Hidden Dungeon Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - No way that score is right?!

Emma and I left the hero school grounds and started walking through the city, no particular goal in mind. Emma voiced her thoughts.

"I've been wondering, are we allowed to just buy some monster materials?"

"I think we are."

In fact, that's probably the main strategy of the nobles. I already had a feeling that the test was going to favor the richer participants somehow. The chairman never actually said 'Go defeat monsters!'

"So in the end nobles are favored again...~"

"No way around it. There are just way too many distinguished children."

'Nobles = Incompetent yet self-important.'
While this kind of impression also exists here and there it generally doesn't apply. The children to receive luxury education from early on are highly unlikely to turn out incompetent. As one goes up the ranks of nobility there are also occasions of measures being taken before a child's actual birth. Various manipulations are performed to increase the chances of the son or daughter being born with the ability to handle a special item or a powerful skill.
However, just because their abilities are excellent doesn't have to mean their personalities are. Lenore from earlier for example gave off a strong impression of considering herself some kind of chosen one.

"Goblins' hands and kobolds' ears and tails, as many as you have, please!"

I'd say Emma, who was currently busy buying up one of the monster material stalls, had a much more excellent personality.

"You sure bought a lot, Ms. High Class."

"Ehe~, borrowing father's wallet was the right choice. Although some of the stalls are already close to sold-out."

"They're probably making some good money today."

"Not getting flustered at all, are you? If you plan on hunting some monsters then let's go together."

"It's alright, I'll go by myself. Please wait here in town. Also, no need to buy any more monster materials."

"Ee~, what's that about? How do you plan to gather them?"

"Let's call that a secret. I'll see you later."

Having bought a suitable bag on the way I headed to the Hidden Dungeon.


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『Already getting the hang of it, aren't you? As expected of one of my pupils~♪』

After securing some gold slime jelly on the first floor and raising to level 23 I paid a visit to master.

"Well, it's been pretty easy to earn LP with the help of the opposite sex."

『Want me to teach you an even better way of gaining them?』

"Sure."

『Then first tell me something funny.』

This kind of absurd request again. Since she won't tell me unless I go along with it let's just borrow one of father's low class jokes.

"One of father's proverbs. ――There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that grow hair on their butt, and those that don't!"

『Na-hahahaha, ha, ha-! Your father's right, totally right! Incidentally, mine's smooth. Yours?』

"No comment."

『Hairy~.』

"Also smooth!"

『Gehahaha-! Even though you're a man~!』

Ugh, she got me. Maybe a short temper is a bad habit of mine, but at least now I'll find out more about LP acquisition.

『Alright, some easy ways to raise your LP are by eating disgusting looking delicacies, doing perverted things with attractive women and making big purchases.』

"Doesn't sound like any of these can be applied to me however."

『People change~. I was a simple country girl at first, you know?』

It's so easy to imagine her as one it's scary.
Leaving that aside, I asked her about the hero school entrance exam. I was a little surprised, turns out master is one of their alumni.

"I was going to take some monster materials back home with me, but would gold slime jelly be overdoing it?"

『They were already rare back in my day so you'll probably receive a lot of questions~.』

The possibility of the score being too conspicuous, basically. I'd rather avoid unnecessarily standing out by towering above the other teams, so there's no choice but to look for a different valuable material.

"I think I'll take a quick look at the third floor."

『Alright~, turn around if things start getting dangerous.』

"Until later."

As far as the second floor goes there are no monsters as long as one doesn't enter one of the doors. Just in case there are more traps like the one master fell into I proceeded straight to the next floor.
The third floor didn't appear much different from the previous ones so I moved forward cautiously. Taking turns left and right I arrived at an open area. I could see another corridor in the far back, but there was a floating something next to its entrance.

A monster shed in black rags... it seemed to have no legs, only an upper body with white bones being visible from beneath its ragged cloak. There were black eye sockets caved into its skull and a scythe that looked like it could reap even a wild beast.
It appeared like the incarnation of death no matter how you looked at it and a single glance was enough to tell me that it was an enemy beyond dangerous.

"It's still the third floor, what's with this kind of monster popping up!"

Name: Dead Reaper
Level:  99
Skills: Reap of Instant Death

「Reap of Instant Death」
<Instant death upon taking damage. Without apt resistance evasion impossible.>

Certainly not the kind of skill I'd want to go up against. Since it looks dangerous as a whole let's return - is what I was thinking, but unless I kill that thing who knows how the exam will turn out. My first plan was to edit the instant death part of its skill, but removing it was expensive beyond expectations so I gave up on that idea. That's when I created 「Thickheaded」 and passed it on to the dead reaper. I was left with 200 LP. The feeling of exhaustion was dreadful and my body ached for rest.

"Hooh, let's do this."

Thanks to the bestowed skill my opponent's movements became noticeably dull - it most likely wasn't a nimble enemy in the first place.
Did the bestowal only require 100 LP because the compatibility was there as well? Either way I next attacked with stone projectile.

Dopang! Kang!

I targeted the great scythe and hit it perfectly, causing the dead reaper to lose its grip on it. Next I'll turn up the projectile's size to its max.
Boulder Bullet! The speed was certainly slower than before, but thanks to the monster's languidness the boulder hit it dead on and with cracked bones it collapsed. Ah, I'm feeling some dizziness. Looks like my mana is pretty much used up.

"Wait, is it still not dying...?"

Its skull kept moving while making a rattling noise. The bones nearby also started shaking and clattering. I approached it while readying my sword and then struck the skull with a firm downwards slash. As expected of father's blade it easily cut bone in two.

Once more a wave of heat went through my body - a regular level up couldn't compare to this time's feeling. After performing analyze I saw that I went up ten levels, all the way to 33!

"I hope having split its skull won't be an issue..."

Upon closer inspection there were a bunch of black rashes on the white bone, which made it uncomfortable to look at. I put the cranium and other bones in my bag nonetheless and returned to the second floor.

"Master, I defeated a monster called dead reaper."

『That's some nice work~, you barely meet those things on this continent.』

"Ee... so turning it in would be weird."

『'Barely', you see. They pop up around graveyards here and there. Definitely less weird than gold slimes~』

Hearing that made my efforts feel rewarded.

『Well, it's just some small fry so no problems there."

"I guess it's pretty straightforward if you just have the appropriate resistance."

『By the way, how's the time?』

"Ah-, might be bad. I'll be back, bye!"

『I'll be waiting, oh my knight Sir Noir~』

Yeah, yeah; leaving with those words I made my way to the room's exit. In doing so I stole a sideways glance to master, but, as always, her eyes were closed and her face deathly pale. Those chains really are the only things holding her alive right now. It must be harsh.
If the day ever comes where Master――― No, now's not the time for that. Let's get back to the royal capital quickly.


"Noir, where did you go!? It's about to turn 6 o'clock!"

"My bad, let's hurry."

After meeting back up with Emma we hastened back to hero school. We somehow managed to make it in time and handed over our gathered monster materials at the reception desk. Apparently the results will be announced tomorrow.
As we were about to head back home our team mate Lenore called out for us.

"You two did gather some materials, right?"

"More or less."

"I see. Well, my contribution alone should already result in a solid score."

"I'd sure love to have you teach me the meaning of 'team' sometime."

That made me receive a glare. Hm, I think I just realized anew that I prefer modest women.

"Where might you have heard my name from? No, more importantly, that was discourteous."

"That?"

"You, you know, t-that."

Aa, the thing about her having food stuck between her teeth.

"I'd say that having been discourteous goes for both of us. Let's take care in that regard together."

"What's that supposed to mean! I'm telling you, you better not get a low score!"

"See you tomorrow."

She seemed to enter an angry mood so I waved my hand and took my leave. On our way home Emma was worrying quite a bit.

"Is it really fine like this? What if she does something mean to get back at you. Maybe I should go back and apologize in your stead..."

"It's fine, we'll get a bunch of points after all."

Probably. I mean, with a skill like 'Reap of Instant Death' it should be evaluated fairly highly.


And that hope of mine solidified tremendously the next day. The chairman announced all the teams' scores and rankings.

"Third place: Team Genos with a score of 5890!"

The teams below tenth place were all within triple digits so this could be considered quite the score. Still, our team had yet to be announced.

"Second place: Team Elizabeth with a score of 11550!"

This time the cheers were louder than for all the other teams. Truthfully, it was a monstrous number. Just what kind of materials did you have to submit to acquire this kind of score?

"Wh-what's the meaning of this? How come our team hasn't been announced?"

"R-right? Noir, don't you think we might've been skipped?"

Lenore and Emma were trembling badly, but I could only feel the rolling of cold drops of sweat. This was beyond bad.

"And finally, first place, but... This might turn into a historical record. Team Lenore: 128000 points!"

Everyone's expectations were so far off they must've been too stunned to cheer. The campus turned quiet as though someone poured cold water on the excitement from a moment ago. After seeing that, the chairman quickly continued.

"There is no mistake. Among the materials were the bones of an extremely vicious monster called dead reaper. Accordingly the score turned out like this!"

So I was the cause after all.
Master, didn't you call that monster a small fry?

　
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Thanks for reading. Next chapter sometime this week. Special thanks to everyone pointing out typos and mistakes.

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