was my limit. If the investigation had to be done until the last floor, then it would be impossible without a party of gold rank adventurers at least.

“It is dangerous. That’s why the guild added a warning recommending that only adventurers of gold rank or higher should take the quest.”
“That makes sense. It’s not something an iron rank like me could do.”

Even though I was already dreaming about having found an easy way to make money… When my thoughts got that far, Lapis shook her head.

“That’s what I wanted to talk about. There’s also a quest for beginners and amateurs, it only involves checking the middle floor out. The payment for it is only twice as much as a regular one. You two can go too if you have time.”

“Really?! I want I want!”
“I don’t really have any plans, so if I can earn money with my time, better earn it. Karin, let’s go tomorrow.”
“Alright!”

I felt like I had just been given a gift by Gael the god of war, just when my wallet had started to feel a bit lonely…but those feelings were nothing but a fleeting sensation. After all…the entrance to the dungeon was swarming with people, who would’ve thought there would be a waiting line to get inside the dungeon?!

It was just as if they were lining up to enter an amusement park, but they probably were following the scent of money… Though that applied to me as well. The two of us felt completely lost, seeing that unmoving line of people, like clients lining up at a popular sweets shop.

“What should we do, Ciel? Even if we get inside, there will be nothing to investigate like this.”
“Hmmm… But it feels like a waste to just return after coming this far. Let’s watch what happens for a while.”
“…I guess that’s true.”

Luckily some sharp minded merchants had opened temporary stands there, so there was no need to be worried about food. But it was not just us who decided to kill time watching what happened, there were many parties sitting around waiting all around us.

Ciel began reading a magic book, so I could not talk with her anymore. I did not have the same interests as her, so I did some practice swings before I lied down on the ground. Preserving one’s body strength was the basics of the basics. I had to use whatever free time I had to rest. The weather was nice as well, so it was perfect for a nap.

After around an hour, I felt my body being jostled by someone so I quickly jumped on my feet. That someone was Ciel.

“What is it? Did something happen?”
“Let’s just go back. A large party just came, they’re a mix of gold and silver adventurers. At this rate we’re just wasting time instead of earning something.”
“Huh? If a party like that is here then it’ll be impossible for us to hunt anything!”
“That’s why I said we should go back. It’d be better if we go back and look for another quest. Luckily there’s no penalty for failing this quest, so there’ll be no problem if we cancel it.”

I took a quick glance at the entrance of the dungeon. There were less people, but there was still a line there. Even if we entered, we probably would find more people than monsters inside. But there was nothing we could do, we did not have the strength to best that many adventurers, so it was better if we just listened to Ciel and returned to the city.

“Alright, let’s go back then. We can go back and have a sad consolation party with Lapis.”
“Yeah… but really, if so many people are here then we just came all the way here for nothing.”

We turned around and headed back to the city while grumbling like that. After some time, we heard news about the quest. At first we thought someone had completed the investigation, but what we heard was different, the gold and silver party had completely perished, and the information only reached the guild a few days after we were back at the city.