It's a cave. This dungeon is a cave that goes down. It's huge! Really huge! Bats are hanging from the ceiling, with their droppings on the floor, with cockroaches feeding on them. When I say a word, you can hear the echo! It's stinky, but it's fun to play with the echoes, but everyone tells me not to, because I'll just get in trouble.

"Like the cockroaches trying to get me for making noise?" [Diana].

"No! Like the monster that knows you are here!" 

"How is that worse than those disgusting cockroaches! I can kill the monster, but I don't want to step on the cockroaches one by one!" [Diana]

"Well..."

(We are sorry for being disgusting...) [Cockroach A]

(We promise you we are healthy creatures! We clean ourselves often!) [Cockroach B]

"Wait... I mean... I'm sorry for calling you disgusting..." [Diana]

"?" 

I apologize to the group of cockroaches for being mean to them. I didn't know that they would automatically understand my words. To show my sincerity in apologizing to them, I pull out a meat from my item box magic and give it to them. Kat scolded me for it, but the cockroaches are happy and bring me a precious diamond! It's really beautiful! 

"Is this diamond really a gift in the dungeon?" [Diana]

"In a sense, yes, but... This diamond is meticulously crafted, probably by a skill dwarf. This engraving on the handle of the diamond, if I'm not mistaken, belongs to one of the Marquess of the Empire. Can you communicate with those cockroaches and ask them where they found it?" [Randy]

"Ok!" [Diana]

At Randy's request, I ask them. Even the bat, the centipede and the ants answer when they realize that I can talk to them freely. Since there are far too many of them trying to give me information, it makes me a bit dizzy, but basically,

"A group of people with a different accent than the locals here. Generally buff, wearing red and black armor. Yep, those are the Imperial Soldiers and Knights" [Randy].

"So I wasn't wrong when I saw them back then!"

"Shit! They're here too! But why?"

"Beat me. Anyway, we should be extra careful. Diana, tell Fie to stop emitting light when I give a signal, okay? I'm afraid those soldiers will easily find out our location through Fie" [Randy].

"You heard that, Fie?" [Diana]

"Meow!" [Fie]

Kat then asks me to store the diamond properly. If the Empire soldiers aren't here, it could be proof of their infiltration. The others agree. Boo... The diamond is nice, I wanted to keep it for myself, but I trust them, so even if I have to part with it, I'm okay with it.

With Fie as our light source, we explore the dungeon deeper and deeper. There are several adventurers and miners, and every single one of them is afflicted with THE THING, and their minds are affected by the mirage mana. When I dispel it, their reaction is hyperventilation and a feeling of shaking as they describe their encounter with the snakes. Some of them even notice that there is a group of soldiers from the Empire.

Wasting no time, they evacuate the dungeon on Randy's orders. Randy shows them the proof that they received an emergency request directly from Princess Siti, so his word carries power behind it. None of the adventurers and miners refuse to listen, in fact they even give us some of their supplies so that our journey will be easier. Together with the tamed golem, one by one, their number decreases as they quickly run towards the exit, until only monsters and golems spawning inside the dungeon are left. 

As we descended, the number of monsters and wild golems increased. Since they attacked us first, I didn't even hesitate to fire back a spell. Since the dungeon is large and Randy himself said that there's no chance of it collapsing, I shoot my spell freely. Of course, Kat and the other remind me to be careful and only use powerful spells when necessary. 

As we are about to descend to the even lower level of the dungeon, Kat's nose catches a scent.

"Hmmm... Tobacco smell... Strong" [Kat].

"Diana" [Randy]

Randy makes a fist, signaling Fie not to glow. Fie immediately stopped glowing and started using an invisibility spell, making herself dark with dark mana. Since Fie is basically invisible, he explored ahead without permission, but Randy didn't stop him, and when he came back, he mewed at me, telling me that there are several people ahead. They're eating and drinking, and their description seems to match that of the Imperial soldier.

"Listen up" [Randy]

Randy signals us to come closer. We form a circle around him and he starts giving orders to all of us. Basically, Randy, Kat and the other two adventurers will capture the imperial soldier. As for me, Randy asks me if I can make a big barrier that prevents the sound from leaking out. I know the perfect spell for this situation, thanks to my constant pestering of Alaric to teach me Silence Barrier! I should thank him later and play more with her little sister when I get back to Amleth. As for Fie and another adventure, they'll be on the lookout, killing monsters or alerting us if there are more Imperial soldiers we haven't noticed.

To improve the odds of a successful ambush, I set up the Silence Barrier to surround us first, before carefully approaching the soldier. Now, waiting for Randy's signal, we will begin to take them down!