Chapter 47

In the evening, after leaving the castle, Keena immediately teleported back home. As usual, she listened to Luka's stammering recount of the day's events, doted on her, and enjoyed a family gathering with Rox and Si, cleansing her mind.

The next morning, she teleported to Helsper to meet with Keirick. Since he had entrusted the wheat transportation to the Eilene Caravan, they discussed temporarily halting purchases from the Sakaiya. However, even though they were her grandchildren, the other party was a seasoned merchant. Before she knew it, she had been cornered and agreed to thoroughly discuss the wheat transportation with Keirick and Eilene.

"Hmm, you're quite shrewd..."

"Grandma, merchants are people who seek out loopholes to gain profit."

"Didn't you say before that the Sakaiya's reputation wouldn't be tarnished by something like this?"

"That's one thing, this is another. Besides, my long-term intuition tells me it's better to have some connection with you, Grandma."

"It's not just about alcohol..."

Keena could only smile wryly at Keirick, who proudly puffed out his chest. Keena's business was done, so she was asked by Keirick to process some magic resonance stones. The materials were new stones Keirick had prepared, and the stones previously sent to the village had been transferred to Keena. Some had been turned into street lamps, illuminating the village roads at night. There were still a lot left, so she stored them until she could think of another use.

After finishing business with the Sakaiya, Keena bought daily necessities and food as requested by Roxine and returned to the village. She then processed the stored wheat into large barrels and finished the day's work.

"Hmm..."

The next day, Keena was in the living room in the morning, comparing a map on the table with a game map displayed only to her by Key. Roxine was doing needlework by the sunny window, working on a dress Keena had brought back a few days ago. The fabric and tailoring were excellent, as befitting a royal garment, but it was unsuitable for a village girl. The hem was too long and would tear easily if mishandled, making it impractical. Roxine was currently altering a couple of dresses for formal outings.

Keena was trying to pinpoint the current location of the "Ambition Temple." It was originally designed as a prank for beginners and was a personal project for Opus, so she had forgotten where she had built it.

To find it, she had Key check all the logs from the last time she accessed it, looking for any words that might indicate its location. The only clues were "Red Country" and "near a relay point." The red country relay point in the game was a large crystal fixed in a hexagonal pavilion in the middle of a desert. She vaguely remembered building the dungeon on the edge of an unexplored area, a bit south of there. Comparing this with a map of the Outarokus area she had bought from Eilene, she found a small town that seemed to match the location, likely the southernmost point of the outer trade route.

"Hmm? Has it been fully explored after two hundred years?"

While it was possible, the dungeon was designed by a devious and cunning trap maker. It would be challenging for current adventurers, who were mostly in their teens. It had traps like pitfalls and pendulum blades, and even "Invitation Boards" that periodically spawned monsters. These boards, made of marble, had the shape of the summoned monster carved into them. Using a special item called a "Seeping Magic Resonance Stone," they accumulated a small amount of magic power daily and summoned a monster when the power reached a certain level. Unlike regular summoned creatures, these monsters would continue to exist unless destroyed. However, each floor had a limit on the number of monsters that could exist, preventing saturation. Such traps were set up on each floor, making it questionable whether even a party of players in their hundreds could reach the bottom, assuming they didn't trigger any traps.

Moreover, to verify the remaining message, Keena would have to enter the dungeon herself. She had a sense of self-inflicted fate but initially considered using a maximum destruction spell to obliterate the dungeon. However, with a town nearby, she would have to explore it the hard way.

"This is such a hassle..."

Just then, Luka returned with Roxilus after cleaning the communal bath. After a sharp exchange of glances with Roxine, Roxilus bowed to Keena and left, likely returning to his daily village patrol.

"I'm back..."

"Welcome back, Luka."

"Welcome home, Lady Luka."

Roxine stood up and bowed to Luka, then quickly finished her work and moved to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Luka, who had filled a glass with water from the water barrel, sat down and peeked at Keena's work.

"A map... Where to?"

"South, to Outarokus. Want to come?"

When Keena asked, Luka shook her head.

"No, I'll stay. ...Keena, are you going?"

"Well, I have to go to check, but it might be a wild goose chase... I might be away for a while."

Keena shrugged and gently stroked her stepdaughter's head. Luka, who seemed a bit ticklish, tilted her head and, after a moment, grabbed the arm on her head.

"It's okay... I'll stay and watch the house. Keena, go with peace of mind..."

"Oh, you're growing up so much."

Keena, moved by Luka's strong gaze, which was far more determined than when she first took her in, hugged her tightly. Luka, who seemed to think she had overdone it, sighed at Keena's excessive hugging and sent a pleading look to Roxine, who was peeking from the doorway. However, Roxine, smiling, disappeared back behind the door. Luka was pampered and hugged for a while longer until lunchtime.

Keena informed everyone that she might be away for a few days as she would be exploring a dungeon, and entrusted Luka to Roxine and Roxilus for the night. The next morning, before dawn, she teleported to Felskairo, planning to head for the capital of Outarokus from there. While the outer trade route from the village to the south was closer, it would be more convenient to set Outarokus as a teleportation destination first.

At the Felskairo Adventurer's Guild, she glanced at the requests. According to Armana, the receptionist, the western outer trade route connecting Felskairo and Outarokus was currently unusable, and the central urban direct route was open. The urban direct route, which usually connected capitals in the shortest distance, was only used in emergencies by royal messengers, royalty, or knights. The current closure of the outer trade route was partly due to the large hole Keena had created in the west of Felskairo, but mainly due to the presence of monsters.

The royal family and ministers, unsure how to handle the situation, had issued a travel ban until safety was confirmed. The knights and adventurers who had participated in the western defense had seen not only Keena's overwhelming combat power but also the strength of the monsters, which was beyond what even the knights, who excelled in group battles, had expected. They had almost been controlled by a long-range charm spell. Therefore, they were currently reorganizing, including inviting the previous personnel, the Flame Spear Mercenary Group led by Arbiter. Keena had been asked to participate, but it was rejected based on Arbiter and Shining Saber's comment that she would be "literally slashed and caressed."

Since Keena was going to Outarokus anyway, she looked at the numerous requests on the board to see if there was any escort work. She didn't notice the wary and envious glances from other adventurers, but a familiar face kindly warned her, and she finally noticed the negative emotions. People who accidentally made eye contact with the rumored powerhouse swallowed nervously.

"Ah, sorry. Is it hard to see the request?"

However, Keena's humble and smiling apology made them collapse in relief.

"Ah, I found a good one."

She picked a suitable request and took it to Armana. The staff, who were tidying up tables and chairs in the back, smiled wryly at the sight of Keena and the adventurers.

Keena's accepted request was to escort a couple of bards to Outarokus. It took about ten days on foot, but it was a rewarding journey for Keena. She learned songs and poems about myths from the bards and taught them songs of her favorite idols from when she was hospitalized. Some of the songs were even integrated into the game's BGM, which she played for them. They were amazed and moved by the unfamiliar foreign tunes.

There was also a skill called "Cursed Song" for attack support, but it was the first time Keena had enjoyed music without it since coming to this world, and she was satisfied.

The journey to Outarokus was essentially downhill. The road gradually descended, leading to a vast, dense forest, quite different from the refreshing greenery around Helsper. The air became increasingly humid, and the road turned into hanging bridges and wooden walkways through the trees as it approached the capital. Keena, reminded of an athletic course she had seen on TV, spotted the castle that had merged with a giant tree. After passing through the guard post at the entrance to the capital, she received her payment from the clients and made a promise to teach each other songs if they met again.

"Well, first, I should go to the guild and gather information about the town with the problem."

Before that, she checked the command screen of her magic skills to confirm that Outarokus was registered as a teleportation destination. However, the town, with its tree-integrated or treehouse-like buildings, all looked the same, and she was at a loss to find her destination.

"Where can I find the guild or an inn?"

Just as she was about to ask a passerby, she was suddenly shouted at from behind.

"Ah───────!!?"

"...Keena-sama?"

Turning around, Keena saw the cat-eared siblings she had met in the village. The sister, Kurophia, pointed at her with obvious disgust, while her brother, Kurof, looked puzzled.

"Um, Kurof-san and the sister who gets angry when I read her name backward..."

"I do not wish to be called by my name by someone like you!!"

"Even if you don't call her, she gets angry..."

Keena was used to dealing with such children, having encountered a few who threw tantrums in the hospital. Patiently interacting with them would eventually break down their barriers. However, the child who later opened up to her had mistaken Keena for a severe stalker and confessed to following her out of fear, which was a shocking part of her dark history. Recalling this slightly depressing past, Keena's spirit was dampened, and Kurophia, declaring, "I don't want to be in this atmosphere!" stormed off, leaving her brother behind.

"I'm sorry, Keena-sama. My sister was rude..."

"...Well, aside from that... Why is everyone staring at me so much?"

Keena, who didn't know that the Kurof siblings were top-ranked adventurers in the country and treated as heroes by the people, shuddered under the intense gazes of the nearby guards and passersby. Naturally, the focus of the critical gazes was on Keena, who had been unilaterally disliked by one of the heroes. There were also some sympathetic looks.

"Keena-sama, please excuse me."

"Eh? Wait, what?"

Realizing the situation, Kurof quickly led Keena away. They borrowed a private room in the back of the adventurer's guild, where Keena sighed in relief. Kurof had explained the reason for the stares on the way.

"I see, so I'll probably be looked at suspiciously at today's inn."

"Would you like a room prepared at the castle?"

"That would just make people wonder why a suspicious person is at the castle. I'm not here to see Sahara Shade."

"True," Kurof nodded, intrigued by Keena's reason for being in the country despite refusing to meet the queen. He instantly decided that his role as a hermit was to learn about her reasons, possibly accompany her, and report back to the queen.

"Then, would you like to come to our house? We have rooms, and you can stay as long as you like as an apology for my sister's rudeness."

"Hmm, that's a tempting offer, but won't the sister get angry?"

"It's her responsibility, so I'll talk to her."

"If you insist, I'll accept your kindness... So, what's the real reason?"

"...You see through me. If possible, I would like to accompany you on your journey."

Keena was a bit hesitant about the offer. After all, the dungeon was designed by the master of "The House of Malice and Murder," and there was a high chance that even players in their seventies or eighties would be crushed by the monsters. If they were killed, the resurrection spell, which had been banned by Skullgo, would be the only option. The reason it was banned was that in the current Reideil, resurrection magic was categorized as lost magic. If she allowed them to accompany her and they died, it would be a problem for Kurophia, so she planned to ignore her son's advice and use the spell if necessary. Since the country's adventurers likely knew about the dungeon, she agreed to the exchange and pointed to a corner of the map she had taken out.

"Ah, this dungeon? I know it. Do you need an explanation?"

"I was wondering how far it has been explored..."

"From the tone, it sounds like it's been around for a while. It was discovered about a hundred years ago, and the walls were gold, so everyone was excited. In the early days, there were many casualties on the first three floors."

"Only up to the third floor..."

"There were some valuable treasures, but adventurers who lost their companions started running an inn near the cave, and over time, a town formed around it, catering to adventurers. It's a small town, about the size of a large village."

Did I put any treasure in there? Keena wondered. The small boxes Opus had placed around only contained items they had made together, like a strength +1 bracelet or a small shield with a defense boost, all beginner-level weapons and armor with minor bonuses. Keena didn't know that the methods to create such items had been lost, and only a few master craftsmen could now produce similar effects.

"There's an adventurer's guild in the town, and they were supposed to prevent low-skilled adventurers from entering. I heard that the deepest floor reached so far is... the thirteenth floor."

Keena, who had leaned in to listen, fell over in shock at the unexpected news.

"It took a hundred years to reach halfway!?"

"Halfway? So this dungeon is...?"

"Ah, yes. It was something I made with a friend a long time ago. There's a possibility that my friend is holed up in the deepest floor. I wanted to see how it is now."

"I see... So a dungeon created by the queen's bloodline..."

"No, my friend designed it. I think the deepest floor is the thirtieth."

In the game, the area around the relay points was usually populated with low-level monsters, serving as a beginner's hunting ground. When Opus first mentioned building a prank dungeon for beginners, Keena had thought he was just a slacker. However, they ended up having fun coating the corridors with gold and building it together. It wasn't designed for high-level players, so it should be easy to clear once beginners graduated. She hadn't anticipated that the overall level would drop so much in the current world.

"Phew, I guess I'll have to explore the remaining seventeen floors myself."

"If you need help, we can lend you our strength, no matter how small."

Keena, who had hoped for an easier time, slumped her shoulders in frustration. Kurof, intrigued by the friend she had gone to such lengths to visit, offered to accompany her, prioritizing personal interest over work, without knowing the true nature of the dungeon.