My World to Free-use

215: Trap?

“Why do we have to guard some unknown commoner? I am an honorable knight. I didn’t become one for tasks such as these.”“Hey, who are you calling a knight?”

“I will be one day.”

“Well, until that day, you aren’t. So shut it with the complaints. The real knight among us is silent.”

“That’s exactly what I don’t get. Why is the captain doing something so trivial like this? And he’s even regarding that commoner the same rank as him.”

“He must have a reason. You do know that the captain is also a viscount, but if he’s still being respectful, I doubt it’s something so simple.”

“Maybe it’s just a story.”

“Yeah, right. Like a prince would come down here to do some dirty expedition. Enough with your stories, Hansen.”

“But think about it. Would the captain be selected to guard anyone other than the prince?”

“…”

“…”

No one had an answer.

Well, it wasn’t like I couldn’t relate. If I had been in their place, I would have arrived at the same consensus. And the guy whom they referred to as the captain probably did.

I mean, Elara was quite close to the queen, and the queen was having problems with the king; probably, every high-ranking noble knew that. Maybe the captain thought the same, thinking that Elara had brought me with her from this banquet to protect me from the king’s faction or something.

It could be something else, but that was most probably it.

“We have arrived.” The captain said, arriving outside a walled city. It wasn’t as big as the capital, but it was still about a hundred times bigger than Hector town.

“Here is the dungeon?” I spoke, containing a stuck-up edge in my voice as royals would. If they thought I was one, why not take full advantage of it?”

“Yes, your…” He stopped before he completed his sentence, making me sure my observation was correct.

“Very well. Arrange for mysel-me to hunt there.” I made sure to make a mistake too. Old habits die hard, after all. If I had made sure to keep my persona as a royal intact, this journey would have been very smooth.

“I shall arrange for an inn. Then my men and I shall clear the dungeon reserved for you. We will make sure to keep the guardian alive, so please come to finish it and claim your victory then.”

Ahh, he must have thought I was the rich kid who was looking to score some contribution by hiring some mercenaries. Mercenaries, in this case, are they.

“No, I shall hunt myself. Otherwise, I would not improve. My master ordered me to clear this dungeon on my own. She would be disappointed otherwise.”

Yeah.

‘She.’

Why? Well, if the queen’s master was Elara, who’s to say the queen’s child couldn’t be one either.

And that was exactly what I was aiming for. And it worked flawlessly as well. Maybe Elara had that same plan in mind, which was why she sent Valeria to assign me the knight’s unit, the highest-ranking servant in the entire estate. If I really were some commoner, well, assigning a knight’s unit to me would be a tall dream no matter how talented I was, but even if one was assigned to me, Valeria, who was the attendant of the most powerful woman in the kingdom, wouldn’t be the one to guide me, but some no-name servant.

My wordplay hit the mark as well, as the knight’s eyes widened. He looked at me for a few seconds with shock before he said, “As you co-say…”

He was definitely going to say ‘command’ at the end.

And so, the wordplay game came to an end. Still, as we were guided through the city by the city’s lord, who was of Earl rank, who also treated me the same since he must have been informed of my arrival and smart enough to deduce such a scenario on his own, we arrived at the edge of the city, which was controlled by the city’s military.

Soldiers and some knights were guarding that section of the town like it was a top-secret military base. Walls were erected around the area to make sure there was no snooping, and we were led inside. Aside from me, every knight was scanned to make sure no one was carrying any sort of spell for communication or something that could relay to the others what was inside.

I wasn’t checked, most probably because of the lord next to me.

Anyway, we were led inside, and inside was even more chaotic. Soldiers, knights, and even unaffiliated awakeners.

It was like a marketplace, where lord’s assigned merchants were selling potions and emergency spell scrolls.

Awakeners going in and out of dungeons, some happy, some injured, some carrying loot, some carrying dead bodies.

“If you require a potion…” The lord respectfully said, but I waved my hand, saying, “I have everything I need.”

“Understood.” The lord replied and led me to a dungeon where no one was. No one was going in or out. A completely empty dungeon.

“I had this reserved since yesterday. Ever since I heard of you coming. There should be plenty of monsters inside. You might even encounter the guardian.” The lord said, showing me the dungeon entrance before me.

“Very well. I shall enter alone.” I replied.

“Pardon?” The lord was taken aback, and so was the knight captain.

“I have a spell cast on me, which would relay every move I make to my master. If I received help, she would know, and if she did, there would be no meaning in coming all the way here.”

Since they didn’t check me at the entrance, it was a very plausible excuse.

And since it was a spell cast by none other than Grand Lady Elara, no one in this place could even dream of dispelling it, even if they had a method.

“W-well then, perhaps you should take some scrolls with you.” The lord said.

“I have those; do not worry. Even my master does not wish me dead. Besides…” I said, creating a pause so everyone would hear, “I only intend to hunt a few monsters at the entrance, and gain some experience. Four or five would do. After that, I’ll leave.”

“Killing five monsters alone could be an achievement still. It might take you a few hours, but we shall remain here just in case.” The lord said, before he handed me a crystal, “If you crush this crystal, we will know of your danger and immediately come to your rescue.”

Rescue who, huh?

Well, whatever. Not to appear too uncooperative, I took the crystal and nodded at him, saying, “I shall remember you, Lord Cartwright.”

“It would be an honor, my lord.” The lord said with a gentle bow.

Saying so, I entered the dungeon, feeling the space around me tremble before everything normalized.

Well, not exactly normalized. The stench in here was unbearable. I used mana to purify the air going through my nostrils and looked around after guarding my eyes with mana too.

[You have entered the hybrid minotaur’s nest]

[Clearing this dungeon would earn you special rewards from the system]

Oh? A dungeon that even the system counted as a reward. Must be something here that made the system tick.

Well, I doubt it’d be anything significant. Otherwise, the system would have given me a quest instead of just a notice about a reward.

Going in, the first monster I encountered was somewhat of a minotaur, but the lower half of its body was strange. It wasn’t like a normal minotaur who had hooves.

There were scales like a snake, like an imoogi or a serpent, which held dragon’s blood.

But I could sure as hell not sense anything even close to a dragon from this minotaur.

Its eyes were red like it was high on something, and the breath leaving its mouth was hot enough to be felt even this far.

This minotaur was trying to absorb something, but failed. Something that was immensely powerful, hence why there was so much heat inside of him.

“Let’s see,” I said, finally gaining its notice since my footsteps were too silent for it to notice. Seeing me, it roared out loud, not like a cow, but like a damn beast. It lunged at me soon, intending to kill me, but a dumb monster was a dumb monster in the end. I didn’t even need to add momentum to my skill.

[Slice]

Granting an effect to my sword, I simply moved to the side and held my sword horizontally at the last moment, slicing the monster who was charging at me in half from its nose horizontally to the end of its stomach.

[You have killed a corrupted minotaur]

[Level up]

[You have obtained a corrupt S rank mana crystal]

A what?

Wait? S-rank?

That monster was S-rank?

Definitely not.

~~

“My lord. The boy has gone inside the dungeon.”

“He won’t survive, will he?”

“He definitely will not, my lord.”

“Good.” The man replied as he ended the communication, looking out the window and said, “You should not have lied to me, boy.”