Exploration Dungeon.
Unlike the Main Dungeon focused on mission clears or the Daily Dungeon for material gathering, its purpose was unpredictable. Often, nothing was brought back, but sometimes, incredibly valuable high-grade materials were obtained. Quite a few items could only be acquired from Exploration Dungeons.
"Well, guess we have no choice but to go and see."
"I suppose so." Iolka nodded at my words. We'd head into the city and look around. Deciding how to act after that wouldn't be too late.
We followed the road across the eastern plains towards Nelsa's east gate. Merchants, mercenaries, and pedestrians dressed in various attires traversed the road. Two soldiers were checking people entering at the gate entrance. Ahead of us was the cart driver.
"Keep up the good work," the driver said. With a crack of the whip, the loaded cart began to move. It seemed his inspection was finished. Our turn came. A soldier looked me up and down, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"Present your passage permit."
"Passage permit?"
"Don't you even know that? You can't enter without a passage permit." The two soldiers crossed their spears, blocking the passage.
I pulled a gold coin from my clothes. "Will this do?"
"Er, ehm! That's not a passage permit."
"If you don't like it, guess we'll have to go to the north gate. Seems like it'll work there."
"Give it here!" The soldier snatched the gold coin from my hand, glanced around, and whispered conspiratorially, "I'll let you pass, but please don't cause too much trouble."
"Don't worry." The soldier gulped and tucked the gold coin into his clothes. Then, suddenly, he adopted a stern expression.
"Are the people behind you part of your group?"
"They are."
"In that case..."
"Give back the gold coin. We'll go north."
"P-pass through. Ahem." The soldier cleared his throat and raised his spear.
We entered the passage. About halfway through, Iolka clicked her tongue. "Pathetic people."
"Isn't money the best thing for guys like that?" We emerged onto the street. Various buildings lined both sides densely. The main road was packed with peddlers selling goods and citizens. Not a trace of the urgent atmosphere we felt during the mission could be found.
"..." I rested my chin on my hand.
Just before clearing the 10th floor, Nelsa had been breached all the way to the inner castle, on the brink of falling. It was safe to say most of the city had been invaded. Casualties must have exceeded at least a thousand. Yet, now, there were no signs of a massacre in the city.
'Need to find some information.'
I looked up at the system message in the upper part of my vision.
['Party 1', Exploring – Haim Peninsula]
[Time Remaining until Return - 47 : 48 : 22]
'48 hours.' We would return to the waiting area in two days. Within that time, I needed to gather as much information as possible about the Exploration Dungeon. It wasn't particularly necessary now, but Exploration Dungeons become essential later on. It was crucial for establishing efficient farming routes.
"Should we just look around?"
"What kind of information should we look for?" Zena and Aron approached and asked, even though I hadn't given any specific instructions.
I chuckled softly and replied, "Anything."
"Anything?"
"Yeah, just look for anything appropriate." The three looked at me with puzzled faces. I looked back at them and continued,
"Didn't you hear me? Gather information individually, but also relax and have fun wherever you want. The Master gave us money, so it should be enough. Eat something tasty, do some sightseeing."
"Do you mean..."
"I mean really rest, not just pretend to. I'll handle the rest." Gathering information was something I could manage alone. If the situation were dangerous, there'd be no other way, but looking around, it seemed feasible on my own.
Reducing stress levels. That was one of the important effects of Exploration Dungeons. The members of Party 1 hadn't had a proper rest even once. Even when told to rest, they were the types to stubbornly show up at the training ground, claiming they had nothing else to do.
"Why, don't you want to?" I asked the three standing there dumbfounded.
"You're not joking, right?"
"Why would I joke?"
"You mean I can do whatever I want?" I had to repeat the explanation several times to the disbelieving members.
Amkena likely didn't send us to the Exploration Dungeon expecting significant results either. The research level was too low for that. Proper farming required Dungeon Deepening research to be at least Level 4. This time was merely a test.
After about 10 minutes of persuasion, I finally managed to make the party members understand. The need for rest. Managing condition and stress was one of the things I emphasized most when running Niflheim.
"Heh, hehe... Then shall I head out? I'm going outside the city. Don't try to stop me. I'm going far, far away."
"Do as you please."
"Y-you're really going? You're going to see the sea?" Iolka gave an awkward laugh and disappeared outside the city gate. I didn't stop her.
"We'll be back in the waiting area in two days. Know that once we return, there's no rest until we clear the 20th floor. Managing your condition is also part of the mission."
"If you say so, Han."
"I'll follow you, Oppa."
"Don't come." Zena looked disappointed, but she finally calmed down when I promised to join her the next evening.
With this, I gained time to act freely. Parting ways with the two, I walked down the main street, looking around. Nothing particularly unusual was found. It seemed like any ordinary city.
However, there seemed to be an unusual number of mercenaries. People carrying weapons could be found everywhere on the streets. They gathered in groups, talking.
"...how's the conquest of...?"
"No good. Blocked."
"Guess we'll have to call... huh."
Their conversations were mostly drowned out by the city noise. I wasn't in a hurry. Two days was plenty of time. I walked down the street, fingering the gold coins in my pocket. I thought about going to an inn or tavern to listen to stories. Just then, a large three-story building at the crossroads caught my eye. The sign depicted beer and chicken.
"..." Right before entering, I noticed a bulletin board erected next a the entrance. Various wanted posters were attached to it. A criminal who stabbed a priest and fled. Bandits preying on merchants. A two-headed wolf. Even variant goblins.
And there was one portrait that stood out the most. A silver-haired, golden-eyed girl wearing a crown. It was slightly faded, but the face was unforgettable.
'That kid?' The bounty amount was in a different league. Even adding up the rewards from all the other posters probably wouldn't match hers. Above the portrait, the charges against her were listed.
'Charges: Heresy, Demon Summoning.' Besides those, every conceivable crime was listed: insulting the imperial throne, murder, arson, theft, rape, etc. At the end, it stated that because she, a successor bearing the great bloodline, had committed such heinous crimes, her imperial status was revoked.
"You aiming for that witch too, mister?" I turned my head. A young boy carrying a satchel was looking at me. His half-open bag was crammed full of wanted posters.
"Dream big, but it won't happen. Even the finest folks couldn't find her after searching the whole continent. You know that if you're a bounty hunter, right?" The boy expertly pulled out a wanted poster and began attaching it to the board.
"You call this kid a witch?"
"Sure do. Heard she's absolutely terrible. They say she ripped out newborn babies' hearts raw and offered them as sacrifices. Dozens of them, apparently. Uses forbidden black magic, too."
"Forbidden black magic?"
"Summons forbidden entities, they say. I don't know the details exactly." Finishing posting, the boy turned to leave. I caught his shoulder.
"Wait."
"Huh? Why? I'm busy."
"I want to hear more."
"But I'm working. Still got a long way to go to meet my quota today." I silently held out a gold coin. The boy's eyes widened as he took the coin.
"W-what..."
"Tell me the detailed information."
"Ahaha, seems a bit pricey..."
"If you don't want to, fine." I made a move to take the coin back. The boy shook his head vigorously and clutched the coin tightly.
"Where should we talk, mister?"
"Inside the inn."
"Yay!" The boy grinned and entered the inn. I followed him inside. A waitress approached, and I requested a place where just the two of us could talk. We settled at a corner table on the inn's second floor.
"What kind of story do you want to hear?" The boy beamed, stroking the gold coin. He bit it, then gently rubbed it with his palm. Judging by the reactions of the soldier and the boy, it seemed quite valuable, but it was just a thousand gold. An amount earnable from one round of low-level dungeon crawling.
"Tell me about that witch," I said, taking a sip of the oddly flavored drink. The boy began to explain readily.
"Her name is Priasis Al Lagna. Well, she lost her family name, so just Priasis now. Used to be an Imperial successor..." The basic information matched what I knew. But there were discrepancies in some details.
"Did you say she was put on the wanted list a year ago?"
"Yep, exactly a year ago. That's when the order came down from the Church. See the wanted poster here?" The boy took Priasis's wanted poster from his bag. At the bottom of the poster was a seal resembling wings attached to a cross.
'A year ago.' Less than a week had passed since I parted ways with Priasis on the 15th floor. I had seen the seal on the wanted poster before too. It was the emblem engraved on the armor of the guys I had killed.
I asked a few more things about the princess, but the boy replied he didn't know anything beyond what he'd already said. I didn't expect much more information from a mere kid anyway.
Summarizing the information: The wanted order was issued right after Priasis escaped the city. And she supposedly wandered around various regions for the past year. It seemed she was still alive somewhere. If she had been caught and killed, the wanted posters wouldn't still be circulating.
"Next," I continued. Of course, I didn't intend to stop there.
"Yay, next!"
"Any incidents of monsters invading this city?"
"Invasion... invasion. Ah!" The boy clapped his hands together. "I was elsewhere before then, so I don't know for sure, but I heard snippets. A huge horde of goblins invaded the city. Maybe two years ago?"
"And?"
"They managed to repel them somehow. Heard a massive number of people died, but thanks to the Church stepping in, things seem to have settled down."
I see. So two years have passed.
After making sure no one else was nearby, the boy spoke in a whisper. "This is another rumor, but they say the witch was behind the invasion. Monsters don't usually operate on such a large scale, you see."
I smiled thinly. They pinned everything bad on her. She must have gone through a lot.
"Any other unusual incidents happening?"
"Hmm... That's quite a vague question."
"Anything is fine. Just tell me anything."
"There are outbreaks of plagues sometimes. Monsters go on rampages. The weather seems to be getting colder too. Among those, the most peculiar thing would definitely be the dungeons." The boy opened his mouth.
"It must have been a few years ago. Ruin-like structures started popping up all over the continent. They call those places dungeons. But they're really strange here. Ordinary people can't enter because of an invisible wall."
Invisible wall. I thought I knew what he was referring to.
"Seems like people are divided into those who can enter and those who can't."
"Exactly. This is also a rumor, but they say if you reach the end of a dungeon, there's a strange stone, and obtaining that stone grants special powers."
"...Power." There was only one kind of stone that granted special powers.
Advent Stone. The source of Engravings, the third ability of Heroes after stats and skills.
"There must be one here too."
"Huh? How did you..."
"You can tell just by looking." Seeing as the place was crawling with mercenaries.
I finished my drink and stood up from my seat.
"Lead the way. You have to earn your pay."