Agaro was running a bit late from a hangover, but we gathered up and headed for the forest.
And without anything in particular happening, we arrived at that forest.
In a strangely open spot, there's a small, rough bridge over a dried-up river.
"..."
When I crossed the bridge, I looked back. This is where I fought that black knight.
It turned to ash and vanished, leaving nothing behind. Still, I was definitely here.
"Waf — Master Wof? What's the matter?"
Juicy peeks up at my face from below.
"Ah, no — nothing at all. Let's go."
Past the bridge is an abandoned village.
Abandoned village, sure, but the houses had pretty much all crumbled down.
The only structure still standing is the church.
The flute sound had been coming from that church, hadn't it.
Not that it was actually a flute, mind you.
Agaro takes a swig from a large gourd flask, looks around, and mutters.
Come to think of it, this world has gourd flasks too, huh.
"Nothing here. Not even a bar."
What's he gonna do even if there was one.
"Hmm, hmm — all that's left is that church."
"Um, um, that ruined church over there. It's giving me a weird vibe."
"That place, huh..."
"Well then, let's go take a look."
When there's nothing else around, that's all there is.
The church was bronze-colored, and the stained glass had faded too.
The door opened with a creak.
Inside, we stepped right into the chapel.
Directly beneath the statue of the Holy Mother Goddess. An altar sat there, blanketed in red dust.
Agaro tilted his gourd flask and gazed up at the faded statue of the Holy Mother Goddess.
"The story says this is some evil god worship thing, but..."
"My, my. This is quite a splendid Holy Mother Goddess, isn't it."
The Holy Mother Goddess. The sacred icon of the Seihou faith.
I looked at the altar. The cup where resentment and screams once swirled had been here. Not a trace of it remained.
I figured it had been purified by the elixir.
"Hm?"
A door caught my eye at the edge of my vision.
At the far right of the chapel. An unremarkable wooden door.
It blended in with the surrounding walls, so it was a little hard to make out.
Last time I'd just turned around and left, so I hadn't noticed it.
"Um, um, Wof. Is something the matter?"
"There's a door over there."
"Oh my, so there is."
"It's probably just a storage room."
Agaro said, taking a swig from his gourd flask.
But I had to admit, a gourd flask really did suit him.
"Probably. That's what it looks like, anyway."
I walked up to the door.
"Oh yes, so, regarding the investigation. I did some digging, and even after the dungeon was cleared, it seems delvers are still coming here."
The witch said that out of the blue. Well, yeah.
If you heard a rumor that a dungeon had been cleared, you might think you'd go check it out. See if there was any treasure left.
That kind of thing—people showing up with a sense of easy opportunity.
"Yeah, I heard stuff like that at the tavern too. 'Might as well go take a look,' that sort of thing."
"And so, and so, as you can see there's nothing here. They get disappointed or angry and head right back. But apparently, some of those delvers never actually make it back."
I opened the door. It was a small room.
There was an empty shelf in the corner, and an empty wooden box sitting on the floor.
"Never make it back? It's been cleared, hasn't it?"
"Um, um, Wof. What do you mean by that?"
"Now then, now then. Hm."
"Come to think of it, this case isn't from the Guild, is it?"
"Right, right. It's one of old man Aburami's cases."
"So, so, that's the former Guild Master, right? The one who's now Grand Guild Master."
"Good grief. That's pretty shady, isn't it?"
They were chatting away.
But this room had nothing in it.
Literally nothing. Just as Agaro had said, it was nothing but a storage room.
"............"
I half-heartedly activated Danger Discernment.
No response at all.
"..."
Well then, while I was at it, I used the Wheel of Fortune.
See? There's nothing—huh? The front wall was... green.
"What's that?"
Was this wall rare? Made from some unusual material?
Or was the wall itself unusual?
"So, so, Lord Wof? Did something happen?"
"Alcohol? Was there a sake barrel or something?"
"Good grief. Agaro. Even if there were, you couldn't drink it."
Everyone came over.
Agaro glugged from his gourd-shaped flask.
"Nothing's here, but... something's off."
"Um, um, this tiny room. Is there something in here?"
"Mmhmm, that wall over there."
The witch pointed at the rare wall with great interest.
Impressive. Could everyone tell?
"Well then, shall we try burning it?"
Agaro's left hand blazed a deep crimson.
He wound up and punched the wall. The wall dented, burst into flame, and then vanished.
"Oh my, oh my — a hidden wall."
"Stairs."
Once the wall disappeared, stairs appeared in its place, leading underground.
"Dark in there."
"Oh, I actually have something Riv gave me."
I pulled a light orb from my pouch. Flipping the switch, it floated up and began to glow.
Juicy's eyes sparkled, and her tail whipped back and forth like a windshield wiper.
"Um, um, that, um um!"
"Juicy. No."
She was totally about to lunge for it.
Being all mopey and droopy isn't going to work either. The witch was staring at the light orb with an intense gaze.
"Oh my. Now this, this is very interesting indeed."
"Yeah. Handy, right?"
After that exchange, we headed down the stairs and found a similar white room.
There was nothing here.
"Um, um, there's something on the floor."
"The floor?"
Just then, the floor glowed pale blue. Oh—a teleportation circle.
I felt a heavy thud pulse through my body.
[Offering of Death: Leaving the Tomb of Death turns you into an Offering of Death. Additionally, you will become an Offering of Death after four days.]
Huh?
The next instant, I was somewhere pitch dark. A light orb quickly floated up and illuminated the surroundings.
"Where is this?"
From the range of the light, I could tell it was some kind of enormous space.
And in the distance, countless spheres of red, blue, and yellow floated in the air, swaying like faint ghostly flames.
The number… easily exceeded a hundred. You've got to be kidding.
I didn't need to use [Danger Discernment] to tell, but I used it anyway. Red. Bright red. Enemies.
Agaro, who had been standing beside me, tilted his gourd flask, took a drink, and spoke.
This guy can even drink at a time like this.
"Hmm. Those would be Globos."
"Monsters?"
"Yeah, undead-type ghosts, I think. The different colors are elemental Relics."
So fire, water, and lightning Globos. And there were nearly hundreds of them.
"Um, um, so this is a dungeon?"
"Yep, yep. That's right, you know. Looks like some delvers got in here."
And never came back, huh.
"Still, that's a lot of Globos."
The witch pulls something from thin air. A bottle. Oh, right.
"Here you go. Con's special holy water, you know. The light effect will last for a while."
"Oh. Thanks."
"Um, um, uh, thank you very much."
"Ah, I'm fine."
I pull out a pure white knife. The strongest anti-undead knife there is, and it can't cut a thing.
The Elixir Knife.
Agaro takes one look at my knife and speaks up.
"Come to think of it, this'll be the first time I've seen you fight, Wof."
"Now that you mention it, yeah."
"Woof, woof-woof-woof! Woooooof!!"
Juicy lets out a battle cry and punches straight through the cluster of blue Globos.
With the holy water's effect, the water Globos are vanishing one after another.
Guess he couldn't hold back anymore.
Juicy's surprise attack kicks things off, and the Globos come swarming toward us.
They drift through the air, hurling fire, shooting water, and unleashing bolts of lightning.
One at a time, they weren't much to worry about — but this many of them was just too much of a hassle.
No, actually, that wasn't right either. Not a hassle at all, really.
First, Agaro. He knocks back his booze and casually obliterates the ones coming at him, one after another.
Annihilation burns the undead to nothing, completely.
He hasn't even used the holy water the witch gave him.
So why did he ask for it, then?
Next up, Juicy. Just punches them out, one by one.
She's light and fast — the Globos can't keep up. Her fists, coated in holy water, glow a bright white.
Then the witch. She snaps her fingers with a loud crack, and dozens of Globos vanish.
I have no idea what she did. They just disappeared, like some kind of magic trick.
She repeats that three times over, cutting down the Globos' numbers in one fell swoop.
After that, she holds the holy water bottle upside down, pinches it between three fingers, and just starts flicking the stuff at them — splish, splish, splish.
And lastly, me. I take out the Globos that get close with my elixir knife.
A single strike, and a Globos dissolves into mist. They're really not that tough just from firing off elemental Relics.
The extermination wraps up without anything particularly noteworthy happening, and there's nothing left.
All that remains is an odd sort of silence.
Agaro downs his gourd in one gulp and speaks up.
That man sure can put it away.
"I was kinda expecting something, honestly."
Yeah. Me too.