Chapter 37: Entry

After the shocking encounter with Bearness, we moved away from people’s eyes and sorted out the situation, and headed to the dungeon for the promotion examination as originally planned.

Morzen naturally guided us.

She walked forward, exposing half of her back and her spine, and I felt sorry for her as I watched her.

If you walk like that, it’ll be easy for the liches to take out your spine from behind.

Skeleton soldiers are very exhausting.

No matter how many bones a human body is made up of, if one bone breaks, the skeleton has to replace it like a mechanical part of a magic engineering machine.

The spine is the most important thing for skeletons.

The liches collected spines not only for themselves but also for their subordinate skeletons, and they often targeted those with weak defenses in the back.

But there was something I couldn’t say…

“Will the goddess of the moon protect the exposed part of that person?”

“Yes.”

“You too?”

“Yes.”

Rosemas was no different.

She participated in the judging wearing the ‘dark blue underwater combat high-leg suit’ and ‘white stockings’ that I saw at the clothing store.

But she wore a robe that was slightly see-through, as if she had a conscience.

At first glance, it looks like the most dangerous thing in our party is Morzen and then Rosemas…

“Keeeek!”

“Hmph!”

Seeing him deflect the blows of the demons flying from afar without a care, I thought that I was the most dangerous.

“Hey, how can a goblin go after clothes?”

“Isn’t this happening in real life right now?”

“It’s ridiculous.”

As we walked, all the monsters that attacked us were targeting our clothes instead of our exposed skin. It must have been an attack they learned from experience while fighting human adventurers for many years.

“Lucius, did you see that? The one that shot at Morzen’s shoulder. Why didn’t you just shoot at his stomach?”

“If you shoot at his stomach, it would bounce off because of the goddess’s protection.”

“The world is going crazy, really.”

Even low-level demons like goblins know that exposed parts of the body are immune to attacks. If not, they would have targeted areas covered by fabric and not deliberately targeted areas where skin was exposed. The protection of the Goddess of the Moon was more powerful than I had imagined, and I seriously considered whether I should change my clothes.

If they’re only targeting the parts where I’m wearing clothes, wouldn’t it be enough to protect only those areas by reducing the area of my clothing as much as possible?

“Lucius.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Should I also take off my clothes?”

“…Yes?”

“That’s right. If I just cover the parts that need to be covered from top to bottom, and protect only those areas with mana, I think I can protect myself more efficiently.”

“I’m sorry…”

Lucius pointed to my exposed legs.

“Master, you don’t have the protection of the goddess, right?”

“That’s true. But I’m not doing it because I think I’m receiving protection. I’m using the enemy’s ideas and stereotypes.”

“Ideas?”

“Yes. The enemy won’t know that I’m not receiving protection until they attack my exposed skin, right? Then the enemy will first attack my clothes, right? Then I just have to block those areas.”

Logical and reasonable. As expected, I’m smart.

“What do you think?”

“…But if the enemy’s attack bounces off or something, you could get hurt.”

“Hmm. That’s true.”

It’s not like it’ll hurt your body if you ricochet, but there’s another way…

“Ah.”

Just then, a good idea occurred to me.

“After the examination is over, I’ll go to the salon.”

“…Why the salon?”

“I’ll make a new outfit.”

I thought of a way to expose my skin while protecting my entire body. It wasn’t to receive the goddess’s protection, but it was a really good way to move the enemy’s attack to a place where I could easily protect myself.

“Lucius, there’s a wolf next to you.”

Crunch.

Even while we were talking, a beast attacked us. Lucius lightly swung his sword and cut down the wolf.

“Sorry, I missed you because I was reloading.”

Morzen, who had been far ahead of us, hurriedly ran toward us. In her hand was a small pistol with six empty magazines. A magic pistol. It’s a six-shot pistol that you put magic power inside and shoot. Its destructive power and lethality are similar to that of a faster magic missile. Although Rosemas’s wind arrow was much faster and stronger, Morzen’s magic pistol had the advantage in that anyone could handle it easily.

“Are you hurt?”

“I was able to deal with it because the master told me right away. I think it was something that was hiding under a rotten tree.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I used to be a hunter.”

“Wow…”

The way she stealthily approached Lucius and waggled her tail was truly impressive. Is she really an examiner? Anyone could have been an examiner, but maybe she volunteered to be one because she wanted to be with Lucius?

…..

Look at this. Doesn’t Rosemas look quite uncomfortable right now?

“Rosemas. The examiner and I will talk about the exam, so you talk to Lucius alone.”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course.”

That was the plan, of course. I tried to create a natural atmosphere without telling Rosemas, but Morzen clung to Lucius and the plan was ruined.

‘Dungeon, show up right away.’

I wish we could get to the test site in question quickly.

With a desperate heart, I pushed forward through the forest path.

“The abandoned dungeon of the warlock?” I asked.

“Yes,” Morzen replied.

The place Morzen introduced was a workshop used by a necromancer in the past, and the warlock illegally used the forest cave as a workshop.

“The warlock is said to have conducted research on resurrecting corpses here,” Morzen explained.

“Then, should I just deal with the warlock?”

“No, Arthur. The warlock left the dungeon.”

“Aha,” I nodded, starting to understand the request.

“The corpses are rising because of the traces the warlock left in his workshop,” Morzen continued.

“That’s right, witch. This mission is…” Morzen handed Lucius and me each a piece of paper with a mission written on it.

“Cleaning the abandoned laboratory. Cleaning here doesn’t mean sweeping and wiping, but dealing with any monsters hiding in the laboratory or any undead with souls moving around.”

“This is a D-rank mission…?” Lucius seemed unsure.

At first glance, this mission might seem like a simple test of courage, but since it was an abandoned dungeon where there was nothing, you just had to go in and come out.

“Just clean up…?” Lucius asked.

“Lucius. Are you disappointed?” I queried.

“No, Master.”

“Disappointed, what do you mean?” I lightly tapped Lucius’s head with my cane.

“There’s a reason it’s a D-rank mission. There might be unmanageable monsters inside. Do you think you can solve a D-rank mission with just swordsmanship?”

Lucius lowered his head with a complicated expression.

His power was above A-rank, but he had seen the Mercenary King, who also had a holy sword, being praised by others as an S-rank, while he was a pitiful E-rank.

“There was no one who was normal from the beginning. They struggled in places that were not visible in order to climb to the top. So don’t be so disappointed about doing this for now. Someday, you might be able to participate in the subjugation of a giant demon or a large-scale dungeon.”

“Understood, Master.”

Every man wants to wield the power he possesses. The reason Lucius is frustrated because the mission is too easy right now is because he is the owner of the Holy Sword. If he didn’t have the Holy Sword, he would probably be walking around nervously, trembling with fear.

“But let’s make one thing clear, Mr. Morzen. If nothing comes out of the abandoned laboratory, it doesn’t mean we won’t pass, right?”

“Yes. That’s why I was assigned as an examiner. To check if you really went there. Over there.” Morzen walked forward, digging through the bushes.

Every time his arm was scratched, a blue light flashed, clearly showing the protection of the Goddess of the Moon.

“It’s here.” Morzen pointed to a small cave below the cliff.

It was dark inside and I couldn’t see well, so I lit the lamp I had prepared in advance.

“I need to save mana.”

It would be easier if I used light magic, but that would shorten my lifespan. It would be better to solve what can be solved with goods. The light wasn’t that dim, and this was enough to make it through the dark cave.

“Lady Rosemas, you’ll just follow me from behind. If we decide to go ahead, I’ll just check from behind until you shout ‘Help me!'”

“Understood.”

I don’t know if there’s a time when I’ll ask for help. No, there might be a time when Morzen will ask for help.

“Master, I’ll lead.”

“Lucius.”

I took off Lucius’s gloves.

“You should put the ring out there.”

“…Ah.”

Lucius looked blankly surprised, and I stuffed Lucius’s gloves into his inner pocket.

“You’ll have to use them if necessary. I’ll leave the judgment up to you.”

“Oh, I understand. But…”

“Don’t worry. If there’s a problem, I’ll take care of it.”

Something feels uneasy right now.

“…Huh?”

The old man lifted his skull-headed cane at the sound from outside.

“Guests. Tsk, I’ve left you here for too long.”

Click, click.

“Insolent bastards. One male and three females? How dare they trespass in someone else’s home. Hmm…”

Click, click.

“First, we’ll kill him and offer him up as a sacrifice.”

Click, click.

“The Demon King, Belphegor, will be pleased. Hehehe.”

The old man raised his shotgun.

“Mine, welcome to the dungeons of Shax, you little ones.”