When I saw that figure, I couldn't help but groan.
"Whoa…"
Purple twin tails and deep purple eyes. A cute, well-proportioned face.
Without question a beautiful girl, but at twenty-four, "beautiful woman" was the more accurate label.
For some reason, she had both hands planted confidently on her hips.
She wore a ceremonial outfit made of layered pure-white cloth, strongly evoking a ritual atmosphere.
It vaguely reminded me of the shrine maiden outfits from my past life.
It suited her. Yes, it suited her perfectly.
Oh—the bracelet. She's wearing it. That makes me happy.
Yep. It's Narcissus.
"W-Wait, who are you?! And why purple hair and eyes?!"
Nabel was panicking. She was flustered, teary-eyed, looking like she might start barking any second.
Well, I'd been pretty thoroughly confused myself until she showed up.
But thanks to Narcissus appearing, what had initially seemed like nothing but despair turned out fine in the end.
I'd braced myself for something deathly serious or full-on horror, so finding it was a gag was a relief.
Thank you, Narcissus. Thank you, Narcissus.
So, can I take Nabel and head home now?
The great temple's doors are closed. No luck, huh.
Oh—our eyes meet.
After staring at each other for a while, I was the one to speak first.
"Hello."
"H-hello! It's been a while. Wof!"
"Um, what are you doing here, Narcissus?"
"I have no idea!"
"Really..."
"When I came to, I was just here. Anyway, who's that over there...?"
Narcissus eyed Nabel with a hint of wariness, glancing at her again and again.
Come to think of it, this woman was basically a chihuahua.
"This is Nabel."
"H-hello, it's nice to meet you! I'm the leader of a fourth-ranked delver party called 'Cerberus Thorn.' I-I look forward to working with you."
She introduced herself with a nervous bow, lowering her head politely.
As expected, she was well-raised.
Narcissus immediately put on a confident front.
"I'm Narcissus! The Narcissus Utopia of the Six Great Houses of Edda—that's me!"
"I've heard the rumors."
"Fourth rank, hm? I'm first rank!"
"Of course. I'm well aware."
"Good, then!"
"Y-yes."
Narcissus, casually claiming the high ground with an "ahem."
I couldn't help but let out a wry smile.
"So, do you understand why you were brought here, Wof?"
"...Could it be about the dungeon anomaly?"
This grand temple. The only thing that comes to mind is that.
The dungeon anomaly. What happened here once before.
That ending — I can never forget it.
"Exactly! A dungeon anomaly occurred in Heizen. The reason Events have been happening one after another in Heizen recently is because this dungeon anomaly took place!"
"W-wait, there's no dungeon in Heizen. Right, Nabel?"
"That's right. I've never even heard of one."
Events in succession... Events, she says.
What is this... unease.
Why did Events keep firing off in Heizen?
And now a dungeon anomaly?
That's impossible. Heizen doesn't have a dungeon.
Heizen itself isn't a dungeon, you know.
In response to our denial, Narcissus placed a hand on her chin and tilted her head slightly.
"That's true too, I suppose."
"Narcissus?"
I deflate. Some things never change with this person.
She tilted her head slightly and said.
"But Heizen is a dungeon."
"No, that's—"
"A four-layer surface-type dungeon! The first layer is the trade city of Heizen. The second layer is the Heizen Plains. The third layer is the Great Heizen Forest. And the deepest part of the dungeon, the fourth layer, is the Forbidden Land. What's the Forbidden Land, you ask?"
How should I know. Actually, I do know. But still.
"...Seriously?"
"Seriously!"
I can safely ignore Narcissus's baseless confidence.
But somehow, it makes sense.
If Heizen is a dungeon, a whole lot of things start making sense.
So all that stuff Raada set in motion... was it an EVENT?
The witch's auction fiasco too? No, wasn't that about to become an EVENT?
When I think about it that way, the sense of something being off that I'd been feeling just goes away.
In that case, both the Full Moon Bazaar and the Forest Wave were EVENTS too.
No matter how I look at it, they were EVENTS.
And it's not just the dungeon's monsters that take part in EVENTS.
The humans living in that land... in the dungeon... are they targets too?
Or does anyone who happens to be there just end up getting dragged into the EVENT?
"...Wof... I don't even know what's going on anymore... I'm more confused than I was back then."
Nabel's eyes were spinning as she looked to me for rescue.
If it were Kolam, she'd probably collapse on the spot.
She'd pass out from the explanation alone before she even fought Helvto.
"Whew. How naive. I don't know anything at all!"
"That's... surely a problem, isn't it...?"
Nabel couldn't help but interject.
Narcissus puffed out her chest and grinned fearlessly.
"How naive! But it doesn't matter, since I can still survive!"
"R-Right... But you knew that place was a dungeon, didn't you, Narcissus?"
"How would I know? I've never even been to Heizen. Where even is that place? What even is Heizen?"
"It's a trading city."
"Is that so? I didn't know."
"......"
"I was told to say that, so I'm just repeating what I was told!"
Narcissus struck a proud pose despite having absolutely nothing to brag about.
Nabel was completely flabbergasted. What even was this person — I found myself clutching my head.
Narcissus, meanwhile, was cackling away, apparently interpreting that as her victory.
She really loved getting one up on everyone, huh.
"Told by whom?"
Something was communicating to us through Narcissus.
"No idea. It's all kind of fuzzy to me."
That's why it had to be Narcissus, of all people.
But that was a minor detail compared to the personality of the person in question.
That someone. I'd first thought it might be the gods, probably. But no.
If that were the case, the Goddess of the Knife would have told me back then.
Which meant she didn't know either.
So then who was making Narcissus say all this?
"Could it be the dungeon?"
"That's exactly right! The dungeon?"
Just as I thought.
Dungeons can sometimes help delvers.
They can even grant power to delvers.
That's because dungeons possess something like a will.
The will of Heizen's dungeon was communicating to us through Narcissus.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be able to convey anything.
Maybe Narcissus had that kind of Relic.
Unfortunately.
"So there's been an anomaly in Heizen's dungeon, and it wants us to resolve it."
"That's right! Easy to understand. As expected of Wof!"
"But why us?"
"Not us. You, Wof. You specifically. The reason? You have a track record of resolving anomalies before, you're one of Heizen's top fighting forces, and you're the only one with credentials worthy of trust! Wait, Wof, you've resolved an anomaly before!?"
"Y-yes..."
Narcissus kept interjecting with her own perspective, so I couldn't really follow the conversation.
Nabel's eyes lit up and her tail wagged.
"As expected of Wof!"
"No, it was just a coincidence. A coincidence. So this subjugation is a commissioned request, right?"
Also, Heizen's dungeon already knew I'd resolved the anomaly.
I wondered if dungeons had some kind of network between them.
"Of course. There's a proper reward."
"What's the reward?"
"Let me see. Since you already know about the Junkyard — hmm. How about a boat? I'll tell you where you can find a boat. A boat?"
"A boat?"
"A boat?"
A boat, huh. And the Junkyard intel was just casually slipped in and completely glossed over.
"Yes, I'm sure you'll love it! Isn't that wonderful, Wof?"
"Understood. I'll take the job."
Well, to be honest, the reward was an afterthought.
"As expected of Night King Wof. I knew you'd accept. Night King?"
"Hey, wait—"
"Truly the Night King."
"I said that's not—!"
The Conquest King has been fading lately, but for some reason I can't take down the Night King.
Only two more meters to go.
"All right. With that, my business is— oh, I forgot. Here you go."
Restriction Relic [Dimation Crack]
Words materialized in my head, etched into my soul vessel.
A new Restriction Relic. So this is what I need to beat the dungeon's anomaly.
He really just tossed it to me like it was nothing.
"By the way, does this dungeon anomaly appear in the Forest Wave?"
"I don't know. But the anomaly is in the Forbidden Land!"
"I figured. But the Forbidden Land is cursed."
"That's the first I've heard of it!"
"Huh… there's a crab that says its daughter got cursed because it stepped in there…"
"That's impossible! Also, did you say crab?"
"What do you mean?"
"Isn't it weird that the one who stepped in wasn't cursed, but the daughter was?"
"Now that you mention it, it really is."
"Right?"
That crab is definitely hiding something.
"Go see for yourself. Oh, and Ulfen boy— who?!"
"Huh? Me? Ah, she means me."
"Help us subjugate the anomaly in the dungeon! Yes, help us!"
"Oh — y-yes."
"That dungeon anomaly is the enemy of the one who wields Ulfeig's blade! Who?!"
"The enemy... I see. Understood. Wof. Please let me help as well."
Nabel's face was set with determination.
I nodded.
"Likewise, I look forward to working with you."
"No, no — likewise."
"Likewise."
We bowed to each other.
I recall exchanging greetings like this in my past life too.
"There's something so bittersweet about this!"
"Ugh!"
"Agh!"
Narcissus's words left Nabel and me speechless.
Then the doors of the grand temple opened. I figured that meant we were free to leave.
After bidding Narcissus farewell, we passed through the door and returned to where we'd been.
A back alley in the trading city of Heizen. We stood in silence for a while.
"..."
"..."
"...N-nice to meet you."
"Likewise, nice to meet you."
We both bow to each other again.
What a deeply sorrowful scene.
The next day.
I was at the Gouro family's main estate.
The room I was led to had an air of refined elegance, and the furnishings were clearly high-end.
But the person sitting in front of me made everything else look completely bland.
The head of the Gouro family, Poor Man Club.
A man of average build, wearing an unwrinkled suit.
Only his head was a shore crab.
A whole shore crab, complete with claws and legs.
Could you maybe not do this kind of thing to me.