Inheriting the Novel

Chapter 49 : Fairy Forest (2)

Fairy Forest (2)

'The reason why I absolutely have to clear the Kiten Forest Dungeon.'

When I returned to Vanhart's territory and read the Synopsis involving Kiten Forest, I couldn't believe my eyes for a moment.

That was because the benefits that could be gained from this dungeon were truly beyond imagination.

First, the dungeon itself was a mine filled with an enormous amount of mithril ore.

Second, buried deep within the dungeon's ruins, was Damian.

And finally, the third reason was the 'reward' that Beatrice just mentioned.

'Namely, the sword sheath made from fairywood by Beatrice herself.'

Fairywood's strength and power varies depending on the strength of the Fairy Queen.

Beatrice, the Fairy Queen of the South.

She was one of the foremost among all Fairy Queens in terms of power.

Fairywood imbued with her power was not only as hard as orichalcum but also carried countless blessings, bestowing it with tremendous capabilities.

'I'm looking forward to it. Please, make me a good sheath.'

Just thinking about the sheath she would forge for me made my heart race.

[The Fairy Queen must have bad eyes. What could she possibly trust about a guy like this and just hand over such a request right away?]

'Is there anyone more responsible than me?'

[Haaa, I give up talking to you.]

I smirked at Grancesia's grumbling and watched the fairy flying ahead.

'It's a bit farther than I thought.'

At present, the three adventurers and I were making our way across Kiten Forest. The fairy flying ahead was sent by Beatrice to guide us.

「Over here, this way!」

The blonde fairy, who introduced herself as Sasha, fluttered about and energetically beckoned us forward.

"I never imagined I would experience something like this in my life."

Vince mumbled, watching the fairy.

His companions, Red and Herden, seemed to feel the same way.

"I'll finally have a story to brag to the guild about. Who would have thought I'd actually set foot in the land of fairies? Isn't this straight out of a fairy tale?"

"Right. Count, how can you stay so calm?"

How could I remain so calm?

'Maybe it's because of everything I've gone through until now... at this point, this is nothing...'

After all, the ring on my finger contained the soul of a legendary saint, I'd met a half-dragon, demonkin, and even a person whose body turns into smoke.

Fairies might be wondrous, but it wasn't unbelievable enough to make me gape like that.

「Here we are. Sasha will wait for you at the entrance!」

Before long, we arrived at the entrance of a half-collapsed cave.

Rather than a dungeon, it resembled a mineshaft, which made Vince's gaze grow sharp.

"This is... This is not a naturally formed dungeon."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at this. No natural dungeon would have such a flat passage. This place was clearly constructed artificially."

I see. The path leading into the cave did appear oddly clean compared to its ramshackle entrance.

"We'll only know the details once we go inside. Count, please follow after us."

At Vince's words, Red and Herden began preparing their equipment and led the way.

'If I had come alone, I might have gone in clueless and gotten lost.'

Reading the profile had given me a general sense of the layout, but it wasn't enough for a dungeon with so little information.

"Damn! Monsters!"

Herden hurriedly ducked behind a broken wall and signaled to us. As he said, further ahead, there were several monsters shambling about.

"I noticed a strong sense of death from the start. As expected, there are lots of undead monsters."

They were Skeletons, just like the ones I had seen before. The unusual thing was that these Skeletons were equipped with proper gear.

'Not even a hint of rust?'

A Skeleton is a corpse revived with a grudge, and usually, a Skeleton will wield whatever it carried at the time of death as a weapon.

It would be normal for weapons to be as corroded as the skeleton's bones.

But the equipment on these Skeletons gleamed like new.

"Something's off about this. We'd better avoid them."

Vince frowned, perhaps having noticed this as well.

Red and Herden nodded in agreement with Vince, but I had a different thought.

"No, we're taking those Skeletons out right here."

"What? But there's really no need to fight them—"

It usually made sense to avoid unnecessary battles when the future is unknown.

But leaving those Skeletons behind here would be a waste.

Because I could see it.

I knew exactly what equipment those Skeletons were wearing.

"That's mithril gear."

"... Pardon?"

"Those Skeletons have mithril equipment. All of them."

My party was visibly stunned.

"Is that really true?"

"Absolutely. Think about it. If that weren't the case, why would the Skeletons' equipment be in such perfect shape?"

"I see... The Count is right."

Apparently convinced, the others nodded. No gear left unattended for so long would remain intact if it was made from ordinary metal.

'Lucky me.'

I did know that the place was filled with mithril, but I never imagined the monsters within would all be outfitted with mithril equipment.

I might not even need to mine ore—just selling that equipment would fetch a fortune.

"Don't leave a single one. I don't care if it takes time, take them all down."

"Understood!"

No matter how good their gear, a Skeleton is, after all, a Skeleton.

Especially to me, they were nothing but scarecrows carrying money bags.

* * *

About thirty minutes later, we had succeeded in returning every Skeleton wandering nearby back to the earth.

"Count, we got them all, but..."

Taking them down wasn't hard, but the aftermath was the issue. Once we gathered all the gear in one place, it was quite a heap.

"I'll ask the Fairy Queen to send some laborers to haul it out later."

"So we'll need to keep it here until then."

"That's right. Don't worry, I'll make sure the profits from this place are distributed fairly."

"Gasp! Thank you!"

My companions bowed much more politely than before.

Partially out of gratitude for the rewards, but even more because they'd just witnessed me fight.

"But honestly, Count, it felt like you took care of almost all the Skeletons by yourself..."

"No, it was only possible because you all distracted the others. Alone, it could have been difficult."

In fact, they had drawn the attention of the other Skeletons, allowing me to fight each one one-on-one.

If I had been alone, I would have had to fight them all at once, making for quite a tough battle.

'Getting the mithril gear was great, but... this really doesn't seem like an ordinary dungeon.'

I narrowed my eyes, surveying the gear taken from the Skeletons.

==

〈Armor of a Knight of the Darlos Kingdom〉

Armor from the Darlos Kingdom, destroyed by the mage Lugal Necris.

Forged using Darlos Kingdom's superior refining techniques, it remains in excellent condition even after all these years.

==

'A knight of Darlos Kingdom...'

I'd heard of it.

The Darlos Kingdom was a small realm that used to exist near the Talua Kingdom long ago. It owned many mithril mines and was famous for its advanced refining techniques.

[Oh, right. Darlos used to be near Talua. I think I visited once. Wait, it's gone now?]

'It was devastated—almost destroyed—by a single mage.'

[What?]

That's what the history books say.

The Darlos Kingdom was struck by a mage and suffered enormous damage, ultimately leading to its fall.

But the mage's name was never recorded...

'Who would have guessed it was Lugal Necris?'

[Lugal? The Tower Master's top disciple, that brat?]

'A brat? He was one of the first Seven Heroes alongside Damian...'

[I don't care about the Seven Heroes. Last time I saw him, he was just a kid.]

For Grancesia to dismiss an ancient hero as a mere child made it clear that the time frames lined up.

'Maybe the reason Damian is here has something to do with Lugal.'

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been mentioned in the profile.

"For now, let's leave the equipment here and descend a bit further."

"Understood."

Occasionally, we encountered more undead monsters, but we saw no more Skeletons.

Apparently, we'd already cleared them all out at the start.

'What a shame. It would have been nice if there were more.'

I was peering around just in case some had hidden themselves, when my eyes caught something.

'Ah, there it is.'

One more reason I needed to secure this dungeon.

I spotted a vein of mithril. It was half-buried under a pile of rocks, so it was hard to spot with the naked eye, but there was no hiding anything from my profile-reading eyes.

'I'll mark this on the map for now.'

The path was already somewhat formed, so mining didn't look too difficult.

As I followed the three adventurers, I began sketching a map of the way we'd come.

"Count, it looks like we can't go any further."

It was nearly two hours later when we finally stopped.

"Is something wrong?"

"As I mentioned earlier, this place was definitely artificially constructed."

We'd already seen so many traps along the way that there was no doubt about that.

I couldn't help but wonder why he was pointing it out again.

"We managed until now, but...the traps up ahead are beyond our skill."

Having followed after them, I knew these three were true experts—just as Sara had promised—skilled in all sorts of techniques.

One of those skills was disabling dungeon traps, and until now, they hadn't missed a single one.

"Are these traps different from the ones so far?"

"Yes. The passage leading further down is itself a trap."

Vince picked up a small pebble off the ground and tossed it.

KWAANG!

The moment it landed, a torrent of flames shot from the left wall and melted the pebble instantly.

"And it's not just fire. As you can see..."

After a few more tosses, the passage erupted not only with fierce flame jets, but also dropping pillars, flying spikes, and arrows—all sorts of deadly contraptions.

'Designed so no one can enter.'

It was the only explanation.

And in my opinion, the one who made this was undoubtedly Damian.

'So this is the part mentioned in the Synopsis.'

Fabian got through this passage using a 'sword' he obtained in Eintban.

That sword was probably one of the Seven Swords Under Heaven, like Genova.

'Of course, I don't have that sword, so I'll have to use another method.'

If I couldn't get through here, I'd never meet Damian.

And whatever the Fairy Queen's request was about, it was definitely down there, too.

'Fabian has his way, I have mine.'

I opened my eyes wide and stared down the passage. Instantly, all its profile elements appeared before me.

'Now, let's add Eye of Insight...'

Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the passage.

"Count! What are you doing?!"

Vince shouted in alarm, but I didn't have the mind to reply.

'Three steps here, then a half-step to the right. Next, one big leap forward...'

Invisible strands of magic power crisscrossed the path ahead, unperceivable to the naked eye.

Touching them even slightly would trigger a trap.

Only a handful of spots on the floor were actually safe to step on.

There were even sections where you had to trigger a trap.

In that case, I deliberately set off an arrow trap and deflected the arrows with my sword.

"Phew!"

Finally, I leapt forward and just barely made it out of the passage.

"That was easier than I thought."

Wiping sweat from my brow, I turned to see the three adventurers staring at me in shock.

I waved lightly at them.

"I'll scout ahead alone from here, so wait for me there!"

"C-Count!"

Unable to follow, they could only call out to me in desperation. Naturally, since no one knew what dangers lay below.

'At last.'

But I was more excited than worried.

Because the one I was about to meet was the hero of heroes—the one who marked the beginning of the Seven Heroes.