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Chapter 2 – 12 (part 2)

Confession

Lilly and her sisters seemed to have won more than 10,000G on their bet. Since there were many adventurers who had bet on me, quite a few of the people around were thanking me. On the other hand, many citizens had bet on Regil and needless to say they weren't pleased at all, choosing to glare at me instead. (You reap what you sow, after all.)

“Tenma, let's eat dinner together tonight!”

“Yeah, we really should!”

“And of course, Tenma will treat us!”

The catgirls said, joking around. I had won a good amount myself though, so I said it was fine and agreed.

I thanked Flute once again and invited her as well. She asked if it was alright if it was a bit later, and then agreed. We would all meet at the Full Belly Inn later, once Flute was off work.

There was almost 4 hours before Flute finished her s.h.i.+ft, so we all went our own separate ways for a bit. I decided to make the reservations for the evening with the innkeep, then go back to my room.

When I got to the Full Belly Inn, the innkeep was in the kitchen preparing for the evening.

“Oh, Tenma. You're back home for now? I've made quite a nice amount of money today, thanks to you!”

He said in high spirits and laughed. I told him about the reservation, and he accepted it saying, ‘Leave it to me'. What's more, he would be preparing a special menu tonight. I gave him some Rock Bird meat and eggs, and left it up to him what to make.

After completing the reservation, there was still a lot of time left, so I walked over to the library.

I had made up my mind that I'd leave this city soon, so I thought I'd try to challenge a dungeon. I then realized I needed to search for a suitable place to go.

The library had three floors, the reception desk, and a little shop where you could buy paper for note taking and other things on the first floor. The second floor held books about legends and travel logs etc. and also enjoyable fiction. The third floor held specialist and academic books.

I usually went to the third floor to study books about monsters or magic, but for a change I went to the second floor today.

In this world, books made from paper were considered precious, so they weren't loaned out. If you destroyed or damaged them, you'd have to pay a fine or at the very worst it was said you could be put into jail, depending on how bad the damage was.

Because of this, many people who were dedicated to their studies would either buy some paper or bring it with them to transcribe parts from the books. For those who couldn't read, a free staff member could read a book aloud for you, at a cost of 50G for 30 minutes.

The library's entry fee was 200G a day, but as long as you didn't make a nuisance of yourself, 100G would be returned to you when you left.

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I went up to the second floor and asked a librarian to find me travel logs and similar books that had information concerning dungeons. I took notes on the names of cities and regions mentioned in them. After that, I looked them up in more detail using specialist books from the third floor, and finally compared the options from the list I had made. I managed to narrow it down to three places.

The first was a dungeon about 100km west from the city, first discovered 35 years ago, then conquered 2 years later. It spanned 20 floors deep underground. Its overall scale was small.

The second was around 300km northwest of the city, almost 200m away from the royal capital. It was called a dungeon town as it had a town attached. It was discovered 20 years ago and still not yet conquered. The only thing certain about it was it went down over 100 floors under the ground. Its scale was especially large.

The third dungeon was about 500km west of here. It was also discovered 35 years ago and then completely conquered 3 years later. It went 45 floors deep and had a medium scale.

While comparing the three options with whatever info I had at hand, I opened a book called “My First Dungeon”:

Dungeons mainly refer to either labyrinths or underground labyrinths. In some cases, the magic power found in them can run wild and distort the s.p.a.ce inside. After stepping through the entrance, it's possible to find that the dungeon is in a different dimension. In many cases, the dungeon will resemble the area around the entrance, there will be hardly any monsters living there, and they will be difficult to escape from. Even if you discover a dungeon yourself, it's best to avoid entering it. To date, there have been two discovered cases where there have been over 200 victims claimed by the dungeon, but only around 20 survivors.

Labyrinths have been described as similar to a thick forest with concentrated magical power in them, among other things. They don't have a core and despite the prevailing thought today, can't really be conquered. Depending on who you ask, fighting your way to the center of one can be called “conquering” it.

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Underground dungeons are just as their name describes; dungeons that exist underground. They expand deeper and deeper underground, their growth limited by the dungeon core's strength. Their method of expansion is still unclear. The core is generally found on the lowest level. Even if the core is destroyed or removed and put elsewhere, after some time it will be restored to its original spot. Even more mysteriously, if the core is carried outside of the dungeon, its magic power will diffuse and the core itself will crumble. As a general rule, if you destroy the core you can then call it a conquered dungeon. The broken core is used as proof.

Dungeon cores are a concentration of magical power. It's said that quality of the magic determines the core's maximum size. The core attracts monsters, then absorbs the magic power of both monsters and any intruders to the dungeon. Monsters closer to the core become stronger under its influence, with especially strong monsters being called bosses.

Bosses mark off their own territory, and many choose to stay in one place, rarely leaving where they've claimed.

A dungeon town is a town/city centered around a dungeon, generally prospering from it. Many of them have their own laws. They're the best place for beginners to enter a dungeon from, as they can provide support and it's easier to gather information there.

That was all the information I read from the book.

Considering my options, I rejected the first dungeon. That left me with the second and third dungeons. It might as well be large, making the second dungeon my prime candidate, and then the third dungeon would be my second choice.

While I was investigating whether there were any other good places, it slowly became closing time.

I returned the books, said goodbye to the librarian and left.

After that, in my room at the Full Belly Inn, I killed some time with s.h.i.+romaru and Slalin.

“Slalin, s.h.i.+romaru. I'm going to leave the city, what do you think?”

Naturally there was no reply, whether I addressed them or not. Slalin seemed to have somehow understood what I just said, and seemed to stare at my face, wiggling back and forth like he was trying to say something.

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In contrast s.h.i.+romaru flipped onto his back and showed me his belly, then fell asleep.

When I thought it was nearly time, I headed towards the dining area, where the innkeep's wife showed me the seats that had been reserved.

I sat for a while, before Lilly, her sisters and Flute arrived. When I asked, the catgirl trio said they had gone to pick up Flute. Seeing as everyone was now seated, the innkeep's wife brought out the food and drinks.

“Looks like everything's here so shall we start?”

I said. Each of us raised our gla.s.ses of sake and made a toast.

” ” ” Let's dig in~, Tenma! ” ” “

“Thank you for the meal, Tenmsan.”

Lilly and her sisters began eating, and couldn't get the food to their mouths fast enough. Flute ate slowly, but only aimed for the most delicious morsels.

The first topic that came up was naturally the duel.

“Come to think of it, what's going to happen to Regil afterwards?”

Milly asked for some reason or another. The other two catgirls seemed interested, but Flute might have heard already from the Guild Leader, and didn't seem particularly concerned about it.

“Ah, he is being transferred to the royal capital, where it seems they will deliberate over his crime. At the very worst, it's said he could be charged with treason. It's almost certain he'll receive the death penalty. It seems Geese might be put into slavery or also receive the death penalty.”

I thought it wasn't really an appropriate thing to talk about during a meal, but Milly didn't seem to mind.

“I see. Well, it's thanks to you, Tenmsan, that we're being treated to this lovely meal. Thank you.”

said Flute. She seemed to still be bearing the grudge from earlier and still sounded quite bitter.

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After that, the discussion continued on, becoming livelier as we ate and drank, and we had an overall enjoyable time.

“That reminds me, what quest will we take on next? Money isn't a problem right now, but it's not good to have a gap between quests.” Lilly said.

“Yeah. I want to take on a quest together with Tenma this time.”

“Flute-san, is something wrong?”

Nelly and Milly said. Flute said nothing but seemed to have remembered something.

I thought it would be better to say it sooner rather than later and got their attention.

“I want you guys to listen to me for a second.”

I said in a serious tone of voice, and the four of them turned to face me, ignoring their food.

“The truth is, lately I've been thinking of leaving this city.”

After I finished speaking, the four of them sat there, without moving.

” ” ” ” WHAAAaaaaaaat~~~~! ” ” ” ” All four of them screamed.

[Author's Note]

It wasn't a confession of love from the girls.

If someone expected that, I'm sorry for the misleading t.i.tle.

Someone told me that it would feel very out of place if Tenma never went back to the forest, so I wrote in Tenma's thoughts on it.

Hi, Refulgent, your translator here, if you like my translations, you can show your support by leaving a comment or constructive feedback at Four slimes . com I'd love to hear from you directly~

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