The New Gate

A few days have passed since they left the dungeon in Wraith Plains.

Shin and his team returned to Bayreuth Kingdom, after judging that the situation had returned to the same as before.

The knights at the scene also confirmed that there would be no problems after seeing how much the monster count had decreased.

As soon as Shin and his team reported to the guild that they had completed their investigation, they were called by Barlux, the guild master.

It was as if he knew that Shin and his team were the ones who solved the cause of the problem.

Since Shin alone would be enough to report, Schnee and the others were asked to return to the inn first. However, for some reason, Shibaid accompanied Shin this time.

But, in the room to which Shin was ushered, there were not only members of the guild, such as Barlux and Arad, who was in charge of item appraisal, but also Princess Rionne.

“Now then, can you tell us what happened?”

Shin was asked by Barlux to report, but before he could start talking, he turned his attention to Rionne.

“I don’t mind that, but why are you here again this time?”

“I had a feeling you’d come today, so I asked to wait here.”

“Do you have the ability to predict the future?”

She said it was just a hunch, but Shin could only assume that it went beyond just having a good hunch.

However, Rionne’s status was that of the second princess of the Bayreuth Kingdom. The kingdom’s knights were also on their way, so even if they were not here, they would hear about it sooner or later.

Rionne was the type who would take up the sword herself and fight when it came to battle. Shin wondered if something was bothering her about the monsters that had appeared and the cause of this strange incident.

Shin did not want to ask about it, so he proceeded after introducing Shibaid.

“As for what happened in Wraith Plains, the rumored dungeon did exist. However, it is no longer possible to enter the dungeon.”

“Do you mean to say that the dungeon has disappeared?”

Barlux tilted his head slightly.

“I think the dungeon itself may reappear. The appearance rate and trend of the monsters in Wraith Plains has returned to the state before the recent turmoil. Monsters will still appear, and the central area remains dangerous. However, the entrance to the dungeon in question disappeared, and nothing resembled it underground. Monsters that had never been seen before have not appeared, which is thought to be the influence of the dungeon. We will have to monitor the situation for a while, but I don’t think there is anything to worry about.”

When Shin and his group spent a few days in the Wraith Plains, the rate of monster appearance had dropped considerably from when they first arrived.

The fact that high-level monsters appeared in the central area and that the monsters’ types were more skewed toward undead remained unchanged, but there were none of the monsters that were not there before, and there was no information from the knights about them. Shin decided it would not be a problem to return to the original method of dealing with the monsters, which was to surround the central area with barriers.

Hades must have returned the dungeon to its previous state before she went to sleep.

“What kind of dungeon was it?”

“It was the type where an entrance would only appear under certain conditions. It seems that the monsters that weren’t supposed to be there were born inside the dungeon, and that had an impact on the outside world.”

The real cause was Hades, but Shin had no intention of being honest about it. The next time something similar would happen would be if Shin went back over there or if something happened to Hades.

“Hmm, did you know about that dungeon?”

“No, Shibaid knew about it. His parents were from the older generation. Apparently they often heard stories from back then.”

Shibaid nodded silently. He had been using a false identity, but as for his name, he said his parents gave it to him in honor of the Dragon Emperor.

“I see, if you’re a long-lived species of the old generation, you must have experienced things that we think of as fairy tales.”

Barlux was enough of a character to get a letter of introduction to the Moon Shrine. Shin didn’t ask how much interaction he had with Schnee, but he definitely had at least some idea of what the old generation was like. The look of satisfaction on his face told the story.

“May I ask about the conditions for the dungeon to appear?”

“The condition is that it must appear at night. However, it doesn’t seem like it can always appear every night.”

When Barlux asked, Shibaid told him how it was then.

In the game era, after it was first implemented, it was only fixed once with the appearance condition and period loosened due to its bad reputation.

This time, the conditions for appearance were from the early days, so it was unclear when the entrance would appear again, or if it would even appear in the future.

However, according to Hades, there would have been no change if she hadn’t interfered, so it’s highly likely that the entrance never appeared until the very end.

“I confirmed it before coming here. It seems that an entrance appeared once, for a certain period of time, over 500 years ago, and has never been seen since. Therefore, I can’t deny the possibility that we haven’t heard anything for over 500 years.”

Shibaid confirmed this at the time of the meeting, since it was said that a certain number of long-lived species could use long-distance communication using 【Mind Chat】.

“I guess the documents stored in the castle were barely passed down.”

Arad said, stroking his beard. The documents in the archives of the Bayreuth Kingdom that he talked about may have been left behind by the player or a supporting character.

“I see. Shin, what were these monsters that weren’t supposed to exist?”

“There was a higher level monster called the Faceman, a doppelganger that imitated the human form. It was a strange feeling to fight them. But there were no materials left after I killed it, so there was no way to prove it.”

It would have been a quicker story if there had been any human-shaped equipment left behind from the dungeon, but since nothing was left behind, there was no proof that the monster had ever been there.

Shin had secured supplies and building materials from the supply points when he escaped from the dungeon, not knowing if they would serve as substitutes, so he took them out of the cloth bag and placed them on the table.

He had taken them out of his item box before entering the guild, and had put them in a materialized state in his cloth bag.

“Tableware and ore, I guess. It doesn’t make sense that they were inside the dungeon though.”

“There were alternating arena-like fighting areas and supply points inside the dungeon. This seems to be the same as when they appeared before. However, there were no items of the kind we had heard about.”

Barlux was a little skeptical, but Shibaid explained the dungeon to him, prefacing his explanation with the information he had obtained from his parents.

However, as this information came from someone who had actually explored the dungeon, and Arad had appraised the tableware and ore and declared that they were not just iron or stone, it made Barlux understand.

“By the way, Shin. Do you have any plans after this?”

Rionne spoke up as they reached a conclusion.

“This was more exhausting than I thought, so I’m planning to take a long break. In fact, I already have a specific destination decided.”

It was not uncommon for adventurers to take a break after a big job. Shin and his group had challenged the dungeon that was the cause of the commotion, and were halfway through conquering it. Objectively speaking, this was a case where it would not be strange to take time off.

“There’s no need to be formal at this point. Just talk casually.”

Shin thought it would be a bad idea to do that to a member of royalty, but seeing Rionne’s expectant face, it was hard to refuse.

Barlux and Arad looked as if they were about to say, “Good grief.”

Thinking that this was fine with these people, Shin decided to return to his normal manner of speech.

“So, may I ask where you are going?”

“…You’re not going to follow me, are you?”

Rionne might do it. And Shin felt that way, so he asked.

“I wouldn’t do anything to interrupt a party that was planning to take a vacation. I was just curious.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then. We’re planning to go to a place called Kurikara.”

“Kurikara?”

Since Rionne had never heard of it before, Shin gave her a simple explanation.

“A country on the Est side? I’m sure I’ve never heard of it.”

From the Bayreuth Kingdom, you need to cross Kern and travel at least halfway through Est. In this world, it was a distance that was rarely traveled. Naturally, there was no exchange as a country and little information was available.

“It’s not a distance that you would go on a vacation. It would take an unbelievable amount of time to go by carriage.”

“I have my ‘way’ to travel. If that doesn’t work, I’ll think of another place.”

There were several teleportation points set up on the Est side. Even the simple speed of travel that could be reduced would be unimaginable to this world if Kagerou pulled the carriage at full speed.

However, Rionne was unaware of this, so she was curious about how Shin and the others intended to go such a long distance.

“I’m curious about your ‘way’ but I don’t think it’s a good thing to ask just out of curiosity. If your ‘way’ turns out to be wrong, come to me. I’ll treat you as a friend.”

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