Part 1
"Let's go to a dungeon tomorrow."
"Don't wanna."
"You have to."
Because Megumin wanted to run, I grabbed her as I dismissed her protest.
It's been a week since I was decapitated.
My body recovered to combat condition, so I raised this suggestion to my companions who were gathered in the guild. Unfortunately, Megumin seemed to hate the dungeons.
"Don't wanna don't wanna, I would lose my reason of existence if I go to a dungeon! Explosion magic that might cause the dungeon to collapse can't be used, I would become a normal person!"
"You remember what you said when we first became team mates?! Didn't you say 'I am willing to carry the luggage or anything when exploring dungeons! Please, don't throw me away!'"
When she heard that, Megumin whose sleeve was grabbed by me lowered her head in resignation.
"Sigh… I understand, but I will really be useless alright? I can only do things like carry the bags…"
Megumin's resigned expression had a hint of unease.
To soothe her, I said:
"Don't worry, you just need to follow us until the entrance of the dungeon. If we meet any dangerous monsters on the way to the dungeon, I will be relying on you to repel them with magic alright?"
"Hmmm? Just the entrance? Will that really be fine?"
Megumin question with a baffled expression.
"By the way, why did you suddenly want to go to a dungeon? If you want to explore dungeons, the team needs a thief alright? How about Chris? I haven't seen her around the guild lately."
Aqua, who was resting her head on the table, said lazily.
In the week before I recovered to combat readiness, this girl had been hogging the warmest place in front of the fireplace in the guild every day. She was either drinking or lazing around.
When I asked her 'are you of legal age to drink', she replied 'don't use Japanese law in this fantasy world.'
It seemed that in this world, you could drink no matter what your age was. You were responsible for any consequences that occurred when you drank.
"Chris said she was really busy. She said the senpai who took care of her in the past was pushing all sorts of troublesome matters to her. To handle these problems, she didn't plan to come back. But she taught me detect traps and disarm traps which are necessary for dungeon exploration. Chris said the type of monsters in dungeons won't change because of the seasons. That's why I thought of going into one and giving it a try."
After finishing the quest with Taylor, I didn't do anything for the whole week.
Hunting snow fairies and goblins raised my level by 3. Aside from detect traps and disarm traps, I also learned another skill.
Trap detection and disarmament seemed to be dependent on agility and luck.
My agility might be average, but I have incredible luck, so it should work out.
I kept getting associated with weird people and getting into debts, my so called high luck was probably the joke of the year.
Darkness, who seemed to have just gotten her armor back from the shop, was polishing it enthusiastically.
Darkness suddenly looked this way.
"Erm, please wait a while more. My great sword broke during the fight with Jack Frost. I have ordered a new sword, but it will take some time to finish. I can't be considered a combatant right now."
"You were never a combatant, so that's not a problem."
"!?"
Tears started flowing down Darkness' flushed cheek. She was probably feeling half excited, half sorrowful.
She still had half excited emotions left, so talking to her again was just asking for trouble.
So I decided to continue.
"I will explain it in a way with no misunderstandings. The one infiltrating the dungeon will just be me, I hope everyone can be my escort on the way there."
"?" x3
Part 2
After half a day's work, we walked from town to the hills, walking into the wilderness.
How long did we have to travel in this snowy road with dangerous and annoying tree branches?
A cabin that seemed solidly build suddenly appeared before us.
On the cabin was a sign that said 'refuge'.
The dark entrance that seemed to be endless was right on the wall beside the cabin.
The entrance might seemed to be naturally formed, but if you went further in, you would see a tidy set of stairs. The stairs descended all the way into the depths.
The dungeon was named 'Keele's dungeon'.
— A long time ago, there was a genius arch wizard named Keele who fell in love with a daughter of a noble clan.
The wizard who devoted his whole life to magic and had no interest in love, fell for the lady on first sight during a stroll through the streets.
Of course, this love didn't bear fruit.
After all, the difference in status decided many things in this world.
The wizard who understood this well, worked even harder in his magic training and research in order to forget about his love.
As the years went by, he eventually became the strongest arch wizard in the nation.
He didn't hold back in bringing happiness to the country through his use of spells, and was praised by all.
And so, the wizard was invited into the castle, to a banquet that was held in his honor.
The king said to the wizard:
He wanted to reward the wizard, and was willing to fulfill one wish of the wizard, with no restriction.
The wizard said he had a wish that would never be fulfilled.
— What the arch wizard Keele wished for, no one knew.
It's only known that after this, the arch wizard kidnapped the daughter of the noble clan, built a dungeon and refused to come out.
What happened next was a mystery.
But thinking it through closely, even if a mere wizard built a dungeon to resist, he wouldn't be able to defend it for long.
And now, not many people know the story behind the construction of this dungeon. And the dungeon became a good training ground for novice adventurers first exploration.
I stood at the entrance of Keele's dungeon and looked back at the 3 people behind me.
"Alright, I will go alone from here on. The 3 of you just wait at this refuge for me. If I am not back within a day, go back to town and ask for help from Taylor's group… That might be the plan, but I am just scouting the place out, so I should be back soon."
Darkness crossed her arms before her chest and said:
"Are you really going solo? It's preposterous to challenge a dungeon by yourself. I heard what you said Kazuma, but I think with my armor clanking loudly just by walking, it would be useless for me to follow…"
Well, this was the first time I went solo.
"Me too, I would just be a burden if I follow… Think it over, Kazuma."
Megumin said worriedly.
"No problem, I will go with you!"
And Aqua suddenly said something unnecessary…
"… No, don't follow me. I said I will be moving alone."
I explained to Aqua once again what I told them on the way here.
"With the archer skill 'farsight' taught to me by Keith, I can see things in the dark. I have already tried this before. Even if there were no light source and total darkness, I could still gauge the distance, where items are placed and their shapes. So if I go alone, I don't even need any light. The monsters that target adventurers with a light source won't be able to find me."
But if one could enter a dungeon solo just with these skills, all the archers in the entire world would have done that.
But–
"By the way, I also have the thieving skills 'detect enemy' and 'hide'. So I can walk in the darkness, confirm the terrain, detect enemies and avoid them. Hide allows me to tide over the danger when I can't avoid them, just by sticking close to the wall… probably."
Only this point can't be confirmed without actually testing it.
Even though I was going to explore a dungeon, it didn't mean I took on a quest to clear the dungeon.
If I couldn't get money after defeating the monsters, avoiding battles would be the best option.
Avoid the monsters, take the treasure and leave.
Even though I felt it was something tomb raiders would do, but this was one of the few privileges of adventurers who could cross the barrier of jobs and learn all sort of skills.
At a time like this, I should use one of the few advantages I had.
I took out the scent removing spray I bought at the guild which was effective against monsters sensitive to smell.
The monsters in the dungeon were probably used to the darkness.
Which meant that apart from vision, the other senses of the enemies should be superb.
Such as their sense of smell or hearing.
For this part, I could only pray I could detect the enemies before they noticed the sounds I made.
If I encountered snakes which could detect heat or bats that used sound waves, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. But I heard from the people at the guild that there were no such monsters in the dungeon.
I already obtained intelligence of the monsters lurking in the dungeon from the guys at the guild, and did my homework.
I just died last week after all.
Even though I wished to meet Eris-sama again, dying so many times was unacceptable.
I sprayed the scent remover on my body.
I don't know how effective it was, but it was better than not using any items all.
Furthermore, when I used hide after encountering the rookie killer last time, it sniffed the air around it before leaving begrudgingly.
Which meant the hide skill had the ability to make things like scent less obvious.
Yes, it will work. It probably would.
And this was just an experiment. It's great to obtain results, but it was fine even if it failed.
The dungeon I'm challenging this time was rather low tier for my level.
After confirming the exploration methods of dungeons, I could challenge more difficult dungeons to earn money.
And it was just a dungeon that was half a day's journey from town.
The dungeon had probably been picked clean by the other adventurers.
No problem, I won't be at a disadvantage even if I encountered enemies in the dungeon.
"I will be going then. It's cold here and you might encounter monsters, so go back to the refuge and wait."
I waved good bye to everyone and headed towards the entrance of the dungeon.
— At this moment, I heard the sound of someone following behind me.
Aqua stood behind me as if it was only natural.
"… Didn't you hear what I said? It's more convenient for me to move alone. It's dark in there, you can't do anything even if you follow alright?"
After hearing my words, Aqua laughed as if it was a piece of cake.
… I really want to punch her.
"Hey hey hey Kazuma, have you forgotten who I am? Arch priest is just my job in disguise. Here here, say it– although Megumin and Darkness still don't believe me– come, tell me what my job is!"
"Goddess of indebtedness?"
"No, I am the goddess-sama of water! You could have at least said I am the goddess of banquets!"
To be frank, it doesn't matter what goddess you were. What is this woman trying to say?
"I am a goddess after all; my eyes have to power to see through everything. Before Kazuma was reincarnated, I also told you your cause of death accurately right? My powers have weakened after coming to the mortal world, but I still have a couple of godly powers okay? I can't see through everything right now, but there is no problem seeing through the dark!"
Facing Aqua who was puffing her chest arrogantly, I felt uneasy.
To be honest, I had no idea what moronic things this woman would do and it worried me.
What to do, how should I reject her… At this moment, Aqua said to me:
"The monsters in dungeons are usually undead. Those fellows would be attracted to the life force of the living. This means the hide skill is useless against undead monsters. This problem can only be solved if I come along, right?"
Her words only increased my uneasiness.