“I’ve narrowed it down to three dungeons.”
“Fewer than last time, huh?”
“Well, I can’t fully invest my time in dungeon exploration. I need time to prepare for second year, don’t you think?”
At my words, the party nodded.
The first year at Kalon Academy is just a tutorial. From the second year, when school life typically begins, the difficulty of the classes increases significantly.
By third year, it gets even worse. But second year is no walk in the park either, so I need to do some advanced studying. From second year, we’ll start actual field training, which will raise the danger level even more.
However, it was uncertain if the classes would proceed exactly as in the original story.
The political situation was quite chaotic, both domestically and internationally.
Internally, there were bloody power struggles among the princes, and externally, the appearance of demons. Starting from the second year, the overall story progress would get more difficult.
If we’re unlucky, the final boss might just show up in the second year.
Of course, the difficulty has already risen quite a bit…
The real issue was how much the knowledge from the original would actually help, given that this world clearly has the True Ending DLC applied.
We’d already beaten the Halphas Raid a whole year early, so the aftermath would hit hard in the second year. I had to make the most of that aftershock.
For instance, if I could use this opportunity to gain a say in the imperial court, it would be a huge advantage.
The center of incidents and accidents in second year would be the imperial court, and having some power would be beneficial in warding off the crap they throw our way.
Luckily, with my recent exploits in the west, my reputation and recognition were skyrocketing. I was planning to use that to my advantage.
I also had solid support backing me up…
“The places we’ll go are ‘Dragon’s Rest,’ ‘Steel Forest,’ and ‘Fog Graveyard.’”
“Hmm, I don’t know any of those…”
Millia tilted her head and mumbled. Of course, why would she know? Even if the explorer guild had some information on one of them, the others were undiscovered.
“T-these are all new and unfamiliar dungeons…”
“Our uncle finds some pretty unique dungeons, you know. Do you have a special informant or something?”
“Let’s go with that.”
I couldn’t be honest. Even if I explained the original knowledge, they wouldn’t understand, and even if they did, they’d think I was weird. I couldn’t risk losing the trust I’ve built so far.
“Johann, what’s the danger level? It surely isn’t dangerous for Karina, right?”
“With you around, I don’t know how many dungeons would even qualify as safe.”
Renny may be Renny, but right now, Karina isn’t just the ailing beauty; she’s the ultimate weapon against the great demon. In her current state, even a high-ranking demon might get one-shotted if they’re not careful.
Any regular monster would probably be too dazed just from her blasting out sacred power. That was definitely a consideration in choosing these dungeons.
“Don’t worry. Would I pick dungeons without considering that?”
“Well…”
Renny nodded as if she agreed with me.
Then, should I ask if there were any questions before moving on?
“Any questions?”
“Me, me!”
“Alright, Shuri. What are you curious about?”
“What kind of enemies are in these dungeons?”
“In Dragon’s Rest, it’s drakes. Steel Forest has golems. And in Fog Graveyard… we’ll encounter undead including ghosts.”
“G-g-g-g-g-g-ghosts?!!?”
Come to think of it, Shuri was scared of ghosts. I shoved that thought aside as I looked at Shuri and the pale-faced Viola, letting out a sigh.
“Whatever you see, it won’t be scarier than those you faced in the Rift, so don’t worry.”
“I-it should be fine, right?”
“It’ll be best if you get used to scary things. If you just avoid them because they’re scary, eventually, the moment will come when they trip you up.”
It was advice born from ten years of experience.
My life on that Deserted Island was a constant battle against fear.
If I kept trying to ignore them, they would eventually seize my ankle and drag me down to hell.
Perhaps my expression reflected that sentiment, as Shuri nodded fiercely with determination written all over her face.
“Yup! I’ll overcome it!”
“Lewis, if Shuri feels uneasy, you should support her. Got it?”
“Yep!”
His response was sharp, like a soldier on alert, and I felt satisfied. Being the protagonist must mean he’s diligent. After all, taking care of your girlfriend is something you should naturally do, even if I didn’t say anything…
“Karina. You’ll stay in the back, supporting Renny and Millia. We have a pack mule along, so treat it kindly.”
“Pack mule?”
“Ah, the black-haired person you always took with you?”
“Right.”
“Black-haired? Who is that?”
Ah. Now that I think about it, Karina had never met Sif. I’ve brought her a couple of times, but Sif was too busy hiding.
Millia and Elisa were familiar with each other, so they’d take care of her just fine. They’re nice kids, so I believe they will.
“You’re talking about Sif, huh! Wow, I haven’t seen her in ages! Johann, where’s Sif now?”
“She’s handling business for me. Come to think of it, she’s probably too swamped to join us…”
The stack of documents she handed me was quite thick. But Sif’s expression didn’t seem too tired. She must be sleeping and eating well.
“Got it~”
“Looks like we’ve chatted too much. Let’s get back to the main topic. The vacation lasts two months, so let’s plan on spending a week on this exploration.”
“A week? Isn’t that too quick?”
Karina’s point was valid. Normally, dungeon explorations take weeks, if not months. You can’t just zip in and out like in a game.
So, typically, well-known explorers would have patrons during their dungeon explorations.
“The Fog Graveyard is in the north. Dragon’s Rest is in the east, and Steel Forest is located on the border between the central and southern regions.”
“Isn’t that too far?”
“It’s fine. We’ll use a portal to get to the dungeon.”
“A portal? That’s super expensive! It costs five gold coins per person! We’re nine people, right? That’s a huge expense!”
“W-wait, does that mean we’ll need 45 gold coins or blood or whatever else?!”
“Don’t worry about the money. The profits from the dungeon will cover it. And I’ll pay for this entire exploration, so you guys can focus on the dungeon and not worry about finances.”
“…But isn’t that quite a sum?”
“Yeah, right! That’s a lot of cash!”
“R-right…”
Everyone stared at me with worried eyes after my declaration.
They’re such good kids. They even worry about me.
If they were the more unscrupulous type, they’d probably be causing a scene, thinking they caught a mark by now. If they were like that, I’d just pretend to be a nice guy and quietly take care of them in the dungeon.
Anything can happen in a dungeon.
“There are plenty of places where money comes from. Don’t worry about it. It’s enough to rebuild Yeomyeong-gwan, so there’s no need for concern. You guys just need to focus on getting stronger.”
“Uncle, why are you going this far? It’s not like dungeons yield enough to cover the costs…”
Viola looked at me with curiosity. Though she didn’t say it, the others also seemed curious about why I was investing so much in dungeon exploration, so I should say something.
“The reason I’m taking you all to the dungeon is not just to gain experience; it’s mainly because of the chaos in the world.”
“Chaos…?”
“Yeah. Why do you think Harpas started a war?”
What a time for such a question. As for why at this timing, only I could answer that.
Even for me who played the original, it was just a vague answer of ‘because that’s how it was in the game.’
“…Ah! I think I get it!”
As usual, the lively voice of Millia rang out as she raised her hand. All eyes turned to her. Seemingly flustered by their attention, she gave an awkward smile and then looked at me.
“After Johann and I got out of that Deserted Island, and then Karina got cursed, and after catching that demon called Harpas… everything’s kept happening, right?”
“Correct. Hasn’t it been suspiciously eventful?”
“It has… There have been numerous incidents from the beginning of this year until now. The academy has been a bit better, but elsewhere has been noisy with the Halphas Cult’s affairs. There are even talks about a civil war because the imperial princes are fighting…”
Viola seemed to understand the situation to some extent and wore a worried expression. At this point, the others would have caught on to what I was trying to say.
“Johann is trying to survive.”
Karina was the first to catch on to my intention.
“Right. I’m nurturing you all to survive.”
“Us, too…?”
“Exactly, Elisa. I don’t plan to survive alone, no matter how chaotic the world becomes.”
If I only thought about surviving alone, I could just hide out on that Deserted Island. I’d be bored, but it wouldn’t be lacking in any resources.
“…So, I’d like for all of you to be passionate about this.”
In survival, laziness equals certain death.
“Though it’s a hard story… I’ll do my best, as Johann said.”
“Me too!”
“I-I will too…”
“As long as I can protect Karina, that’s all that matters.”
Responses came forth from everyone.
Hearing their answers made me smirk.
I wasn’t just fooling around all this time.
That thought crossed my mind.
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