At the Dungeon’s Behest, Howl, Elf*2
And so, by late morning the next day, we arrived back at Panis Village… but something felt off. The village was buzzing.
“Did something happen?”
With that, I called out to the guy who’s always hanging around near the village entrance shouting “Welcome to Panis Village!” Well, not a villager, technically. If something comes to the village, asking him gets you the answer fast. I mean, he’s always at the entrance!
“Welcome back to Panis Village! Did you hear? We had some rare visitors come to the village last night!”
“No, that’s why I’m asking.”
And just like that, I got a response that accelerated my bad premonition even more. Why do conversations like this always feel so template-like? Is this intentional? Or does every town and village in fantasy worlds just naturally have at least one guy like this…?
“Visitors, you say…?”
Fully expecting bad news, I asked anyway…
“An adventurer party! But not just any adventurers! They were elves!”
… Of course! Of course my bad feeling hit the mark! Aaaaagh!
“And they said they came to see the World Tree!”
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”
“I figure they probably meant the Jewel Tree! Anyway, they went into the dungeon earlier!”
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”
This isn’t a bad feeling anymore, it’s bad reality! The bad reality is right here! Aaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaagh!
After screaming and rolling around for a bit, I calmed down and immediately checked the situation inside the dungeon.
“To think they’d end up doing the same thing we did in the Gold Mine Dungeon, completely unintentionally…”
“Yeah… this is what happens when the dungeon gets cleared while we’re not conscious of what’s going on inside, huh…”
Yeah. Honestly, I think it’s a fatal flaw for us dungeon masters that we can’t always keep track of what’s happening where and how inside the dungeon. Isn’t there some way to fix that!? Waaah!
“Uh… they’re here. Yeah, they’re here. Looks like they just entered. They’re moving pretty briskly, no sign of stopping at all.”
I shifted my view into the dungeon and spotted the elf party. They’re there. Plain as day. Just… there. What is with them?
“Asuma-sama. How many?”
“I see five of them.”
“I see. Ah, sorry, you there. How many were in that elf party?”
“Five elves!”
Got it. That means the ones I’m seeing are all of them. Just knowing there are no extras is a relief.
“Five… well, that’s better than when a dozen holy knights showed up… right?”
“Hmm… hard to say…”
Mishisia-san still looked grim.
“Um, Asuma-sama. Can you tell what kind of equipment those five have?”
“Sure can. Give me a sec… Okay, two of them have bows. The other three have… staves? Like, really pretty rods.”
“Aaah~ yeah… figures…”
I checked their equipment as requested, but all I could do was shudder at the strange gear I was seeing for the first time.
The rods carried by three of the five elves looked too delicately crafted to be good for hitting people.
They looked like wooden branches decorated with gold and silver filigree. A strange design combining rustic simplicity with intricate detail. Honestly, they look extremely fantasy-like. And, having dabbled in fantasy in my old world, I can guess what they are.
“They’re magic staves, right.”
“Which means, Asuma-sama, you should assume that three of those five elves are the type who can do just about anything with magic alone.”
… Yeah.
I’ve learned since coming to this world just how unfairly strong fantasy power levels can be. Being told that with that context in mind means… yeah, “can do anything with magic alone” probably really does mean anything.
“The two with bows can use magic too. At the very least, they can use it far better than I can. Even without staves, they can probably do quite a lot.”
Yeah. I see. I see…
“In other words… five elves are about as troublesome as facing a hundred human holy knights.”
… I’m really starting to hate this.
Why are they even here!? The World Tree!? The World Tree rumors!? Seriously, those former Great Cathedral people never do anything good! Aaaaagh! Grrraaagh!
But it’s still manageable. The elves are just walking steadily forward, that’s all.
“… Alright, I’ll tweak the dungeon layout a bit and buy us some time.”
“Yeah. That’s the first step. If they reach the deeper levels, we’ll be more and more restricted.”
My dungeon power can’t be used within areas recognized by hostile intruders. That’s why I need them unconscious, or far away, or something like that.
“Okay, let’s change the paths… huh?”
But…
“… It isn’t working.”
Terrifyingly enough, when I tried to change the maze routes using dungeon power, it just… didn’t work.
“… Hey, Mishisia-san. I couldn’t change the maze layout at all… Do elves have insanely good eyesight? Like, can they see through walls or something…?”
“Huh!? No, I don’t think so!?”
Right!? Yeah, I thought so too!
“… Ah! But… ahhh! I get it now! I got it, Asuma-sama! I think they’re walking while using interference magic!”
What!? That’s a thing!? I mean, I knew fantasy was unfair, but wow!
“Wait, so because of that interference magic, I can’t use my dungeon power!?”
“It’s possible… Even the Royal Knight Order uses interference magic when clearing dungeons, to suppress traps. But… at best, it usually only protects the immediate area around them.”
As Lisas-san and I stood there confused, Mishisia-san’s expression only grew more severe.
“I think they can do it. Because they’re elves. If they’re serious, the effective range of their interference magic would be… enormous. At the very least, it would affect most of the maze.”
“… Waaao.”
The elves might not even be thinking too deeply about using that interference magic. I doubt they’re intentionally trying to hinder the dungeon master. If they were that aware, I’d already be screwed beyond hope, so I’ll assume that’s not the case.
Basically… they’re just thinking, “Traps would be annoying, so let’s suppress everything while we move.”
“Do elves really possess that much mana…?”
“Yeah… way more mana than someone like me could ever handle.”
From what Lisas-san said earlier, spreading interference magic across an entire dungeon should be horribly inefficient. And yet they’re doing it casually, maintaining it while walking forward at a steady pace… That’s terrifying.
“… At this rate, they might reach the World Tree.”
The five elves continue onward, unhurried, barely on guard. They seem downright relaxed, almost toying with the place. Well, I guess they have the power to back that up…
“… Just to confirm, Mishisia-san. What do you think will happen if they reach the lowest level of the dungeon?”
“Umm… I don’t know. Having a World Tree inside a dungeon is pretty rare to begin with… and I don’t really know why they came to check it in the first place.”
Right. Thanks to that fake-villager guy, we know their goal is the World Tree.
So it’s definitely an investigation, but why come all the way to this country to do it? That’s the real issue.
“Probably because if there’s a World Tree they don’t know about, they feel they have to keep track of it. Usually, elves plant the World Tree seed, and it grows into a great tree over many long years… So for there to be a World Tree unknown to the elves is extremely unusual.”
I see. So it’s an investigation.
… Or, judging by what Mishisia-san said, elves seem like a very prideful race. Maybe they can’t tolerate the idea of a World Tree they don’t know about. If so, that’s troublesome…
“… Alright. I want to take some countermeasures.”
That’s the conclusion I came to.
“We don’t know their strength or their objective in detail, so we can’t move recklessly. And with interference magic in play, our options are severely limited.”
We now know that elves are an enemy we need to be extremely wary of.
But whether they’re truly an enemy, or something else entirely, we don’t know yet.
… and there are moves I can’t make unless that’s clear. I need to know.
“… I want to buy some time.”
With that, I made my decision.
“I want to drive them out of the dungeon once. Even if it means revealing one of our cards.”
Having decided that, I carefully considered which card to play.
If the elves turn out to be fully hostile, I want to reveal as little as possible. But to stop them and force them out of the dungeon…
… Alright.
“Which means, Mishisia-san, it’s your turn… And also, Generic-kun.”
“Generic-kun…?”
To draw the interest of elves who came to investigate the World Tree, the obvious bait would be Mishisia-san, someone from their homeland, and Generic-kun, glowing brilliantly after absorbing vast amounts of World Tree-derived mana. Those two should do it.
What do you think about this chapter?
