CH 20: DUNGEON(4)

The rest of the way proceeded the same. I would use my gun to hit some of the goblins and Erza would use her sword to finish the rest.

All the way, the tacit understanding between the two of us slowly grew. We couldn't be called a golden pair, but at least we were good enough to not be an embarrassment.

After shooting another goblin I created a new magazine and reloaded my now empty gun.

Desert Eagles were powerful weapons, almost on par with S&W revolvers. But they had some rather high weaknesses that thankfully didn't affect me.

As we advanced, I could feel the amount of monsters appearing slowly increase.

The dungeon itself was rather linear with almost no bifurcation so the fights were straightforward. So straight that it was a little boring.

Yeah. I was bored. After all there's only oh so many times you can shoot a goblin before the novelty fades away.

Focusing on my senses, I closed my eyes and tried to map the surroundings.

Echo.

It wasn't a spell, but rather a raw application of mana. Basically it consisted of projecting your mana outwards and receiving the feedback.

The more control and amount of mana you had the better. Personally, I would have called it the zone or domain. But it seemed like those two were another level.

"Mamako, what is happening? You are rather silent."

Listening to Irene ask that question to Mamako, I stayed silent and walked toward Erza. I had no interest in that discussion.

From the moment we entered the dungeon, I could feel her reluctance in coming in.

It wasn't because of my warning or anything of the like. She just didn't want to put me in danger.

How stupid but kind could one be?

I of course knew why her affection burdened me.

Unpleasant memories began to surface in my mind before I suppressed them.

That woman should be crying like there's no tomorrow, right?

…Shitty memories.

Coming close to Erza, I saw her inspect the wound of the goblin she killed. I already saw her doing so, and I had a hunch but I still wanted to ask

"Could I ask why you are doing this?"

She slowly got up as before turning toward me,

"Goblins are one of the weakest monsters ever. I just want to see if the number of slashs necessary to kill one decreased."

Hum. As I thought. But should I follow her example?

Perhaps later.

If this dungeon had been entirely green, I wouldn't hesitate to try new things. But now if it still had some Yellow, despite the current party, then it was better to act as carefully as possible.

"I see. By the way, did you already take a ranking test? Or are you waiting for when you reach 16 and enter the academy?"

"I did, rank E. What about you?"

I could see the glimmer of curiosity in her eyes.

This world had a rather simple system of power. Four tiers, 10 levels.

Man the first time I saw it, I shivered as I thought that some CN were also part of this world. I only let out a sigh of relief when I understood that it was related to Mushoku Tensei.

The third tier had three ranks, H, G and F. Anyone with a score of F was basically like most fit humans ever born.

Erza being a rank E at her age was rather good.

"As for me I still didn't really try to know my rank for now."

"I see."

Erza was truly a woman of few words heh.

But it suited me. Perhaps we could become friends? Who knew?

What? I am not chasing her?

Nah. Not every hole is a goal. Frankly, there are some girls who simply were not suitable for me.

Erza Scarlet was a girl I really admired. Fairy tail in general was an anime I respected. People always complained about the Nakama power being omnipresent in that anime and I also thought so.

But… So what? The story was beautiful and their backstory was heart-rending. Though I also had to admit that the guy who created the OST for fairy tail is a True God of music.

Anyway…

"Erza, tell me, how much do you know about dungeons?"

I already knew more or less, but I wanted to discuss more with her.

"Hum… Aside from their ranking, not much. I just know that we must reach the innermost room and destroy the core to banish it from our world."

"Hehe. Not exactly. See. Humans are truly greedy. Not all dungeons have the same worth. For example this dungeon is pretty shitty. But some others have precious and rare minerals and metals. So those dungeon's cores are never destroyed. Teams or guilds will be regularly sent to wipe out the monsters and harvest."

"Oh?!"

I could see that I piqued her interest.

"Take the Karino family for example. We own a certain number of dungeons. So generally we sell tickets to the different guilds. Those guilds can come and harvest but we take about 10 to 20% of their harvest. Government owned dungeons are even more ruthless since they take between 30 to 40% percent."

I smiled at that. No matter which world, taxes were always bitches. But it felt good being on the side who also collected taxes.

"So, as long as they are valuable, dungeons aren't destroyed?"

"Nah. Humans are greedy but even that Greed have limits. Only dungeons up to rank B are permitted to exist for harvesting. Any dungeon above must be wiped out as soon as it opens. This law was because of what happened in America when the president of that time, Dinald Tramp, tried to exploit a S rank dungeon. Half of Washington D.C was totally wiped out."

We continued to talk like that until we finally reached a door.

The boss room. Whatever was happening in this dungeon, we would soon have an answer.