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94. Miscalculation

『This is our duty. The fate of the Emesmes family. That is what Angelina was born for.』

「Angelina too?」

「Yes. I really wanted it to end with us, but unfortunately the result was as you can see. We became chains with all the mana we had to restrain the dragon. That why I need that child to take over.」

He proceeded with the conversation on his own, but I still couldn’t see the whole picture. Until I hear that, I can’t make any moves lightly.

「Before that, I want to know what this place is? There are too many strange things for it to be just a dungeon.」

『Hmm. We don’t have much time, but you have a right to know.』

With that preface, the chain clinked.

『This is “Womb of the Star”. One part of this is the origin of the dwarf race.』

「Womb…?」

It was the first time I had heard of the word.

If you take the words literally, it seems to be a place where something is born. All that wafts from this scorching golden land is the smell of death, though.

『This is a special dungeon transmitted only to a small number of alchemists. A mere adventurer would not be able to capture it, after all.』

Impossible for adventurers, huh.

As a former adventurer, those words caught my attention, but I decided that now was not the time to address that and proceeded with the conversation.

「…Is that why you challenged it as an alchemist?」

『We were making preparations. Human wisdom is limited. No matter how much a single person, a single generation might rush, nothing can be done. So the Emesmes family prepared for a thousand years. That is all. However… there was a slight miscalculation.』.

The chain jingled while talking in a frivolous manner.

「A miscalculation?」

『The dwarves dug this place up.』

「…Oh, that.」

『They dug up too much.』

There is a common phrase used by people who don’t know much about dungeons to criticize the government or the guild.

They alway ask why the guild didn’t just conquer the dungeon while it was still in D-class or C-class. They say that the reason the dungeons grow into A or S-class is because the guild is lazy.

It is true that there are times when a dungeon can grow while the discovery team is delayed. But there are limits to the guild as well.

No matter how cautious we are on the ground, we can’t find what we can’t see.

「Dungeons are created underground, after all.」

A dungeon that was born underground extends towards the surface. If it’s S-class by the time it’s discovered, there’s no way to prevent it.

The chain swayed as if sighing.

『Even the Emesmes family didn’t know the exact location of the dungeon. We were doing our own research on it, but before we realized, a dwarf had dug it up. Originally, we should have had a little more time to prepare.』

As a result, the dungeon was exposed before it appeared on the ground, and their plans had to be moved forward significantly. Still, they prepared as much as they could and took on the challenge, but reached a dead end here.

The dwarven mine just happened to be right above this place.

「…Isn’t it too much of a coincidence?」

『If it happened, it wasn’t a coincidence, but an inevitability. It was this dungeon that gave the dwarves the power to dig, their small but strong bodies, and the endemic skill. Perhaps there was something that attracted them here.』

「I don’t really understand that part either. What did you mean by the origin of the dwarf race?」

『Oh, that. You see, humans and demi-humans were originally one species. Each of them received power from a different “Womb of the Star” and mutated. It is all the same for the Dwarfs, the Elves, and the Giants. I don’t know if the prototype was a human, or if it was some other race that has now been lost.』

「So there were people who realized this and prepared for it more than a thousand years ago, huh…」

I couldn’t help but look up at the ceiling and the sleeping dragon as I heard this far-reaching story.

In a high-level dungeon, even an ordinary stone can become a luminous stone, and a gemstone can become a precious stone. So this is a dungeon which can cause something similar to happen to humans.

I wonder how big its scale is…

『Did you understand now? This is a battle on a level that even you adventurers can’t do anything about. Sorry for asking you a favor on our first meeting, but please call Angelina for me.』

「…I see now.」

『What is it?』

「No, I was just talking to myself. Your daughter is really talented.」

The reason Angelina sought me was to “search for the impossible.”

Although she said it was an academic interest, it makes sense if you consider that it was part of her preparations for conquering this dungeon. It’s understandable if you want to survive in such an unfair and harsh environment.

Perhaps she even counted on me as a fighting force.

「She settled in the village because of her duty, huh.」

「Master, umm…」

「What is it?」

「…No, it’s nothing.」

『Is that enough explanation?』

As if saying “I have said what I needed to say,” Lord Emesmes hurriedly clinked the golden chain.

『So, please bring my daughter here. Angelina is my pride. I am sure that she continued her own research and exploration even after we were gone. If she is able to add our power to that, she will certainly become an unparalleled alchemist.』

「Alright, I understand the situation. I don’t mind bringing Angelina here. Could you please open the entrance?」

『Thanks. I will open the entrance soon. By turning into gold myself, I am in sync with the gold in this dungeon. Something as easy as opening and closing the entrance is… !!?』

「What’s wrong?」

『Grab onto something! Right now!』

I understood that Lord Emesmes stiffened over something. Immediately after his somewhat belated warning–

A fierce wind blew into the golden room. It was no normal wind.

A murky stream of mana, engulfing the Salamandras, engulfing the gold, flowed into the depths of the dungeon like a rain of bullets.