Reverse Dungeon

The residents, many of them still not fully sober, rushed over and surrounded Ian.

"We thought you'd left without saying a word!"

"How can you leave without even holding a departure ceremony?"

Ian wondered what all the commotion was about.

"Was yesterday's drinking not enough for you people?"

Is their dream to reduce the dungeon's alcohol reserves to zero?

"What a hurtful thing to say."

One of the dungeon residents grumbled.

Ian checked his status.

Ding!

['Carrot Farmer' Paul has been afflicted with the status effect 'Hangover'.]

['Carrot Farmer' Paul is under the buff 'Courage'.]

He's drunk.

Not surprising.

What puzzled Ian more was how these people all seemed to know about his secret plan to raid the Demon King.

"Ian! Do you have any idea how shocked I was? I thought you'd already disappeared!"

Moiken suddenly popped out from a patch of bushes.

Of course it was you.

Ian hadn't expected anything else.

Originally, the plan had been for the dungeon residents to gradually discover the reason for his disappearance after he was gone.

Unexpectedly, however, the fact that Ian was heading toward almost certain death didn't seem to have lowered the dungeon residents' morale at all.

Ding!

[Paul trusts you!]

Ding!

[Moiken trusts you!]

Ding!

[Jenea trusts you!]

.

.

.

...Whatever.

Instead of kicking Moiken, Ian looked over at the elf merchant who had tagged along behind him. He wanted to drag that bastard away before he came to his senses.

This works out nicely.

Ian surveyed the gathered villagers.

Apparently the alliance members had come out as well after hearing the commotion.

Watching them rub their eyes with bedhead sticking up everywhere, Ian asked,

"Where's Nameita?"

"He hasn't arrived yet."

"Any contact?"

"None."

Sema answered.

That bastard.

What was he doing, and where?

Even Ian had never successfully persuaded the sea dwarves.

If they could make up for the dungeon levels that were still lacking, that would be great, but recruitment had always been a long shot to begin with.

Ian had simply told him to give it a try and come back if it didn't work.

Now there was no news at all.

Ian didn't hesitate.

"Let's go catch him."

We'll stop by the sea first, then head for the Demon King's Castle.

The Demon King's Castle was in the north.

Floating alone like an island.

The journey required crossing the sea anyway.

They could pick up Nameita along the way.

Ian looked around.

Jenea stood beside Moiken.

As planned, Ian made her an offer.

"Want to come with me and kill the Demon King?"

A crack appeared in Jenea's icy expression.

"Of course, Hero Ian."

As she smiled, it felt as though the entire area brightened.

"As expected of Jenea. The pride of our village."

"Moiken. Take care of the dungeon while I'm gone."

"Leave it to me!"

The elves gathered around Jenea, celebrating enthusiastically.

Why are they so happy?

Ian had no desire to understand elves, so he turned away.

His next target.

Then he noticed someone in the crowd desperately trying to make eye contact with him.

...Huh?

It was Louise.

The moment their eyes met, his expression became even more earnest.

"Please take me with you too."

"You need to stay here and defend the dungeon."

"There are plenty of excellent archers besides me. The mounted archers who grew up with me are all master marksmen, and each one has excellent coordination with their wolf."

Ian couldn't remember ever hearing Louise praise someone so highly before.

If you join, we'll have three archers in the party.

Unable to tell him the truth, Ian made an excuse.

"What about your villagers? They'll be without a chief."

"That village was practically without a chief to begin with."

Louise was firm.

Can you really say that about your own village?

Ian felt awkward.

Were the wandering villagers not here today?

"They'll manage just fine on their own. Do you not trust me?"

"I'll be honest."

Louise swallowed nervously.

"Your role overlaps with mine."

"...!"

Louise's eyes widened.

"I should've learned something besides archery...! If only I'd studied poisons..."

"No. Archer is the strongest position there is. Keep improving your archery. And keep researching poisons."

The synergy between Louise and Poisonous Fang was excellent.

The ability to apply debuffs over time, maintain distance, and deal ranged damage formed a perfect combination.

"...The strongest position?"

Ian ignored the Holy Knight's muttering.

Louise seemed even more shocked by the fact that archery wasn't the issue.

"Because I'm not good enough!"

"...I'm leaving the dungeon to you because I trust you."

Honestly, I don't even know whether the offense-defense balance makes sense.

The party composition wasn't the result of meticulous calculation.

He was going entirely on instinct.

Even the reason he'd included Jenea despite the elf merchant voluntarily joining the party was instinct.

That bastard could bolt at any moment.

No matter how capable an ally was, an untrustworthy one was unsettling.

Ian imagined the guy contributing a bit of damage early on and then suddenly announcing one [N O V E L I G H T] day,

"I think I've paid back the value of my life. Bye now."

Just imagining it made his blood boil.

Meanwhile, one person present desperately did not want to make eye contact with Ian.

When Louise stepped forward first, he had been startled.

But after hearing the conversation, he felt relieved.

So he's not taking me!

The omitted words were because you're not trustworthy.

Sema had a fairly accurate understanding of himself.

He knew that while Ian favored him, he had not earned Ian's confidence in terms of ability.

The fact that Ian's gaze had seemed to land on him a few times was unsettling, but...

Must be my imagination!

Sema raised his head.

And met Ian's eyes.

"Sema."

"I-I can't do anything though?!"

"Is that supposed to be something to brag about?"

Sema shut his mouth.

Cold sweat poured down his face.

"Come along and do some hunting. Once we pick up Nameita, I'll send you back to the dungeon."

Ian was truly a man of great character.

Sema was deeply moved.

"Ian...! I'll work hard!"

Clenching his fist, he nodded firmly.

He himself had already realized he needed to improve his magic.

Between running the Magic Tower, teaching disciples, explaining dungeon rules to newcomers, and praising Ian, he had been so busy that he'd barely had time to train himself.

Sharing the responsibility of keeping the dungeon running with Moiken had left his mind constantly occupied as well.

Though Lord Moiken handles most of it!

Sema was somewhat curious about how dungeon management would function without him.

But he didn't ask.

Ian must have some kind of plan.

Then Louise looked at him in complete shock.

W-Why?

Sema didn't know it, but Louise's expression clearly said:

You're taking Lord Sema, but not me?

Everyone present understood exactly what that meant.

Including Ian.

"...Fine. You come too."

I'll send her back together with Sema. She'll need an escort to return to the dungeon anyway...

Even now, Ian couldn't decide whether the problem was that Sema still required an escort or that teenagers simply had fragile emotions.

Or perhaps he himself was the problem.

"I won't betray your trust!"

Louise clenched his fist.

Seeing that, Ian felt oddly satisfied.

Maybe he really was the problem.

Ian pressed a hand against his forehead.

I've pulled too much combat power out of the dungeon.

The balance was terrible.

Keith was the only frontliner.

Everyone else was backline support.

How exactly was a party like this supposed to survive?

If I bring one more tank...

Then he might as well hold a funeral for the dungeon.

An elf with more versatile skills instead of Jenea... a frontliner...

Ian's gaze unconsciously drifted in one direction.

"..."

"Hm? What's wrong, Ian?"

Moiken asked, pausing in the middle of tossing Jenea into the air.

No, definitely not him.

...He was only three-star.

In the end, Ian reversed the order he'd just given Jenea.

"It looks like most of the trip will involve hunting. Having too much firepower would be wasteful. If we find Nameita, I'll contact you. Join us then."

"Yes, Ian."

Jenea answered normally, but her ears drooped.

Moiken folded his arms.

"The elves are simply too strong and too noble. They're actually bad at helping weaker people grow."

"As expected of Moiken. An excellent analysis."

Jenea's ears immediately perked back up.

Since elves rarely suffered from morale issues, Ian wasn't worried.

Anyway.

Preparations proceeded smoothly.

"Ian! I did it!"

Momisia burst out of the dungeon.

Fortunately, the drunken priest's wine hadn't somehow made its way to the children, so it seemed she'd spent the entire night working.

Excitedly, she showed off her latest invention.

"It's an upgraded Demon Mask! Unlike the old one, it won't break easily. And if you do this..."

She demonstrated proudly.

"It even emits demonic energy!"

"That's impressive, Momi."

"Hmph. Of course it is."

Momisia lifted her chin proudly.

Receiving the Demon Masks one by one as though they were royal gifts, the party members turned to look at Ian.

"Huh? Me too?"

The elf merchant looked thoroughly confused, but regardless, everyone received a mask.

After storing several spares in his inventory just in case, Ian gave the order.

"Let's go."

At once, they pulled the masks over their faces and set out.