“As such, we will be heading toward Minerva-sama’s dungeon . ”
I explained the situation to Haru and the others .
Just in case, I asked if they knew the whereabouts of Nectar or Dragon Core .
However, Nectar was a dungeon clear reward and the Dragon Core was, as the old man told me, only obtainable by defeating the Demon Lord Dragon in the Endless Dungeon . Moreover, it seems that the chance of it appearing was slim .
That did not apply to Demon Lord Dragons in the wild and dismantling a wild Demon Lord Dragon would definitely give a Dragon Core .
But there has not been any eyewitness accounts of it in the wild .
That’s to be expected .
If there was a monster that can be said to be stronger than an Ancient Dragon, it wouldn’t end at just being a disturbance . It would be an issue of a great calamity .
The area around one such monster would be a no-man’s land where people won’t dare to approach .
“So what is Sheena No . 3 doing now?”
I asked Pionia .
Sheena No . 3 had collapsed on the spot . I hope she wasn’t having a malfunction .
But if that was the case, everybody wouldn’t be taking it so calmly .
“I found her illegally copying the Nyapiece DVD to lend to the Dark-Elves so I whacked her head and made her sleep . ”
“Why did you do that!?”
“Stop illegal copies . Copyright is important . Copying endlessly and distributing it is illegal . The penalty is less than 10 years imprisonment, less than 1 million yen fine or both . ”
“Isn’t that from the start of the DVD!? Japan’s law doesn’t apply to this world . More importantly, don’t hit her head . She’s already close to breaking down . ”
“I hit her to make her sleep . A forced Energy-saving Mode . ”
Ah to suppress her magical power consumption .
That’s such a violent method though .
“ … So how much more operation time does she have with this mode?”
“Her magical power consumption has become a third of its usual . ”
… In other words, three times longer . Three months at best .
“Master, the sleep status won’t repair the deterioration of her parts . We are manufacturing new parts for her but please do not forget that we still need a new energy source for her . ”
“I know . ”
Daijiro-san has gone to Mallegory .
For now, I’ll head to the South dungeon first .
“Carol! I should just keep going straight?”
I returned to the Shiraraki Kingdom from Goats Rocky with Carol on my back and was running south at full speed . Haru was following behind .
The request this time . Although there would be no change in rewards depending on the time to completion, my goal was not the reward but only to meet the guildmaster .
And for that sake, I had to complete it as quickly as possible .
The detailed location of the dungeon was marked on the map but following the road would be a detour so I carried Carol on my back and ran off-road .
There were no markings at all so I didn’t know if I should actually be continuing straight ahead but ―
“Yes, it is fine . Ichino-sama, do you see a river in front using Hawk Eye?”
“I’ll check . ”
I activated Hawk Eye .
I couldn’t tell when I was running on land but I could see the river when I was in the sky .
“Please run toward that river . The dungeon is beyond it . ”
I continued running .
We quickly arrived at the river I saw from the air .
Naturally, there wasn’t any road across the land so there was no bridge either . Moreover, the river was in a valley so I could not even walk across it . It was a little far to run and jump across as well . I could if there were footholds in the middle but there weren’t any .
The large water wave formed by my magic turned into an ice bridge . Well, it was a stretch to call it a bridge . It was more of a huge ice mound .
“Guu ―”
As expected, the magical power consumption for combining advanced magic was no joke .
The magical power consumed for magic fusion was not simply the combination of two spells . I didn’t notice it when I used fusion on beginner magic but this consumed similar magical power as when I used Boost Magic .
“Ichino-sama, here, a mana potion . ”
“Thank you . ”
I thanked her and drank Carol’s homemade mana potion .
After defeating the ancient dragon, Carol leveled up and became able to manufacture mana potions . Drinking the mana potion recovered my magical power slightly .
“Haru, be careful!”
“Yes!”
An ice mound would usually be too slippery to traverse on normally .
However ―
I took out a secret item from my item bag, a ton of anti-slip sand . If the ice was slippery, then I could just make the surface rougher .
I tossed it over the flat portion of the ice mound as centered as possible and used coin toss . The sandbag ruptured in the air just like how the Flock Boar exploded .
The sand scattered around the area .
“Carol, switch places to Haru! Carol, hold onto Haru tightly!”
“”Yes . ””
I carried Haru on my back, and Carol clung to Haru .
No problem, Carol’s physical attack stat has become quite high so her grip on Haru has strengthened too . She won’t be shaken off .
I did a run-up and leaped all the way to the spot where I tossed the sand to .
If I failed, I would use Home Return to return to My World .
However, I’ll definitely succeed . I was certain of it .
“Sand Compaction!”
The Sand Artist skill, Sand Compaction .
The scattered sand on the ice compacted and formed a sure foothold .
And then, I leaped off again .
“All right, landing successful!”
That ice mound would probably melt after a few days .
We finally arrived .
There was a Shiraraki Kingdom guard post at the entrance of the dungeon .
In this country, all dungeons were under the management of the country so it seemed that there was no exception even in such a remote location .
“Stop! You require permission to enter this dungeon . ”
The Shiraraki Kingdom soldier on duty called out .
“Can I enter with this request from the Mercenary Guild?”
I showed him the Mercenary Guild request sheet .
“Request sheet … oi, isn’t this a counterfeit? Otherwise, the time record is wrong . The date recorded is only just today … hn? Ichinojo … quasi-baron!?”
The soldier’s eyes turned wide after seeing my name written on the request sheet and he saluted me .
“My apologies . I didn’t know you were a quasi-baron-dono . ”
“I don’t mind . ”
“I am terribly sorry, as protocol, could I please see your proof of rank?”
“Does this suffice?”
I showed him the brooch that was my proof of quasi-baron .
“Thank you! Please pass . ”
After receiving the soldier’s permission, we entered the dungeon .
I could hear the voices of the soldiers behind me .
They were probably getting in touch with the Mercenary Guild with a magical tool . Since there is the counterfeit skill, not only is it possible to fake documents, it is possible to fake brooches as well .