After that, I started roaming around the dungeon, drawing up a map.
I hadn’t learned how to do that properly either, so it was pretty half-assed,
but anyway, it would be more helpful than having nothing.
Everything that needed to be there was marked.
For example, differences in elevation in the terrain, or the locations of places that could be used as hiding spots.
As for hiding spots... honestly, from the standpoint of someone who came to clear a dungeon, you’d have to kill all the monsters anyway, so would there really be any need to hide somewhere?
Still, it’s better than nothing, right?
There might be times when you need a moment to catch your breath.
— Tap.
I closed the notebook I had drawn the map in.
Then I rummaged through my bag, tidied it up, and slipped out of the dungeon.
***
That was anticlimactic.
It was so anticlimactic that all the worrying I’d done up until now felt pointless.
Of course, I had only finished the first floor, and ordinary dungeons tended to get more difficult the higher the floor.
There was a high chance things would get harder from here on out.
And honestly, if I may praise myself a little, I think I did pretty well too.
When that baby monster came down to hunt the deer, most people would’ve been caught if they weren’t as skilled as me, right?
Besides, when I later checked around to see if there were any other hiding spots, the only hiding place in that area was the gap between the rocks where I’d hidden.
If it hadn’t been for my level of speed, judgment, and reaction time, I definitely would have....
Sigh.
What’s the point of getting full of myself when I’m alone?
Anyway, I pulled on the rope one more time, checked its condition again,
“Up we go.”
and safely began climbing up the rope.
— Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Ugh....”
A while later, I safely set foot on the ground.
I wasn’t injured anywhere, nor had I lost anything.
“Let’s head back.”
Day one of dungeon reconnaissance.
I safely finished exploring the first floor and began returning to Gidson Village.
— Rustle.
Without hearing the sound of the grass shaking behind my back as I headed back to the village.
***
‘Ha, f... what is this?’
For now, I had arrived safely at the village too.
In a way, things were going so well that I had a feeling something bad would happen next time I explored the second floor....
....
No, wait.
‘There have to be days when things go well for no reason. If everything’s always shitty, is that even life?’
For now, let’s enjoy it.
Worries need a basis too.
Assumptions like, “I just feel like it’ll happen,” without any basis aren’t good.
Unless I suddenly get a really strong gut feeling about it.
By that logic, a sinkhole could suddenly open up in front of me, so should I stop walking forward?
That’s not right.
‘But putting that aside. How am I supposed to report that I’m done with the reconnaissance?’
The system itself was probably something like,
1. I conduct reconnaissance.
2. I announce that the reconnaissance is complete and pass on the information.
3. Someone delivers that to the Hero’s Party.
4. The Hero’s Party goes to the dungeon and clears the floor.
5. I go back and finish scouting the next floor before the floor resets.
6. They clear the next floor.
7. Repeat.
That was probably how it would go.
Hmm....
For now, I should walk around the village.
The Empire might have sent someone for me to report to.
I was about to look around the village like that,
but there was a person standing right at the village entrance, as though waiting for me.
‘Whoa, f... how can a person look that much like that?’
Ah,
I’m not making fun of him. I’m not mocking him either.
I was just genuinely impressed by the point that the man looked, at a glance, like someone sent by the Imperial Palace.
A neatly groomed white pointed mustache and a monocle.
Should I say he gave off an intensely dignified, aged impression?
He definitely didn’t have the face of someone who belonged in a countryside place like this.
“Good day. I am Gordon, sent by the Imperial Palace.”
“Hello.”
He was stiff.
If the man I’d seen before had been like a carrot that gilded my face,
this man gave off the distinct impression that since he had already reeled me in once, he was only going to do exactly as much as was necessary before leaving.
‘Right. This is how I’m supposed to be treated.’
Still, at least he wasn’t openly criticizing me or showing contempt for me like Grover had.
Of course, from the Imperial people’s point of view, they might have ordered him to do only just enough to prevent a consumable asset with a high chance of dying easily from struggling and making things troublesome.
Anyway, what was good was good.
“I’ve finished scouting the first floor.”
“Yes. You’ve worked hard.”
I tore out only the pages with the information I had summarized about the floor and handed them to him.
He briefly skimmed through the contents, then without saying anything about checking whether they were true or if anything had been omitted, he simply told me I had worked hard and disappeared into the village.
Seeing the old man’s reaction, I felt like several questions that had formed in my mind had been slightly answered.
‘These guys... I’m just the bare minimum safety device, aren’t I?’
So what it felt like was this.
‘This dungeon’s difficulty looks appropriate, doesn’t it? But we need verification, so let’s send in a mercenary. If the mercenary succeeds and comes out, then that dungeon is at a level where even a mercenary can gather information and get out, so even if the information is wrong, the Hero’s Party will clear it somehow.’
Something like that mindset?
That was why they cleared dungeons this way.
As long as I came out alive, they probably didn’t care whether the dungeon reset or not.
Even if a little more demonic energy accumulated in the meantime, it didn’t matter.
That much wouldn’t have a major effect on the dungeon’s difficulty.
‘Then do I even need to work hard?’
Once I finished thinking, I felt a slight sense of skepticism.
As long as I came out alive, even if I drew comics in my notebook, they’d say, “Okay, pass,” and send in the Hero’s Party.
“Sigh....”
Before my motivation could drop any further, I shook my head hard.
‘Still, I should work hard. What else can I do? It’ll probably help the Hero’s Party.’
Even if the dungeon’s structure changed and the number of monsters increased, it was extremely rare for the types of monsters or the overall concept to change.
So my information wouldn’t become completely useless.
I’d do just enough not to die, just up to the line my own conscience as a mercenary would allow.
That was the moment I clearly decided on my course from here on.
‘But... putting that aside. I wonder if Bell is doing all right?’
I headed to the inn I had gotten for Bell.
“Bell...? Ah, that girl? She asked me to pass on a message to you. She said she had urgent business and thought she’d have to return to Rotten. She said you could look for herbs together later?”
“Ah... I see.”
So she left first because she had circumstances.
“Thank you for telling me.”
“You can just use the room as it is. She paid for today, but your companion went back first. Right?”
“Understood. Thank you.”
I took the key from the innkeeper lady and opened the door to the room.
‘This is...?’
What I felt the moment I opened the door wasn’t an impression of the room, nor the appearance of the furniture.
A fragrance like warm morning sunlight.
To the point that I couldn’t understand how a person could give off such a scent,
the fragrance I felt now was the same fragrance I always sensed strongly whenever I walked with Bell.
As if proving that she had stayed here.
As if proving that coming all the way here with her hadn’t been a dream.
Her scent lingered here.
It might sound a little perverted, but it felt like a gift she had left for me.
It also felt like a sign of apology.
Originally, we would have gone around looking at herbs together from now on.
Since I had been preparing hard and trying to make time, but it had been canceled due to her own circumstances, and since she had probably thought I would worry because she suddenly disappeared, Bell must have felt sorry.
Did she know?
That such small things,
the things that naturally showed because that was simply the kind of person she was,
made my gaze linger on her like a wildflower blooming by the roadside.
“Haa....”
Once again, my thoughts grew complicated.
***
— Swaaaaaa. Click.
— Taltaltaltaltaltal.
I washed myself lightly and lay down on the bed again....
Had too many similar scenes played out already?
But what can I do?
This is my routine.
— Thud.
I sat on the bed and began sitting cross-legged as usual.
Still, the thoughts I had while sitting were completely different from before.
I was circulating aura just the same, but in my current mental image, there was the man from the illusion I had seen during my duel with Grover.
I recalled, again and again, the form that man had swung in the illusion back then.
Why?
Because when I tried to use it again, it didn’t feel like it had when I fought Grover.
Should I say something was subtly different from back then?
I don’t know if I explained this before, but a form isn’t something that just shoots out pew-pew if you swing wildly.
If that were the case, then let’s say there was a form called A. Would anyone be able to use A the exact same way as long as they moved their weapon along that form’s trajectory?
If that were possible, then frankly, if you swung a sword around randomly, any number of forms would just pop out.
Would a little kid swing a sword around and suddenly go, Southern Twin Dragons Twenty-Four Hands!
A form is usually the beauty of the sword that arises from the combination of several complex factors.
There are two biggest frameworks that produce a form.
Aura cultivation method and footwork.
When you want to use a form, you have to move your aura to match that specific form,
and you have to step with the footwork suited to that form.
Beyond that, within the smaller framework, there’s the sword.
In what order, at what angle, at what speed and with what strength you swing.
And overall, the most important thing is will.
The mindset you have when swinging that form is important.
Why? Because aura responds to the user’s will.
The sturdier the mental image, the more solid the world called aura becomes.
A form is like a formula made so that no matter who wields a particular world, as long as they properly follow the method, they can unfold it.
So of course will has no choice but to be important.
Because it is related to the world called aura.
Anyway,
to sum it up, I had fulfilled all the minimum conditions, but because some part wasn’t the same as back then, an unsatisfactory form was coming out.
I felt like if I meditated and thought more about this part, I’d be able to figure it out.
But actually, even back then, I had only been satisfied by my current standards.
The man I saw in the illusion had enough power to erase a pretty decent city with that single form.
‘Will I reach that realm someday too?’
To make that happen, I focused on meditation again.