In the morning, as agreed last night, I headed to the dungeon and entered the guild administration office. Was I the first one there this time? Ars and Lisbeth were nowhere to be seen. Soon, Sera came out and approached me.
"Hello, Mr. Shimo. I heard you're going to the Anomalous Scale Dungeon No. 7? And you'll be staying there for three days..."
"Hello, Sera. Going to a dungeon is fine, but Anomalous Scale Dungeon No. 7? Have there been seven of these already?"
"Usually, dungeons are named by the Dungeon Research Institute when they appear, but recently, due to the danger of the Tesse, the intermittently appearing large-scale dungeons often require all available personnel to be deployed to deal with them before they can be named. This is the first time we've seen a dungeon that neither disappears nor remains in an anomalous state... These types of dungeons are collectively called Anomalous Scale Dungeons and are numbered according to their order of appearance."
"Ah... but I've heard that these types of dungeons have been appearing frequently lately. When did it start?"
"Dungeon No. 1 appeared about ten years ago... Before that, such large-scale dungeons were rare, occurring only once every few centuries. The Cursed Mountains are a remnant area from a large dungeon that appeared 200 years ago and was not properly resolved."
Hmm.
It's said that a dungeon of this scale might only appear once every few centuries, yet it has appeared seven times in ten years.
If the interval were hundreds of years, and the response measures couldn't keep up, places like the cursed mountain range would appear. But recently, one has been appearing sporadically every year or two, so once it's discovered, all the guilds are mobilized to deal with it; it seems this system has been established.
"Although the information has been conveyed to the guild management... sending only three is still a bit worrying."
"Don't worry, Sera. Although they're still novices, they are talented mages and heroes, plus a divine beast team, right? In case anything happens, I'll carry the two of them and escape immediately. My legs are incredibly fast. At full speed, even a griffin can't catch me!"
"Wow, you're so fast... I'd like to try riding one sometime."
"Hehe. Go ahead and say it. Until I gain the humanization skill, I can carry you anytime." Chatting with Sera like this, Lisbeth and Ars soon appeared.
Seeing Lisbeth wearing the clothes I bought, without a cloak, carrying a bag, and holding a wand, her sexy figure was delightful from the very beginning of the morning.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, I received the mission.
The reward, as mentioned yesterday, was 10 gold coins, and I received 5.
I needed to explore the dungeon within three days using maps drawn by other guilds, investigate the motive for the murder of the veteran hero, and, if possible, destroy the dungeon itself.
If the situation became dire, I was to escape and report back.
I took the map and strapped the backpack containing food and supplies provided by the management office to my body.
Given the special nature of the mission, the supplies seemed to have been prepared by the lord or the guild management office.
After leaving the management office, I passed through the south gate and headed towards the dungeon with the two of us.
The journey would take about half a day on foot, but at my brisk pace, I estimated I could arrive in about an hour.
"Speaking of which, something I'm curious about: don't people have dedicated transportation? The city is so big, and I haven't seen any means of transport when going to other cities."
"? There are magical items that allow for fast travel within the city... but unless you're a noble or wealthy person, few people would specifically buy them, right?"
"Eh... wouldn't that be incredibly inconvenient?"
"Is it necessary? City dwellers usually work near their homes and rarely need to travel long distances. And ordinary people generally don't need to go to other cities." After listening to Lisbeth's explanation of magical items and Ars's supplementary explanation, I began to understand why there were no cars in this high-tech otherworld.
In villages, people rarely venture far beyond their living radius, so no matter how vast the city, there's almost no need for transportation.
Civil servants and nobles traveling to and from the city gates or to commuting to distant lord cities use single-person vehicles similar to bicycles, but they're expensive, and ordinary people don't see the need to buy them.
However, I once thought that if ordinary people had cars, perhaps they would travel to distant places or other cities—but this is another world.
It's said that the area outside the city is dangerous, with monsters lurking at any moment, so few citizens venture out voluntarily.
It's not that tourist attractions don't exist, but usually only wealthy nobles or tycoons hire guards to escort adventurers, or travel on their own.
The only citizens who would willingly leave the city gates are probably the agricultural workers farming the surrounding areas.
Of course, they rely on the protection of patrolling soldiers to dare to venture out.
"Hmm... so that's why there aren't many magically crafted vehicles. No wonder the merchants at the city gates only have carriages and the like."
"Carriages? You mean monster-drawn carriages? While magically crafted vehicles do exist, breaking down halfway while towing one would be a real problem. Completely immobile.
If it's a carriage pulled by a tamed monster, repairs are simple even if it breaks down, and the tamed monster itself acts as a deterrent to other monsters. Of course, if the monster dies, you either have to pull the carriage yourself, or you'll have to go back to the city and find another one."
Yes.
Indeed.
The high technology of this other world seemed only relevant to life within cities.
In that case, after gaining anthropomorphism, life in the city shouldn't be too different from Earth, right?
Thinking this, I ran for a while and soon arrived at the dungeon.
A considerable number of adventurers had gathered at the entrance, making it easy to spot them.
The adventurers who saw us made "Oh, oh" sounds, exclaiming in surprise and whispering among themselves.
Hey, you guys should be used to my appearance by now.
And so, after speaking with what seemed to be the representative, Ars and Lisbeth prepared to enter the dungeon.
I didn't have anything to check, so I went over to Lisbeth, who was checking her wand, and struck up a conversation.
"I thought most adventurers had seen me by now, so there shouldn't be any more surprises. Since you're adventurers, you must have seen plenty of strange things, so why are you still so shocked? Do I look that scary?"
"That's not the issue. It's because we rode you here, right? Even among tamed monsters, rideable monsters are truly rare. Divine beasts mostly live in human form, and monsters that have lived for hundreds of years wouldn't be easily ridden. Besides, you do look incredibly fierce."
Ah... so they only understood my purpose after seeing me carrying two people.
If this is handled well, maybe I'll receive a membership invitation from a decent guild before even acquiring the humanization skill?
However, hearing them say I look incredibly fierce, even though I vaguely sensed it myself, still makes me quite upset.
There must be women in this world willing to accept someone like me, right?
After checking our equipment and belongings, confirming each other's precautions, we greeted the adventurers outside and entered the labyrinth that resembled a dimensional portal.
...And so we wandered around for quite a while...and found absolutely nothing.
This dungeon was surprisingly spacious; even I could move around easily. It was a typical dungeon with stone walls and a ceiling. Lisbeth called it a closed dungeon.
She told me that dungeons come in various types, some with walls and ceilings, others are open like forests where you can see the sky.
The ceiling inside the dungeon was embedded with some kind of fluorescent-light-like glowing stone, so it wasn't dark.
The ground was covered with something that looked like grass or moss, making it feel less like another dimension and more like stumbling upon some kind of ruin.
"Hmm...there's nothing else here..." Reaching the wall of a dead end, Ars, who had been walking at the front, stopped to check the map and confirm the location.
Ars seemed very serious throughout; you could sense his determination to use this opportunity to finally shed his novice status.
Lisbeth walked in the middle, looking around, her expression subtly a mixture of tension and disgust.
"It must be night outside now… Considering our three-day itinerary, wouldn't it be better to rest here? Wandering around in such a tired state seems more dangerous."
"That's true. There's a spacious room nearby; let's rest there tonight and continue exploring tomorrow morning."
As Ars said this, he pulled out something that looked like a pocket watch, looked at it, and then put it away. What was that? A clock from another world?
After entering the spacious room and laying out a mat, Lisbeth's magic ignited a fire.
After casting a spell on some strange magic circle, the fireball remained steadily burning, continuing to burn even without firewood.
Otherworldly magic is so cool!
Thinking this, after finishing dinner with the food they brought and discussing the next day's itinerary, the two, having quickly washed up, said to her,
"I don't need much sleep, so you two should rest well. I usually only need two or three hours."
On Earth, enjoying more than eight hours of sleep—a privilege reserved for beasts—they would comfortably take a nap when they felt slightly tired.
But after being transported to this other world, perhaps due to my exceptionally high stamina, I felt no fatigue whatsoever.
Even in the Cursed Mountains, I only felt tension. Thanks to my energetic horse, I could sleep intermittently for about 30 minutes at a time, then get up to move around, occasionally taking a short nap in a suitable spot before continuing my journey.
Living like this, I didn't feel tired or strained; my stamina was truly astonishing.
Ars, slightly apologetic, was quickly convinced. Lisbeth whispered in my ear, "If you do anything strange, I'll kill you," before turning and leaving.
How could she not trust me? That's outrageous.
Ars then took out something that looked like a clock and taught me how to tell time, and we arranged the watch order.
I would stand guard for five hours first, followed by two hours each for Ars and Lisbeth.
To conserve our energy, we decided to allow plenty of time for a good night's sleep.
The two of us, having set up our blackout tent, crawled into our sleeping bags in the shade, covered our eyes with handkerchiefs, and fell asleep.
During this somewhat boring yet tense night watch, nothing particularly noteworthy happened.
Shortly after the two fell asleep, Lisbeth let out a strange moan, "Hmm, hmm...♡", which surprised me.
I wondered if she was having a dream, but the deep breathing I heard afterwards suggested she was sound asleep.
I whiled away the time with these thoughts, and five hours later, after waking Ars, I lay down beside the tent and closed my eyes.
Although not very sleepy, I drifted off to sleep in a half-awake state with my eyes closed, only slightly waking up when I heard Ars calling Lisbeth to wake her.
I hesitated whether to open my eyes, then decided to conserve my energy and kept them closed. Just then, I heard footsteps approaching from the previously quiet Lisbeth.
Was she going to the toilet?
Would it be dangerous for her to be alone?
As I was thinking this… the footsteps stopped near my head.
Should I get up?
While waiting a moment, I felt something moving back and forth above my closed eyelids.
What's going on?
I felt Lisbeth's breathing become a little rapid... After a moment... I felt Lisbeth gently lift the cloth covering me, specifically my lower body.
Hey, what are you doing?
Although I was startled for a moment, as I calmed down and thought about what Lisbeth was trying to do, I suddenly remembered the status bar I saw on Lisbeth's body yesterday.
That title that said she was interested in member, and the "Lewdness LV.2" marked as a female skill... Could it be... that Lisbeth is after my member?!
Ars is still right next to me!?
Even with "Lewdness LV.2," this is too dangerous!?
Perhaps due to a sense of crisis, member, which usually pops up all the time, didn't move this time.
It usually pops up from time to time when it sees the back of a woman in the distance... For now, it's a relief.
Then Lisbeth started poking and prodding my large, dark testicles with her fingers, or gently stroking them.
"Hey you, you threw a tantrum over the masturbation incident, and even tried to extort 1 gold coin and 80 silver coins (equivalent to 18 million) in compensation with a piece of clothing, and now you're doing something like this...?"
"Haa...haa..." Lisbeth then panted heavily, poking the horse's testicles with a needle, followed by the sound of her returning to her seat.
A moment later, Ars and I were woken up and told it was morning.
When I was woken up, I saw Lisbeth's slightly flushed, sulky expression.
While struggling with how to accept this, I watched Lisbeth spend the morning, then finished my exploration preparations and resumed my exploration.