Side: Horst Arnes - Lord of Betan
Spread out before my eyes was a massive pit that appeared to have been caused by a collapse of considerable scale.
"So it was true..."
"Indeed..."
Standing beside me was General Mist—who had rushed to this land upon receiving reports that 120,000 of Enaria's army were caught in the collapse—was just as dumbfounded as I was.
"At this point... pursuing them would only put us in danger." I said.
"I agree. According to Yuki-san's report, quite a number of them survived by sheer luck. Yet we can only see a few hundred corpses. The rest must have fled into those ruins."
We concluded that sending our force of only around 5,000 into ruins capable of holding tens of thousands of people would be reckless.
At first, after receiving the report from the goblins, I had planned to coordinate with Mist-sama to whittle down the damaged Eneria army as much as possible, but...
"To think they chose to flee into the ruins..."
"The enemy's magic sword wielder general doesn't seem to be a fool. She isn't going to leave herself in a position where we can simply attack from above. Look over there—enemy scouts are already peeking out from the ruins' entrance."
"In that case, even descending would be dangerous."
"While we're descending, the Eneria army will form ranks below. We might be able to reduce their numbers somewhat with arrows and fire arrows, but..."
"Once they're prepared, the effect would be minimal."
At this rate, not only would the effect be minimal, but we could suffer heavy losses.
After all, the enemy also has Magic Sword wielders.
"So... what should we do now?"
"For now, we'll leave a monitoring force here and return to town. I don't think they'll emerge immediately, but these ruins could connect elsewhere. While we're guarding this entrance, they might attack the city from another exit."
"Indeed..."
This might not be the only entrance to the ruins.
It would be overly optimistic to assume that the Enaria soldiers who fled inside will focus solely on escaping from this one opening.
Even I would look for other exits.
"From Yuki-san's report, the enemy supply unit that avoided the collapse has already withdrawn, and soon their reinforcements will arrive. If we pay too much attention to the forces caught in the collapse and leave our rear exposed, it would be most unpleasant. Since we have intentionally prepared substantial defensive walls in expectation of an enemy attack, we should avoid such open-field battles where we cannot make use of them."
"Naturally..."
Mist-sama is exactly right.
In the end, there was nothing we could do right now. But staying here indefinitely wasn't good either.
Maintenance of supplies would take extra effort, and if things go poorly, we might end up forced into a fight with the enemy reinforcements... If that's the case, since I also want to see the power of the barbed wire fences constructed in Betan Town, it is better to wait and ambush them in the town.
"Come to think of it, what happened to Yuki-san and his group? The opinions of those people are highly valuable..."
"Yuki-dono was defending this place with a small force, so he's currently resting in his tent. If it's not urgent, I'd like you to wait until he wakes up. He's spent nearly five days here, continuously watching the area and eliminating any soldiers who climbed back up."
"...I see. Then we'll stand by here until Yuki-san wakes up."
Hoh. Mist-sama is technically Yuki-dono's superior, but this attitude shows she properly evaluates his abilities.
It was rare for someone to place such trust in a commander who had once fought against them. She is a person of great caliber.
"Still, I wonder what actions the Enaria army is taking inside those ruins..."
"Even the smallest piece of information would be valuable."
Rather than knowing how far they have advanced in exploring the ruins, what we truly need is information such as the army's casualties and the amount of remaining supplies.
Knowing the enemy's state, comparing it to your own, and then deciding on a strategy. It is a natural thing to do, but there are barely any who can actually execute it. Conversely, if one can manage that, it is practically the same as conquering the battle.
Information is, truly, the most vital thing.
"Let us leave the monitoring to the soldiers, return to camp for now, and rest a little."
"Indeed."
Mist-sama said so and headed back toward the camp.
I followed after her, but I stopped my feet once, turned around, and looked at the ruins.
"If only we could monitor inside there... No, I shouldn't think of such convenient things and should search for a realistic method instead."
That's right. The management of my territory has been built up through steady, generational effort.... In a crucial battle such as this, I must not allow myself to seek an easy way out.
Now then, I should rest my body until Yuki-dono wakes.
I am sure that man will not make any decision that leads us down a bad path.
* * *
Side: Aegil
Enaria General, Wielder of the Lightning Magic Sword
Chatter chatter... Rustle rustle...
Hmm...
Something's noisy...
Even though I was sleeping so comfortably...
Annoyed at having my nap interrupted, I slowly opened my eyes.
"Hey! Bring some water!!"
"Got it. Which way should I carry it?"
"To the food management area—"
Oya?
It seems I had been lying down and sleeping in a grassy area off the path where soldiers were coming and going.
Looking around carefully, not only those soldiers, but many other soldiers were also hustling about.
For some reason, I could see soldiers carrying treasure chests, others carrying food instead of water, and some who were covered in wounds.
"...Hmm... Wait. Where am I?"
"Still half asleep? We're inside the dungeon, of course."
A familiar voice came from behind.
Without turning around, I simply fell backward.
Poof. The grass made a nice cushion. It felt good.
"Ah, right. I forgot. This grass is so comfortable I ended up dozing off."
"Good grief. You said you were just going to look around a bit, but you never came back, so I was looking for you."
"Sorry, sorry~ But look, the weather's so nice."
Saying that, I looked up at where the ceiling should be.
There was no ceiling. Instead, there was a clear blue sky, a few clouds, and the sun shining down on us.
"...True. It's highly questionable why there's a sky, clouds, and a sun underground, but I'll admit the weather is nice."
"Anyway, sorry. You were looking for me, so does that mean there's been some progress?"
"Ah, yes. For now, could you come to the tent?"
"Sure."
I was at fault for napping, so I got up at once and followed Prism.
Still, when we first set foot on this first floor, the whole army was astonished... No... Actually, we'd been too busy fleeing from slimes. We only had time to be amazed afterward.
Prism even thought we had gotten back outside.
While walking, I picked up a random pebble and threw it into the sky. The pebble flew up... only about 6 meters before hitting something and falling back down.
Yes, we are unmistakably inside a dungeon.
Although I don't know the logic behind this sky, the ceiling simply looks that way.
Good grief, how fun. To think a dungeon could be this interesting, it makes my researcher blood boil.
Before long, we entered the tent.
Now, I suppose I should use my head a little seriously.
"Sit wherever you like."
Prism pulled over a random chair inside the tent and sat down.
I also sat on a nearby chair.
"For now, since it's impossible to write a formal report, it will be a verbal explanation."
"That makes sense. We still haven't secured our supply lines, after all."
It has been five days since then.
For now, there was no sign of enemy pursuit, but we had lost about a quarter of our supplies due to the collapse and the slimes eating them. The remaining food was more than expected, but even when rationed, it would only last about three weeks.
Fortunately, there was a clean, drinkable lake on this 1st floor, so water wasn't an issue... But we couldn't wait until it ran out, so we immediately dispatched units to search for food.
We're gathering a small amount of food from fruits and wild plants growing on this floor and fish from the lake, but it won't last long."
"Well, that's because we have a large number of people."
"Exactly. That's why I'm thinking of moving the main force to the 2nd floor, where the exploration teams have gone, and conduct large-scale exploration. There are stairs leading upward, so it should be better than going down. What do you think?"
Thanks to the exploration teams separate from the food-gathering teams, we had discovered stairs leading both upward and downward. And she probably intends to move toward those discovered stairs leading up.
I can understand what Prism is saying.
At this rate, the army won't be able to maintain its shape due to food shortages.
Therefore, as a solution, she probably intends to move the main force, navigating the dungeon as an army to advance both food procurement and exploration all at once.
"The problem is that the security on the 1st floor will become thin."
"Yes. The enemy could attack at any time. That's why I plan to leave the horses here as messengers."
"Ah, I see. On this grassland, securing fodder for the horses isn't a problem. On the other hand, the normal rocky cave dungeon on the upper floors would make horses hard to use."
Yes, the 2nd floor was just a long stretch of ordinary caves.
Fortunately, the rocks themselves emitted light, so we didn't need torches, which was helpful.
"So, exploration of the 2nd floor itself is progressing well?"
"We've found both another staircase upward and one downward. We've already begun scouting those floors as well."
"Aren't you rushing a bit?"
"It is. But we don't have the luxury of carefully and safely exploring one floor at a time. All we need to find is an exit leading back to the surface."
"Our objective is to get out of this dungeon through the collapse hole, after all."
"Exactly. Exploring the dungeon itself isn't our objective."
"Siiigh..."
I felt a little disappointed after talking with Prism.
"What's wrong?"
"No, I was just thinking that I'll have to postpone my dungeon research until after we return to the country."
"That's only natural!!"
Hey now, don't snap at me.
How could anyone willingly leave such an incredible dungeon behind?
* * *
Side: Yuki
"Dear?"
"Hm? What's wrong, Seraria?"
"No, I'm glad you're here with us, but... what about your work?"
"Ah, I left it to Steve and the others, so it's fine."
"......"
Huh?
Did I say something wrong?
Holding Sakura in her arms, Seraria covered her face with one hand.
"Good grief, I never thought I'd discover one of your flaws in a situation like this..."
"Pardon?"
"If you don't want Sakura to grow up saying, ‘Daddy is someone who doesn't work,' then go to work."
"I'm off!!"
If my child ever looked up at me with pure, innocent eyes and asked, "Daddy, why don't you work?", I think I'd want to die on the spot.
In order to shake off that nightmare, I dashed off toward where Steve and the others were.
"Even though he refuses to rest when he needs it, he wants to rest when he doesn’t. How does that make sense?"
"Uuu~?"
"You want Daddy to be working too, right, Sakura?"
"Ahh~ Ahh~"
Damn it.
That's just how the world works!
It's when you're busiest that you want to take a vacation!
