I parted ways with the Witch and Nekea.
The Witch apparently had things to discuss with Mr. Chaib and Seiran.
Probably about the items left behind by the Phantom Unit's husks.
When they asked what young Wof would do, I said I didn't need anything.
Ah, but then a little incident happened.
The object that Anomalocaris had been sealed in was a deep blue jewel.
When I got close, the four octopus tentacles of the Different Sea's Knife came out on their own.
Then they wrapped around the jewel and swallowed it whole.
Apparently, it was something the tentacles needed.
So that was why it was Anomalocaris?
I don't know. An eternal mystery.
Come to think of it, I had a sudden thought. Was the Witch on vacation?
No, but she seemed to be in high spirits, doing what she enjoyed, so she probably was on vacation?
In my past life memories, I think it was called workaholic... well, whatever.
Nekea was in reading time.
She said she wanted to continue reading that court love-and-hate ensemble drama. In moderation, of course.
I was hungry, so I was heading to the Belk cafeteria.
It had been a while since I last visited the Belk cafeteria. The mixed meat soup was a given, but what else should I get?
"Might go with the set meal."
That inevitably means fried chicken or stir-fried meat and vegetables — either way, I'm piling meat on top of meat.
But I really want rice.
"Well, I'll figure it out after I get in."
I push through the curtain into the Belk cafeteria.
The first thing I see is Agaro, chugging ale from a big mug.
"Agaro!?"
"Oh, hey. If it isn't Wof."
And right next to him, lazily puffing on a pipe — a land catfish. Alexander.
He's resting comfortably against the table, his long body draped over it because of his height.
A land catfish. Whether they're monsters or animals is still up for debate.
They look exactly like giant salamanders. But they're land catfish.
And Alexander here used to be a Rank I delver.
The original Dungeon Master.
Now he works behind the scenes in dungeons, on orders from the Grand Guild.
As for the behind-the-scenes work, the only thing I know about is setting up teleportation circles.
Going by what Milece told me, he also checks treasure chests and verifies whether traps are functioning.
On top of that, anomaly forecasting. Monster distribution surveys.
He also handles investigations of new dungeons, among other things.
Agaro and Alexander together, huh. That's quite the unusual pairing.
"What brings you two to Heizen?"
"Long time no see, Master Wof."
Alexander gave a little bow.
He still had the same sleepy, vacant-looking eyes and face as a land catfish.
"Y-yes. It's been a while."
"My student, Miles, seems to have been causing you quite some trouble."
"Not at all. She's been very helpful."
In fact, her knowledge of dungeons had been quite useful.
She also kept Isibara, the consciousness of Heizen's dungeon, company.
"She's a dungeon?"
"Yes. She's settled in the deepest part."
"Near the dungeon core...?"
"That's right. She's been studying it for a while now."
What was going on? Alexander was acting strange.
"Oh? What is it, Teacher?"
"Being near a dungeon core drains your soul, don't you know."
"What?"
"Huh? But she's doing perfectly fine. Besides, I was right next to the dungeon core the whole time I was creating it, and I never felt any ill effects."
Well, if anything, I had collapsed just a little while ago.
Soul drain. Hmm? Come to think of it, I'd heard something similar just a little while ago.
My words made Alexander fall silent.
"Wof, welcome!"
The one greeting me with a cheerful wave was Samarniya Tassan.
Juicy's older sister. A black-haired elf who wore glasses like Rel.
She was studying abroad in Heizen and working part-time at Belk Diner.
I sat down at the table next to the two of them.
Just because we're acquainted didn't mean I should sit at the same table.
But sitting somewhere far away felt rude, too.
So I took the adjacent table.
"Ready to order?"
"Sure thing—"
"Mixed meat soup, and what's today's recommended set meal?"
"If I had to pick, I'd say the cabbage rolls."
"A set meal with cabbage rolls?"
Nice. That one. It's meat, but it's got cabbage.
"It's really good!"
"I'll have that."
"What about drinks?"
"Yeah. Extra-large ale, another one."
"…I wasn't asking *that side*, but all right—"
Samarniya gave me a flat look.
Well, one look told me she wasn't the type to get along with someone like Agaro.
"I'll have tea, if you would."
"Coming right up~"
"Oh, I'll have the same tea, please."
"Coming right up~"
Samarniya gave a bright reply and headed to the kitchen.
Come to think of it, was Hoss in there too? Working alongside Ruma, maybe?
While we waited, I chatted with the two of them.
"I'll say. I was stunned. When I first heard the story, I thought it had to be a lie. A dungeon, huh."
"Who told you?"
"Well, Sensei, obviously."
"I got a letter from Mileece."
"Were you two traveling together before that?"
Also, what was this "Sensei" business?
Sure, we'd met at the Great Temple during the dungeon incident, but...
"Lately, that's how it's been, y'see."
"About this Sensei—"
"Truth is, I once botched a dungeon delve, and they saved my hide. After that I learned all sorts of things about dungeons from them, so that's why I call them Sensei."
"I got the feeling it's a bit different from a proper master-disciple thing, so Agaro's more of a student, y'know."
"One more ale for the customer~!"
"Yeah. Over here."
"Coming right up~"
I plonk a huge mug down in front of Agaro.
Then she turned to look at me.
"Wof. Thank you. Juisie was really happy."
"O-oh, good."
"Please keep looking after her from now on too, okay?"
"Y-yes."
Samarnia gave a cheerful wave and headed back to the kitchen.
"That Juisie — she's the daughter of that Tasan family, right? What's her connection to that waitress?"
"Samarnia is Juisie's older sister."
"A duke's daughter working as a waitress?"
"Also, the Delvers' Guild master in Heizen is Ennea."
"Geh, that Sleeping Bust Queen?"
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
"I said Bust Queen. She's insane, right? Those boobs of hers!"
Boobs. She's definitely stacked, but wasn't it "Blast Queen"?
So "Bust Queen" became "Blast Queen"? That's terrible.
"So, Wof, you close with the Tasan family?"
Alexander asked, puffing on his pipe.
"Well, 'close' might not be the right word — before I knew it, she'd just... become my guardian."
"Wait, wait. A great noble backing you up?"
"Apparently."
"Well, if the Witch herself gave the stamp of approval, I guess it's not too shabby."
Agaro gulped down his ale.
"That she did. Young Master Wof is the Witch's apprentice, now, isn't he? By the way, young Master Wof — are you familiar with Dungeon Rulers?"
"Yes, I've heard of that. I don't really feel it yet, but apparently I am one."
Not that I have any awareness of it,
but if Isibara
says so, there's nothing I can do about it.
"Like I was saying earlier, there's no harm to the Dungeon Core."
"That's right. Isibara hasn't said anything about the dungeon's will or anything like that, and like I mentioned before, Mires is doing fine too. I've been operating things for a while now and there's no strain on my body... Ah, but just now — when I was dealing with those Phantom Units, I did get mentally exhausted and collapsed."
"Whoa, whoa. Are you okay? What are Phantom Units?"
"Phantom Units!? They still exist in this era!?"
It seemed Alexander knew about them.
As expected of the first Dungeon Master.
I gave him a brief explanation of what had happened.
"Ancient-era punishment, huh... That's brutal. Worse than the death penalty."
"Is it really that bad?"
Sealing someone's soul into an object — is that really more terrifying than execution?
Agaro was drinking ale.
"Right. No matter what kind of soul it is, once you die, your soul returns to the Sea of Souls. You drift there, wash away the sins of the living world, and then come back to this world to live anew. That cycle repeats over and over."
"…………"
So it's reincarnation, plain and simple.
Then again, that would mean reincarnated people aren't exactly rare.
But from the way he described it, the memories seem to get reset each time.
So someone like Ambrosius, who retained memories from a past life — that's the unusual case?
What about me, though?
"When a soul gets sealed inside an object, see, it can't return to the Sea of Souls. When that happens, the soul just stays sealed up, carrying its sins with it — still a sinner, forever. Pretty rough, huh?"
"Yeah, definitely……"
A sinner for eternity.
If that's how it is, then just kill me already……or something like that.
"Even worse, that soul starts to warp. It can't maintain the shape of a human soul anymore, and it ends up looking like something that isn't human. You remember that, don't you?"
"……Anomalocaris!"
"What's with that Anomalo……you mean what, exactly?"
"Ah — well, you're right. The phantom units we fought didn't have human shapes."
"Hey, sensei. Why can't a human soul keep its human shape?"
"That's because it's been alive for so long, I'd say."
"If that's the case, then what about elves and fairials and all those long-lived people?"
……Fair point.
I'd never heard that someone who'd lived for a thousand years had become an Anomalocharis.
"Well, to be precise, the soul changes shape once it strays from the life it was meant to have. There's an easy example — Alhazard Abramirin. He swallowed the Talisman's permanent egg, and what he got was a black panther's head."
"Ah, so that's where that head came from."
So Abramirin's soul had taken the form of a black panther.
What was that supposed to mean? A black panther sounded kinda cool, though…
But he wasn't human anymore.
I felt like I understood, more or less — and it was his own fault, sure — but still, that was a pretty rough deal.
"So what about fish heads and crab heads? Are those the same kind of thing?"
"Fish heads? Crab heads? No, I couldn't tell you about those."
He couldn't, huh. What the heck were those things.
"Come to think of it, I saw a flashy shrimp-headed one the other day too."
Of course there were still more out there. Give me a break.
"Still, this one really surprised me. Phantom units do turn up in a dungeon's deepest layer now and then, but finding a whole bunch of them at once — that hardly ever happens."
"We dealt with all of them."
"You say that so casually, but that's an absurdly impressive feat."
"Hey now, Wof. You went and did something crazy again."
"The witch did it."
The family heirloom. Blame the witch.
"Now that it was the witch, I suppose that tracks."
"Right? If it was that witch, then yeah."
Kouka Is Really Something.
"Yes. I helped, well... more like I watched."
"Must've been quite the rare sight, huh?"
"Yes. It was a really valuable experience."
"...Same old chaos, huh, Wof."
"Ahaha... yeah, pretty much."
Where on earth did my slow life go?
"Well now, this is a real hoot, young Wof — later on, you gotta let me take a gander at that dungeon of yours."
"Yes! Absolutely!"
At that moment, I felt Alexander's dark eyes flash ever so slightly.
Well, then again, he is a land catfish.