Chapter 119 – Shortcut
“Woah…!”
Menew raised his voice in awe as he saw the building from the speeding boat.
It looked like a giant seashell in the middle of the sea. It pointed upwards, growing thinner towards the sky.
The spiral tower sprouted out from the edge of a cliff on the island. But in spite of the strong winds and waves, the building was in good condition. It looked proud and bold as it loomed over them.
“So that is Caprichio…”
“It’s protected by a barrier, eh? And a powerful barrier at that.”
“You can tell? Mofusen.”
“Mmm. It is similar to the ones in the Vala forest and El Dorad mines. A barrier that was not made by humans.”
In other words, this tower dungeon must be protected by a spirit, divine beast, or some kind of dragon.
But why had it been sealed off? The spiral shell was getting closer and closer.
“According to a survivor who managed to escape, their memories of the tower were completely erased. We must be very cautious.”
“Ralph, how do you… Ah, I see. When you went to the library?”
“Indeed. I thought that there must be something beyond the guild’s management. And so I looked it up. Though, the only thing I learned was that it’s dangerous.”
As Ralph and Menew watched the tower, Sety spoke from behind.
“More importantly, do you have anything for seasickness? Totto is looking very pale right now.”
Totto was leaning over the edge, and had already emptied his stomach. Sety patted him on the back consolingly. Unfortunately for him, he was the one who made medicines. And he had not anticipated being sick here. And so he had not prepared anything.
Perhaps he did not expect it, because he had never felt sick while riding carriages or flying on dragons or Stan.
“I-I’m fine… I can’t vomit anymore…”
That wasn’t really the problem. But no one said anything about that. Instead, they tried to distract him by pointing to the fins of swimming monsters.
The boat went around the tower to the pier on the other side. And then Artie, who had been steering the boat in his sailor uniform, saw them off.
“See, Totto? We’re on land.”
Artie had taken Totto down first and gave him water to help calm him.
“Thank you. Are you returning once?”
“No, it will be a waste of magic energy. I will be waiting here.”
When Menew asked, he smiled happily and raised a thumb into the air.
While it was safe to row his boat around the city, on the sea, he usd a sailboat that was powered by magic. It could make wind in the water, creating a propulsion force, and help the vessel maintain its balance.
As you had to charge it up with magic energy, you could use it, even if you didn’t know how to use magic.
They had been quite surprised when the guild had sent them someone who could read the tides and was willing to take them to a dungeon where few returned from…and it was Artie who appeared.
“I can wait here for about three days. If the weather is good, it only takes four hours to reach the other shore, so it’s nothing. You people be careful.”
Artie said, and then Menew and the others went to the tower and placed their hands on the door.
It looked even more strange now that they were close. The walls were completely smooth, and the metal doors were covered in geometric shapes.
“This smells like treasure.”
Sety said as she licked her lips. They had heard about her reason for dungeon crawling, but she must also like treasure.
“Let’s keep our guard up and go.”
Ralph gripped his sword and straightened his posture. He had led an organization before, and so he knew to be careful in such situations.
Mofusen was chuckling, and now that Totto had recovered, he was happily clutching onto Kanon.
Menew held his staff and smiled confidently. Up ahead, there was something that had been a mystery for twenty years. It made him excited from the bottom of his heart.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Menew then opened the door and took one step forward. He then turned around, but it was too late.
“Ah. No, don’t come…”
And then he was swallowed up by the shadows of the dungeon.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
“How strange…”
“Mr. Menew!?”
In front of them, there was a stone entrance room. And a spiral staircase lined the wall upwards. But Menew was gone. They could not even hear his voice.
He had stepped foot inside, but there was no trace of him.
“What should we do?”
“We can’t just leave him here.”
“Too bad about Menew… That can’t be the end of it.”
“Let’s go and search for him…!”
As a test, they tried throwing a pebble on the ground, but it just rolled over the stone floor.
After determining that there must be some kind of magic that affects living creatures, Ralph and the others quickly looked at each other and considered their options.
It would not be wise to just step inside alone as Menew did.
Ralph would go with Stan. Mofusen with Totto and Mr. Wal. Sety would go with Kanon. This way, if something happened, they would have a better chance of doing something.
Ralph and Stan went in first. And once again, they vanished.
“Hmm. It is similar to a shortcut.”
“I think so too. It is like…it doesn’t feel like you completely die or disappear.”
Totto was a genius when it came to magic energy. Perhaps he could sense them without trying. Regardless if it was that or just intuition, it seemed like he was still alive. That was why he had not stopped Ralph.
“Totto is mostly right. I can also feel a weak connection with my master.”
Mr. Wal’s words were reassuring.
“However, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s very dangerous. And so we must be careful as we go.”
“Yes!”
Like this, Mofusen and the clothes entered as well, until it was just Sety and Kanon, the big dog, who were left.
“Well, we better go too.”
Sety said light-heartedly. Kanon barked, ‘Woof!’ and they stepped inside of the dungeon.
As Mofusen predicted, the door was a shortcut. However, it was not like Menew’s space manipulation, which could be used anywhere. It was water magic that was limited to this Caprichio dungeon.
In a room on the highest floor of the tower, the water spirit…Caprichio, was looking into four mirrors.
Silently…it observed the humans. It had been some time since there were last visitors.
Menew was shown in one of the mirrors.
Alone, in a room with no windows or doors. Only slightly glowing stones…
Thanks for the chapter!