They spread out a large rolled-up map on the reception room tea table. It had 'Mabelwood' written in large letters and the Mabelwood family crest drawn on it.
Esperanza picked up a cucumber sandwich and ate it while coming outside through the large window. It was sothing an educated gentleman or lady would never do. Alastair gaped at the sight.
"I'm going to check the dungeon scale. Normally I'd run around doing this, but other nearby villages might have been swept up too, so I need to finish as quickly as possible. Cordelia, you know all the territory geography, right?"
"Of course. I can tell where it is just from a rough explanation."
"I'll shoot the gun, Lord Avondale will check how far the magic reaches, and Cordelia, you record it."
The forest side had too many trees to check this way, but the rural village side with scattered houses was quite possible. Beyond the forest there were only abandoned villages, so there was no need to check.
When Cider manipulated sothing, the telescope stretched out and its angles bent in various directions. Esperanza awkwardly poked at what had attached snugly to the gun.
"What is this?"
"I thought it would be more convenient to see this way. Continue."
"I've never seen anything like this. Isn't this new technology?"
Even Alastair, who had been absorbed in his work, admired the twisted telescope's form.
"New technology? No, ......well, let's say it is."
"Why are you changing your words?"
"If I haven't published it, it's new technology. More importantly, didn't you say there's no ti?"
Esperanza suppressed her unclear feelings and fired the gun. A long beam of magic power advanced endlessly until it suddenly disappeared as if hitting a wall. The brass telescope body stretched long. Sitting on a chair brought to the window without moving, Cider turned so unknown dial. The telescope craned its neck over the pouring beam.
"Where is it?"
"Near a house with a blue roof and an empty chicken coop. Lady Cordelia, do you know where that is?"
"That's Mr. Pedley's house. He's assisting his grandmother, so the house should be empty."
Cordelia marked the map without hesitation. Checking several more tis by changing angles the sa way, red dotted lines appeared on the map.
"Fortunately, except for that village from earlier, everything else is outside the dungeon range."
Esperanza, who had co back through the window, examined the map. Though the map symbols were old so it wasn't certain, comparing to the forest size, the dungeon's size was.......
"3,000 acres."
Cider, who had poked his head over Esperanza, said. Everyone in the room looked at him.
"How do you know that?"
Cider tilted his head and pointed to one side of the map. Esperanza raised her eyebrows. Sure enough, a precisely asured answer ca back.
"Because there's a scale."
"We can see the scale too."
"Then what's the problem? It's simple arithtic."
"......Ah, yes."
There was nothing to give back but a deflated answer. Everyone in that room probably felt the sa way.
Arithtic aside, she couldn't guess how he had calculated the map's area by eye from there, but she didn't ask. Obviously an infuriating answer would co back.
3,000 acres was neither big nor small. Houses weren't included. It was exactly the right size for a C-grade dungeon, so it probably wouldn't really take eight hours. Esperanza reduced the estimated ti to about six hours.
Having finished her cold al, Esperanza thoroughly checked the mansion's security. She caught several territory residents slacking off in front of windows.
Most were working while overly tense, so Esperanza actually had to ease their tension.
"Even if sothing cos in, there's no need to worry. There probably won't be many."
It was fortunate that it was combined with the forest. Monsters prioritized hunting forest beasts over people huddled together in the mansion. When these people returned to the village, the village livestock would have nothing but bones left, but in this situation it was unavoidable.
Still, when it ca ti for the boss battle, attacks would co this way too, so they absolutely must not let their guard down.
Esperanza really made a complete circuit around the mansion. During this ti, she caught children hanging around the chanical devices Cider had set up in front of fireplaces and sent them back to their rooms three tis. Cordelia was thoroughly angry and yelled at those children. Then she sent them all to Mrs. Wellesley, whom the children feared.
"Then all that's left is to conquer the dungeon with peace of mind."
Esperanza, who had checked her remaining magic amount, took out her gun from inventory. There was nothing more to prepare. Even if variables arose in a C-grade dungeon. She dusted off her skirt and shouldered the gun.
Going down to the first floor, Cider was installing a dungeon detector at the window that he had taken out at so unknown ti. The giant machine spun frantically.
"......Why did you take this out?"
"I need to collect samples. Where else would there be samples as good as a real dungeon?"
She wondered why she hadn't thought of that earlier, but thinking about a detector in this situation was unavoidable.
"Ah, yes. Then I'll go."
Anyway, she had to do her job. White light swirled around Esperanza's feet.
When Cider, who felt the magic manifestation, raised his head, Esperanza was holding the front door handle. She was naturally alone and required no one's company.
Her slender body holding the giant gun looked precarious. But Cider knew that what was truly precarious wasn't Esperanza. He trusted Esperanza, but perhaps he couldn't trust her as much as she was confident.
Her military boot laces seed about to co undone, so Esperanza sat down on the front step without hesitation and retied them.
Cider stood with his back completely to the detector and asked.
"Is it eight hours from now to completely conquer the dungeon?"
"Shorter than that, I think it'll take about six hours. Monsters will be dispersed this way too, so defenses will be needed. When hunting in the forest runs out, they'll co here first. I hope to finish before then."
It would be difficult to finish that quickly. Esperanza usually did the work of five or six ordinary Hunters alone, but still, she had only one body, so she couldn't attack multiple places at once and could get hurt or tired.
"Don't overdo it. Even if you take sixteen hours instead of six, no one will say anything."
"It's not that difficult a dungeon. I've experienced quite a lot of dungeons like this. The base camp is well-prepared too. Really. You don't need to worry about ."
"Why, am I not allowed to worry about you?"
The smoothly flowing air stops abruptly.
It was a question asked in passing. It didn't seem like he wanted an answer either. Yet it seed to pierce sowhere in her body.
"......That's not what I ant."
Esperanza stopped speaking and slowly raised her eyes. That's not what I ant.......
mories she had lightly brushed aside lodged in her mind as if they had been waiting. Words she had dismissed as jokes, fragnts of emotion he had sotis revealed.
The mont their gazes intertwined, realization flickered past.
Esperanza, whose lips had been moving, quickly stood up and whispered rapidly.
"I'll be back."
Her body, tense as a drawn bowstring, sprang out. Into the dangerous dungeon crawling with monsters. Cider watched that retreating figure until it disappeared below the hill, then returned to his work.
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Dungeon conquest generally consists of three stages. First, base camp setup. Second, mob conquest. Third, boss battle.
Of course, this is only idealistic. Sotis mobs swarm or bosses appear before a base camp is even established. Or special terrain might erupt and sweep away everyone from Hunters to civilians to monsters. In such cases, abandoning civilians is usually the answer.
Occasionally when encountering high-intelligence bosses, modified special terrain appears, and surprisingly then civilians' professional knowledge is quite helpful. She had once been trapped in a palace-type dungeon with a construction worker and escaped through a secret passage. It was interesting. It would have been more enjoyable if she were the type who enjoyed using her head.
Anyway, it doesn't apply to C-grade dungeons.
Just break through with the body alone. No special terrain. Plain difficulty.
Esperanza, who had lowered her body under the bushes, held her breath and raised her gun barrel high. A magic bullet that exited through a silencer item soundlessly pierced the giant monster's throat that was trying to swallow a wolf in one bite. When the monster's neck fell, its body soon lost balance and flopped over. Esperanza moved quickly.
Befitting a C-grade dungeon, the monsters were generally large in size so easy to hit, and their attack power was quite low. Few in number, and slow attack intervals too. Even while moving leisurely, Esperanza instantly slaughtered dozens of monsters.
The light vibration when magic bullets fired, the air resistance pouring in the opposite direction when launching her body, the pleasure of ending a giant monster's breath with a single shot. Esperanza's lips curved as she ran through the forest stepping on trees.
Unable to forget this sensation, she had clung to 'Golden Claw' for seven years. Stronger opponents, more stimulating slaughter. That series of actions of running with her whole body, hitting, turning and shooting. Sensations impossible to feel in reality.
Permitted violence.
She was so intoxicated she didn't notice ti passing. With clouded purple eyes, she rampaged between gun and sword, between ground and sky.
When she deflected and struck down with the raised blade, the long-tailed chira's body split exactly in half. Sliding through the forest path, Esperanza bent her waist backward to avoid the next monster's claws. And the mont the claws swept past, she kicked the joint and flipped backward in the air.
In the gap between attacks, Esperanza shot a magic bullet toward a fire bird flying toward the mansion, then mounted another chira attacking from behind and blasted from its back straight through to its heart.
Whether the weapon her hand wielded was a sword or gun from when, no one watching could have been certain.
"Phew...... Where on earth is the dungeon boss?"
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