57 Part 2
“That means the three of us will have to work together to defeat it.”
“Right?”
Simply put, the mural decipted a whale with a sea anemone on its head.
To put it bluntly, it was the “Great Monster Fish Leviathan” we had fought about 10 days ago.
It was a monster I met in a village I stopped by the day after I was summoned to this world.
At that time, Rita, who was still the chief priest of the Iturna Cult, was fighting against it in order to protect her fellow cult members. In the end, Rita and I rescued the Order members and blew them away with Cecil’s ancient language [Fireball].
It was the monster that inspired Rita to become my slave, and I can’t forget it even if I tried.
If it weren’t for this guy, Rita wouldn’t have become my companion, and she wouldn’t have been fired from the Order.
It must be complicated for Rita to think that this guy was the “natural enemy of the sea dragon”.
“It is the monster that brought me and Nagi together.”
But she’s holding her hands together like she’s grateful.
“Nagi.”
“What’s wrong, Cecil?”
“Didn’t Nagi pick up something after we fought Leviathan?”
“I picked up some scales.”
“Like the one in this mural?”
“…Like the one in this mural.”
The sea dragon hero was holding up a scale-like “something”.
“I mean, it’s there now. Leviathan’s Scales.”
The mural ended with the hero bringing back the scales and being recognized by the sea dragon Kerukatoru, and the hero and the sea dragon’s daughter physically bonding.
“I wonder if Iris knew about the legend.”
She is a Shrine Maiden, so it’s not surprising if she knew the detailed legends.
But if the one who has the Leviathan Scales is certified as a sea dragon hero then, it could be me.
…By the way, when Iris and I were in the hot spring together, she said, “When I interact with a hero, my scales glow pearly.”
At that time, Iris and I were attached back to back.
What if… something had changed after that?
…No, no, no. I’m thinking too much into this.
But then, that explains why Iris wrote her name on the “Rough Goods List”.
The “Sea Dragon Shrine Maiden” can escape her role as a Shrine Maiden by connecting with the “Sea Dragon Hero”.
So, if that “Rough Goods List” is accepted as an official ‘Master-Slave Contract’, it means that as soon as I sign that document, Iris will become my slave and will be released from her role as a Shrine Maiden.
“IS that Iris’s plan?”
As expected of the Shrine Maiden, she is very wise.
“What do you intend to do Nagi?”
“Of course, I’ll do my best to ignore it.”
The inside of the dungeon is dark.
We noticed the mural thanks to Cecil’s normal version of [Light], but I’m not sure Iris has noticed it . Water is dripping from the ceiling, so the Serpent’s blood will be washed away in a short time. It should be unreadable by the time we leave.
“That means we’ll pretend we never noticed the mural.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“No matter what, our job is to ‘defeat the monsters in the dungeon,’ not to awaken as heroes, right?”
“But Nagi…”
Cecil squeezed my hand with a worried look on her face.
“If you say, ‘I am the hero of the sea dragon,’ won’t everyone praise you, Nagi?
“Yes, Nagi. Everyone will feed us.”
“No, it’s troublesome.”
“”Troublesome?””
“I can tell by looking at Iris that it’s going to be tough. If I become an important person, the Order of Divine will be involved. I’m sure the people in the town won’t be happy if a visitor from another world holds the fate of the port town in his hands.”
Besides, the king might hear about it.
If he could control the fate of the port town by getting me, he would at least send someone with cheat skills.
We already know that the king is disposable of visitors because of that “Fake Demonkin” incident.
“For now, I’ll see if Iris is aware about me, and then we can negotiate.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want, Nagi?”
“Oh, I’m determined never to do anything like being a Hero or PC phone support.”
“What is ‘Pee-See Telephone Port’? What happened?”
I won’t tell you. I don’t want to be reminded of it.
“And Iris’ Shrine Maiden is ‘black’ no matter how I think about it. If I am told,” The hero is a precious person, please don’t go outside.” I will have to escape with all my might.”
After we escape, we’ll all have to become adventurers together in the end, so if that’s the case, it won’t be any different than now, right? If that’s the case, I don’t see the need to add an extra step.
“I don’t know if Nagi is selfless or greedy.”
I’m just doing my best to live a lazy life, what of it?
“Anyways, as for the murals we saw this time, we didn’t see anything.”
When Iris asks me about it, I will say, “Oh, by… the way.
When they find out about the scales, I will say, “What a surprise. I didn’t even notice them.”
Then we’ll negotiate to see if I can transfer the heroic rights. Let’s go with that policy.
If Iris said, “I want to quit being a Shrine Maiden, so please help me,” I would help her.
But if I make her a slave, I’m going to make enemies of all Irgafa.
I wish there was a way to “connect” with Iris other than through a ‘Master-Slave Contract’.
“So, we’ll just pretend we didn’t see anything and continue to conquer the dungeon, okay?”
“Yes, hehe, Nagi.”
Cecil smiled happily as she took my hand.
“What’s wrong, Cecil?”
“No, it’s a little chilly, so I wanted to make sure your hands weren’t too cold.”
Then Cecil wrapped my hand in her tiny hand.
It’s nice and smooth, but it’s not chilly. It’s cool because it’s underground, but Irgafa is a southern town, so it’s basically warm. But there are goosebumps on Cecil’s palms.
“I’m sorry.”
I put my palm on Cecil’s forehead, … normal temperature.
She doesn’t seem to be sick as before. Her face is red. She seems to be in a hurry.
“…Oh, um… Nagi?”
“Cecil, does the chilly weather mean you have a cold or something? Have you caught a cold?”
“No, it feels like the wind is blowing towards the back of the dungeon.”
Cecil nodded her head curiously.
Rita is puzzled, too. The wind is not blowing.
But if Cecil feels it, then…?
“…No, Nagi. This is the flow of magic power. It’s flowing all the way to the back of the dungeon.”
Flow of magic?
…I see.
Cecil is a demon, so she has the power of [Magic Detection].
“The magic power was flowing so vigorously that it felt like the wind was blowing.”
“Someone’s trying to use some big magic in the back?
“No, it’s more like someone’s sucking the magic out of the dungeon.”
Cecil nodded her head.
“But it’s strange, isn’t it? There should be a ward in this place. If there’s something in there that sucks the magic out of wards, it’s only natural that the wards would be weakened.”
I, Cecil, and Rita looked at each other.
We ate a quick portable meal, drank some water, took a deep breath, and finished my break.
We start walking towards the back of the dungeon.
I instructed Cecil and Rita to keep activating [Magic Detection] and [Presence Detection] for a while, and raised the alert level.
In addition, I advanced the slime to the range limit (10 meters) of the [Slime Bringer].
After about ten minutes, we saw the exit to the passage.
According to Iris’s map, beyond that is a large hall with a door leading to the center.
Bang
The vibration came.
Boom, boom, boom.
It sounded like something was hitting the wall.
“As promised in these situations, there’s a boss character in front of the seal door.”
At the door, he said, “If you want to go through here, you must defeat me before you go through.
As a player, the best part of the game is beating him, and as a game creator, the best part of the game is how to make him beat you.
“But this is a dungeon controlled by Iris, right? There are only natural monsters here, there can’t be any boss characters.”
“Nagi, I can feel the magic in the air.”
“I sense something big moving, Nagi.”
“My Master. There’s a big one.”
…I shouldn’t have said anything.
Report from the child Elder Slime (Reggie) who preceded me, observation by Cecil’s [Magic Detection] and Rita’s [Presence detection].
According to them…
The source of the vibrations was a hall with a door leading to the central hub.
There was a golem made of ice that was over five meters tall.