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Catacombs

The Palatino-style underground tomb of Bendleig is now roughly divided into four sections.

The uppermost layer closest to the surface. Below it, the middle layer houses a sewage treatment facility, while the middle and lower layers are where the ancient Palatino Empire and the noble Seyophon from back in the day were buried. The deepest section is designated for the truly exceptional and high-ranking individuals.

Of course, in this day and age, the catacombs have transformed from tombs into dungeons where adventurers, criminals, monsters, and beasts wander freely.

But how did people traverse between the surface and underground when the catacombs were in regular use?

Naturally, it makes perfect sense. No noble would deign to walk with their own two feet to the areas below the lower layers meant for those above nobles, no matter the size of the catacombs.

The answer is simple.

Ancient elevators.

An ancient facility protected by the Adventurer Guild and the city guards, located at each entrance leading to the lower layers of the catacombs.

Karem boarded the ancient elevator, accompanied by the guide and guarding adventurers of his party. And as it began to move, he couldn’t help but marvel.

Zing—

“…What is this?”

“Karem, junior? What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s the vibrations…”

He felt nothing at all.

It was completely different from that of Afterglow Fortress.

Yet, he could hear something descending.

The width of the ancient elevator was far greater than that of the one from Afterglow Fortress. That wasn’t all.

A block of marble had been carved into a room of such size, adorned with splendid sculptures and decorations reminiscent of ancient Rome, vibrant jewels and gold leaf, with brightness inside that could rival daylight.

“Ancient Empire, ancient Empire. It truly is impressive.”

There was surely nothing like this even in the finest n-star luxury hotels of his past life.

“If you descend to the deepest section, you’ll be even more amazed.”

“Hehehe. The reactions of first-time riders like yourself are always the same.”

As Verka, the scout who was checking their belongings, spoke, Frank, a dwarf warrior and one of the three party leaders, chuckled to himself.

“Our skill has returned every single customer without a scratch until now!”

Thump! Frank knocked his gauntleted fist against the armor beneath his beard and shrugged his shoulders.

“I can’t mess up in front of our magnificent S-rank senior.”

“Oh? You’re quite confident. If you plead for help during emergencies, I might lend a hand.”

As Catherine, the only outsider among the tourists, cast a glance at Marta, she momentarily withdrew her gaze and clenched her hand, then opened it again. From within, flames transformed into ice, wind, water, and back into fire.

“Whoa. How could I possibly ask a guest here on holiday for a favor!”

“Please spare us your words, senpai! It would be convenient for us, but we’d get disciplined by the guild!”

“Unless our party is at risk of total annihilation, just enjoy the scenery of the deep!”

Catherine silently observed, all the while discreetly building up an unseen wariness that no one noticed.

Marta, the subject of that wariness, forced a natural giggle as she watched the adventurers while internally sweating cold.

‘How blatantly suspicious can you be?!’

For the first time, Marta felt less than pleased about her abilities as a succubus to perceive others’ emotions more acutely.

– For now, I’ll let it slide.

Suddenly, a voice rang in her head.

The melodious voice of the one who had instilled fear in her.

– However, when we descend and if an opportunity arises, we need to have a little talk. Don’t you think?

A conversation would be nice, but let’s just enjoy a date and some sightseeing… No, wait, I meant we were supposed to rendezvous?

Marta calmed herself. It seemed that with such a statement, she wasn’t planning to attack her outright with magic. That was a relief.

She smiled faintly at the adventurers causing a ruckus in a desperate bid to make a good impression.

“Hm. Sounds good.”

“Lady Catherine?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

In response to Karem’s question, Catherine lightly shook her head.

“Hm. Ahem. By the way, Sir Atanitas, may I ask you something?”

“Speak.”

“Ahem. I wanted to inquire if the rumors are true…”

Anna, a female wizard characteristic of the Nekomimi stereotype and one of the three party leaders, asked, bowing repeatedly and gazing at him with curiosity.

“According to the rumors, you are said to be in a romantic relationship with the one you personally raised… Is that true…?”

At those words, Catherine lifted her left hand nonchalantly, showing her ring finger.

Seeing the ring presented to her by Skadi sparkling in the light of the magic stones made the three female adventurers simultaneously squeal in girl-like excitement.

“Quiet down, ladies! We’re almost there!”

The only one who spoke not a single word, keeping his arms crossed with eyes shut, was Pint, the party leader, as he shouted.

At that, the adventurers began to check their belongings again, as if they hadn’t just been clambering excitedly.

And shortly afterward.

Whoosh— Ding—

The elevator reached the deepest part of the catacombs and the door opened.

And there was a white, amorphous mass of liquid.

“Wah! Gotcha… Huh? A slime?”

“Common slime! Wizard!”

Before Frank’s shout could finish, a fire arrow shot by a guarding adventurer struck the wriggling common slime that was in the elevator.

*

*

*

Ten years of serf life.

Karem had seen slimes a few times.

Forest slime. A round, greenish monster that only consumed the grass and leaves of the forest. It was squishy and somewhat pleasant to the touch and was not hostile.

However, the danger of the common slime that had just appeared before him, as informed by the adventurers, was on a different level.

The monster that absorbs the bones of corpses found in the catacombs and battlefields. Furthermore, despite being a representative of amorphous creatures known as slimes, it was apparently tough enough that conventional spears and swords wouldn’t suffice.

Additionally, it was said that it approached with incredible speed upon detecting prey.

He didn’t know how, but before he could inquire, they began to move.

Consequently, Karem tensed up.

They said it was dangerous, and yet he encountered such a bizarre monster right at the start.

Couldn’t he stumble upon other monsters as well?

Thus, Karem advanced guardedly with the protection of the three adventurer parties, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings.

“Hm. Frank. Left side.”

He moved forward.

“…Presence. Let’s hold here for a moment.”

He moved ahead.

“Oh, here are buried the collaborators and nobles who worked alongside the ancient Palatino Empire in its early days—”

Karem could bear it no longer.

“Lady Catherine, this is feeling quite safe.”

“Of course it does.”

There were three adventurer parties, made up of half A-level and half B-level adventurers.

Each supported by the vanguard, a lieutenant guarding their party, and the rear guard keeping watch over their backs.

“More importantly, look over there, at what that person is holding.”

Karem turned his head in the direction Catherine was pointing, noticing Anna was holding something and peering intently at it.

On the palm-sized disc were countless dots. As the light directed toward the north faded, Anna flicked her cat ears.

“Frank. They’ve passed.”

“So, those goblins, what was it?”

“A horde of hobgoblins. They probably lost a turf war in the middle layers.”

“We could have just hunted the hobgoblins… But, esteemed guests, we will proceed.”

At Frank’s inquiry, Anna answered assuredly. The adventurer party began to move again, protecting the tourists.

‘Just from that little thing?’

Karem tilted his head and asked Catherine.

“Can one acquire such an amount of information with just that magic tool?”

“The Eye of Sanguir. It’s a magic tool imbued with an intricate detection spell. It indicates the direction and distance of monsters. It’s quite useful in enclosed spaces like dungeons. Though it’s pretty pricey.”

“What about the types…?”

“Beastfolk generally have good hearing. Well, to be precise, it’s Aphrodisian.”

Referring to people with animal traits, they generally lump them all as beastfolk for convenience, even though they are different races.

“Aphrodisian, Lycanthrope, Berserker, and many others exist, but they are just called beastfolk in the public eye.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep.”

As Catherine spoke, she took out a small parchment notebook and quill again, glancing around to jot down notes.

“What are you writing so diligently?”

“The magic itself and the flow of magical energy. It must be said that this is the Palatino Empire; its traces remain intact.”

Upon her comment, Karem looked around. Unlike the ruins of ancient Rome, which were dilapidated, the internal structure and decorations of the catacombs were remarkably preserved without any corrosion, making it a sight to behold.

“Well, I know nothing about magical energy.”

“That’s only natural.”

Unlike the adventurers who were focused on their tasks, Karem, the tourists, and indifferent Mary, Marta found herself unable to focus, enjoy, or ignore what was going on.

‘…Let’s just get through this safely. Just like this.’

Of course, she was not referring to the monsters.

She was talking about Catherine.

The overwhelming presence of a grand wizard had surely made her identity evident by now, but when exactly would that conversation take place?

‘Maybe the adventurers are wary of her?’

Still, as a demon tribe, she couldn’t carelessly spread information regarding demon tribes, so perhaps she was exercising caution. But a whole half-day had passed, and when would the—

“Soon we’ll reach a safe zone. We’ll have a brief meal and rest.”

The opportunity came quickly.

*

*

*

Generally, the food eaten by adventurers entering dungeons was predetermined.

Preserved hardtack, jerky, dried fruits, or vegetables.

The taste of what is commonly referred to as preserved food is determined by how long it’s been in the dungeon.

If it’s been a short period, they take care with the flavor, and if it’s long, they ditch the taste altogether in favor of maximum preservation.

This, however, is only true for adventurers of D-rank or lower; from C-rank and higher, many adventurers want to use various magic tools to enjoy delicious meals even at the scene.

Thus, as soon as the adventurers entered the safe zone deep within the catacombs, they started to unpack their backpacks and spatial expansion pouches to prepare lunch.

“Whoa. To have prepared this much in just one day?”

“Contractor. Well, that’s obvious since I helped you along the way, right?”

“Considering it’s our first meal on our first day in the catacombs, let’s have some Fool’s Gold Bread Sandwiches, fried shrimp, cream of leek croquettes, and for dessert—”

“An apple tart would be lovely.”

“Yes! Mary made it. As for the wine—”

“Hand the pouch over to me. I’ll get it out.”

“Here you go. I’m having eggnog.”

The adventurers paused in astonishment while preparing lunch.

It was an overwhelming display of gourmet dishes, too extravagant to be called food consumed in a dungeon, looking expertly prepared.

Of course, most of the tourists on the deep catacombs sightseeing package were nobles, powerful figures, and wealthy individuals.

It was very rare to see someone bring prepared food in a spatial expansion pouch.

But as I mentioned earlier, such cases were quite a rarity.

Among the adventurers of the three parties, only a handful had ever experienced such a thing.

“…It’s been a while since I’ve seen this.”

“Is that the… spatial expansion pouch? I’ve only heard rumors…”

“He must have been one of the holders of that magic tool if our esteemed senior is here.”

Cooking hot food and lighting a fire in the depths of the catacombs was already a tremendous luxury; yet those tourists with spatial expansion pouches negated such luxury by preparing the food beforehand.

Properly made dishes. Well, unless they had been camping long enough, they would typically not produce undelicious food that was not otherwise bad.

But then again, they were adventurers.

Only dishes made by a proper cook could compare.

“Lady Catherine, could you spare some for us?”

“Hm?”

“It feels rude to keep it all to ourselves…”

“So that’s why you’ve been preparing all day? Well, do as you wish.”

While they were enviously admiring what was being prepared, Karem suddenly approached with a bounty of food from his pouch.

“Since we have so many people, nobody could eat their fill, but you all should at least taste this.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yep. We can’t let these delicious dishes go to waste just because they’re in front of us.”

Goodness. Is there really such a customer? The adventurers were astonished. They had experienced many customers who teased them before, but never a situation like this.

In the meantime, Karem began distributing the food little by little to the adventurers.

“It looks like you haven’t prepared very much. Go ahead and try some.”

“Thanks.”

Of course, Marta wasn’t exempt from this.

Whether it was a relief… or overexcitement… the dishes were nothing but visually appetizing food that didn’t feel like it bore any divine energy.

 

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