Basement Dungeon ~Poor Siblings become the Strongest and Enjoying Exploration~

In a forest with no one around. There is no wind, the trees do not sway, and all you can hear are the cries of animals. In the midst of all this, two black figures with an unusually thin presence are talking to each other while behind a tree.

“Well, the capture of Rimdobmur was happening in the afternoon.” (Kei)

“Yup, you said that we would be able to dive into the dungeon in the morning using following the directions and reach the forest at three o’clock.” (Haru)

“If that were the case, we wouldn’t have had to come so early, would we? There’s no one here.” (Kei)

“I don’t want people to have the chance to see me while I’m changing clothes again.” (Haru)

“Oh, that happened before.” (Kei)

　Looking at the pocket watch in my hand, the two hands point directly above. In other words, it’s already 12 o’clock. I think it’s too early because they come at about 3 o’clock.

　In anime, you see people arriving at the meeting place an hour before the date, but what about three hours? To be honest, I think even an hour early is too early.

　My theory is that 20 to 10 minutes before the meeting is about right. It’s not like you’re meeting someone important for work.

“Brother, what are you thinking about? Oh, [Fissure].” (Haru)

　While was thinking about this, Haru asked me a question. Then, a monster jumped out. However, the monster seems to have already been split into two pieces by her magic of [Fissure].

　I’ve banned the use of sound-emitting explosive spells just in case someone comes.

“I thought we were too early to have come here. We can’t kill time because we don’t have any electronics or entertainment gadgets.” (Kei)

“ We can’t even sleep because the monsters keep coming.” (Haru)

“If one sleeps, the other will get bored.” (Kei)

“I’m bored.” (Haru)

“I’m bored too.” (Haru)

　If you just look up, you can see Rimdobmur flying in the sky. We can see the sky above us, thanks to the leaves that have just fallen from the trees that we’re covering our heads.

　The sky is a ceiling that looks far higher than it is.

“Haru, how high is the ceiling here? It’s obviously longer than the stairs that we used to come down.” (Kei)

“Well, the stairs might be a kilometer high. I am not sure about the exact height, but 1 kilometer is the closest.” (Haru)

“The tallest building in the world hasn’t reached a thousand meters tall, right?” (Kei)

“How high could it be inside?” (Haru)

“I have no idea.” (Kei)

　If we look at the side, all you can see is a lot of trees. You can’t see any walls.

　The conversation was over, and they couldn’t think of anything else to say. As siblings, they have always been together, so there is nothing new to talk about.

　The siblings were forced to wait for three hours, perhaps they did it of their own volition? Anyway, when the foreign mercenaries showed up in the forest, their eyes were blank and they were just hunting the monsters that came near them.

~3rd Person Perspective~

　And here was the group of mercenaries from overseas. Their name was [Angus Another].

　It is a mercenary corps created by their leader Angus, who gathered mercenaries who were interested to explore the dungeon.

　Their total numbers are unknown, but the level of their top members is over level 50. This is a level that even Japan’s highest-level Hero can be easily defeated.

　Among them, there are 24 people who have come to Japan this time. According to the explanation, there are 20 explorers to fight, and 4 members to assist with supplies. Incidentally, even the auxiliary members are over 30 levels, which is not something to laugh at.

　Today, they were going to dive into the dungeon and demonstrate defeating Rimdobmur. 20 combatants from the mercenary group and advanced explorers who can go to the forest were in front of the Tokyo Dungeon. There are also many other reporters and spectators who are crowding the square to the brim.

　The mercenary group had held a lecture with an interpreter in a large hall two days earlier, where they had talked about many things other than how to defeat Rimdobmur. The information was gathered by the mercenaries on their own or learned while traveling around their country, and it included many things that were new to the Japanese.

　First, the rules of the dungeon. As we all know, the dungeon prohibits more than four people from moving together. This was something that the government had to learn the hard way, as they had been punished by Gan Ceann for breaking this rule.

　However, a more detailed rule has been discovered on this information as well.

　Though nobody knows how it works, it means that even if more than five people are searching, there is no problem as long as all actions are done by only four people.

　In other words, even if eight people are exploring together, even if a monster appears, if only four people are actually fighting and the remaining four people are not. It will then not be treated as a joint battle unless they are readying something.

　Furthermore, the dungeon seems to use visual information to make this decision, so as long as the four non-fighters are not in a fighting stance and do not have weapons, there is no problem no matter how many people there are who are trying to kill the monster.

　In addition, there is a penalty for breaking this rule. What is generally known in Japan is that there is no item drop or experience value and that there is a possibility of some kind of disturbance. However, it seems that the mercenaries had their eyes on something other than this.

　Why didn’t the first person to dive into the dungeon come back?

　Those who didn’t dive into the dungeon because they were surprised by the lack of electronic devices at the entrance and the status, they generated had no problem.

　However, the police and others who acted as an organization anywhere in the world and went deep into the dungeon were very unlikely to come back.

　So, perhaps out of courage, this group of mercenaries actually created that kind of situation and experimented with it.

　As a result, the monsters went crazy. For some reason, the monsters became stronger and stronger, or they moved in a coordinated manner, blocking the retreat.

　It was clear that they were trying to kill the intruder. In addition, the mercenary group members who had raised their status and accompanied them had dealt with the situation, so there were no injuries.

　The next piece of information is not so much a rule as a performance. The boss monster has high intelligence. This applies to unique monsters as well, and although they are not as intelligent as humans, it was confirmed that they act with a strong will rather than instinct, and seeing this, they thought that the dungeon might actually be a boss monster.

　Incidentally, they are not sure exactly what the dungeon is, since appraising it doesn’t reveal anything.

　However, even the most intelligent monsters don’t seem to understand language, so they restrained a Minotaur that seemed to be the most intelligent and talked to it about various things, but it didn’t respond.

　They concluded that since no one would be insane enough to talk to a monster, it was probably impossible for it to learn language even if it was intelligent.

　In fact, I heard that not a single person in the lecture hall raised their hand when asked if they had ever talked to a monster. Well, there is a high possibility that they are just too embarrassed to raise their hands because they are Japanese.

　The mercenaries talked about many other things, and a few hours later, the lecture was over.

　The lecture was filmed and would be sold a week or so later.

　Two days passed. Finally, it was time to dive into the dungeon.

　With TV cameras and microphones pointed at them, the leader said something.

“From now on we will dive into the dungeon.” (Leader/Translator)

　Naturally, the person beside him translates. When he was done, the leader opened his mouth again.

“We promise that we will defeat the dragon and return safely.” (Leader/Translator)

　Tension runs high in the busy and crowded square.

“Let us depart!” (Leader/Translator)

　With that voice, the square echoed with cheers. The 20 mercenaries, their guides, and other explorers went into the dungeon.

　What did the mercenary corps say last before entering the dungeon?

“Ittekimasu.” (Leader) [T/N: The leader apparently spoke a little Japanese. It means “I’m going/see you later.”]

　It was a single word addressing the people.