I swiftly laid out a brief plan of action.
The tactic was uncomplicated. I would intentionally aggravate the Mimic, and when it swallowed me, Damien would defeat the creature and rescue me.
During this spectacle, Evangeline would surely find humor in my predicament.
Observing me, the emperor, acting more foolishly than her slip on the oil, would surely ease her embarrassment.
"Aha, I understand."
Damien immediately gave a nod of approval.
"But, um..."
Soon after, he tilted his head in confusion.
"Why would you want to do this?"
"Huh?"
I paused, caught off guard.
"I get the reason, but is there any need for you, Your Highness, to belittle yourself like this?"
"..."
He was right, why indeed.
No one had tasked me with this, nor would Evangeline side with me just because I made a fool of myself.
After a moment's consideration, I shrugged my shoulders and answered off the top of my head.
"Well... making someone laugh while I'm messing around is kind of my forte!"
Being a streamer was my primary gig.
If I could induce laughter by bumbling around and suffering during a live broadcast, it was worth it. That was my mindset.
"..."
Damien cocked his head, seemingly unable to fully comprehend.
Grinning back at him, I mimicked his action and cocked my head too. Your guess is as good as mine, buddy.
***
My slapstick tactic was a triumphant success.
As soon as I made contact with the treasure chest, lanky arms and legs sprung out from the sides of the box and ensnared me.
As the chest unhinged itself, a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth glistened from within.
"Woahhh! Shit!"
A lengthy tongue shot out from the box and slithered across my face. My shriek was genuine horror, not an act. This was not pleasant!
The Mimic's elongated tongue unfurled like a frog's and coiled around my body.
Held aloft in mid-air, I was propelled straight into the gaping maw of the Mimic...
Toukang! Toukang-!
...but not quite.
Damien squeezed the trigger in rapid succession. The initial shot struck the Mimic's tongue, the subsequent one lodged in the creature's body.
Kiieek!
The dying Mimic let out a final screech and fell silent.
My plummeting body was intercepted by Damien. Thud!
"Ahh!"
"Ugh!"
Evidently, Damien wasn't a brute force type but a nimble sniper.
Unable to support my weight from the fall, he collapsed under me, rolling onto the ground.
"Your Highness?!"
"Oh, dear, Your Highness! Are you alright?"
No sooner had I fallen, the other party members converged, only to fall silent at the sight of me.
"Ouch, I had no idea it was a Mimic and tried to open the treasure chest, and it attacked... Wait, why are you all laughing?"
I gnashed my teeth at my companions who were struggling to suppress their laughter.
But not just Jupiter and Evangeline, even Lucas couldn't contain his chuckles.
Especially Lucas, who unlike the other two who were unabashedly laughing, was making a desperate attempt to stifle his laughter by jamming his fist into his mouth. Just go ahead and laugh...
Well, it was indeed hilarious.
Enveloped in the Mimic's tongue and drenched from head to toe in the creature's saliva.
It was an utter spectacle, far from the decorum expected of a royal.
Damien pulled a towel from his bag and passed it to me. As I roughly dried my hair, I muttered disgruntledly.
"Hey, hey. You lot. Dungeons are supposed to be like this! We screw up, we suffer, and all our failings are out in the open. That's what I'm saying. As long as we're safe, damn it."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll remember this side of you, senior."
Evangeline, who had been chuckling all along, nodded vigorously.
"Really, you're nothing like I thought you'd be."
Likewise, kid. You're a far cry from the impeccable tank Evangeline I had pictured.
'But it's comforting to see her smile.'
As I rubbed my damp hair with the towel, I exhaled a quiet sigh of relief.
If you, Evangeline, had been upset, guilt would have gnawed at me. Keep living with joy, for your father's sake if nothing else.
The incident eventually came to a close, and from the gullet of the mimic, we retrieved a standard high-grade Magic Power Core(R).
We opted to take a brief pause, to gather the remaining items and for me to recover from the shambles I had found myself in.
Perhaps feeling a sense of relief, Evangeline hummed softly as she gathered items from the golem's remains.
"..."
After toweling off and reaching for a water bottle, I felt a piercing gaze.
Turning, I found it was Damien. I returned a small smile.
"What is it, Damien? Still puzzled by me?"
"...Yes. I truly can't grasp what goes on in your mind, Your Highness."
Damien erupted in hearty laughter.
"But I can see that you're a good person."
"..."
I awkwardly took a swig from the water bottle. Just like that, one joke turned me into the good guy, incredible.
***
We pressed on.
The city's back alleys, engulfed in shadows, were a labyrinth of confusion. But we had only one way to go.
The various alleys branching off the main path all led to dead ends.
Lucas even attempted to scale the towering stone walls blocking the alleys,
"Damn it!"
But the 'darkness' wasn't having it.
The thick, gelatinous darkness retreated in the face of our light but balked when we tried to veer off the designated path.
Beyond the stone barrier, everything was shrouded in this darkness.
"It seems we can't deviate from the given route. We'll have to follow this alley quietly."
Lucas, having just climbed down after trying to penetrate the darkness above the stone wall, concluded. Out of sheer curiosity, I inquired,
"Did you touch that darkness? What did it feel like?"
"Well, if I had to describe it..."
Lucas responded with a grimaced expression.
"It felt a lot like when I was a squire and got swallowed whole by a giant Sandworm monster. The sensation of being trapped in the monster's belly was pretty much the same."
Evangeline shook her head in disbelief.
"I can't quite place it..."
Yet, for some reason, it felt familiar. Maybe because I'd just been wrapped in a mimic's tongue.
"Sticky, thick, and heavy, right?"
"Exactly, Your Highness! That's spot on!"
"We should keep moving then..."
Evangeline's complexion turned ashen. She must have visualized it.
Along the cobblestone path, scattered worn-out buildings stood.
A striking contrast to the dazzling city in the distance, most of these structures were timeworn and crumbling shacks.
But, we couldn't enter any of them.
"The door..."
Damien mumbled in front of the first shack we approached.
"The door... it's sealed."
Both the door and windows were tightly fastened with iron plates and planks.
Lucas attempted to rip off the iron plate, but it didn't move an inch.
"It appears to have been treated with magic. Mere strength won't be able to open this door."
Jupiter noted, peering into the sealed window.
Damien tilted his head.
"Did they lock it to shield the house from something outside? What could it be?"
"No, Damien."
I pointed at the nails holding the iron plate and shook my head.
"This seal was put in place from the outside."
"...!"
"They're trying to keep something inside from getting out."
Damien, swallowing hard, questioned me with a shaky voice.
"Then what might be inside this shack...?"
"Well, we don't need to concern ourselves with that now."
I turned from the shack and marched towards the path that lay ahead.
"Let's press on."
One by one, the party members followed suit. Damien, who had been peering into the shack until the very end, hastily caught up.
***
[Zone 2: Hidden Alley]
- Clear Progress: Normal Room 3/4 Boss Room 0/1
- Acquired Treasure Chest: 4/5
The strategy that unfolded was simple.
Each time the narrow alley seemed to broaden slightly, steam golems would charge.
But having discerned their pattern, they proved easy adversaries.
Evangeline blocked, Lucas restrained, Jupiter stripped the armor, and Damien took the shots.
The initially disjointed teamwork began to fall into place. By the third encounter, even when four steam golems sprang out, the party members managed to take them down without a single injury.
'Let's check the loot we've gathered...'
I opened my bag and peered inside.
Three grade R magic cores. Several magic stones. And several metal gloves of unknown origin.
The durability of the gloves far surpassed ordinary iron. I had collected a few to request analysis at the blacksmith's.
'Not bad, but somewhat underwhelming.'
The grade R magic cores were decent, but it was somewhat tedious for someone like me who had hoped for a more sensational reward.
'Maybe the boss room reward is something to look forward to...'
As I mulled this over, the alley suddenly opened up into a small plaza.
"'Next room."
Bracing myself for an imminent monster encounter, I readied my stance.
The rest of the party members also prepared themselves, stepping into the plaza with guarded strides.
At the heart of the plaza stood a barren fountain, at its center a statue of three individuals.
Each statue stood side by side.
For some strange reason, the figures to the left and right were missing their heads, leaving only the statue of the man in the center intact.
The man at the center, donning a crown, appeared to be the king of the Lake Kingdom.
"Why were the two statues at the sides damaged...?"
While contemplating this trivial puzzle,
"Ah!"
A startled cry escaped Damien.
Everyone turned their surprised glances towards Damien. He gestured towards the other side of the plaza.
"Look, over there!"
Following Damien's finger, my eyes widened.
The only sources of light in this place came from our torches and lanterns.
But, where Damien pointed, at the far end of the plaza, a soft glow flickered. That meant...
"There's, there's someone there!"
As the party members expressed their astonishment, I kept my vigilance high.
"Let's move carefully. Ready your weapons."
In a city swarming with monsters, there's something even more terrifying than the creatures themselves.
People.
There's no chance that someone encountered here could be ordinary.
'Could it be a hostile NPC? Or perhaps a friendly one? Which?'
I found myself recalling the hostile NPC, 'The Pied Piper', from the previous stage.
His unexpected interference almost sabotaged the level.
'One wrong move and it's over! I cannot afford to drop my guard.'
We edged warily towards the flickering light on the far side of the plaza.
The scene gradually revealed itself as we drew closer.
"...!"
About half a dozen steam golems lay heavily damaged, some ablaze from the oil leaking from their bodies.
The light we had noticed originated from these fires.
And in front of this incandescent scene, a small figure crouched.
"Hm?"
Hearing our approach, the woman turned to look at us, acknowledged our presence, and offered a faint smile.
"Well, isn't it the lord of Crossroad and his party."
"...!"
The woman was shrouded in an aged, threadbare cloak, her hood drawn low, her hair as white as snow, and armed with an ancient sword.
Identifying the person before us, I murmured apprehensively.
"Nameless?" (TL Note: Changed from No-name to Nameless. Sounds better)
It was Nameless, the NPC who had pointed us towards the Lake Kingdom during our last expedition.
Nameless looked at us, her tone hinting at mild surprise.
"You're taking this exploration rather seriously, aren't you? To have ventured this deep."
"Why are you here, Nameless?"
Despite our acquaintance, I didn't drop my guard.
This person is an NPC we've never crossed paths with in our prior 742 attempts. We have no way of knowing her alignment.
Just because she guided us before, it doesn't make her an enemy. But it also offers no guarantee that she's an ally.
"Just taking a brief respite. Life in the Lake Kingdom can be quite exhausting."
Nameless murmured, directing her gaze back towards us.
"But since you've ventured this far... I suppose I should recognize your effort and present 'this'."
Nameless plunged her hand into her ragged cloak.
All of us, my party members and I, instinctively tensed. We braced ourselves for a possible spell attack.
What Nameless pulled out from her cloak and unfurled on the ground next was...
Thud!
...a trader's blanket.
Subsequently, Nameless began arranging various objects on the blanket, one after the other.
Led by me, the party members and I could only watch in dumbfounded silence, unable to process the unexpected scene.
Having displayed her goods, Nameless casually spread her arms and announced,
"Why not take advantage of your visit and make a purchase?"
"..."
"I'll provide you with my premium items at a fair price."
Stunned, I stared blankly at Nameless before blurting out,
"Don't tell me, you're a merchant NPC?!"
"NPC? Not sure what that means, but yes, I am indeed a merchant."
Nameless responded promptly, then added,
"I'm currently running a buy one, get one free event."
"..."
"You also get a 30 percent discount on your first purchase."
"..."
"So, what'll it be? Are you going to let this incredible deal pass? This level of top-notch service doesn't come by every day."
I settled down in front of Nameless's blanket, let out a resigned chuckle, then asked in a quieter tone,
"So, what exactly are you selling?"