Abandoned prison dungeon. A beginner dungeon found in every city, which unlike other dungeons, had the characteristic of allowing free entry and exit even without completing the dungeon conquest.
However, befitting a beginner dungeon, all monster byproducts were low-grade, so once you reached a level capable of conquering other dungeons, you wouldn't bother visiting this place. Though it was periodically updated, the dungeon itself never disappeared.
And now that abandoned prison dungeon had no trace left. Because Esperanza had closed it.
It had been close to just venting anger, but having co this far, it might be better to close all three remaining ones too. Then at least it would be a definite declaration of war. There would also be disruptions to the low-grade leather supply.......
She could sowhat achieve her original purpose of investigating low-grade leather suppliers too.
Esperanza took out the map she had copied earlier from her inventory. Four red dots. Four places in the sparsely populated outskirts of the old town district from the center of Nine Holder—north, south, east, and west.
Having eliminated one of them, three places remained. She could finish it all in one night.
Esperanza put her thin swords into her inventory. Her gaze fell on the steam carriage soone had abandoned.
"Steam carriage driving. It should be similar to a car, right?"
No matter what happens, surely she wouldn't die?
??????°??☆????°??????
White steam filled the dark sky. The old steam carriage had passed through the east and south of Nine Holder's old town district and was now heading west where the last dungeon was located.
[You have defeated the dungeon boss, 'Sli King'! Rewards are being accumulated.]
[You have defeated the dungeon boss, 'Troll'! Rewards are being accumulated.]
She had closed three out of four dungeons and was leaving only the last dungeon.
The abandoned prisons were all equally eerie. However, Esperanza seed unaffected by that chill and remained composed. Rather, she looked bored.
It was the mont she re-gripped her thin swords in front of the last dungeon.
"Please stop."
A familiar voice blocked Esperanza's path.
News travels so fast. Not even three hours had passed since she cleared the first dungeon.
Slowly turning around, she saw a familiar face. She did need to et this bastard once anyway.
"Luke Havenly."
A man stood there wearing a thick wool coat instead of the old hood he had worn when she first saw him. The hair that had swayed near his jawline now flowed softly past his shoulders.
The man approached with a faint smile. Despite neither having good mories, she could glimpse sothing like fondness in that smile. Esperanza gripped her thin swords a bit tighter.
Even if he looked frail, he was a forr assassin. A frontal confrontation would be out of the question, but there was no telling what ans he might have prepared.
The man erased his smile and raised both hands.
"There's no need to be on guard."
Esperanza smiled broadly like Cider would. Then she swung her arm wide and threw her thin sword upward. The information broker's eyes reflexively widened.
Esperanza, who had lowered her outstretched arm, said.
"Good to see you."
A revolver appeared in the hand where the thin sword had disappeared. It was instantaneous. Luke Havenly felt his back muscles stiffen.
The gun barrel glowing blue with magic power. Even telling himself she wouldn't shoot, the mory of being threatened by that very gun barrel dominated his body.
"Where is Daria?"
At the cold question, he forced his stiffened lips to barely produce sound.
"I don't know either. She cos when she wants and returns when her business is done. I rely do what I'm ordered to do."
"Did Daria order you to co here? Or did she tell you to extract information from Jack? It's late, so let's not waste ti with nonsense."
It was a tone that had cast off even the thin layer of courtesy, whatever had happened in the anti. Though there was no aggression, goosebumps rose on his forearms. Even maintaining a smile was an ordeal.
"You ca here because you have sothing to say to ."
Her tightly bound curly hair fluttered. As she stepped closer, the gun barrel ca that much nearer. Luke Havenly had to tense all his muscles to keep from running away.
"Show
your cards first."
It sounded like a suggestion but was a threat. Just like when dealing with Daria, he had no choice but to submit to that threat. He pointed behind Esperanza.
"'Dungeon.'"
"That's right."
Esperanza, who had been nodding, paused.
Wait a minute. Of course that's a dungeon. But......, how many people in this world would use that expression? Was he influenced by Daria? Or.
"Because it's an abandoned prison."
Dungeon was originally a word aning underground prison. So this wasn't just about distributing monster byproducts.
Because it would be inconvenient if players and NPCs used different expressions. It was more ticulous than expected.
"Poachers are also getting their hands on monster carcasses. Among officially licensed hunters, there are those who enter relatively safe dungeons. Back-alley thugs more often use laborers with lots of debt and difficult circumstances, but this side isn't very exposed. Since it's illegal to begin with."
Hunters. So that's why Hunter....... The basic foundation was already virtually complete.
"What does Daria plan to do going forward?"
"I cannot tell you."
His stepping into this side was rely insurance to save his life. As long as he didn't cause significantly great harm, Esperanza wouldn't kill him. But he couldn't offer anything significant either.
Daria would definitely kill him if he betrayed her. But if he remained loyal, she would bestow many things upon him.
Given these two choices, there was no reason to deliberate.
"What if I demand more information?"
"If you can trust the information I provide, you're welco to take it."
Ah, so this is how you're playing it. Esperanza smiled irritably.
Not having an information network was inconvenient. Moreover, no matter how she looked at it, there was no one comparable to this Luke Havenly. That's why Duke Galliston had kept him. That's why Daria had personally recruited him.
"What did Daria promise that was so amazing that you betrayed the Duke?"
A bitter smile crossed Luke Havenly's lips. Of course, Daria had promised amazing things. But that wasn't why he had betrayed.
"Such things aren't necessary."
If he hadn't received anything special, why did he betray? Was it due to threats to his life? If that was it, she might be able to get information under the sa conditions. Esperanza thought with a slightly sullen expression. As if reading her inner thoughts, the information broker slowly opened his mouth.
"I'm from an assassin background, you see. So people find romance in the profession of assassin, but the reality is despicable work."
So think of assassins as doing magnificent work, silently eliminating great heroes who once commanded the world from the shadows.
However, Luke Havenly's past was more sordid than people thought. Receiving requests from capitalists to assassinate worker representatives, assassinate capitalists' competitors, sotis kill their families....... Could there be any romance in work that even required displaying those deaths?
He had entered under Duke Galliston wanting to do human-like work, but what he did there wasn't much different either. In the end, he stained his hands with blood again and felt contempt as naturally as breathing.
"Duke Galliston said that human-like treatnt was unthinkable for soone who did inhuman work."
The fact that it was the Duke who ordered that work wasn't particularly important here. There was just a difference between those who dirty their hands and those who don't need to. Esperanza thought that was sowhat ridiculous. Isn't an instigator the sa as a principal offender?
"So Daria gave you human-like treatnt? That can't be right?"
Daria, who regarded all people in this place as toys, couldn't have given Luke Havenly the treatnt he wanted. She might have been even harsher than Galliston. So why did he choose Daria instead of Galliston?
"Because to Daria, everyone is the sa. The Duke, the Queen, this humble person—she treats everyone the sa....... It's fine."
Everyone is the sa toy. You can't rise up anyway.
'Then everyone co down.'
He felt no guilt about this desire. What remained was only small curiosity.
What would Hunter Esperanza say? Soone as unlike the people of this world as Daria, but unlike Daria, soone who possessed compassion. What answer would she give?
Esperanza lowered the hand holding the revolver. She stood with her back to the pitch-dark abandoned prison and was silent for a mont.
"If you're satisfied with that, I don't have much to say. I can't promise to give you better treatnt than Daria either. You have to save your own life—you're not a child like Jack. I don't particularly need your abilities either. I have nothing to give you or receive from you."
Havenly quietly tilted his head. His jet-black hair flowed down.
"Is that so. I see."
For so reason, it wasn't disappointing.
Esperanza swept up her hair. It definitely wasn't the answer he wanted, but with that answer, he seed to have made so decision.
She had a premonition that if she asked questions now, she could hear answers. A feeling as if she had paid a price with that earlier answer. Esperanza didn't ignore that premonition.
"Does Daria co often?"
Luke Havenly hesitated for a mont. His eyes reached past Esperanza's shoulder to the only unconquered dungeon in this Nine Holder. After a brief silence, he opened his mouth.
"She doesn't et with
often. ......But I know a place she visits regularly."
She hadn't expected him to answer even what she hadn't asked. Suspicion rose montarily, but it seed better to hear the answer.
"Where?"
"The research laboratory of soone called Dr. Sullivan."
A research laboratory studying spaceti machines? Her lips felt dry.
"That's all I can tell you."
She wanted to probe further, but Luke Havenly consistently said he couldn't tell her anything more.
It wouldn't be impossible to detain him and interrogate him. Several possible thods flashed through her mind for a brief mont, but she had no intention of putting any of them into practice.
anwhile, Luke Havenly pulled his hat down low.
"I'll be going now."
He deliberately showed his back in front of Esperanza. That was a sign that he knew she wouldn't attack. The thought of shooting that bastard down to teach him a lesson surged up and barely subsided. Esperanza looked up at the sky. It was ti to return.
"I'll have to leave the last dungeon."
If the purpose was to buy ti, Luke Havenly had succeeded.
??????°??☆????°??????
A huge space as if three rooms had been combined. Giant chanical devices installed along the walls from ceiling corners were slowly rolling.
Magic power moved along brass gears, lighting up colored bulbs. White steam expelled from pipes escaped through ventilation ducts.
Standing in front of the wall where parts were intricately entangled, Cider Claiborne corrected circuits written in notes from 10 years ago and fitted in new parts. A small bulb lit up.
The spaceti machine that had begun production with new parts wasn't even half complete, but the frawork was established enough to imagine the finished form. After confirming that magic power was circulating as desired, he straightened up.
"She's late."
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