Chapter 306
Chapter 236 - (Chapter 306): Live On Bread AlonePeople Cannot Live On Bread Alone
Year 7447, Month 7, Day 11
"Fu..."
We arrived at the teleport crystal room in the center of the 11th floor.
It"s something we figured out after getting closer but this pillar where the teleport crystal room is was just as expected a square which each side is about 50 meters just like the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors.
Over 5 hours have already pa.s.sed since then.
It"s completely morning.
I haven"t slept in almost a full day.
Since we haven"t been running it"s still a bit easier than the time when we rescued {Black.Topaz} but somehow I remember the hard days exploring the dungeon with {Sun.Ray}.
Since there was a high chance that those altars were the source for the beams we went around destroying them in a hurry.
We destroyed over 20 of them in all.
According to Gwine and the altars are at fixed locations exactly 500 meters from the outer circ.u.mference lined up in a circle.
In other words, roughly 200 meters from the outer circ.u.mference is forest.
The next 200 meters or so from there is a gra.s.sland.
The cage of lightning bolts appeared around the border between the doughnut shaped forest and gra.s.sland or at most in the center of the gra.s.sland.
It was a huge cage that"s over tens of times larger than the ones from the floors up until now.
Then after you pa.s.s through the gra.s.sland you enter a forest or thicket again but another 100 meters or so from there the altars are placed with a fixed distance of several hundred meters in a doughnut shape once again.
Therefore, the total length of the circular shape which the altars are placed along is around 28 kms. If we were to a.s.sume they"re lined up with an average interval of 300 meters then there should be over 90 of them. I wanted to destroy at least 1/5th of them. Of course, it"s believed there"s a good chance the dungeons automatic repair would take effect but we still did it because we thought it would take a considerable amount of time for them to be repaired.
In any case, we went around destroying as many altars as we could in a hurry so that"s why it took this much time. After all this is only the second time we"ve come to the 11th floor. Even though there"s no hallways I didn"t think we would defeat the floor guardian after just that amount of experience so the matter this time was really unexpected.
Judging from the things we saw last time we guessed that clearing the 11th floor would take far less time than every floor until now but I never thought it would be this time on just our second try.
It was a floor we were exploring for almost the first time and it"s not like we could let our guard down regarding traps either.
As expected we"re reaching the limits of our willpower for today.
I talk to everyone while biting a hardtack.
"Everyone, sorry when you"re exhausted but endure for just a bit longer. Probably, the {Wyvern} that was the guardian should resp.a.w.n around 20 hours after last time so, tomorrow, no, it should be around 10:00 today. There"s already less than 5 hours remaining. Right after this we"ll get some sleep. Zulu and Angela you two take turns keeping watch."
Sorry but you two be patient with just 2 hours or so of sleep.
You"re slaves and can"t use magic so you drew the unlucky lot.
Particularly Zulu who said, "This will increase masters reputation even more!" and cut off the {Wyvern}"s head then carried the d.a.m.n heavy thing in shifts with Angela.
Even though I told them to stop because it would just add to the burden.
Everyone else agree with them so I just let them do as they like but is
n"t it fine if we have that many scales?
"In regards to the place the {Wyvern} will resp.a.w.n but I can think of several patterns. First off is the case where it resp.a.w.ns over in front of that hall as if protecting it. In that case it"ll be the easiest. Since it"s fine if everyone just attacks it all at once.
It"s got a huge body so once it"s noticed us and we can use magic then we can attack without needing to worry about hitting each other. If it"s magic a distance which you can punch then I"m sure those beams won"t have the time to come flying and in terms of position the forest should act as a shield so I don"t even think the beams will come flying in the first place."
Everyone"s munching on hardtack and sipping dried meat soup while silently listening to me with exhaustion on their faces.
"It should be plenty possible to finish it off before the {Gorgons} come. In regards to the {Gorgons}, the surroundings of this pillar is nothing but wasteland and viability is good so I think we"ll have a safe time fighting with magic or bow. Depending on the case we can just run into this room as well.
They most likely won"t be able to enter the room just like up until now and even in the worst case they do the hall is narrow so it"ll be one at a time. In that case~ it"s fine if we just wait for them on both sides of the room."
Ah, even I"m having trouble thinking from fatigue. I"m glad I thought about it ahead of time.
"And in cases other than that. There was a protrusion way above this pillar right? If that"s the {Wyvern}"s nest and it resp.a.w.ns up there then it"ll be troublesome."
It started to get troublesome so I just dipped all three of my remaining hardtack into my soup.
"Nn~ I wonder about that?"
"I wonder if something like that will really happen?"
Miduchi and Bel brought up their doubts.
"What do you mean?"
Toris, Ralpha, and everyone else looked at the two of them curiously when I asked them.
"Certainly I agree if it ends up like Al-san said then it would be troublesome but if it"s a floor guardian then in the first place shouldn"t it resp.a.w.n while protecting that entrance?"
"Yeah. I think so too. Though it"ll probably move up above where it"s easier to attack intruders afterwards."
Bel and Miduchi didn"t just find this case doubtful but seem to have the same opinion.
"I see..Certainly that might be true."
Ralpha agreed with a self-satisfied look.
Hm~mm.
"If it were going to resp.a.w.n in a place where it"s at an advantage from the start then why do the Minotaur on the 9th floor all resp.a.w.n gathered together? It wouldn"t be strange for them to resp.a.w.n separately all around the pillar right? Even the {Amber.Goliath} wouldn"t it be best for it to be underground?"
Miduchi said things which all make sense.
Certainly that might the case hearing it said.
Not just myself but everyone else is nodding as well.
"Nn..That might be the case. But, for now I want to think of as many cases as possible. If it resp.a.w.ns above here then it"s impossible to aim at it with magic because we can"t see it and even if we could the distance is too far. Even if it were to come down since we"d have to aim the attack spells upwards those beams would be a problem.
Also, it"s hard to imagine since it"s called a guardian but it"s possible it might not come down right away. They also say, "it"s harder to see in the light" so it"s even possible it might not see us right below it"s feet for a short while."
I sip at my soup and swallow down the soggy hardtack together with it.
"In that case we"ll test out everything we can and then return to the 10th floor. We"ll restart from the beginning."
Depending on the case we might come to the 11th floor one more time but if the cage of lightning bolts is still in effect we"ll give up advancing to anymore of floors after this. It seems like the amulet will sell pretty high and there"s also a high chance that the {Wyvern}"s scales we obtained this time can be made into equipment that won"t lose to that in price. We can still obtain quite a bit of treasure up to the 10th floor so if we just focus on nothing but earning for the next one or two years then I should be able save up plenty of money.
Though I say that, I"m sure that won"t be the case.
That cage of lightning bolts should stop when either the challenger or guardian"s life signs stop or they disappear. If that wasn"t the case then it"s just a matter of having it already activated from the start.
"Now then, let"s get some rest already."
...................................
I wash my face with cold water to blow away the drowsiness.
After putting on my equipment, we started waiting in the hall of the teleport crystal room for the {Wyvern} to resp.a.w.n.
Eventually the amount of light outside rapidly started to drop and it returned to the madder red twilight.
And then, the whirling fog that is the sign of resp.a.w.n appeared.
"It"s coming!"
I warn everyone in a whisper.
Everyone gripped their weapons once more and I can tell they"re tense.
In front of the room huh...
Even though I heard what Miduchi and Bel said, honestly speaking I still found it surprising.
However it"s just as they said, it"s only obvious for a guardian to repsawn in a position of protecting the entrance to the teleport room.
That means their guess was correct.
But, no matter how long we waited the fog just kept whirling and the {Wyvern} didn"t resp.a.w.n.
This is~ the same pattern as the strong mino on the 9th floor I guess?
That {Wyvern} was level 28 after all.
It"s not like I"m absolutely sure about it but I guess the resp.a.w.n time of monsters is based on their level?
That"s probably the case.
Probably though I have close to no basis for it.
The cage of lightning bolts never activated and the pillars of seven-colored light didn"t rise into the air either.
Miduchi"s {Party-ization} was never canceled as well.
Just in case we remained on guard while continuing to wait in combat stance in the teleport crystal room but it seems it"ll end up pointless...
After gathering our resolve we tried going outside but nothing happened in particular.
Furthermore I tried firing attack spells into the air at random but the beams weren"t fired.
I guess the remaining altar-type battery guns are silent because the cage of lightning bolts wasn"t activated?
So pushing ourselves to destroy the altars while we were exhausted was meaningless?
Well, whatever.
After that we continued to wear down our nerves while waiting but the fog just kept whirling and there wasn"t any change at all.
Since we hadn"t got any proper rest as expected our fatigue is close to it"s limits.
It"s fine to get some rest here just like this and then continue exploring after that.
In the first place we had planned to stay in the dungeon until the end of tomorrow.
We decided to return to the 10th floor once and get some rest after having a proper meal.
After that the next time we come it might be meaningless but just in case we"ll start off by destroying all of the altars.
I"m sure it"ll take close to a full day but it can be done.
Also, if we inspect how much the altars we destroyed this time have recovered we can guess how much time it"ll take for them to return to normal.
If those altars are battery guns and we destroy them even if the {Wyvern} resp.a.w.ns it"s threat level will fall quite a bit.
Even then just in case we spent a full two hours.
We continued on standby until noon before returning to the upper floor.
Maybe we should bring along a war hammer next time?
I wonder if Karimu will lend us his?
But, it"s fine to use magic to attack in order.
Even last night not just Miduchi and I but Bel destroyed a consider number of altars as well.
Thinking about that and a war hammer would just end up as more heavy luggage.
..........................
We returned to the 10th floor.
There was an appetizing smell drifting about in the teleport crystal room.
"Master! Also everyone else, it"s good to see you"re all safe."
We still haven"t carried in a proper stove magic tool so Giberuti called out to us when he noticed while cooking over a portable stove.
Yeah. We somehow managed again this time.
But even so, that sure is a delicious smell.
Ah, beef huh.
It was the centerpiece ingredient we brought along this time.
"Ah! It"s stew!"
Ralpha threw down the scales we tore off from the {Wyvern} with all of our effort and ran to the pot.
This girl..handle them more carefully.
"Wait just a moment, Ral. First we have to take care of them."
"Ow!! Ow!! Ow!!"
Bel pulled Ralpha back from looking into the pot by her ear while saying.
That"s right.
That"ll be for after we take care of the two giant stag beetles that resp.a.w.ned outside.
"Don"t make such a face. Let"s give our best for one more job."
I said while carefully placing the bag of {Wyvern} scales into a corner before confirming my bayonet.
Zulu carefully placed down the {Wyvern}"s head that he was holding in both arms into a corner as well.
Let"s quickly finish them off before having a relaxing meal and a good rest.
Though there"s still no shower.
..................................
Year 7447, Month 7, Day 12
Evening, we returned to the surface just before sunset.
The sky is heavy and clouded.
The wind was blowing heavily but I guess because it"s damp there wasn"t all that much dust blowing around.
It feels like it"s about to rain.
However, while it was unexpected we were magnificently able to finish off the {Wyvern} that was the guardian of the 11th floor and since we succeeded in carrying back a large amount of scales that could be considered {Magic.Items} our expressions were all bright.
Zenom and the {Butchers} he was leading all seemed to have sour expressions on as if they didn"t obtain much of anything and all of the members of the {Exterminators} seemed to be the same except Basutoral who lead them for the first time and seemed to have a comparatively satisfied expression on his face as they were all drinking and eating baldoggie near Murowa"s food cart.
In comparison to them, Kamu and Kimu started boasting about how the 11th floor was cleared before their very eyes.
Hearing that everyone was considerably surprised at the unexpected turn of events but at the same time they were pleased with cheerful expressions.
Their expressions changed so much you"d think their sour faces from just now were al ie.
Yeah...
Even though it doesn"t have any direct relation to their own earnings...
I see..So they"re this pleased about it.
The one who triumphantly raised his voice there was Zulu. He placed down the huge bag he was carrying like Santa Claus and opened the top showing everyone while saying, "Don"t be surprised, don"t shout in a loud voice".
"!! Dra"Shh!! It"s a {Wyvern}. As expected of master right?"
Just like that.
Though the one who finished it off in the end was Angela...
She was together with him opening the bag and bragging about me.
So they had just wanted to do this...
Right away, we went to cash in the magic stones we obtained this time other than from the {Wyvern}.
"What is it?"
Miduchi who was walking next to me asked a bit curiously.
"Hn? About what?"
"You seem very pleased."
Is that so?
Leaving behind a gentle smile Miduchi went ahead to the door of magic tool shop Danhiru and opened it.
Very pleased?
I see, so I"m pleased.
After that we returned to the inn once to take showers, change, and then had a report meeting once again. It would be bad if the {Wyvern}"s head rots so the slaves asked me to freeze it. It can"t be helped~
Furthermore, a number of members knew that {Wyvern} scales can be tailored into high cla.s.s equipment because they maintain both their strength and flexibility. It seems it"s normal to tailor them into scalemail or splintmail. It seems they"re extremely valuable and you can"t easily get your hands on them so the average armor shop around there wouldn"t even be able to deal in them.
"Would it be faster to get someone from the first knight group to introduce me to someone who can produce that sort of equipment?"
After saying that and I was told, "When it comes to high cla.s.s equipment then Karimu"s armor workshop in the capital is supposedly good." and, "Wouldn"t it be good to have them attached to the surface of a shield?". Come to think of it I"ve heard that the commanders of the first knight group used to buy their armor from Karimu"s armor workshop before they started buying from us. It must be a first-rate workshop. It should be fine to ask them.
Hmm.
The delivery of rubber armor was planned for the end of this month but either way we have three days off starting tomorrow and I have some business to take care of at my company in the capital as well.
I guess I"ll go and make an appointment to report(brag) to that old man King tomorrow.
If I want to meet him for even a bit of time during deliveries at the end of the month then I need to notify them during this holiday after all.
No, the {Pure Breed Wyvern Scales} themselves seem to be {Magic.Item}-ish.
Since I"m sure I"ll be selling them through Sandak Company, first off I should go to Sandak Company...
No wait, even just for the purpose of properly appealing that I"m earning without slacking off...
........................................
Year 7447, Month 7, Day 13
Even though I traveled from afar, there"s no way I could suddenly meet the King or the first queen her highness Morail so suddenly today. Obviously I haven"t made an appointment and I"m sure they aren"t so free that they can meet a mere in and out merchant like me. No, of course I didn"t think I would be able to meet them today either. I just came to make an appoint through the first knight group. If it"s the first knight group then putting aside the leader baron Logan, the sub-leader sub-Baron Bittowazu will meet me after all.
But, I went to the trouble of coming. Thinking it would be no good when I tried asking if I could meet the leader Baron Logan and ask about sister, I was made to wait for close to 30 minutes for a reply but I was given permission. I always think it but the power of the plate symbolizing a direct merchant for the first knight group is really amazing. Or maybe it"s the direct merchant for the royal family that"s amazing? Unusually I was told to come to their headquarters in the second citadel so moving through all of the guards that challenge my ident.i.ty every time while bowing, "Thanks for your work" I eventually arrived at the first knight groups headquarters building.
Just as I was about to enter the building I encountered his highness Richard who seemed to have come along to discuss something with Baron Logan. I bowed to him with the almost empty {Double.Tool.Bag} filled with just three guardian magic stones and several random scales in it hanging from my waist(in the castle, while he may be a princess, since he"s on duty there"s no need to take the retainer"s pose), and moved to the side to let him through.
"Ya~ Greed-kun. Weren"t deliveries not for a short while later?"
It seems he"s interested in a bit of talk about recent events. He doesn"t seem to be in a hurry and neither am I.
After accompanying him for a bit he noticed the bag hanging from my waist.
"Nn...That is, could it be from the floor guardian..."
Come to think of it this person knows about the pattern of the floor guardian. I thought it would look bad carrying around the dirty looking outside in the castle so I flipped it out with the high cla.s.s looking inside. I told him that I came to make an appointment with the King to report defeating another floor guardian.
"So you cleared the 10th floor! As expected."
And he was extremely impressed while saying,
"If it wasn"t for the magic stones you adventurers {Vasataira} bring back the Kingdom wouldn"t keep running. I"ve heard that the {Slaughterers} you lead are the highest peak among them, Greed-kun. It"s an important duty of the royal family to praise and announce those sorts of achievements to increase the number of people who follow in your footsteps. I"m sure it would be best to hurry, I"ll tell his majesty after this and try to get him to meet you. Wait inside."
and then went off somewhere.
I"m sure that Kingdom not running bit was just lip service but if I can meet the King today then there"s no problem. It couldn"t be helped so I asked a random person to give a message to commander Logan. And then soon after the commander came along to where I was sitting in a chair at the entrance of the knight group headquarters.
"Yo~ what"s going on today? Shall we head to the reception room?"
The commander spoke with a frank manner.
"I"m sorry when you"re so busy. I was nearby on a bit of business so I thought about greeting you.."
Also, blahblahblah it would be bad for me not to be here and I explained the situation.
After that I talked with him for a bit but since last week sister was sent on a campaign to a border dispute with Devas Kingdom again. I never heard about it...
Other than that, I heard rumors about it but it seems that commander Logan is retiring at the end of this year.
"I"m already 45 years old after all. It"s started to get difficult in terms of stamina. Taku, Visshu, and Segan have all grown plenty as well.."
Taku is referring to the first company commander, Viscount Takurado.Gendairu and Visshu is the second company commander Viscount Vishuru,Barkisas. And then of course, Segan is the third company commander Viscount Segan.Kendusu.
"And it"s necessary for the organization to rejuvenate as well."
Though I don"t think the first knight group has so many old people that it needs rejuvenation.
There"s people who switched over to the second and third knight groups after losing the compet.i.tion for company and platoon commander seats and even before that there"s people who retired being recruited as commanders for other territories or their home towns knight groups as well. In order to make up for those retirees roughly 10 new squires join every year. Isn"t the average age between the late 20s and the 30s?
I think it"s still plenty within the realm of an organization filled with youths.
Well, compared to other knight groups the average age might be 7~8 years higher I guess.
"No matter who becomes my successor I can leave Jeff to support them for a while and after Jeff retires someone else should succeed Jeff as the sub-leader. It"s not like you already know them so get along well."
Things will be lonely. They"re words of courtesy just for outward appearances but they"re still convenient words. But, I actually liked this commander Logan. There"s also the favor of him covering for sister but for some reason I like him.
"I"ve started to want to retire to the countryside and take things easy myself, I"ve already troubled my wife quite a bit after all."
Commander Logan"s territory is a town called Kasoidel which is roughly 500 km east of the capital in Duke Zamu"s territory and supposedly along the border of Count Rinflight"s territory further to the east. Along with that he also has a territory he received when he was promoted to commander a town in the royal territory called Hamura that used to be managed by Marquis Goruttsu. It"s a detached territory and even after he retires from being knight commander he"ll have to move back and forth all the time so I doubt it could really be called "taking things easy" but even then I"m sure it"ll be less stressful.
It was around then that Richard came back. His highness said two or three things to the commander before accompanying me from the second citadel to a room on the third floor of the guard tower into the inner citadel. The commander followed behind his highness after greeting him.
.............................
"It seems you"re doing well, Greed. I offer my praise."
"Ha..I"m very grateful for your words."
In front of me as I take the retainer"s bow is the first queen her highness Morail.
Obviously she"s the oldest among the four queens and Richard"s real mother. She"s also one of the few people who know about the floor guardians. As expected the King wasn"t able to free up any time.
I handed over the {Double.Tool.Bag} with the floor guardian pattern on it for them to inspect.
"{Status Open}..this bag, it"s different from equipment but it"s something from a floor guardian...Hn? There"s something inside? Magic stones?"
Ah, I forget to take the magic stones out.
Also the {Wyvern}"s scales.
"Inside is the magic stones from the 10th floor guardian {Great.Underground.Vodyanoy} and what is believed to be the guardian of the 11th floor, a {Wyvern}"s magic stone and scales."
"What! Two floors in this short period of time? Ho~ how big."
Morin said while looking at the scale with a diameter of 3 cm.
That, it"s one of the pretty small ones.
Richard opened his eyes wide on her side as well.
"{Status Open}..This is!"
Her highness Morail was surprised seeing the status of the Wyvern"s scale. Scales from a Wyvern themselves are a precious item so along with that they"re considerably expensive but not anything that should surprise royalty.
Even in remote regions of Rombert Kingdom there"s places with {Wyverns} living in them so once in every couple of decades they"re defeated by the local knight groups of those lands.
".."
She went silent while looking at the {Wyvern}"s scale.
"It seems this scale is also a {Magic.Item}. There"s a reaction for all elements of mana...Because it"s from a Pure Breed Wyvern..."
I guess she was silent because she was using {Detect.Magic}.
I"ve already long since known that Wyvern scales were valuable so could you just put out an official notice praising us and end things already? I want to bring them into Sandak Company.
"Greed. Do you have all of the scales from this {Wyvern}?"
Morin asked while narrowing her eyes.
"Ha. I have all of them. Just in case, we also cut off the head and brought it back."
"Ho! What about the tail and claws?"
Putting aside the tail, even the claws? No one said anything about them being able to sell so we just threw them away on the spot.
"No, not those..the meat was rotting so..we didn"t bring them along."
"I see..I wanted to see what they looked like..However, the things that you brought back are magnificent. I think it would be good to place the head beside it when we put out the official notice. I want to see it once myself as well."
Yeah, I thought so myself which is why I had Zulu carry it.
Though that"s a lie.
Thanks, Zulu.
"Also, about these scales but what do you intend to do with them?"
"Ha, I still haven"t particularly decided but either I"ll bring them in to the company we use..or carry them into an armor exclusive workshop to tailor into armor..."
"Ho~ I thought you would make some armor out of them through your company."
If it was possible then that would be fine as well but I don"t know how to process scales and they can"t be used on rubber protectors so I didn"t include in the options from the start. Leave the mochi to the mochi makers. I explained that.
Her highness Morail whispered something to his highness Richard. Hearing that his highness called for the palace guards in a loud voice.
Her highness Morail handed one of the guards who appeared her ring and ordered them to call for the King.
Han?
It couldn"t be helped so all I could do was kneel and act humble.
Her highness and his highness seemed to be whispering about something serious.
Her highness seemed to be having a good time while his highness seemed to be shrinking back a bit.
While that was going on the King appeared.
"What"s going on?"
He gave a slight glance towards me before taking a seat on the throne.
Her highness whispered something to him.
"What! Is it even more amazing than what Zamu is always bragging about!? Here, {Status Open}..Hm~mm, Pure Breed Wyvern huh.."
So what about it?
"Hey, Greed. These scales, I"ll buy them for 100,000 Z each. How about it?"
Eh? Eeehhh...!!?
"Ha?"
I was at a loss for words.
I mean, we brought back a ma.s.sive amount that"s way over several thousand of them you know?
It took six hours for all 10 of us to tear them off.
a.s.suming there"s 10,000 of them that"s 1,000,000,000 Z!
Am..Amazing~!
Of course I"m sure tailoring them into armor would increase the price a bit more, isn"t there enough for two or three suits?
However, I"m sure it"ll take six months to a year to make it, so won"t it barely balance out with the cost of the fees?
Though I say that, I wonder if he won"t buy all of them?
"Dear, Greed is also someone who can be considered a first-rate adventurer. I"m sure he at least knows the value. Right?"
"Ha"
No clue~ It seems I was about to be deceived.
"I was just joking. A joke."
Don"t lie.
"I"ll pay 200,000 each. If it"s this then you have no complaints right? How many of them do you have?"
Double!
Amazing!
"Ha. That one is considerably small but ignoring the sizes and there should be about 10,000 or so.."
I"m greatly satisfied, with this.
"An? Hey! Don"t screw with me! This is small..This is one of the largest sizes of scales you know!"
Not just the King but her highness and his highness were extremely surprised as well.
A normal {Wyvern} is at most 7~8 meters and it seems you can at best get about 2,000 scales that can be used for armor, it"s questionable whether you"ll get enough for one suit of armor or not. It seems it"s common sense that you won"t even have enough to think about a shield as well. If they aren"t scales that are somewhat the same sizes then it doesn"t look good and if they"re too small then as expected it"s impossible to process them. If they"re below a certain size then they can"t be used for armor but only the scabbards of swords or spears and such, and they end up unprocessed so the toughness drops.
I spread my fingers out to about double the size of the one they"re looking at now and said, "The largest one is about this size I think?" and they didn"t just open their mouths in shock but a sharp glint appeared in their eyes as well.
In the end, I had to return to Baldukk in a hurry and return with the decapitated head and all of the scales. It seems they"re going to invite an artisan that the royal family is acquainted with to investigate the price. I personally didn"t think they would be something worth that much so I didn"t even feel it was troublesome returning to Baldukk in a hurry at all.