Ting!

I look at the door of the adventurers’ guild.

A brown hair man came inside the guild his wearing a black trench coat over an iron chest plate, he also has an iron shoulder guard and pads, there is a cheap looking crystal hanging in his neck and a sword is hanging on his belt.

The clothes are simple and common, the quality of those clothes are above average but that what I notice is the unfamiliar face of that person.

A scar can be seen on the left side of his forehead.

I didn’t remember anyone that has that kind of facial feature?

But the most interesting part is how he handles himself. He walks very comfortably inside the guild, unlike most rascals in this place.

He doesn’t look like an adventurer. Is he a noble?

I stare at him until I notice that he sits on one of the chairs for this quest.

I clear my throat.

“Welcome every one, my name is Gon.”

“I am an Aura Expert and I will be leading this expedition.”

I look at the nearest table in the platform.

My teammates look at me and smile.

“We already have two Aura Experts, two 5-Circle mages and three 4-Circle mages. The quest is very simple, we will investigate the recent dungeon that appear near Sydhro City.”

Most of the people nod.

‘Damn this will be an easy money, we already have a power house.’

‘What with the party? Isn’t this just a recon quest?’

‘I guess it safe to go.’

I heard people whispered.

“The main quest was given by Duke Francis and the adventurer’s guild. We are to investigate what kind of dungeon appear this time, the list of monsters inside the dungeon, the trap that can be seen inside, the level of threat and so on.”

“Isn’t it an undead dungeon? Base on the entrance itself.”

Someone from the crowd ask.

‘Hmmm… we should also recruit those Holy Mage just in case, what do you think?’

‘What? Undead Dungeon, what a waste.’

‘Wooooo, if there are mage type undead inside that would be a gold mine.’

 “Cough! Cough!”

“Yes, Yes, but we still have to get some new details for this dungeon.”

“Currently we already know that this might be an undead dungeon and an field area at that, but aside from that we don’t have any information yet. This expedition team will try to push through until boss area of this dungeon, the more information we can gather, the safer it is for the city. That will be the main mission of this expedition.”

“Duke Francis, will provide the participants with 1 gold per day salary and 500 points. However, all artifacts will be surrendered to the city.”

Damn! Duke Francis beat everyone to the punch.

The owner of the closes city to the dungeon will be the dungeon owner. That is why Duke Francis made the first move, he barricaded the dungeon and no one is allowed to enter in the it unless his expedition search the whole dungeon first.

And we the adventurers, who will risk our lives for this expedition are required to surrender rare artifacts that can be found in the dungeon.

Damn nobles! they always want to monopolize everything.

“In addition, anyone who find an artifact will receive a 50% finder’s fee.”

Laugh! Laugh!

Laugh! Laugh!

I feel a shame, I cover my forehead and look down and I glance at the government administrator that will be coming with us in this expedition.

He look angry, but he did not speak out.

‘Wahaha! Yeah Yeah Sure.’

‘HAHA! As expected to the nobles.’

‘Hahaha! Even if they bought that at 100% they still won in the end.’

‘Damn! As expected. Another artifact in the display stand.’

There’s nothing I could do.

If we didn’t take the mission someone else will take it just for the money.

I raise my hand and the laughing gradually stop.

“(Sigh) That will be the condition for this quest, anyone who wanted to participate, please go the reception area to apply. This quest has no rank restriction but we will also check your achievements, only those with a related achievement will be accepted. We can also change your position base on your achievements.”

I look at the adventurers, some of them have concern regarding their achievements and most of them just nod.

I glance at the government administrator, he is a 40ish year old guy wearing a vest and coat with a tie on it.

I was waiting if he has anything to add on.

He look at me, he nod and then he steps forward.

“I will just have to remind everyone, that those who will be caught stealing an artifact will be executed immediately.”

He look at everyone and smile, but those eyes are clearly looking down on the adventurers.

The adventurers just chuckled and look at him.

Idiot! These nobles think that we are idiots that are hungry for money. Artifacts are rare and important but going against the Duke is suicide.

He didn’t understand what happen so he looks at me.

I just open my arms and raise my shoulder saying ‘I don’t know’.

He face look ashamed and angry at everyone here.

I then step forward.

“Now that the quest briefing is done. Anyone who is interested in this quest please apply in the reception area.”

I bow to everyone and exit the stage.

There will be a lot of applicants for this quest I hope the guild can filter them.

 

In front of the newly appeared undead dungeon is the camp for the first expedition.

“Cole!”

I look at the receptionist in the entrance of the camp.

“Yes! I’m here.”

I raise my hand and approach her table.

“You were assigned as a baggage carrier in group 3, your team leader will be Charles and your tent will be located in this area.”

She pointed at a certain area on the map.

“If need anything else please talk to your team leader.”

I nod on the receptionist then move towards the camp.

I look at the entrance of the dungeon.

This place… is really scary.

In the center of a lush and green forest is a large mouth which looks like it was ready to devour anyone who entered that place.

The entrance to the dungeon is surrounded by a bone looking fence and there are several skulls hanging on it. The perimeter is dry and dead, which is really out of place with regards to the lush forest around it.

I think back the reason why I wanted to go this place.

Curiosity and Greed.

First of all, when I saw the notice on the adventure guild regarding this expedition I became excited.

This will be my first dungeon, and on top of that I already have a powerhouse to protect me. Aura Expert and 5-Circle mage is nothing to scoff off. In addition to that there are plenty of adventurers that have more fighting capability than me.

I also confirm that a group of Holy Mage will join this expedition as a request from Duke Francis.

These expeditions already have a very reliable line up.

Second, because I have subspace I plan to snatch any artifact that I can recover in this expedition.

If other people found it first, I plan to steal all of them after this expedition is over.

If the artifacts are guarded to well then, I’ll just pass.

In the end, I will have my first ever dungeon exploration in a very safety environment. With this setup, this is just the same as having a tour inside the dungeon.

After a while I arrive at the tent and report to the tall man with a bulk body in the middle of the crowd.

Man this guy is made for heavy lifting.

That is the first thing that came into my mind after a saw Charles.

“Hi my name is Cole, the guild reception said I should report to a person name Charles.”

I already heard the people here calling his name, while I was outside the tent however, that would be weird if I knew immediately who he was.

“I’m Charles, I am the team leader for Baggage Carrier Group 3, we are assigned to carry the baggage of the Group 3 Vanguard.”

Then he pointed at the back.

“Those are your group mates.”

I look at the other adventurers, they nod at me and others waves.

I simply wave back at them while smiling.

“They will call us if they are ready to go in the dungeon, until then rest. If you have any question just ask me now, I have leave to report to Gon about our team status.”

“Oh! Before you leave can I ask? What is the story behind this place?”

Charles tilted his head, it seems like he didn’t understand my question.

I wave my hand.

“Nah! I’m just wandering, I read once that dungeon appear in important and significant places… places with history so I just wonder if it is true in this place.”

Of course this is just partially true.

What I want to know is the depth of history in this place. This is an undead dungeon that means the level of difficulty of this dungeon will be based on its history.

If it is, let say a goblin dungeon, then I would investigate the higher ranking goblin that appear in that area.

Charles nod but suddenly someone came up to me and put his arm over my shoulder.

“Boss, I’ll be handling this.”

Charles nod and smiled at the guy.

“Ok, Norm just… don’t overdo it ok.”

Charles tap my shoulder and whisper.

“Don’t believe everything he said.”

“What!? What!? Boss what I’m about to tell him is the absolute truth!”

Charles leave the tent and wave at us.

Then I look back at Norm once Charles left.

Norm distance himself and sit down and I follow.

Suddenly a group of people came closer to listen to Norm.

“This is about 7 years ago you see.”

He raises his finger and he continue to move it back and forth.

“The fourth prince of Kilswin wanted the three villages near here to offer some fish products to him.”

“Of course, those offering are not considered tax, no, oh no!”

“What the fourth prince want is a profit directly from the village.”

He shakes his head next.

“You see, the village answer to Duke Francis, well that’s normal because they are under his territory but the fourth prince just wanted to create chaos in these area. He knows that if the village offer him the product, Duke Francis will get angry at them and if they didn’t offer him the product, it will be seen as a rebellion to the crown.”

“In the end, the village refuse to give the fourth prince any of the product and they respectfully ask for Duke Francis approval.”

“But.”

He looks at the people around here.

“We know the fourth price.”

‘yeah…’

‘yes’

‘bastard’

They whispered in low voice but I can feel distain on those word.

“So, he commanded his guard to gather those who didn’t follow his command.”

Then he pointed down.

“He gathered them to this area, all villagers who didn’t follow him, and they executed everyone. In the name of the crown.”

I look around and I can see their facial expression.

Sadness, anger and disgust.

“Is… is that true?”

Then another adventurer answers me.

“It is, I was still a kid back then when I heard that news. My pops told me not to get out of the house for a month after that incident and mom told me to avoid the fourth prince at all cost.”

“I see…”

Then I look back at Norm.

“So what did Duke Francis do after that.”

He shakes his head and sigh.

“He apologize to the prince in public… and he even said that those people are real rebels but...”

“We know the truth.”

Another person added.

The atmosphere suddenly goes down.

That is a sad story, but what I’m after in that story is it relevance to the dungeon.

So… there a multiple villagers murder in that place 7 years ago.

If this are undead creature, the longer they are buried, the longer they are accumulating hatred and the powerful they can be.

But 7 years, is just a short amount of time for an undead creature.

Most probably the boss will just be a Skeleton Knight or Skeleton Wizard.

They are still a threat to me but compare to the powerhouse line up those monster are just regular monsters.

I guess this really is a tour after all.

 

What Cole didn’t know is the real history of this place.

Deep, very deep within this ground.

In the time of another era when another kingdom prospers in this place.

This place is a holy ground, an execution ground and burial ground for people who commit crime.

And deep within the dungeon.

Under the cover of darkness.

A terrible and powerful monster who holds the grudge of many is waiting for them to come.

 

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