3 bar menu

CHAPTER 270: HIDDEN MOTIVES

—Aun’s Perspective—

The outcome of the battle between Ciel and Garcia was immediately relayed to both sides, and the roar of Tekirana’s triumph shook the first floor of the dungeon.

As for the Calvados Union, with their clan master Garcia defeated, the loss was officially confirmed. One by one, members began shattering their teleport stones and disappearing to the entrance.

Only Garcia and the submaster, Steadman, remained.

Garcia lay flat on his back, unable to move his body, but his consciousness was clear.

「Sorry, Steadman. I, who must not lose, failed in fulfilling that duty.」

「No, the true cause of our defeat lies in my inability to read the strategy. I allowed Tekirana to close the power gap…」

「Looks like we’ll have to start over from scratch. Will you lend me your strength once again?」

「Of course. The only master I serve is the tyrant Garcia. No one else.」

With a faint smile between them, the last two remaining also crushed their teleport stones and vanished from the dungeon.

Meanwhile, the Tekirana alliance remaining on that floor began to gather around Ciel, and the atmosphere soon turned festive—almost unbelievably so for a place inside a dungeon.

「Alright then, let’s head back to the inn for now.」

「Mm. We’ll resume the conquest another day.」

「Right. With this, the floor blockade and hunting ground monopoly should be off the table for a while. They might even update the deepest-reached floor soon.」

「Yeah! Feels like we can finally just focus on dungeon diving for a while!」

「Still, with monopolies gone, clan competition is going to get more intense—and the scramble for items won’t change. …Anyway, if Calvados and Tekirana move according to our expectations from here on, that’d be perfect. …But let’s save that talk for after we get back. Oh yeah, what happened with Curu? Did he pull his weight?」

「I already got a report from one of Tekirana’s scouts. Apparently, over at the advanced-class tower, Curu went solo against 150 opponents and mowed through them. Then he came over to the supreme-class tower and managed to hold off about thirty more—including Calvados’ number six party—all on his own. Chances are, the reason Calvados never managed to reinforce the main battleground here is because Curu was working behind the scenes.」

「That guy… he might be the real MVP of this whole battle.」

「Mhm. Curu did great. We should definitely praise him properly.」

「For sure! Alright, let’s head back to the inn!」

◆　　◆　　◆　　◆

—Room 207, Humming Bear Lodge—

Back at our base of operations in Wislo, the Humming Bear Lodge, we gathered in Room 207 to decide on our next steps. Naturally, we weren’t careless—soundproofing magic tools were in place, and detection skills were active to prevent any leaks.

「Alright, let’s get this briefing started.」

「Mhm. In the end, your prediction about the Great Liberation Battle was spot on, Aun.」

「Yeah! And even though we weakened Calvados’ forces, we made sure not to kill them unless necessary—also part of the bigger picture, right?」

「Exactly. Honestly, we were prepared to stay neutral since we could work with either side. But once Calvados made it clear they saw us as enemies, we used that as an excuse to go wild—and in doing so, we made a big impression on both factions.」

「Now it’s just a matter of how people like Barbaru and Irs react… though knowing those two, they’re probably having the time of their lives with all this.」

With Calvados defeated in the Great Liberation Battle, things were shaping up perfectly for us.

Why? Because with the kind of clan they are, Calvados is bound to conduct a deep analysis of their loss. And there’s no denying that our participation—us of Seiha—was a major turning point in the battle. Which means the logical next step for them is to investigate the source of our strength.

Anticipating this, we had already been subtly leaking info before the battle, suggesting that Seiha had been leveling and gearing up in the Plainevelt Dungeon before arriving in Wislo.

In reality, since I’m the dungeon master, none of the Seiha members gain a single point of experience from hunting in Plainevelt—but the locals and guild folks have seen us hanging around inside the dungeon a lot.

If that rumor reaches Calvados’s key members, they’ll inevitably conclude that the Plainevelt Dungeon is a ‘low-cost, high-reward place with little competition.’

Their next logical move would be, ‘Let’s focus on Plainevelt to strengthen the clan’s power.’

And we already heard that their Number Two party, Empire, has been dispatched to Plainevelt—making this chain of events all the more likely.

Even if Tekirana had lost the war, we had built up enough rapport with Ciel and Heil to send Kinu to negotiate and draw them toward Plainevelt as well.

In other words, no matter who won, a major clan would eventually shift to Plainevelt. Meaning, flocks of high-value dungeon point generators—easy pickings—would swarm into a dungeon I control.

「Aniki, you really are a genius when it comes to underhanded stuff. When I heard this plan, I shuddered—in a good way!」

「Heh, well… not gonna lie, I’ve had it out for Calvados for a while. When they turned hostile, I couldn’t help but grin. And now with Tekirana’s win, Wislo’s still got enough competition to keep things interesting.」

「Yeah, dungeon diving’s way more fun when you’ve got rivals!」

「Hmm. So whether it was Calvados or Tekirana, it was to our advantage that the death toll stayed low.」

「Personally, I wanted to experiment a bit more with cooking adventurers—get a deeper understanding of human anatomy—but I suppose that’ll have to wait for next time.」

「Cooking adventurers… seriously, you… Just don’t go overboard, alright?」

「Understood.」

Shinku earned herself the nickname ‘Evil Star’ with her flashy performance this time, but she still seemed unsatisfied.

Honestly, I’m a little worried she might start dual-wielding knives and turn people into ground meat—bones and all—but considering her sheer kill power, 【Cooking】 could very well become her ultimate trump card. I get why she wants more trial runs.

「Mm. Then let’s check in with Barbaru, Ars, and the core group. I’m curious about that egg from the Random Summon too.」

「Yeah, good idea! Let’s get in touch!」

It’s been about half a year since the egg appeared via Random Summon. According to Ars’ reports, it might be absorbing dungeon points to grow—but we still don’t know exactly how much it’s developed.

Might be time to run an appraisal again soon… but first, let’s make contact and see where we stand!