Chapter 160 – The Third Rune – 1
“The Empress personally appointed you as the commander of the Dark Night Order, didn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“It seems there was a reason behind such a decision.”
‘Of course.’
It’s a bit funny to care about the Silver Dawn Knights’ story now, but Cassandra’s words made it clear that I was far off from the story of the Knights.
It was something I had anticipated, so there was nothing surprising about it.
Each route differs, but in the case of the Silver Dawn Knights route, there’s a suggestion like “Why don’t you consider serving in your territory?” from time to time.
If you accept, the story slightly changes afterward; if you refuse, you continue with the Silver Dawn Knights’ story. Such branching was naturally implemented.
That line was similar to what was said when the player follows a route connected to the Empress. It seemed the Empress had a keen eye for talent.
Probably, Kaiquilia’s immense interest in me played a big part.
‘It seems over half is confirmed as the palace route…’
I thought for a moment and then let it go. There was no need to think deeply about the future story. It wouldn’t help at all.
Just need to recall it as the moments come.
“Thank you very much for accepting my sudden request and resolving this issue, Commander of the Dark Night Order. Thanks to you, I can breathe a little easier.”
Cassandra bowed her head slightly. As her upper body leaned forward, her dress descended, revealing a modest amount of skin. It seemed Cassandra had no intention of hiding her cleavage.
There’s no way a noble with such a title wouldn’t know how to conduct herself, so it was likely a deliberate act. I calmly received the greeting.
When my expression showed no change, Cassandra appeared momentarily surprised, but soon returned to a bright smile.
I was once again convinced by her change. Had I reacted, she would have been much more assertive than just now. Since I showed no reaction, she probably gave up cleanly.
“Lady Cassandra, may I make a request?”
“Of course! Please, go ahead.”
“You mentioned that I am free to take all spoils and byproducts from the dungeon, including the runes, but unfortunately, there hasn’t been anything other than the runes.”
“Yes, understood. I must repay for your efforts personally. I shall invite you all to my mansion.”
To put it straightforwardly, I was hinting that I wanted them to compensate me since there was nothing gained from the dungeon, but for some reason, Cassandra nodded and turned her body without hesitation.
As Cassandra distanced herself, I quietly whispered to Helga.
“I’m leaving the next matters to you, Helga. Take the kids back to the mansion first. I have something else to do. If anyone asks why I didn’t come, just say that.”
“Understood. That ‘something’ is related to the witch, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. I can’t just leave her here alone while we go in. I’ll delegate full authority to you, so you decide.”
“Yes, Commander. Have a good trip.”
Helga gathered her subordinates and followed behind Cassandra.
The Lord paused for a moment when she saw the Vice Commander where I should have been standing, but after Helga whispered something, she resumed her steps.
Once I confirmed that Cassandra and her direct knights, along with Helga and her subordinates, had completely left, I ventured further into the woods to prevent any chance of being overheard.
Then I shouted with a ROAR.
“Nix!”
Immediately, Nix appeared right before me. Her reaction speed was so quick that it felt like she had been waiting for me to call her.
Nix approached me in an instant, grinning ominously.
“Kheheh, you called for me?”
“I did. Were you hiding because of that Lord?”
She nodded vigorously, her head bobbing up and down. Her chest bounced too. I absentmindedly reached out to pet her head. I seemed to have fully adapted to this behavior.
“Aren’t you going to follow? I could just wait alone until you guys are done.”
I had already waited alone many times before, a mutter followed.
“Not really. I didn’t come here for that sort of thing.”
That must be the same for them too.
They didn’t come expecting a reward, but that also didn’t mean they could just do the work for free. They wanted something in return to lessen Cassandra’s psychological burden, after all.
It would be much more relieving to say that they helped out of goodwill than to say they were doing it for free. Having something to give and take reassured them.
“So, while we wait for them, let’s go somewhere for a bit. You can still use teleportation, right?”
I had initially planned to pick an appropriate time, but since Nix couldn’t enter the city, I decided to take advantage of the time when things were loose.
I couldn’t spend an entire day in the woods waiting for them to finish receiving their rewards. Using teleportation reasonably at this time would be better than lingering around.
“Got it. Kheheh, where should we go?”
Nix didn’t bother to ask about the contents and quickly latched onto where we should go. She pulled out a map from her uniform pocket and compared it with the map in her memory step by step, locating the dungeon’s position.
I felt a gaze intensely watching me from beside. Ignoring it, I pointed to a valley somewhere midway in the Empire’s mountains.
“Here. Can you go here?”
Nix nodded vigorously and came close to me, preparing to teleport. I held onto the map, waiting patiently. It wasn’t the time to fold it yet.
As long as she knew the exact coordinates, Nix’s teleportation lacked the precision compared to Minerva, who could reach from one end of the Empire to the Holy Kingdom without needing much time, just by waving her staff.
However, it wasn’t because Nix was lacking; she just wasn’t as exceptional as Minerva, so I decided to wait in silence. Soon a black magic circle engulfed the both of us.
“We’ve arrived.”
Nix was finally able to teleport successfully right in front of the Rune Dungeon after adjusting the coordinates about five or six times. I confirmed that and tucked the map back into my pocket.
The dungeon’s entrance looked just like from the game. It had the kind of appearance that anyone would believe, “Yes, this is a dungeon!” without a second thought.
Except, this place was right at the edge of a steep cliff, and the proximity was wholeheartedly covered with rocks and trees, so the ordinary methods wouldn’t even hint that anything was there.
“Let’s go in.”
“Okay.”
Nix followed silently behind me into the dungeon. Just to be safe, I sheathed the Wingless Nightmare in my sheath. I didn’t need to fight enemies in this dungeon.
This was a trap-type dungeon.
Just like the place I had entered to find the Crystal Scroll before.
‘This time it should be fine since Nix is here.’
Back then, Minerva had completely cleared out the traps without needing to think twice, but now Nix was expected to take on that role. I had brought her for that purpose from the start.
Trap-type dungeons usually received a lot of complaints saying, “What a terrible game.”
Due to the cursed traps, a distance that could be reached with a little more walking could take more than 10 minutes, or you might have to completely descend a gorge when you could just jump across.
But now, that shouldn’t be the case.
“This place is where the runes are, but it’s a dungeon packed with traps.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll handle the traps and pathfinding, but there are some traps that can’t be disarmed or act up annoyingly.”
“Okay.”
“You just need to smash those traps while I handle the rest.”
“Kheheh, got it.”
‘…She isn’t asking anything?’
Others would have asked questions like how I knew about this, how I found this place, how I realized there were runes without preparing for rune waves, etc.
But, well, since it was good for me, I decided to let it pass. Even if Nix asked how I knew this, I wouldn’t be able to provide a proper answer anyway.
“Wait a moment. Stop.”
We had barely entered when a cleverly protruding trap welcomed us on the ground.
At first glance, it looked like a brick that was slightly dislocated, but stepping on it meant your ankle would get trapped, and a massive rock would drop from above. It was, of course, a one-hit kill.
A huge rock would slam down with a CRUNCH and crush the player, leaving trails of blood spreading across the nearby ground, leaving many players in shock upon witnessing their friend suffer such a gruesome end.
“Be careful not to step on that. A rock falls from above.”
“Okay.”
Nix responded briefly again and followed me as I circled around to avoid the switch.
From there on, it was easy. I handled all the traps I could and called on Nix whenever there was a trap that needed to be demolished, without having to deal with a maze or intermediary processes.
Especially for places where solving a puzzle was necessary to open a door, requiring gathering materials back and forth amid further puzzles.
For such places, I melted through the door with firepower instead of worrying about puzzles. It was a genuinely refreshing feeling.
As I dismantled the various mazes and traps without a hint of worry, I moved into the center of the dungeon alongside Nix, who was giving me looks filled with admiration. Just a little further.
Nix magically shattered a rolling boulder that was coming down from the slope. Normally, one would have to time their jumps repeatedly, but we both took our steps leisurely.
Seizing the moment of leisure, I opened my mouth. Now was the chance to ask.
“Nix.”
“Yes.”
“Helga mentioned she responded that smashing centipede corpses is pointless ‘here,’ what does that mean?”
“…?”
Nix stood still in her place.
