Necros’s pockets were heavy, and his steps were light.
All he had done was answer the Chief Administrator’s summons and head for the dungeon, yet a human he had never seen before had offered him gold coins and jewels.
“…….”
In that instant, a thought flashed through Necros’s mind.
“Perfect….”
A rather decent thought, at that.
He had no idea why the Chief Administrator had summoned him, but once his business here was done, Necros intended to carry out a plan of his own.
* * *
Meanwhile, Lloyd was drinking with a gloomy expression.
He had fled the mountain range and come running to a tavern.
“Fuck!”
He slammed his glass down roughly and spat out a curse.
He had climbed the mountain range after being foolishly tempted by rumors, only to fail to recover even his initial investment.
Far from seeing any treasure, he had been robbed of every bit of wealth he had by a damned monster.
“I must’ve been insane. Completely insane.”
There was a saying among adventurers.
— Darkness hides in peaceful villages.
It meant that even if something looked peaceful on the surface, one should never let down one’s guard, but Lloyd had just overlooked that very lesson.
It was already too late for regret.
Among the monsters Lloyd had encountered was a Death Knight.
‘How the hell am I supposed to beat a five-star?’
Five-star monsters were hardly common, and yet he had run into one by chance.
It was hard to say whether that was good luck or bad luck.
Was he fortunate, at least, to have lost only his money and kept his life?
“Haa. Do you know how hard I worked to save that?”
A sigh slipped out on its own.
The money he had been saving little by little all this time had vanished in an instant.
When he had faced the monsters moments ago, he had not felt the slightest regret over mere money.
As long as he survived, he could always earn more.
But now, that money felt unbearably precious.
Because he had lived with only one goal in mind—to revive his family—the emptiness struck him all the harder.
He was at a loss as to what he should do starting tomorrow.
All that remained to him now were regret and despair.
“Owner, another beer here.”
And to forget those feelings, Lloyd kept pouring alcohol down his throat.
‘How much have I had…?’
In truth, he did not even have the money to pay for the drinks. Hadn’t it all been taken from him already?
Even so, if he did not do this, he felt as though his insides would turn inside out.
‘Something will work out.’
For just one day, he wanted to act like a scoundrel and follow wherever his heart led.
To cool the irritation boiling inside him, he kept emptying his glass.
Right now, he simply wanted to forget everything.
How much had he drunk?
As the hours drew close to dawn, the adventurers who had filled the tavern began to leave one by one.
But Lloyd remained where he was.
He idly shook his glass, already empty to the bottom, passing the time.
‘Fine. Let’s start over from the beginning.’
The very moment he resolved to return to his original mindset and steady his heart—
“Well, well, who do we have here! Isn’t this Lord Lloyd?”
A man approached Lloyd with a friendly expression.
After taking in Lloyd’s mood, the man sat down across from him.
“It has been a while. Have you been well?”
The man who had approached was named Et.
His sturdy build and closely cropped hair made Et appear all the sharper.
In particular, the old scar running from beneath his right eye down to his chin hinted at his career as an adventurer.
Lloyd had also run into Et a few times while carrying out requests, so they were acquainted.
Of course, they were not close, and they had only exchanged a few words.
What was certain was that they were not on such familiar terms that Et would approach him first like this.
“Ah, it has been a while. Mr. Et.”
Perhaps uncomfortable with that friendliness, Lloyd answered awkwardly.
To begin with, because of his distrustful nature, he had failed to build connections with other adventurers.
But at the moment, Lloyd was feeling depressed.
All the effort he had accumulated until now had come to nothing.
In truth, more than that, the empty glasses before him were the problem.
At present, he had no money to pay his tab.
Earlier, he had thrown caution to the wind, thinking something would work out, but even a reputation like this was fatal for an adventurer.
No matter how fallen a noble he was, did he not still have the goal of one day restoring and reviving his family?
There was no need to lose his honor over such a trivial matter.
That meant he needed someone to pay for his drinks in his stead.
Lloyd remained silent for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Mr. Et, you have heard that rumor as well, haven’t you?”
He brought it up first.
Et was, by nature, a greedy man.
In particular, he had a tremendous ambition to rise to the rank of a high-grade adventurer.
There was no way such an Et had not heard of the rumor that had recently become the talk of the town. Lloyd was certain he would climb the mountain range following that rumor.
That was why he intended to sell the other man the experience he had gone through.
“Ah, if one is an adventurer, isn’t it only natural to be interested in such a topic? Ah! Lord Lloyd, could it be that you are also planning to climb the mountain range?”
Et answered with exaggerated gestures.
Though Et was smiling on the outside, he harbored different thoughts within.
‘Damn it, even a brat like him is interested in that rumor. The competition won’t be easy.’
Et was displeased that so many people were interested in the rumor.
After all, he was the one who should stand out.
When he had first heard the story of the owner of the luxurious mansion, he had been sick with envy.
He had despaired over the fact that he had not become the protagonist of that rumor.
The only fortunate thing was that no specific story had emerged about which dungeon contained the treasure.
‘Heh heh, all I have to do is discover it first.’
Et intended to climb the mountain range with the party members he was gathering as soon as day broke.
While Et was lost in his own thoughts, Lloyd lowered his voice.
“In truth, I just went up the mountain range and came back.”
At Lloyd’s shocking words, Et looked surprised.
“What? You climbed the mountain range now, at this hour of night?”
Of course he could not help but be surprised.
Climbing the mountain range in the dead of night.
The mountain range was a place connected by land to the Demon Realm.
It was dangerous even during the day, but to go up at night?
That was practically the same as going to one’s death.
Et was surprised in another sense as well.
‘A soft noble boy like him did that?’
The fact that Lloyd was a fallen noble had already spread rather widely.
Et had assumed anyone of noble birth would know to guard their own body, so he was quite surprised to find such boldness in him.
“Ha, my apologies. Hearing that you had climbed the mountain range made my voice rise without me realizing it.”
Et immediately apologized.
Lloyd waved his hand as if it was nothing, then got to the point.
“In truth, I was also tempted by the rumor and went up. And then I immediately regretted it and came back down.”
Saying so, he put on a grave expression.
At most, he had been robbed of his money by monsters while climbing the mountain range. But depending on how one described an experience, the perspective changed.
Lloyd waited quietly for the other man to take the bait.
“What in the world did you experience there…?”
As expected, Et bit at Lloyd’s words.
He waited anxiously for the rest of the story, but Lloyd merely dragged it out, sipping his drink.
“Hmm….”
Et immediately understood that he did not want to speak for free.
Normally, he would have gotten up and left, but Lloyd was from a fallen noble family.
Even if he was now a commoner, he was someone who cared a great deal about honor.
He did not look like the sort to lie over something like this for no reason.
And if he listened to Lloyd’s story, might it not help him find the rumored treasure?
“Owner! Bring us some wine and meat over here.”
Et immediately ordered drinks and meat.
Then, rubbing his hands together, he spoke to Lloyd.
“Heh heh, I will cover all your drinks today.”
For the sake of treasure, this much was acceptable.
Lloyd wordlessly toyed with his glass, then finally opened his mouth.
Lloyd recounted everything he had experienced without hiding anything.
Starting with how he had heard the rumor and climbed the mountain range to confirm whether it was true, he told everything up to the situation where he had encountered the monsters.
“There, in order to survive, I handed over all my wealth to a Lich and a Death Knight.”
Lloyd’s story was simple yet powerful.
“Haha, a Lich and a Death Knight….”
He had supposedly encountered a five-star being and a four-star being?
Et was dumbfounded.
Of course, the beings Lloyd had seen were an Arch Lich and a Death Knight, both of them five-star, but Lloyd did not know that.
Even if he had spoken accurately, Et would not have believed him anyway.
Even now, Et was shaking his head and thinking to himself.
‘Is it really true?’
If it was the mountain range, a Lich could certainly appear.
And judging by Lloyd’s atmosphere, it did not look like a lie.
One could even call it the intuition he had gained through his life as an adventurer.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps. If Lloyd’s words really were true.
‘He must have mistaken the Death Knight.’
In the darkness, and with monsters suddenly appearing, he had likely seen wrong.
Among Lloyd’s words, only the part about the Lich was probably true.
‘Even this much is profitable.’
Et finished his calculations in his head.
A Lich was an undead that used magic.
In general, materials and items related to magic fetched high prices.
‘Isn’t this a place that fits the rumor perfectly?’
The rumor that treasure slept in some dungeon.
If the story was true, the master of the rumored dungeon seemed likely to be a Lich.
Above all, had Lloyd not just told him the most important piece of information?
‘It let him go after taking money….’
Adventurers sometimes made deals with dungeon masters.
Though it depended on the situation, the contents of such deals changed according to what sort of disposition the dungeon master showed.
‘It seems the master of this dungeon likes money.’
A Lich was a high-grade monster.
But if one could pay money and save one’s life?
With this information alone, was it not worth trying once?
It was always easier to respond to a danger one knew about than an unknown one.
“Would it be possible to know the route you took up the mountain range, Lord Lloyd?”
Et smiled as he placed five silver coins on the table.
* * *
As soon as day broke, Et led his four party members toward the mountain range.
“Lord Et, is that really true?”
One of the party members, Timothy, asked Et.
Et had shared with his party members the information he had obtained from Lloyd.
Namely, that the master of this dungeon was a Lich and seemed to like money very much.
“Yes. It is information I paid money to obtain.”
In fact, Et had prepared as many magic-resistance items as he could.
Using the connections he had built until now, he had been able to purchase somewhat useful items at a low price.
In other words, he had prepared appropriately for a magic-type monster like a Lich.
Et climbed the mountain range with a confident expression.
Unlike other adventurers who climbed wherever they pleased, he moved along the route Lloyd had told him.
“But can we really defeat a Lich?”
Still seeming uneasy, Timothy brought it up.
A Lich was a four-star monster.
Even if they were armed with magic-resistance items, five people taking down a Lich?
It made no sense.
But Et was confident.
“If you think about it, even the mansion’s owner came back alive, didn’t he?”
And with treasure in hand, at that.
If someone like that had managed to obtain treasure, there was no reason he could not.
Et was even prepared to throw his party members out as bait if it came down to it.
“There’s no law saying we can’t do it too.”
Et reassured Timothy and continued climbing the mountain range.
After climbing for quite some time.
Something began to come into view ahead.
“Huh? Lord Et! There are monsters over there!”
The first monsters Et and his party encountered were orcs.
The problem was that it was not a single orc, but a whole group of them.
“Chwik! Lord Necros was right! The filthy humans have shown themselves over there!”
Among them, an orc who seemed to be the leader looked at Et and shouted.
The orc’s identity was Skoll.
He was the orc chieftain who led the dungeon “Red-Haired Tribe,” and he had sworn obedience to Celia.
And Skoll, too, had heard the story just a short while ago.
It was about adventurers coming in droves before long, though he had not heard it directly; the Arch Lich Necros had conveyed it to him.
Even now, Necros stood behind Skoll.
After hearing Celia’s story, Necros had been making the rounds of the subordinate dungeons in the area.
This place, Skoll’s territory, was the very first stop.
“Humans have trespassed into the ruler’s domain! Chwik! It is time to show them our strength!”
“Uu—! Uu—!”
At the words of the orc chieftain Skoll, the orcs raised their weapons high and roared.
Skoll turned his head with a satisfied expression and looked at Necros.
“Lord Necros! On behalf of the tribe, I offer my thanks!”
Had Necros not informed him that adventurers would come swarming in?
At Skoll’s thanks, Necros shook his head slightly.
It meant there was no need to mind it.
“As expected! You are truly an honorable warrior!”
Skoll admired Necros, then turned his back.
Now it was time to punish the humans who had trespassed into the ruler’s domain.
However, faced with the overwhelming number of orcs, Et trembled.
“What… what do we do now…?! Lord Et!”
The color had drained from the party members’ faces as well.
They clutched their weapons in fear, but their hands shook uncontrollably.
They had never heard there would be this many orcs.
“W-what is going on here!”
Et was just as terrified.
If there was one shred of hope, it was that a single being could be seen behind the orc horde.
‘A L-Lich is there!’
A skeleton wearing a robe and carrying a thick tome.
It was surely a Lich.
And Lloyd’s words came back to him.
Et immediately took gold coins and jewels from his breast and knelt.
“I-I am sorry! Please accept these gold coins and jewels and quell your anger!”
Lloyd had clearly said he had escaped after offering gold coins and jewels.
‘Damn it! I didn’t hear anything about orcs!’
He cursed inwardly.
The Death Knight Lloyd claimed to have seen must have been an orc.
When Et knelt, the party members behind him also knelt in the same way. Then each of them began taking out the money they had brought.
As Et had instructed before departure, they had brought plenty of money with them.
“Master of the dungeon! Please spare our lives!”
Et shouted loudly to the dungeon master standing behind the orcs.
If Lloyd’s words were true, that monster that looked like a Lich must be the dungeon master.
Contrary to Et’s expectations, however, the leader orc in front responded first.
“To dare attempt to buy me off with money! Chwik! You, lower than a worm, have insulted the honor of Skoll, a warrior!”
Skoll’s face twisted with rage as he bared his sharp fangs.
“Kill all those honorless worms!”
Et’s actions had ended up offending Skoll.