Water Magician

On the third day after the dungeon blockade was lifted, Abel’s Crimson Sword and the investigation team of the Court Magic Group had reached the seventh layer of the dungeon.

There had been no problems so far.

Conversely, the issue would be that they did not encounter any monsters.

The first to third floors were home to wolf-type monsters, and the fourth and fifth floors were home to the goblins that caused the Great Tidal Bore this time.

Abel and his colleagues thought that if they dived to the fourth and fifth floors, they could get some clues.

But there were no clues.

And there were no monsters.

“But … it is unexpected that we would find absolutely nothing.”

Next to Abel was Arthur Verasis, the advisor to the Court Magic Group.

Advisor Arthur was an adventurer when he was young.

He took it as a matter of course to take command from the forefront when diving into the dungeon.

The investigation team of the Court Magic Group had 100 people in total.

Half of them were on the surface, as the team to analyze the information that would be sent up, and the other half were the teams that dived into the dungeon to collect information.

All fifty people had been collecting information since diving into the dungeon yesterday, but … almost nothing had come out of it so far.

“There must be something somewhere, because the magic stones were lightly colored.”

Abel commented.

That was the information that Abel heard yesterday.

After returning from the dungeon and finishing his report to the guild, a shadow approached Abel from behind.

And he whispered.

“Abel, the watchword is, ‘The magic stones were lightly colored’.”

The Water-Attribute Magician whispered.

“Huh?”

“The watchword is the magic stones were lightly colored. Please repeat after me. Yes, the magic stones were lightly colored.”

“… The magic stones were lightly colored.”

Ryo told him and Abel repeated without understanding.

“Yes. The magic stones were lightly colored.”

“The magic stones were lightly colored.”

After hearing Abel repeat after him, Ryo left, as if satisfied.

After that, it was natural that Abel went to Guild Master Hugh to check the color intensity of the magic stones taken from the monsters of the Great Tidal Bore.

That was how he finally understood.

The monsters were not the ones that lived on the lower floors.

They were something that spawned recently.

“Given the large number of goblins, we should consider that they spawned somewhere in the upper floors up to the 15th floor.”

Below the 16th floor, the section called the middle layer for convenience had incomparably more powerful monsters than the upper layer.

He didn’t think goblins could break through the layer hierarchy … but … that said, the violence in numbers could be horrifying.

It was certain that the possibility that they came from the middle layer and below could not be completely ruled out.

“Among them, the floors where goblins originally exist are the fourth and fifth floors, and the tenth and 11th floors.”

“Yeah. There was nothing on the fourth and fifth floors. There were no monsters, no traps, nothing. And the only trace found so far …”

“Yup. There are traces of a large concentration of magical power a few days ago … on a floor a little further below. That’s it.”

“A little further below … the goblin layer after the tenth floor … given the timing, it may be related to the Great Tidal Bore …”

Abel looked at the magic tool that the investigation team member had in his hand as he spoke.

If Ryo saw it, the first thing that would come to mind would be a metal detector.

“In any case, that magic tool is amazing. It can detect residual magic power from a few days ago.”

“Yup. The information that it picks up here will be sent to a magic tool on the surface and analyzed there. Some claim that Alchemy copied the concept of <Probe> of Wind Magic but that’s not the case at all. It was jointly created by the Royal Alchemist Workshop and the Magic University. I heard that it was a collaboration between two genius alchemists.”

“Alchemy……”

“Why? Are you interested in alchemy, Abel?”

Advisor Arthur looked at Abel with a look that he didn’t think Abel would be interested in it.

“No, no. I don’t, but a friend seems to be very interested.”

“Abel’s friend. Now that is surprising.”

Advisor Arthur seemed to be truly surprised.

“What? I have friends.”

“Yeah … well, maybe it’s a good thing that you became an adventurer.”

The fourth day after the dungeon seal was lifted.

The Crimson Sword and the Court Magic Group investigation team were investigating the eighth and ninth floors.

And tomorrow, they planned to investigate the tenth floor, which they believed would be where the answers laid.

As Abel and his group were investigating the ninth floor, the research team from the Kingdom Central University passed them by.

Among them, they could see the figure of President Clive Staples.

“Those guys from the Kingdom Central University are advancing really fast.”

When the investigation team of the Court Magic Group reached each floor, they spread throughout the level and searched for traces of the Great Tidal Bore.

Therefore, the speed of their investigation was by no means fast.

However, even after taking that into account, the speed of the research team from the Kingdom Central University was abnormal.

It was as if they felt that there was nothing on this floor to investigate … as if it was already decided …

Rihya, who was next to him, answered Abel’s question.

“The Kingdom Central University seems to think that the monster of this Great Tidal Bore came from something that lives below the 38th floor.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I asked a former colleague in the research team yesterday, so I’m sure.”

Rihya replied and smiled.

“A colleague … from the time you were at the royal capital sacred temple? But is it okay to talk about such secrets?”

“It’s okay. Priests can pull favors from everywhere.”

There weren’t many good Magicians in itself.

Among them, the recovery personnel who can be said to be absolutely necessary for each party, the priests who can use light magic, were in a state where the demand always exceeded the supply.

“And the guards for the Kingdom Central University, we’ve never seen them before?”

“Yeah, they are not adventurers from this city.”

Abel also noticed it.

The Kingdom Central University research team had a total of more than 350 people.

Among them were adventurers hired as guards and luggage carriers, but in addition to that, they also hired adventurers from the City of Rune.

However, none of the adventurers from the city were among the group that went down.

“They seem to be adventurers brought from the royal capital. Most of the adventurers they hired from Rune seem to be D-rank adventurers, and basically they were given work to secure contact with the surface and secure food for the entire research team.”

“I feel that it’s a waste of resources, but … the adventurers from the royal capital wouldn’t be familiar with the dungeon. Well, the adventurers of the City of Rune can make money without being placed in strange dangerous locations so I guess it’s all right?”

Abel shrugged and said.

Depending on how you think about it, it could be said to be a request that was not rewarding but less dangerous.

There weren’t many adventurers who liked to dive into the dungeon after the Great Tidal Bore, where they didn’t know what will happen.

“Abel, Clive’s group moved through swiftly. Do you think they would rush into the tenth floor at that rate?”

After checking up on his men, Advisor Arthur returned to Abel and complained.

“Rihya says that they assume that the monsters came from below the 38th floor, so they will likely enter the tenth floor with the same momentum as before.”

“What …”

As expected, even Advisor Arthur was stunned.

However, he was a veteran rich with experience. He immediately switched his thoughts.

“Well, then Clive would become our canary in the mine.”

He said and grinned.

The research team, which was owned by the president of the Kingdom Central University, Clive Staples, looked contemptuously at the Crimson Sword and the Court Magic Group investigating the ninth floor as they prepared to step into the tenth floor.

“Clive-sama, this tenth floor will be the floor of the goblins.”

“It doesn’t matter. Those monsters came even further below. Let’s advance quickly.”

Clive disregarded the secretary’s report.

(I will solve the mystery of the Great Tidal Bore and become the next Academic President by any means.)

The Academic President was a position that could be said to be at the top of the academic governance in the kingdom.

Like the Treasury Lord in finance and the Military Lord in military affairs, it was one of the top positions that play a central role in the nation, having the authority to allocate the national budget to each academic field.

He had laid the groundwork well.

All that was left was to accumulate research achievements that others could not point out any flaws.

With that in mind, he was certain that he would obtain the Academic President chair if he made a big announcement about the cause of this Great Tidal Bore.

It was for that reason that he came all the way from the royal capital to such a remote area.

“But the stamina of many people, including those in research positions …”

“Mmm … I don’t believe it’s not necessary to train your body just because you’re an academic. But it can’t be helped. Today, we’ll limit the march to this tenth floor. Inform those at the back that we will be camping on the tenth floor.”

The research team from the Kingdom Central University intended to camp in the dungeon until they reached the 38th floor without returning to the surface.

For that purpose, they invested abundant resources for camp equipment such as tents, food, and sentry substitutes.

The next day.

The day before, the Crimson Sword and the investigation team of the Court Magic Group completed the investigation up to the ninth floor and were about to search the tenth floor, which could be said to be the start of the true investigation.

“It seems that the Kingdom Central University research team did enter the tenth floor yesterday.”

“Yeah. But there were no reports that a problem occurred … I wonder if there’s nothing on the tenth floor too?”

Abel and Advisor Arthur stepped onto the tenth floor while talking.

“Well, it doesn’t change what we must do. I’ll detect for any residual magical power.”

“I look around for traps on the tenth floor.”

Advisor Arthur and Abel split up.

When exploring a dungeon below a certain floor, a profession is definitely required for a party.

That would be the Scout that looks for traps.

In the case of the dungeon in the City of Rune, traps were known to exist from the tenth floor and below.

In other words, when diving beyond the tenth floor, a Scout was needed.

However, the Crimson Sword had no Scout.

Abel the swordsman, Rihya the priest, Warren the shield-bearer, and Rin the Magician.

Only the four of them.

However, the Crimson Sword had explored beyond the 30th floor.

So how did they deal with traps at that time?

Abel discovered the traps and, in some cases, disarmed them.

Abel said that he didn’t have a choice since their party didn’t have a Scout but it must be said that he had to be extremely dexterous to do that.

Of course, not all traps could be cleared because he was not a professional Scout.

Therefore, even when exploring the dungeon as a party, they fundamentally avoided traps.

That said, Abel himself thought that his skill at disarming traps had dulled because he had only accepted requests on the surface for the past two years.

Why were there traps in the dungeon?

Although not finalized as a theory, the mainstream idea was,

“For some reason, the dungeon was creating traps.”

There was a minor theory that a dungeon monster was creating the traps, but lately, that theory had almost been eliminated.

In any case, there were many poisons and pitfalls in Rune’s dungeon that it was even said that Scouts were essential when exploring beyond the tenth floor.

(I recall there were traps that spray poison on the tenth floor but … there are none at all.)

Abel was walking around the tenth floor with his party.

“There are no traps, no monsters …”

Rin spoke with her head tilted.

“It seems that the research team from the Kingdom Central University did not encounter any monsters too, so I wonder if the following 11th floor would be where we find our answers?”

Rihya seemed to have gathered information from her colleague from the Kingdom Central University yesterday as well.

“Have they moved to the 11th floor?”

“Yes. They descended in the morning.”

While eating the portable food prepared by the Court Magic Group, the four patrolled around the tenth floor.

“I hope it continues like this with nothing happening …”

Abel muttered.