Chapter: 64
[Looks like a place where a ghost could show up.]
The old man said that as soon as he saw the mansion in the alley.
Yeah, it does look a bit creepy. The iron gate is rusty, the wall meant to guard the house looks ready to crumble, and beyond it lies a garden filled with brown, wilted plants. The house in the center looks like an eyesore.
…
I didn’t think much of it when I saw it on screen, but seeing it in person feels a little unsettling.
“This is the place the Young Lady mentioned.”
Karl lit up as he looked at the mansion.
How can he be so excited about such a run-down place?
Do knights have to have such big expectations?
“I came here a lot during my school days.”
‘Detention, wasn’t it?’
“Detention?”
“Yeah. There was a rumor about it being haunted, so we used it often…”
So it seems like the idea of students causing a ruckus here is still a thing.
I wonder if anyone’s here today?
It’d be nice if no one was around, though; it would make wandering inside easier.
“I often stopped by here too, but I’ve never seen a ghost. It was probably just a silly rumor.”
‘There is one…’
“There is. A timid little loser, though.”
“…Huh?”
Is that the daughter of the mansion’s former owner?
That’s the general idea I remember.
But since she doesn’t cause any harm, I don’t really need to worry about her.
‘Let’s go.’
“Let’s go, loser.”
“Wait, Young Lady. Are you serious? Young Lady!”
We walked past the rusty gate and into the mansion.
Nothing inside this abandoned place was intact.
If there’s a thief who finds pleasure in breaking and entering, this house would be the last place they’d pick.
Every door was smashed to bits, so getting in wouldn’t be a problem.
As soon as I stepped inside, the wooden floor creaked underneath me.
“Eek!”
Turning my head at the scream, I saw Karl’s face turning pale.
What’s this?
Is he seriously…
‘Karl, you…’
“Loser! Are you scared of ghosts?”
“No! How could a knight fear a base creature like that!”
Karl loudly denied my suspicion, but couldn’t hide the quiver in his voice.
Does this guy really think he can punch a troll with his bare hands yet still be afraid of ghosts?
What’s he going to do when he encounters a dungeon full of ghosts later on? Those dungeons can have game-changing, surprise mechanics, you know.
“It’s true! Believe me!”
‘Fine, fine…’
“Okay, loser.”
I figured there’s no point arguing when it won’t change anything, so I just let it slide.
I took the jumpy Karl downstairs.
The place I was aiming for was the iron door at the very end of the mansion’s basement.
It was the only thing that appeared to be intact in this dilapidated house.
“Ah, so that key opens this door.”
Karl swallowed hard as he looked at the door.
Even though he was standing in front of me as a so-called knight, he seemed awfully shaken.
Sigh. At this rate, will we even be able to tackle the dungeon down below?
Just as I was about to pull out the key to open the door, a thought struck me.
In the game, you couldn’t break this door, so you had to open it with a key, but isn’t that different now?
I could probably break down a door like this with my mace.
Thinking that, I raised my mace and swung it down at the iron door.
BAM!
Even though I put plenty of force into it, the door didn’t get a scratch.
“Uh, Young Lady. This door can’t be broken by any means.”
[Sometimes, things like that pop up. These kinds of objects only move when you fulfill certain conditions, so beating on them is just a waste of effort.]
Seeing my failed attempt, Karl confidently asserted that it was impossible to break, while the old man reminded me that such things occur from time to time.
So what?
Are you saying doors like this won’t budge unless you’ve picked up a quest in the game?
Ugh. If I could break down the door myself, I could pull off all sorts of tricks in the future.
Feeling disappointed, I decided to unlock the iron door with the key.
And then, the stairs leading down to the second basement level appeared.
With no light whatsoever, just moving forward blindly seems like a great way to fall flat on my face.
In the past, I would’ve found a torch to carry, but I have a different method now.
“Oh, holy light.”
As I recited a silent prayer, a ball of light appeared before me, casting a perfect glow.
[You’ve gotten better at it now.]
‘When have I ever struggled with this magic?’
[Are you forgetting the time you created a giant sphere and created a flash of light? ]
I tried to ignore the old man’s laughter, remembering the time I was squinting with my eyes clamped shut as I rolled on the ground.
Come on, old man! At your age, you should be forgetting recent stuff faster!
Why does he have such a good memory despite being so old?
“Now I just need to find that item the girl asked for down here, right? Let’s make it quick.”
‘Don’t worry about it.’
“Loser. Can you not see a step ahead? Don’t stress about it.”
“Eh? But…”
‘That’s just a flimsy excuse.’
“It’s just the useless Young Lady making excuses.”
It would be a long story to explain the details, but asking for help to find something was just a lie set up by that girl to lure the user here.
Her real goal lies elsewhere.
As I waved Karl off with half-hearted comments, I headed deeper into the second basement level.
Then, as I opened the door at the very end, a stone door emerged before me.
“This is… the entrance to the dungeon.”
Yep, that’s the dungeon entrance alright.
— Ding!
[Quest is changing.]
[Girl’s Request]
[???]
[Reward: ???]
‘So this…’
“This is the purpose of the Young Lady! She’s making us tackle the dungeon. Creepy girl, I swear!”
“How curious. If she intended for us to take on the dungeon, wouldn’t it have been faster to report it to the Academy or the Church?”
I could finally answer Karl’s question.
The truth was that the girl was a newbie necromancer, capable of speaking with the mansion’s ghost.
That’s how she became friends with said ghost.
It was the ghost who asked her to have us explore the dungeon in the mansion.
But if she asked the Academy or Church for help, they would eliminate the dungeon as well as the ghost, so she was stuck in a predicament.
I figured if I told him that the ghost was involved, Karl would freak out, so I just shrugged and pushed through the dungeon door.
The scenery around us shifted.
We found ourselves in a sinister graveyard.
The sky was filled with dark clouds, not a single star to be seen, and rain was pouring down, creating a dreary sound.
The damp, muddy graves gave off a nasty odor.
I hadn’t bothered about this back in the game, but now that it’s real, it feels variously irritating.
I better solve this and head back before my head gets all mushy.
Lost in thought, I conjured a shield made of holy power.
“Just when I thought I’d escaped that creepy mansion, I land in a graveyard.”
Karl sighed as he looked over the dungeon’s scenery.
‘Don’t worry, Karl…’
“Loser! Don’t worry! No ghosts will show up here.”
Ghosts. You know.
Just as I brought it up, I suddenly felt a presence coming from the graves.
Glancing over, a corpse burst from its grave, just like in a B-grade zombie movie!
A zombie.
The main monster of this dungeon.
The so-called loser knight will probably freak out when he sees it.
I waited for a scream, but it never came.
Instead, the zombie’s head flew off into the air.
“Undead? What a relief.”
‘What?…’
“What, loser? Aren’t you scared of this sort of thing?”
“What scares me are the unknowns. Not some flimsy monster like that.”
Well, aren’t they both undead?
But it looks like there’s something different enough for Karl to accept it.
That’s a relief, at least.
I brought him along just in case Agra decided to pull some nonsense, and it would be a disaster if he froze up in fear of undead.
[In the end, didn’t you admit that you’re scared of ghosts?]
‘Grandpa. Just ignore it and move on.’
But isn’t it kind of mean to treat him like a coward when he’s in the middle of his knight training?
I think it’s my duty as his master to be generous and overlook it.
‘Karl…’
“Loser! There’s no need to waste time on those trash. Let’s go.”
“Eh? They’re monsters, aren’t they?”
‘Just do what you’re told!’
“Walk behind your master like a good dog, got it?”
It’d be a pain if I touched them and they leveled up out of the blue.
As I mentioned that, Karl nodded reluctantly, but he gave a skeptical glance.
Having secured his approval, I led him to move forward.
After all, those zombies are terribly slow.
They might have decent stamina and strength, but that’s about it. If I run quickly, they won’t catch up.
So when tackling this dungeon, the best plan is to just ignore the zombies and keep dashing forward.
How long was I running through this graveyard?
I spotted the end of the graveyard in the distance.
Underneath a broken cross, a figure digging a hole noticed us approaching and set down his shovel, raising his head.
“Greetings, dear guests. I trust the warm welcomes from my family have met your expectations?”
The necromancer, the boss of this dungeon, greeted us dramatically with his tattered coat flapping in the rain.
“Is that creature the owner of this dungeon?”
‘That’s right.’
“Yeah, he sure looks like he’s got issues. Fits the dungeon, doesn’t he?”
“Oh, what a lovely compliment! Thank you!”
Even with my criticism, the necromancer chuckled, waving his hands in theatrical fashion.
That’s when Karl took a step forward.
Logic dictated that we should strike first before he could pull any tricks.
The necromancer didn’t react at all.
Karl’s sword cut through his coat.
“Wow! You’re strong!”
But even after Karl’s attack, the necromancer remained unharmed.
He didn’t block with magic.
He didn’t dodge either.
It’s just that there was nothing under the coat for him to cut!
“But what a shame! I exist on the boundary between the living and the dead!”
As the leather coat fell away, what lay hidden beneath was a translucent figure.
Like a ghost from a horror movie.
“Such an attack cannot wound me!”
The boss of this dungeon, a necromancer who was also a spirit himself.
To take him down, I would need something other than a physical attack.
To inflict any damage on him, I would need to bring along a priest or mage with at least level 30.
In game terms, this boss wouldn’t be one you could take down early on!
Yet, there’s a little trick I could use here.
Bypassing the bewildered Karl, I swung my mace at the necromancer.
“Useless effort.”
The necromancer smiled, arms wide open, as if inviting my mace to strike him.
He seemed to think it wouldn’t harm him in any way.
However, the outcome was different.
“Huuh?!”
The moment the mace hit, I could hear the necromancer swallow his breath.
Was he caught off guard by unexpected pain, maybe?
The necromancer staggered back, his tone losing its casualness as he yelled at me.
“What are you doing?!”
“Did you lose your mind?♡ I attacked you, you little scrap of a ghost!♡”
“You! You shouldn’t be able to hurt me!”
Right, that was normally the case.
But you see, you can’t expect the norm with a veteran like me.
You loser.
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