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Chapter 281 – Back and Forth (Shuu)

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Author: SS Samurai Original Source: Syosetu
Translator: rm31439 English Source: Re:Library

When we entered the final room, we were faced with a large horse, sporting an exceedingly lovely coat of golden hair.

If I’m not missin’ anythin’ else, this guy is this room’s boss…? From how it’s standin’ there, makes you think so.

“Wow… it’s so pretty…”
“It sure is…”

We unintentionally ended up captivated by it. I didn’t know much about horses, but it certainly seemed like an incredibly specimen. If it hadn’t been a dungeon monster, I’d probably have wanted to capture it alive.

If I bring it down with fire magic, all that beauty will end up bein’ spoiled, won’t it…? That’ll eat up more MP, but… let’s defeat it with water magic.

After asking Rir to watch out, I fired off several casts of Water Cannon back-to-back. From how speedy the horse looked, I was afraid that it might be hard to hit, but to my relief around 80% of my attacks found their mark. When I had shot off around 25 Water Cannons, the magic beast lay defeated.

“Woof~? Master, you didn’t use fire magic?”
“That’s ’cause I didn’t want to damage it.”
“I see, understood.”

Five B-Rank magic cores had emerged from the golden horse. We stored away the beast’s corpse and left the room, which originally had a yellow gemstone affixed to its door.

Right then, all the spots on the large gate had lit up. And at the same time, it slowly, without making any sound, opened.

“Woof~! We can finally fight the dungeon boss… Master!” Rir exclaimed cheerfully.

She looked as if she was present at some historic moment. I was also getting excited…

Still… Hang on? On second thought, won’t it be better to rest in here for the night? After all, no more magic beasts should show up, right?

It also looks like the monsters outside won’t get within a certain range of the hole for whatever reason… Thanks to that, won’t we be able to sleep safely? I think this’d be a good idea, no?

Or rather, what’ll happen to the dungeon’s state if we go outside? Will it stay like this? …Or will it go back to how it was at the start? I wonder, does Rir know anythin’ ’bout that?

“Master! Master! We’ve come this far, let’s quickly challenge it! If we keep going like this, we’ll surely be able to clear the dungeon!”
“Hang on… Rir, do you know what’ll happen if we go out of the dungeon?”
“Huh… if we leave? Let me think… I got it! It’ll revert to its initial state, right?”
“I see.”

So, it’ll revert to how it was at the beginning… that’s harsh, ain’t it…?
Wait, hang on… If it reverts to its initial state, that’ll revive the magic beasts, right? And… I’m able to easily defeat all of ’em…

I wonder, can’t we obtain even more magic cores, materials, and other stuff that way? That’s right. Magic cores, monster corpses that we can sell, and experience points! We can get all that just from doin’ another round… or rather, restartin’ from the beginnin’!

Ain’t that huge? …I’m sure the Joujou brothers would’ve noticed immediately…

If it’s like in video games, clearing the dungeon will probably empty it out, makin’ it useless1. At that point, all those mountains of treasure would disappear.

“Rir! Let’s leave the dungeon!”
“…Huh?”

She looked at me with an expression that blatantly seemed to ask, “What in the world are you talking about?” With her mouth still half-opened, she fell silent.

“Rir, I’m going outside.”
“…Eh, why? Even though we’ve come this far? Master… uhm… this might be rude, but… did you listen to what I told you?”
“Yep.”
“That’s… that’s no good, please reconsider it, Master. You worked hard to get to this point…”
“Well, it should be fine. I do have a reason, y’know? A good one.”

I told her my thoughts in detail. That the dungeon’s characteristic to reset, if you left it, could be used as a method to make a killing, just like Ayumu did in his videogames.

At first, Rir didn’t understand my thought process at all. However, once I’d finished my explanation, she was completely on board with the idea.

“To think that I doubted that marvelous insight of yours, Master… This is a historic breakthrough! I wonder, why did no one ever realize this until now!? You’re amazing, Master! So… erm… I’m very sorry for criticizing you.”
“It’s all good. So… What’ll we do? Go outside?”
“Woof~! Let’s do that, let’s leave immediately! Let’s go in and out several times2!”
“Alright.”

Rir’s tail was wagging vigorously.
You can see how excited she is… She’s a wolf, but she’s actin’ like a dog. Well, they’re not that different3, I guess?

With that being decided, Rir and I immediately left the dungeon. Outside, a light rain was falling, so we reentered it right away. Then, the same message as before appeared in our minds.

The dungeon was just like it had been the first time we entered; the large gate was closed and the lights on it were off.

“It really reset back to how it was…”
“Master! How many times should we go through it? I’m fine with any amount.”
“As long as our stamina holds out4… Alright, let’s go!”
“Yeah!”


TL notes:
This chapter leaves us with the big question: why did no one else ever notice/take advantage of the dungeon reset? Personally, I see a few options.

  1. People notice and take advantage of it but don’t tell anyone. It’s very lucrative and allows people to grow very powerful very quickly. Maybe governments actively make sure to suppress this method to avoid having too many uncontrollably strong adventurers?

  2. It takes too much time and effort for normal adventurers to kill monsters, so no one wants to waste all the effort it takes to reach the boss. They also often act in larger groups which reduces the exp gain, making the method seem less lucrative. Remember how much trouble a C-Rank monster gave Seinforce in chapter 33? And that was outside of a dungeon, the monsters in there are stronger.
    The biggest issue with this is that the dungeon boss is usually at least one rank higher than the strongest monster in the dungeon. So, any group that has issues with the normal mobs will likely die, especially since you apparently cannot escape from boss rooms.

  3. Poor world-building.



 

Footnotes:

  1. The original is 間抜けの空になる (“become emptiness of fool/foolish”). I assume it means that it empties out and turns useless, but not 100% sure.
  2. Not sure if this was meant to sound like sexual innuendo in the original, but it sure does in English.
  3. At least according to Google, wolves and dogs indeed display their emotions largely in the same way.
  4. Again with the innuendo. I swear, I’m not doing it on purpose.
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