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“An evil labyrinth?”
“Yeah, the adventurers guild put out a notice.
It seems like it’s a new Dungeon, but they’ve put out a 30 gold coin bounty on the Dungeon Master.”
“30 gold coins!?”

Surrounding the table in the Inns bar were 2 groups sharing information.
The request to conquer the new dungeon. Even so, 30 gold coins for the conquest of a brand new dungeon was something to be weary of.
But that just means that the dungeon is something to watch out for.

“Plenty of parties have challenged it, but It seems like none of them have made much progress.
They say that on top of the powerful monsters, there’s even miasma floating about.”
“Hmm miasma, sounds troublesome but as long as we have Widdi it’ll work out some how.”

Widdi is still young but her abilities as a cleric are above the average bishop, and could even match a careless archbishop. A barrier from her would easily be able to ward off miasma.

“So, what are we gunna do?”
“Right then, if no one objects, I’d like to go for it.
Although there’s somewhere I want to stop by first“

As Arc said that, I gave it some thought. Our party had stopped in Rimel town on our way towards Demon territory for the sake of subjugating the Demon Lord. Conquering a dungeon should be easy. That said, Arc and Widdi’s personality wouldn’t be able to abandon this town and conquering a powerful dungeon would let us get our hands on some powerful weapons and items. And although we aren’t that pressed for money, the reward is also quite desirable.

“Alright then, I’m in.”
“Me too.”
“I’m for it too.”

Widdi, Zio and I consented and we unanimously decided to challenge the new dungeon.


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I had heard before that the dungeon was difficult, but I honestly didn’t expect this. The miasma is so thick that without Widdi’s barrier we wouldn’t even be able to walk around, and the monsters are also quite powerful. And on top of that, ever since we redeployed the barrier and took a break, the monsters’ attacks have become much more fierce and frequent.

“Damn, the monsters just keep coming.”
“Do you think it’s because we made the Dungeon Master angry?”

After repelling who knows how many attacks, Zio voiced a complaint.

“It does seem like they’re purposefully coming after us.”
“…”

Arc seems to agree, Widdi’s the only one without anything to say. That aside, she seems to be looking down and trembling a little.

“Widdi?”
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Are you alright?”

Widdi who was obviously odd, opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out. but before long she opened her mouth, teary eyed.

“Uh, Um… I need to go to the toilet…”
“…”
“…”
“…”

With an *Ahem* I drove the men away.


Even high ranking adventurers can’t win against their bodily functions. It’s been quite some time since we entered the dungeon, so Widdi’s probably reached her limits. After I had made sure we were out of site of the men, Widdi crouched down next to a wall. As monsters don’t take such circumstances into consideration, and because we can’t leave Widdi alone like this, I’m watching the surroundings. 

It may be unpleasant, but this much can’t be helped. There’s no toilets in dungeons so it can’t be helped.


…Is what I had thought, but it seems this dungeon continues to surprise.


In the first room on the next floor down were separate male and female toilets that even had polite little plates on the doors.

“Suspicious.”
“Quite suspicious.”
“Suspicious indeed.”
“If this had been on the previous floor, I wouldn’t have had to suffer such embarrassment…!”

Widdi alone had a different input, but when you think about it rationally, there’s nothing more suspicious than this. A toilet being installed in a dungeon is obviously abnormal. the possibility of a trap is high, it’s high but…

“Arc, go check if it’s a trap.”

To tell the truth, I’m also reaching my limit. If it’s not a trap I want to use it. The Divine Protection on Arc’s Holy Sword can check for traps so it’s not a problem.

“Ugh. I never thought I’d be using the Holy Sword’s divine protection to check the safety of a toilet.
Sacred Goddess Sophia-sama, please forgive me…”

In the end we were thankful that there weren’t any traps and made use of it.
Widdi glared at me jealously but I decided not to mind it.


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After arriving at the 10th floor, we were resting in a room. In the centre of the room was a large pedestal with words engraved in it.

“『Thou who wouldst come in challenge before the throne of the undying one, arrange correctly the stars.』huh? Just what the heck could it mean?”
“There are many undead in this dungeon, so I believe that the “Undying One” refers to the boss of this dungeon.”


Right, I also have the same thoughts as Widdi.

“I see. Then in other words, if we want to fight the dungeon master, then we have to 『arrange correctly the skies』, huh? I wonder what 『arrange correctly the skies』means.”

That’s exactly what we don’t know. Even though he doesn’t understand anything, Arc never changes.

“They probably mean the celestial bodies, right? I think that’s what these marks on the pedestal represent.”

Aside from the words engraved on it, there are 3 square impressions carved into the dais and inside them are marks carved into the stone. A circle surrounded with pointy squiggles, a thick crescent and 5 pointed symbol.

“How are we supposed to arrange these marks? 
…They don’t bloody move.”
“Seems that putting mana into it doesn’t work either, huh.”

Zio had thrust his hand against the mark to the right in an attempt to get it to move, but nothing happened. It seems it’s not something that can be solved with pure power. That said, it doesn’t seem to be a problem involving magic.

“Arc-sama, has the guidance of the Holy Sword not given any clues?”
“Sorry, nothing really…”
“N-, No! I apologise for asking too much!”

Widdi seemed to look towards Arc’s Holy Sword as a ray of hope, but it seems there’s no luck there either.
Having desperately asked that of Arc, Widdi looked apologetic.

“Even the Holy Sword from Sacred Goddess-sama can’t do a thing? Seriously? It’s a pretty hard question, hey? As someone whose specialty is using my body, this kind of thing is a bit much for me.”
“Don’t say things like that, and think together with everyone!”

Thinking isn’t very much a strong suit of Zio and Arc’s, the two of them preferring a brute force approach. Although the both of them forcing all the intelligent work on to Widdi and I is also a problem.

After that, we tried slashing at the pedestal with the Holy Sword in an attempt to get it to move and plenty of other methods, but in the end, the situation didn’t change.

“It’s no good. I haven’t the tiniest idea how to get the dungeon master to come out. I thought this place would be a shallow dungeon, so we didn’t prepare enough. It’s frustrating, but let’s withdraw for now.”
“T-, To withdraw right before the dungeon master…-!”

Well I guess there’s no helping it. We’ve reached a stalemate. And as Arc said, our preparations were insufficient. As we had never thought that a newly created dungeon would be this deep, our camping preparations were quite simple.

We gave up and returned to the surface.


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After that, back in Rimel City, while gathering information, a certain rumour enter our ears.
That that dungeon housed a true Evil God.

“An Evil God huh. Honestly, I think it’s a fake…”
“But the fact that that Miasma was unusual is undeniable.”

After experiencing it first hand, I understand, the miasma in that dungeon is no normal occurrence. It’s at a level where I can truly believe that an Evil God lives there. And on top of that, the various monsters were of suitable strength.

“What shall we do, Arc-sama?”
“…”

Widdi asked as such, but Arc gave a rare pause thinking it over.

“Honestly… I hate to admit it, but as we are now, I don’t think we could beat an Evil God.”

The Evil God is an existence said to have created the Demon Lord, so there’s no mistake that they would have to be orders more powerful. I’m not even sure we could win against the Demon Lord in our current state. Taking on an existence called God would give dim prospects.

“You’re right about that.”
“Yeah, it’s obviously impossible.”
“Although it pains me as a believer of the Sacred Light Faith…”

Widdi, due to her position as a Cleric, looked bitter, but aiming for the impossible here when the Demon Lord must still be defeated is putting the cart before the horse. Arc’s role as a Hero is only to defeat the Demon Lord, and we party members are here to support that.

“For now we’ll keep that dungeon in mind and continue towards Demon territory.
Once we safely defeat the Demon Lord, we’ll return here once again to challenge the dungeon.”

Arc had said that with strong commitment and we nodded back in response.

“In any case, after all the hardships we went through, all we have to show for it is a single slate.
Jeeze, what a waste of effort that was.”
“I wonder what it was in the end.”

Come to think of it, In a room on the 10th floor, we found that slate with an unknown purpose. There was no particular magic coming from it. It seemed to be nothing more than a commonplace slate.

“I got no idea, but it’s something that came out of an Evil God’s dungeon.
It might be hiding some kind of massive power.
It’s possible that it might become our trump card against the Demon Lord.”
“It’d be nice if that were the case.”

Finally, our little side quest has come to an end and tomorrow we’re setting our for the Demon Lord’s castle.
I’ll be praying for our safe return to this town.
Arc held the slate towards the heavens.

But nothing happened.