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A Little Shift in Perspective Required for Clearing a Dungeon – Part 04

When Hikaru awoke inside the dungeon, his throat was dry. It seemed much drier here than he had anticipated. When he asked Lavia for a candy, she proudly said, “I knew it would come in handy,” and he patted her head.

Portable rations prioritized sustenance over taste, serving the purpose of simply satisfying hunger.

As they silently ate, Jillarte asked, “So, Hikaru, are you going to tell me how you’re going to open the locked door?”

Hikaru hadn’t told Lavia and Paula about it, so they turned their attention to him as well.

“Well, I suppose… I mean, sure, yeah.” He managed to correct himself before slipping into formal speech. “I want us all to be on the same page. The Maze of Magic Locks has been thoroughly explored, but only about half of the fifth floor has been cleared. The reason for that is the ‘locked door’ at the deepest part… Am I correct?”

The three nodded.

“Unlike the other doors in this dungeon, the locked door doesn’t have a keyhole or a doorknob. It’s said to be ‘just a wall shaped like a door’. At least, that’s what I heard during our journey here.”

“That’s right,” Jillarte said. “That’s why your saying that you can open the door without even seeing it once is odd. Of course, you wouldn’t lie about something like that, so you must have some basis for your claim, right?”

“Yeah. Actually, I’m pretty sure I’m right. Take a look at this map.”

Hikaru took out the full map and separated them into individual pages, from the first to the fifth floor.

“What are you doing?”

“Jillarte, do you remember the stairs you took to get down from the first floor to the second floor?”

“The stairs? I’m not sure… I vaguely remember it being quite long.”

“That’s right. It was long, and it made a 90-degree turn. Am I right?”

“Well, now that you mention it, maybe it did turn to the left. But what about it?”

“The stairs from the second floor to the third floor was the same. Right?”

“Yeah. Could you please stop beating around the bush and get straight to the point?”

“Patience, now. This is important. The floors from the first to the fourth form long, narrow sections of approximately the same size. And if the stairs make a right-angle turn…”

Hikaru placed the second-floor map perpendicularly right beneath the first-floor map. He continued with the third and fourth floors.

“It forms a square,” Lavia said.

“Correct. It forms a quadrilateral.”

Jillarte blinked. “And that matters how?” She looked at Hikaru dubiously.

“I’m guessing the stairs from the fourth floor to the fifth floor look like this.”

Hikaru placed the fifth-floor map inward the fourth floor. By doing so, the locked door ended up right in the center of the square.

“Just to confirm, Jillarte, do you have any knowledge of sorcery?” Hikaru asked.

“Nope.”

“None whatsoever?”

“Absolutely zero. Not even dabbled in it.”

“I see,” Hikaru said with a hint of disappointment.

The knowledge he had himself originally belonged to Roland, the previous owner of his body. In this world, the vast majority of people—over ninety-nine percent—lacked any knowledge of sorcery.

“This magical formula is very simple,” Hikaru explained. “It’s a spell that allows the accumulated mana to flow inward to the Closed Square through the Vital Passes.”

“Mana flowing inward?”

Jillarte and Paula looked confused, but Lavia let out an audible gasp.

“Wait, are you saying… But that’s…”

“Do you get it, Lavia?”

“It sounds crazy, though. Are you suggesting that the entire floors are magical formulas?”

Hikaru nodded, pleased with the response. “Exactly. Go on.”

“That’s why the entire passages have mana. Once this magical formula is complete, the locked door will be infused with magical power and automatically open.”

“Bingo. Well done, Lavia.”

Lavia snorted proudly. “But if the magical formula is so well-established, why isn’t the door opening?”

Hikaru pointed to the map of the fifth floor. “If you look closely, there are many magic locks on the fifth floor. I believe these function as switches. To maintain the supply of mana to the locked door, the correct door must be opened and the incorrect doors closed. Jillarte, during your exploration, did you leave the doors open?”

Jillarte gave a start. “Y-Yeah, of course. Many adventurers wedge things under the doors to prevent them from closing. But sometimes they end up closed without anyone noticing, so people just thought there might be some special magic involved. Is it because the doors were left open?”

“Yup. If you don’t close the doors that should be closed, the mana flow will be cut off there. I’m guessing here, here, and here.” Hikaru picked up some red powder with his index finger and marked those spots on the map. “These three should be closed, and the rest should be open.”

“That’s it? That’s all it takes to open the locked door?”

“Yup, that’s all you have to do.” Hikaru grinned. “I’m pretty sure this dungeon has over twenty floors, and the first five floors were made relatively easy.”

This time, Jillarte’s gaping mouth did not shut.

---

When its green arm, thick as a log, was severed, the club-wielding Troll let out a scream. Even monsters spawned by dungeons could feel pain and voiced their agony when struck.

Using the opening, she stepped forward and swiftly slit its throat. Soon after, it transformed into white smoke and vanished, leaving behind a yellow elemental magic stone, which indicated the earth element.

Upon reaching the fifth floor, conventional monsters started to appear. There were the rotund giants known as Trolls, the winged black demons called Gargoyles, three-headed watchdogs known as Cerberus, and glowing flying entities called Will-o’-wisps.

They were physically stronger than the ones on the fourth floor, but being conventional meant they were predictable, posing no real threat to Jillarte.

Something else bothered her instead. She couldn’t help but find the adventurer Hikaru strange.

He noticed the mechanism used to open the locked door. All right, sure. Let’s just say for the sake of argument that anyone with knowledge of sorcery would have figured it out. Heck, I’d even buy it if he said it was just pure luck.

The problem was what he said after—twenty floors.

Would anyone actually figure that out? Or did we just convince ourselves that there were only five floors?

Hikaru explained the declaration that the Dungeon Master left at the entrance.

“So, it goes like this: first comes the door, then the passage, then the puzzle, and after that, the test of skill. The ‘door’ literally refers to the locked door. If that’s the case, the next stage—the 6th floor and beyond—should have a maze of passages, followed by a maze of puzzles, and finally, a maze that tests your skill. I think it’s a reasonable assumption.”

Now that Jillarte thought about it, it made sense. Everyone assumed that the five levels tested for everything—the doors, passages, puzzles, and skill. So it was widely believed that this dungeon only had five floors.

How could he claim that there were more floors when we haven’t even entered the fifth floor?

“The declaration mentioned something like ‘arrangements have been made for you to return to the surface’. That means if we pass the test of the locked door on the fifth floor, we should be able to return to the surface from there. Right now, if we head straight for the surface, we’re likely to run into Gogo Zoro. So it would be more efficient to just advance through the fifth floor.”

That was the true reason behind Hikaru’s suggestion of clearing the fifth floor.

Jillarte felt both joy and fear when she realized that the stairs from the fourth floor to the fifth floor were angled inward, just as Hikaru had described. It meant that his ‘magic formula’ theory was correct.

He was an extraordinary boy. Although inexperienced in combat, he made up for it with remarkable insight and intellect. To top it off he had courage in times of need—him saving Jillarte was proof of that.

I want him to work for Einbiest.

Their first priority was to escape from this dungeon. But Jillarte decided that once they were out and she finished repaying him, she would try to recruit him for Einbiest.

“So first we head for the locked door,” Jillarte said.

“Yup, let’s go.”

His impeccable politeness was also impressive. Perhaps he was born to a noble, or to a distinguished family in the provinces. With a little training, he could easily become the right-hand of the Confederacy of Einbiest’s Deputy Leader. Jillarte couldn’t contain her excitement at the thought.

Unlike the Beastmen, Hikaru didn’t openly pursue Jillarte either. As she thought better and better of him, she snapped back to her senses.

Huh?! Wh-What am I imagining? I don’t even know if he would accept the proposal. Why is my heart racing like this? Ugh, disgraceful.

“Jillarte?”

“I-I’m fine. Are there enemies to kill?”

“Nope, there are no enemies to kill. I just wanted you to stand guard while I unlock that door. Lavia and Paula too.”

“Okay.”

“Understood!”

Hikaru approached the closed door and inserted two thin metal rods into the keyhole. It resembled Esrat’s method, but the technique seemed different.

“You’re quite versatile,” Jillarte commented.

“Not really. I can’t use magic at all.”

“But you’re well-versed in sorcery.”

“Yeah… I suppose.” He smiled awkwardly.

Jillarte briefly wondered if his secret lay there. Maybe he wasn’t from a noble house or a distinguished family, but an apprentice to a renowned Artificer.

“Enemies. Five Poison Rats,” Lavia said.

Jillarte turned around and saw giant rats charging toward them. Over a meter in size, they were quite intimidating, and their mottled green fur was revolting.

“That’s my cue!”

Without a second thought, Jillarte leaped forward. Lavia tried to stop her, but she paid no attention and swiftly cut down all five rats, turning them into white smoke. But then…

“…Ugh?!”

Suddenly she had trouble breathing, and she fell to her knees.

“Jillarte. Poison Rats carry a toxic substance that can be transmitted through the air. You can get infected by just being close. Paula.”

“Healing Magic, got it!”

“I-I can handle this poison with sheer determination…”

“You do know that determination doesn’t neutralize poison, right?”

Jillarte had once nearly been assassinated with poison. But even without that experience, it was common sense for adventurers to know that poison was cured with medicine or magic.

She was laid down on the spot, and Paula began chanting a spell. Golden light flowed into Jillarte’s body, gradually alleviating the tightness in her chest and the cold sweat.

Ah, I remember. When I was almost assassinated, Silver Face helped me. The memory suddenly rushed back to Jillarte. Hmm?

What was just a fleeting recollection gave her a sense of unease. She was feeling the exact same sensation she experienced back then.

Back then, I was barely conscious, but this magic feels familiar…

She got up and looked at Paula.

“How do you feel?” Paula asked. “Any discomfort still?”

“N-No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome! I finally had my moment.” Paula smiled broadly.

Lavia stood on tiptoe as she gave Paula a pat on the head. “You’re always helpful. Mostly as the life of the party.”

“R-Really? Does that count as being helpful?”

I guess Healing Magic would all feel the same, Jillarte thought, shaking her head.

“Nice work, Jillate,” Hikaru said. “The door is open.”

She nodded, and they continued further into the dungeon.