Chapter 180 - The Eyes of Those Who Chase Dreams Always Burn

Krais folded his arms and continued, his eyes gleaming.

"The point is, this Dolph fellow who owned the treasure map built his dungeon a long time ago."

Encrid looked at him, wondering what nonsense he was about to spout now. Krais gave him a confident smile. For some reason, it was irritating, but Encrid had nothing to say and simply kept looking.

"Which means methods like this didn't exist back then."

Times had changed, and treasure hunters had grown shrewder over the years. Rather than risk their lives disarming traps to enter a dungeon and reap its rewards, they skipped the painstaking work of dismantling traps and focused on the prize. Hadn't Krais said that approach was distilled in Christraun's Guide to Conquering Dungeons?

"It's a technique called backdooring."

A shortcut. But if it worked, it was an excellent method, as Encrid himself had recently experienced. If killing the Knoll leader was the wall, hadn't he found a way over it by refusing to wait for the creature, sacrifice the village to its horde, or choose an unfavorable battlefield?

"This is it."

Krais found a boulder the size of a grown man.

"If you would, Luagarne."

The Frog readily stepped forward and pushed the boulder. It toppled sideways with a thud, revealing what looked like an old hole beneath it.

Krais took a shovel from his pack, dug a few times, and said,

"If the entrance is here, then roughly..."

He strode away. After wandering around for about as long as it would take a finger joint's length of candle to burn, he beamed again.

"It should be around here."

Krais began shoveling earth. Plain digging. Of course, there was no way he could do it alone.

"Move aside."

This time, Encrid took the shovel and dug.

From what Krais explained, they were going to bypass every trap by digging a hole straight into the treasure's hiding place. It was hardly a novel idea, but perhaps it had been unthinkable back when Dolph built the dungeon. A shortcut, certainly, but far more efficient than risking their lives disarming traps. Encrid agreed with it and lent a hand.

Esther prowled around and extended her claws, but Encrid shook his head.

"Get some rest."

For some reason, the panther looked visibly exhausted.

PURR.

Apparently delighted by his words, she settled down to one side, curled up, and closed her eyes. Seeing her like this, she really did look tired. He had carried her in his arms along the way, too, except while sparring. She looked utterly worn out.

At any rate, Krais was right.

"All we have to do is pick up a few treasures on our way past. Why leave them behind? Oh, there might not be anything. Someone could have looted it without a map, but that's unlikely."

Was that the third time he'd said it would be nothing?

As they dug, the earth crumbled and fell inward, revealing a man-made passage.

"See?"

That was the result of Krais and Encrid taking turns with the shovel.

A few gold coins lay scattered inside the hole, reflecting the light. Farther in, it was too dark to see, but surely a handful of coins wasn't all there was. It was as easy as Krais had said.

"Wow."

Pin's eyes gleamed, too. Krais had promised her a share of the Krona. She would be taking home a few purses herself.

Luagarne and Esther had no interest, while Encrid thought some Krona would be welcome, considering his damaged swords. Climb down, collect the treasure, and return. It was still simple. It should have been. It certainly should have been simple.

The sun was sinking, and the moon had risen before they knew it. Krais glanced up at it and spoke.

"Let's all go. It doesn't look like a bad place to spend the night, either. There might be a lot to carry."

There shouldn't be any particular danger. There were no demonic beasts nearby, and they wouldn't be staying inside for more than a day. The sun was setting, too. They needed to make camp, so if there was nothing dangerous down there, it would be a good place to spend the night. Krais had weighed all of that before speaking.

Everyone agreed to stay below and move on tomorrow rather than suffer the insects outside.

"Sounds good."

Encrid agreed as well, wondering whether there might be something besides a few gold coins.

'Anything worthwhile?'

He wasn't short of Krona, but the recent fighting had damaged his swords badly. The sword made of Valeri steel and Noir wrought iron was particularly chipped. And sharpening it wouldn't solve the damage to its core.

'I can't use this.'

A mercenary's weapon was his life. Any swordsman who failed to appreciate that value had gone wrong from the start. Naturally, Encrid knew how to assess his own weapons. He had cut down hundreds of demonic beasts and monsters. It would have been stranger if the swords were intact. Both their cores were damaged.

His armor was torn in several places, too. The leather had split, and holes had opened in several sections of the linked mail beneath it.

Thinking this, he glanced aside and saw Luagarne moving about without a care.

"This will delay your return, won't it?"

Her cheeks puffed out as she replied,

"It doesn't matter. I'm simply enjoying myself."

The mood was warm and friendly. Encrid gave Esther a piece of seasoned jerky to chew on while Pin tied a rope to a sturdy tree. Her ranger knotwork shone.

"It won't come undone unless someone cuts it. And it's not too difficult a climb."

A precaution against the unexpected. Just like a ranger. With the rope ready, they lowered it into the hole.

They descended one by one, starting with Encrid. Pin followed, then Krais. Esther leaped down, digging her claws into the wall. Last came Luagarne, who twisted the rope around both feet and descended in short drops.

Once they were all down, the moon was already up.

'Is it around midnight?'

Encrid mentally reckoned the time.

"We can camp down here and climb out tomorrow. Perfect."

Krais spoke from behind him. Encrid nodded. There might still be some unseen danger, so he lit a torch and examined their surroundings.

Behind them, toward the dungeon entrance Krais had found, stretched a long passage so cramped they would barely be able to get through bent at the waist.

'Going out that way would wreck my back.'

Not literally, but it was that tight. It would be difficult to react properly in a fight there.

'A bad place to use a sword.'

That was Encrid's assessment.

There was no other particular danger. They all agreed on that. It wasn't as dusty as they had expected, and there were no traps waiting to spring underfoot.

Esther gave a rumbling, leisurely yawn. She still looked exhausted, so Encrid gathered her into his arms and handed the torch to Krais.

Luagarne examined their surroundings and murmured,

"These traces are old."

What would she be like as a scholar? Encrid let his thoughts wander idly as well.

'She knows the ancient language, and she's a talent reader in the kingdom's service.'

Even apart from her fighting ability, a Frog with so many talents would certainly be valuable.

Pin could find no danger in the passage extending ahead and behind them. As a ranger, she knew how to spot traps, even if she wasn't on a treasure hunter's level.

'Everything looks fine.'

Any trap she couldn't spot would have to involve spells or be quite sophisticated. Not something basic like a tripwire or an arrow triggered by a footstep, but a trap that sprang at the slightest brush. Something only a professional treasure hunter would have much chance of noticing.

'That would be excessive for a single rich man to build.'

Those were the sorts of traps one might find in an ancient tomb. They would require spellwork as a foundation.

Pin glanced at Krais walking beside her. He had picked up three or four gold coins from the floor and was examining their surroundings by torchlight. Up to that point, nothing had happened. No danger, nothing out of the ordinary.

The passage was short and soon opened into a round cavern. There was an altar befitting a dungeon's final chamber, along with an old, weathered chest. A dusty sword stood embedded in the altar. Charitably, it was antique. Less charitably, it was simply very, very old.

"We've found the right place."

Krais couldn't hide his excitement. He had dug in the right spot and found the right path. Didn't this qualify him as a treasure hunter? Reading Christraun's Guide to Conquering Dungeons had paid off.

Ever since childhood, from the moment he had learned to read, Krais had sought out all sorts of books. He had believed they would be the helping hand that pulled him from the mire of poverty. He had been right. Hadn't he found treasure here?

"Do you really need that much Krona to open one salon?"

It was an idle question from Encrid.

"Yes, of course."

Krais answered without pausing for breath.

Really? Encrid asked with his eyes. For the first time in a while, Krais laid out his dream.

"It'll have the most luxurious, extravagant facilities in the capital, the kind everyone will be desperate to get into. I'll offer memberships, too. And that won't be the end. I'll open branches. All over the continent."

The eyes of those who chased dreams always burned. Encrid had no right to mock another person's dream, and he liked the gleam in Krais's eyes. So he simply offered encouragement.

"Sure. Go for it."

Apart from the old sword embedded in the center of the altar, all the chamber held were two unremarkable chests. With gold coins scattered even in the passage, there had to be something here.

Filled with anticipation, Krais examined the chests. They might be rigged to fire poisoned arrows when opened. He approached carefully.

Behind him, Luagarne offered Encrid advice worth more than gold.

"The fundamentals alone won't be enough. Learn a proper sword style and make it your own. That will take you further."

"For example?"

"Northern swordsmanship. You learned it from him, didn't you?"

The Frog had a keen eye. Having seen Ragna and then Encrid, she had identified the source of his swordsmanship. Encrid nodded, and she continued.

"It would be good if you could learn northern swordsmanship properly from that blond, red-eyed friend of yours."

"You can't teach me?"

"I'm bound by a covenant. Even this has been an extraordinary leave of absence. I must return."

Her words carried genuine regret.

A covenant. Frogs were easily swayed by their wants and desires. That was why they swore what they called an oath of the heart. Reluctant to speak the word "heart" over and over, they used the word "covenant" in its place.

That made a Frog's covenant no light matter. It was a rule they had to obey without exception, ahead of their own wants and desires. Frogs who lived without honoring it were exceedingly rare. Almost nonexistent.

This had even given rise to the saying "an innocent Frog's blade": an unwitting Frog could be tricked by a human or another race into selling away a covenant, then forced to wield a blade in an unwanted massacre.

'That's quite something.'

Encrid felt anew the weight of Luagarne's promise to fall for him. Had she really needed to go that far? Swear an oath of the heart to fall for him? Why? Why bother?

He couldn't tell her to take it back, either. No one was foolish enough not to know the weight of a Frog's oath. He also knew full well that Frogs enjoyed plucking the heads off those who insulted their oaths. Not losing a fight and insulting someone were two different matters, so he kept his mouth shut.

That was when it happened.

YOWL!

Esther, curled up to one side in utter exhaustion, suddenly let out a fierce cry.