Necros’s pockets were heavy, and his steps were light.
He had only been summoned by the Chief Administrator and headed to the dungeon when a human he’d never seen before offered him gold coins and jewels.
“……”
For a moment, a brilliant idea flashed through Necros’s mind.
“Just…”
A rather good idea, that is.
He didn’t know why the Chief Administrator had summoned him, but after finishing his business here, Necros planned to execute his own plan.
* * *
Meanwhile, Lloid was drinking with a gloomy expression.
He had run away from the mountain range and rushed to the tavern.
“Fuck!”
He slammed his glass down and cursed.
He had gone up the mountain range, foolishly swayed by rumors, and hadn’t even recovered his initial investment.
Instead of seeing any treasure, he had all his possessions stolen by a damned monster.
“I’m crazy. I’m really crazy.”
There’s a saying among adventurers.
– Darkness lurks in peaceful villages.
It meant to always be vigilant even if it looks peaceful on the surface, but Lloid had overlooked it just now.
It was too late to regret it.
Among the monsters Lloid encountered was a Death Knight.
‘How could I possibly defeat a 5-star?’
A 5-star monster wasn’t a common rank, and to randomly encounter one.
It was ambiguous whether this was good luck or bad luck.
Was it fortunate that he only lost money and managed to keep his life?
“Haa. How did I even gather all that.”
A sigh escaped him naturally.
The money he had saved little by little had been lost in an instant.
When he encountered the monster a little while ago, he didn’t think the money was much.
As long as he could survive, he could always earn money.
But now, the money felt incredibly precious.
He had only run with the goal of reviving his family, so the sense of emptiness was too great.
He didn’t even know what to do the next day.
All that remained for him now was regret and despair.
“Innkeeper, another glass of beer here.”
And to forget those feelings, Lloid kept pouring himself drinks.
‘How much did I drink…?’
In fact, he didn’t even have money to pay for the drinks now. Hadn’t it all been stolen already?
Still, he felt like his insides would turn if he didn’t do this.
‘It’ll work out somehow.’
He wanted to act as he pleased like a dissolute person for a day.
He kept emptying his glass to cool his irritating emotions.
Right now, he just wanted to forget everything.
How much did he drink?
As dawn approached, the adventurers who had filled the tavern began to leave one by one.
But Lloid stayed put.
He idly swayed his empty glass, killing time.
‘Right, let’s start again from the beginning.’
Just as he resolved to return to his original intention and steel himself.
“Oh my, who is this! Isn’t that Lord Lloid?”
A man approached Lloid with a friendly expression.
The man sized up Lloid and then sat down opposite him.
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
The man’s name was Ett.
His sturdy physique and short-cropped hair made Ett’s character appear even sharper.
In particular, an old scar running from under his right eye to his jaw suggested his adventuring career.
Lloid had also met Ett a few times while carrying out quests, so they were acquainted.
Of course, they weren’t close, and they had only exchanged a few words.
What was certain was that they weren’t so familiar that Ett would approach him like this.
“Ah, it’s been a while, Mr. Ett.”
Lloid replied awkwardly, as if uncomfortable with such familiarity.
His inherently distrustful nature prevented him from building relationships with other adventurers.
However, Lloid was dejected at the moment.
His efforts had gone to waste.
More than that, the empty wine glass in front of him was the problem.
He currently had no money to pay for the drinks.
He had given up, thinking it would somehow work out earlier, but even this small matter was fatal for an adventurer.
Even though he was a fallen noble, didn’t he have a goal to revive and restore his family someday?
He didn’t need to lose his honor over such a trivial matter.
Therefore, he needed someone to pay for his drinks.
Lloid remained silent for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Mr. Ett, you’ve heard the rumors too, haven’t you?”
He initiated the conversation.
Ett was a fundamentally greedy person.
He had a great ambition to rise to the rank of a high-ranking adventurer.
It was impossible for Ett not to have heard about the recent topic of rumors. Lloid was certain that Ett would go up the mountain range following the rumors.
Therefore, he wanted to sell his experience to the other party.
“Ah, it’s a topic that adventurers would naturally be interested in. Oh! Lord Lloid, are you perhaps planning to go up the mountain range as well?”
Ett replied, moving his hands exaggeratedly.
Although Ett had a smiling expression on the outside, he held other thoughts in his heart.
‘Damn it, even that brat is interested in the rumors. The competition is going to be tough.’
Ett was displeased that so many people were interested in the rumors.
He was fundamentally the one who should stand out.
When he first heard about the owner of the luxurious mansion, he was terribly jealous.
He despaired at the fact that he wasn’t the protagonist of the rumor.
Fortunately, there was no mention of which dungeon the treasure was in.
‘Heh, I just need to find it first.’
Ett planned to go up the mountain range with his party members as soon as day broke.
While Ett was lost in his own thoughts, Lloid lowered his voice.
“Actually, I just came back from going up the mountain range.”
Ett’s eyes widened in surprise at Lloid’s shocking words.
“What? You went up the mountain range now, in the middle of the night?”
Of course, he was surprised.
Going up the mountain range at night.
The mountain range was connected to the Demonic Realm on land.
It was dangerous even during the day, so going up at night?
It was an act like going to your death.
Ett was surprised in another way too.
‘This weakling did that?’
The fact that Lloid was a fallen noble had already spread quite a bit.
He was quite surprised that someone from a noble background, who should have been cautious, possessed such boldness.
“Ha, I apologize. My voice rose unintentionally when I heard you had gone up the mountain range.”
Ett immediately apologized.
Lloid waved his hand dismissively and got to the point.
“Actually, I was also swayed by the rumors and went up. And I regretted it immediately and came back down.”
He said that and put on a serious expression.
At most, he was robbed of his money by a monster while going up the mountain range. But how one tells their experience changes the perspective.
Lloid waited for the other party to take the bait.
“What exactly did you experience there…?”
As expected, Ett took the bait.
He waited anxiously for the next story, but Lloid dithered and just sipped his drink.
“Hmm…”
Ett immediately understood that Lloid didn’t want to speak for free.
Normally, he would have gotten up and left, but Lloid was from a fallen noble family.
Even if he was a commoner now, he cared a lot about honor.
He didn’t seem like the type to lie over such a matter.
And perhaps Lloid’s story could help in finding the rumored treasure?
“Innkeeper! Bring me some beer and meat!”
Ett immediately ordered drinks and meat.
Then, he rubbed his hands together and said to Lloid.
“Heh heh, I’ll pay for all the drinks today.”
He could endure this much for the sake of treasure.
Lloid fiddled with his glass without a word and then opened his mouth.
Lloid shared his experience without holding back.
Starting with the story of hearing the rumor and going up the mountain range to confirm it, he told everything up to the point where he met a monster.
“To survive, I handed over all my possessions to the Lich and the Death Knight.”
Lloid’s story was simple yet intense.
“Haha, a Lich and a Death Knight…”
He met a 5-star and a 4-star being?
Ett found it absurd.
Of course, Lloid had met an Arch Lich and a Death Knight, both of whom were 5-star, but Lloid didn’t know that well.
Even if he had told them accurately, Ett wouldn’t have believed him anyway.
Even now, Ett was shaking his head and thinking in his mind.
‘Is it really true?’
Lichs could appear in the mountain range.
And judging by Lloid’s demeanor, it didn’t seem like he was lying.
It was his intuition gained from his adventuring career.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps. If what Lloid said was true.
‘The Death Knight must have been a mistaken sighting.’
In the dark situation, and having encountered the monster suddenly, he must have mistaken it.
Of the things Lloid said, only the Lich would be true.
‘Even this much is a profit.’
Ett finished his calculations in his mind.
A Lich was an undead that used magic.
Materials or items related to magic were generally expensive.
‘Isn’t this the right place for the current rumor?’
The rumor that treasure lay dormant in a certain dungeon.
If the rumor was true, the owner of the rumored dungeon seemed to be a Lich.
Furthermore, hadn’t Lloid just told him the most important piece of information?
‘He let him go after taking money…’
Adventurers sometimes made deals with dungeon owners.
Depending on the situation, the terms of the transaction could change depending on the dungeon owner’s disposition.
‘The owner of this dungeon seems to like money.’
A Lich is a high-rank monster.
But could he escape with his life by paying money?
Wouldn’t it be worth taking a chance with just this information?
It was easier to deal with something you knew than with unknown danger.
“May I know the path that Lord Lloid took?”
Ett said with a smile, placing five silver coins on the table.
* * *
As soon as day broke, Ett led his four party members toward the mountain range.
“Ett, is that really true?”
Timothy, one of the party members, asked Ett.
Ett relayed the information he obtained from Lloid to his party members.
He said that the owner of this dungeon was a Lich and seemed to love money very much.
“Yes, it’s information I obtained by paying money.”
In fact, Ett had prepared as many magic resistance items as he could.
He had used his connections to purchase reasonably good items at a low price.
He had responded appropriately to the Lich, who was a magic-type monster.
Ett ascended the mountain range with a confident expression.
Unlike other adventurers who went anywhere, he moved along the path Lloid had told him.
“But can we defeat the Lich?”
Timothy still seemed uneasy and brought it up.
A Lich was a 4-star monster.
Even if they were armed with magic resistance items, could five people defeat a Lich?
It didn’t make sense.
But Ett was confident.
“If you think about it, the owner of the mansion returned alive, didn’t they?”
And with treasure, at that.
If such a person could obtain treasure, why couldn’t he?
If necessary, Ett even considered using his party members as bait.
“There’s no reason why we can’t.”
Ett reassured Timothy and continued up the mountain range.
After climbing for a while, something began to appear before them.
“Huh? Ett! There’s a monster over there!”
The first monster Ett and his party members encountered was an Orc.
The problem was that it wasn’t just one, but a horde of Orcs.
“Chik! Necros was right! The dirty humans have appeared!”
An Orc, who seemed to be the leader, shouted at Ett.
The Orc’s identity was Skoll.
Skoll was the Orc chieftain who led the dungeon “Red-Haired Tribe” and had pledged allegiance to Celia.
And Skoll had also heard the story a little while ago.
He had heard that adventurers would converge soon, although he hadn’t heard it directly. Arch Lich Necros had spoken to him.
Even now, Necros was positioned behind Skoll.
Necros had been touring the surrounding subordinate dungeons after hearing Celia’s story.
Skoll’s sector was the very first one.
“Humans have invaded the ruler’s domain! Chik! It’s time to show our strength!”
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Following the Orc chieftain Skoll’s words, the Orcs raised their weapons and cheered.
Skoll turned to Necros with a satisfied expression.
“Lord Necros! I express my gratitude on behalf of the tribe!”
Hadn’t Necros informed him that adventurers would come?
To Skoll’s gratitude, Necros slightly shook his head.
It meant that he didn’t need to worry.
“Indeed! You are truly an honorable warrior!”
Skoll admired Necros and turned away.
Now it was time to punish the humans who had invaded the ruler’s domain.
However, Ett trembled at the overwhelming number of Orcs.
“What do we do now…?! Ett!”
The faces of the party members also drained of color.
They gripped their weapons in fear, but their hands were trembling too much.
They had never heard of there being so many Orcs.
“Wha, what is this!”
Ett was also paralyzed with fear.
The only sliver of hope was that he could see a figure behind the Orc horde.
‘A, a Lich!’
A skeleton wearing a robe and holding a thick book.
It was definitely a Lich.
And Lloid’s words came back to him.
Ett immediately took out gold coins and jewels from his pocket and knelt down.
“S-forgive me! Please accept these gold coins and jewels and quell your anger!”
Lloid had clearly run away after giving gold coins and jewels.
‘Damn it! I didn’t hear about the Orcs!’
He cursed inwardly.
The Death Knight Lloid saw was probably an Orc.
As Ett knelt, the party members behind him also knelt down. And they started taking out their money.
As Ett had said before they left, they had brought plenty of money.
“Lord of the dungeon! Please spare us!”
Ett shouted loudly to the entity behind the Orcs.
If Lloid’s words were true, this monster that looked like a Lich would be the dungeon owner.
However, contrary to Ett’s expectations, the Orc leader in front reacted first.
“How dare you try to bribe me with money! Chk! You, who are worse than a bug, have insulted the honor of a warrior like me, Skoll!”
Skoll’s face twisted in anger, revealing his sharp teeth.
“Kill all these dishonorable bugs!”
Ett’s action had offended Skoll.
