Chapter of Living Dreams: Advancing into the cave

The remaining evening was pretty uneventful. We ate dinner and then spent the remaining time talking. One of the women had secretly brought some alcohol along much to our enjoyment and Fenna’s annoyance. In the end, she decided to let it go. As long as they weren’t too wasted for the night watch. Not like we even could get wasted from two bottles shared among everyone.

Still, with some alcohol at hand, the evening turned out to be quite lively. And pretty unrestricted, seeing as there were no men around. I didn’t exactly need to know their taste in men nor their preferences for the lower part. Nonetheless, it was a pretty fun evening.

The next morning, we prepared for the actual reconnaissance. There had been no incidents over the night and the morning was also relatively peaceful, so the preparations went by without a hitch.

“Okay, let’s do a last check. Rieke’s team will enter the cave first. You are responsible for scouting ahead and clearing the path should there be any obstacles. In the case you encounter the ropers, you’ll retreat and wait for us to catch up. Understood?”

“”“Yes, Miss Fenna!”””

The six women in front of Fenna responded with a salute.

“Good. Next, Sina’s team will guard the entrance. Prevent anyone from entering, be it humanoid or monster. You got that?”

“”“Yes, Miss Fenna!”””

Just like the previous group, the women—eight of them, this time—answered with a loud voice and a salute.

“Good. My team will enter shortly after Rieke’s team and map the area. We will maintain some distance behind you. Everyone else will remain on standby at the camp. But be ready to move out at any time.”

“””“Yes, Miss Fenna!””””

Having confirmed that everything was in order, it was now time to actually move out.

Karen and I were joining Fenna’s team so we watched as the first group entered the cave.

“And there they go…” muttered Karen.

“Nn.”

“... I’m a little nervous.”

“... Nn.”

We weren’t even the first group but it was still a little nerve-wracking. The cave was dark and there was little light to work. That wasn’t actually a big issue for me nor for Karen but it didn’t make me feel any better in the least. It was probably even worse for the others, whose only light source would be the lamps.

At that moment, Fenna came over to us after having spoken with the woman responsible for drawing the map of the cave.

“You two, are you ready?”

“Nn… Kind of.”

“... Yes.”

“What, are you two nervous?”

“A little.”

“Nn.”

Fenna showed us a wry smile, not all that surprised.

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry. There’s not much that could go wrong.”

“... What if we get lost in the cave?”

“That probably won’t happen, Yumi. To our knowledge, the path doesn’t diverge at all until the lake.”

“It doesn’t?”

“Yes. It doesn’t.”

So there was no way to get lost, at least. Seeing as our objective was at the lake there anyway, we probably weren’t going to enter further into the cave.

“That’s a relief… But, why do we need to make a map then?”

You couldn’t exactly get lost if there was only one path.

“It’s insurance. We also don’t know how long the path is or how much it twists or turns. The more prepared we are, the better.”

“I see.”

Insurance, huh.

“Also, the Academy is likely going to pay us for the map, so it’s a little bit of extra income.”

“The Academy is?”

That was a little bit surprising to hear. Why did they need a map of this cave?

“Yes. From what the Captain told me, this isn’t actually a natural cave but an artificial one.”

“Eh? This cave is artificial? It was made by people?”

“Who knows? Might have been monsters, might have been humanoids. Not something I would know.”

Fenna shrugged her shoulders, seemingly little interested.

“What I do know is that the Academy was studying it when they encountered the swamp ropers. The man in charge fell victim to the ropers and they lost the only map they had of the cave.”

“I see… Nn? But, they asked for the corpse of a swamp roper right? And not to get rid of them.”

“Yes, that’s correct. They do want to clean up the whole place as well, though. That’s why, if we have the chance to do it with our numbers, we might just go ahead and do it. If not, we’ll just return after we finished scouting.”

So it was more like the priority was on getting the body of a swamp roper rather than cleaning up the place? That was a little odd, in my opinion. Well, not something I would know, to borrow Fenna’s words. They’d likely know what they were doing and why they were asking in this way.

“Right, Yumi.”

“Nn? What is it, Fenna?”

“That magic stuff you want to try out, how long will it take you to prepare it?”

“... That’s a good question? I don’t know…”

There were a few parts I didn’t know how long it’d take me to go through them. Or if they would work at all.

“You don’t know, huh… Are all magicians like this?”

“Nn? Why do you ask?”

Not sure how this was related to being a magician.

“Because, everytime when Ria, Wenners or Krutz accompany us, it’s always ‘We don’t know, might take some time, protect us, please!’ or something similar.”

“Ahhh…”

“Oh, and hell if you are going to disturb them. Ria only gets grumpy but Wenners and Krutz actually flip out.”

“... Wait. Wenners and Krutz? Those two?”

They barely ever said anything. Even now, I hadn’t had a proper conversation with either of the two even once. Mostly because they avoid us but… Yeah… They were far from talkative. Very far.

“Yes, those two. I think that day they spoke more words than the entire year prior combined. And most of it was curses, too.”

I couldn’t imagine that at all... 

“They did apologise afterwards, knowing it wasn’t our fault. But they were quite mad.”

“I wish I had seen that,” said Karen.

“Nn. Sounds like it was quite something.”

“Oh, it was a sight to behold, you two, that’s for sure.”

Most likely remembering the incident, Fenna chuckled quietly.

“Anyway, what I actually wanted to say with that: We’ll try to give you as much time as possible, but if it puts us at risk, we’ll withdraw immediately. Understood?”

“Nn. Got it.”

It was just an experiment, so that was perfectly reasonable. We had to try not to take too much time, huh.

“Good. Now then, I think we waited long enough. Get your things. We’ll move out now.”

“Nn, will do.”

“Okay.”

Fenna returned to the remaining women of the team and spurred them on to get ready as well.

It’s time, huh… To see a real roper.

The inside of the cave was damp and dark. Just like you would imagine a cave, really. Except for the fact that the path was quite unnatural. It was a completely straight line. This really didn’t feel like a natural cave. I could understand why the people from the Academy would say that it was artificial.

But how do you make the walls look so… cave-like then?

The walls were smooth, with sharp rocks jutting out here and there. If this was man made, how did they manage this? With magic?

If I meet someone from the Academy, I’d really like to ask them.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to ponder about the cave itself. Something else drew my attention instead.

“Victims, huh… They got quite a few,” muttered Fenna.

Bones were littered all over the place. Bones of all sizes. Even pretty large bones, that surely came from a creature far bigger than any humanoid.

“... This might be pretty bad.”

“Fenna?”

“These are ogre bones. Ropers would usually never hunt ogres. Even if they were to try, there’d be no way for them to win against it. And even if they were to ambush it, ogres are physically strong and could just shrug them off. Usually, that is.”

Then, something—or maybe someone—possessed enough power to kill this ogre. And… it might not have been a roper.

“There’s still a good chance that the ogre was wounded and unable to fight. Or that the bones are here for longer than the ropers. But either way, we should be careful.”

“Nn…”

We left the piles of bones alone and continued further into the cave. Every single step echoed, creating a cacophony of stepping sounds.

“We haven’t really come across anything yet… Yumi, Karen. How is the mana around here?”

“Nn… Normal? I think...”

“Yes, there’s nothing really different with it compared to outside.”

“I see. That’s good news, at least.”

Fenna nodded at our reply, looking a little relieved.

“But still… Usually I would’ve expected to see something… anything by now… The team in front of us is also still advancing.”

She stared at the right wall where a white line of chalk was drawn. Courtesy to the other team, who was marking their path.

“Let’s continue. If you see anything that catches your attention, tell me immediately.”

And like that, we continued advancing through the dark and rather cold cave.

“Nn, Sis, is it just me or is it getting colder?”

“No, it really is getting colder…”

While I didn’t mind heat all that much, this coldness was still quite unpleasant. And it gradually got colder, the further we advanced.

“Oh? Everyone, stop!”

“Nn?”

A little surprised at Fenna’s shout, we stopped and turned towards her. One of the other women walked up to Fenna.

“Miss Fenna, what’s wrong?”

“Look at that.”

“Huh?”

Fenna pointed at a spot near the wall. Close to a pile of bones was something long and brown. It looked a little like a withered flower but… I knew better… I had seen this before.

“... A tentacle?” I muttered.

“Correct. That at least confirms that there are ropers here.”

“Fenna, do you think it met the other team?”

“No, probably not. This one has been here for a little longer already. Hard to say how long, though. Not my area of expertise.”

“But, then…”

“Something else cut that off. Not too long ago.”

I gulped at the realisation. The ropers were clearly one thing but if something else was here as well… That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all.

“Mm… Sanna, how is the map?”

Fenna turned to the woman holding a large wooden tablet, drawing utensils and the like.

“Ehhh… To be honest, Miss Fenna, I’m doing my best but… It’s hard to grasp the distance when the path is so straight.”

“I see... Anything we can help with?”

“I’m afraid not… I’d need a surveyor’s wheel or at the very least a chain to get anything remotely accurate. And time.”

“Ahh… There’s no way we have any of those. I see, that’s too bad. Anyway, continue. Even if it isn’t accurate.”

“Understood!”

I never heard of a surveyor’s wheel… Was a bit curious what that was.

“Nn? Fenna, what are you doing?”

“What am I doing, you ask? Bringing this along.”

“... That dried up tentacle?”

“Yes.”

Woah… She actually put it into a bag. At least, it seemed to be a separate bag from where her other stuff was.

“Let’s continue.”

Having declared so, Fenna took point and led us further into the cave. We continued for a good while, maybe ten or twenty minutes again. It was honestly quite nerve-wracking since something could happen at any moment. Yet, nothing actually happened. In a way, that only made it worse, though.

Uhhh… How long does this cave go on?

We had easily walked over half an hour by now but outside of the occasional pile of bones, the cave was empty. Too empty, if you asked me.

“Hey, Fenna. How long is this cave?”

“... I wish I knew. I was told that it’s going pretty deep but not this deep.”

She furrowed her brows in response to my question.

“There’s nothing we can do about that for now except advancing. Mh? Ohh?”

“Nn?”

Fenna looked into the distance, deep into the cave. A small light had appeared there.

“Seems like we’re finally there.”

With a smirk, Fenna hurried us to walk faster and catch up with the light. Which was probably from the advance team.

It didn’t take long for us to arrive there. The entire advance team was waiting for us. Seeing us approaching, one woman—the team leader Rieke, if I recalled correctly—ran over to us.

“Miss Fenna!”

“Rieke. Did you find something?”

“That’s, well… In a way?”

The woman scratched the back of her head.

“We met a roper.”

“Ah… Did you have to fight it?”

“No, that’s the weird thing. It seemed to be hiding between a crevice in the wall but the moment we approached, it jumped out and ran away.”

“... Huh?”

Fenna let out a stupid sound, mouth agape.

“It… ran away?”

“Yes…”

“... It didn’t fight?”

“Yes…”

“... The heck?”

Was it that unusual for them to flee? Fenna just mentioned that they wouldn’t usually attack an ogre either, so…

“... If these weren’t monsters I’d think they were trying to lure us in.”

“But if they have a nest mother…”

“Then they might actually do that? Maybe.”

Fenna started to scratch the back of her head.

“What to do about this… Mhm...  Mmm… How long did you all wait here?“

“Quite some time… around a quarter hour?”

“That’s really a pretty long time… Nothing happened in the meantime?”

“No. It was so quiet it was honestly a bit eerie.”

“I see. Okay, let’s do it like this. We’ve come quite a long way so the end of this path should be close. We’ll advance the remaining way together, but more slowly and in formation. Everyone, get to it!”

“””Yes, Miss Fenna!”””

Affirming Fenna’s order, all the women got into formation… Which, unfortunately, left Karen and me…

“Yumi, Karen, come over to me.”

Fenna motioned us to come over to her.

“You two should also pay attention to the surroundings, but stay by my side, understood?”

“Nn, understood.”

“Yes.”

“Good. then, let’s get a move on!”

“””Yes!”””

The women holding melee weapons surrounded us, while the ones with bows and crossbows were in the middle of the formation. Everyone had their weapons drawn, including Fenna. They might look like a ragtag group of untrained female mercenaries with their pretty random assortment of weapons and equipment, but seeing them move in formation like this completely betrayed that impression.

There’s clearly a method behind the formation… The ones with heavier equipment are at the front, the lighter equipped to the sides and the back and the ones with ranged weapons in the middle.

I was honestly quite impressed. Fenna had only told them to get into formation, after all. And half of Fenna’s squad wasn’t even present right now.

Anyway, being a little careful, I changed to my night vision, just in case. Nobody was going to look at my eyes now anyway. Even if they were, I could chalk it up to magic. Well, it was magic.

“Miss Leader, there’s something in front of us,” someone shouted.

“Advance slowly, don’t hurry!”

“””Understood!”””

After a short while, something came into view. An entrance—or maybe an exit—into a large hall.

“Halt!”

With a single shout from Fenna, everyone came to a stop.

“... This should be the path to the lake, huh. What to do… Yumi, Karen, is there still nothing to see with mana?”

“Nn? Wait, let me take a look.”

I faced the entrance once more, paying attention to the mana in the air. Until now, the mana hadn’t shown anything worth noting. But…

“It feels like… the mana is getting thicker. Sis?”

“I think so too… The further it goes in. Around here, it’s still normal.”

“Nn.”

Karen confirmed what I saw. Maybe it began around the entrance, where the mana slowly started to thicken the more we looked into the hall in front of us.

“What about the entrance?”

“It looks normal, right, Yumi?”

“Nn. Nothing notable.”

“I see… Okay, everyone, advance slowly. We’ll go into that room. If we’re attacked, we’ll immediately retreat, regardless of the enemy strength.”

“””Yes, Miss Fenna!!”””

And with that out of the way, we continued moving. One step at a time, careful of the immediate surroundings, we closed in on the entrance. And then… we passed through.

With nothing happening… Except for our astonishment at seeing the inside.

“... This is a little beyond what I imagined.”

“Nn… That’s… huge.”

A gigantic cave stretched out in front of us. So large I couldn’t see the walls in any direction save for the one behind me, despite having changed to my night vision. And in the middle of all of this was a similarly gigantic lake.

“... But there’s still nothing here. Except for the lake.”

“Nn… Fenna, doesn’t the lake look a little weird?”

“Weird?”

“Nn.”

The water in the lake wasn’t clear. It was dark and muddy. Having heard this was an artificially created cave, I kind of expected a lake with clear water. Maybe those were just my unreasonable expectations but… something about the lake bothered me.

I explained those thoughts to Fenna. Better safe than sorry.

“Weird, you say… Let’s take a closer look. Everyone, stay focused!”

We slowly walked up to the edge of the lake until it was illuminated by the lamp in Fenna’s hand.

“This… I see... Everyone, back off!”

“Eh? Wah?!”

Fenna suddenly grabbed Karen and me by our hands and pulled us away from the lake. Everyone else also rushed away, back to the entrance.

“Fenna? What’s going on?”

“That’s not a lake anymore.”

“Eh?”

“I told you, didn’t I? That some people say that the Swamp Ropers create the swamps themselves.”

“Nn… Eh? You mean?”

They turned this lake into a swamp?!

“Exactly. And that’s why it’s dangerous to stay close to the lake. We already confirmed that the ropers are here, after all.”

“... So they might pull us into the lake if we get too close?”

“Exactly.”

That’s… quite dangerous.

Better to stay away from the lake, then.

“But this is surprising… This lake should be pretty large. To think that the ropers could turn the entire lake into this. Sanna, the rope.”

“The rope, is it? One moment, Miss Fenna.”

Sanna, who had been drawing the map until now, put away her drawing utensils and retrieved a rope from the bag she was carrying.

“... That’s a lot of rope, Fenna.”

“We’ll need it, Yumi.”

“Need it? What for?”

“To catch a roper.”

“... Eh?”

She wanted to catch a roper?!

“That was a joke. We’re not really going to catch a roper. But we’re still here on reconnaissance and we honestly haven’t found anything yet except one roper, a bunch of bones and a lake turned swamp.”

“... Isn’t that plenty already?”

“The Captain will have my head if we come back with only this.”

Her head, huh… Well, he sure would prefer to have more information. But… No, Fenna knew what she was doing. Surely.

“Now then, Rieke, you go.”

“Ehhh? Do I have to?”

“Punishment for sneaking alcohol along. Or do you want me to report it to the Captain?”

“... I got it, I got it. I’ll do it.”

Nn? What are they talking about?

Fenna received the rope from Sanna and with the help of some others… they started to tie up Rieke?!

“Miss Fenna? Just what…”

Karen was just as bewildered as me, it seemed.

“I told you, we’re going to catch ropers, Karen.”

“I thought that was a joke?”

“It was, but it’s not completely wrong. Since we’re like going to catch one. Ah! Hey, Rieke, stop struggling!”

“No way! Why do I have to do this?!”

“So you want the Captain to hear all about it?”

“Ugh…”

Giving up her last bit of resistance, the woman, Rieke, let herself get tied up obediently. Well, it wasn’t as if she was tied up in a manner that made it impossible for her to move. Rather, it was tied around her waist and her shoulders. Also, only one end of the rope was actually used. The remaining rope was held by everyone else.

“Okay, this looks good. Now then everyone, grasp the rope and don’t let go. Yumi, Karen, you as well.”

“Nn, but, what is this?”

“Yumi, what do ropers want the most?”

“Nn? Uhh, prey?”

“Correct. So, what do you think the ropers are going to do when there’s a woman walking right next to their home?”

“... Wait.”

Wait a fucking moment…

They were using her as a bait?!

“Let’s get to it. Time for some roper fishing.”

“...”

Fenna handed us the end of the rope so we could grasp it as well. A little reluctant, I still grabbed onto it. I wouldn’t be able to change their mind now, was I? Then it was better to just do as she said and help out. Someone’s life was at stake here. And her dignity probably as well.

“Now then, Rieke, have fun and make us proud!”

“I won’t forget this, Fenna.”

“It’s still ‘miss’ for you when we’re working.”

“The pipsqueak calls you without ‘miss’ too!”

“She’s not part of the squad so she’s okay. Now, stop complaining and move your butt. Or did you gain so much weight you can’t move it anymore? I know you’ve been snatching food.”

Rieke was grumbling something in response but she still moved to the edge of the lake. Then she faced the lake and took a deep breath...

“Come on, you shitty ropers! Get out so I can beat you up!”

“They don’t understand you. Just shut up and move. You’re being noisy.”

“Tsk.”

The heck was I watching here?

Either way, with Rieke walking right next to the lake and everyone else at a small distance, we started moving around the lake.

“Hey, Fenna.”

“Yes?”

“... When should I even test out the magic and stuff?”

“... Ah. I forgot, sorry!”

Well, that happened…

“Mh… You said it’s a trap or so, right?”

“Nn, kind of like a pitfall?”

“... I might have an idea then. But for now, let’s focus on this first.”

“Nn, okay.”

An idea, huh.

“Hey, Miss Fenna! I think I saw something move!”

“Oh? Isn’t that great for you?”

“It’s not grea— Woah?!”

Things happened in the blink of an eye. Tentacles shot out of the water, wrapping themselves around Rieke’s waist and trying to drag her into the lake. The sudden pull on the rope we were holding nearly made me fall over.

“The heck?!”

“Pull! Don’t let go of the rope! Pull! Pull!”

I pulled with all of my meager strength. Karen and everyone else as well pulled on the rope with all their might. Yet, somehow, we couldn’t pull Rieke back.

“Woah, shit, shit, shit! You’re killing me!” shouted Rieke.

“If you got the energy to complain, it’s still fine.”

“No, it’s not! Fucking hell, come out you piece of shit!”

Somehow, hearing such words from a woman made me feel conflicted. She was quite good-looking, so that made it only worse…

“Come on, pull! Pull!”

“Tsk, it’s not giving in at all.”

Rieke was trying to resist the tentacles pull as well. Thinking about it, she was being pulled from both sides, wasn’t she… With all their might. No, I could think about that later, for now, I had to help.

“Pull! We can do this, pull! Pull!”

In the rhythm of Fenna’s shouts, we really did our best. Pulling with all our strength. Yet, it felt like there was no end in sight.

“Tsk, this thing is tenacious. Come out, you shitty— Woah?!”

“Hyah?!”

All too sudden, the roper loosened its grip. With the force opposing us gone, we all fell backwards onto our behinds.

“What the… Rieke! Come back immediately!”

“Tsk, seriously!”

Rieke, who had fallen down as well, suddenly drew her sword and cut off the tentacles with a single swing. Then, she quite literally jumped towards us.

“The rope! Loosen the rope!”

“On it!”

The next moment, she tried to cut the rope as fast as she could, hacking and sawing on it with her sword. That was far from loosening it, but… It was the correct decision. A second later and a tentacle shot out of the water, grabbing the rope and pulling it in with enormous strength, ripping it out of our hands. And the rope thankfully snapped right at the spot where Rieke had cut it.

“What in the blazes…” muttered Rieke.

Everyone was staring at the lake where the rope had disappeared into, dumbfounded.

“... Let’s return to the entrance. This isn’t a place we should stay at.”

After muttering those words, everyone stood up and we moved back to the entrance. Slowly, cautiously and close to the wall. Nobody said a single word until we arrived at the entrance and left the large cave with the lake.

“... This place should be safe for now.”

“Fenna! What the heck was with that?!”

“I wish I knew, Rieke.”

Fenna shook her head, also at a loss for words.

“Whatever it is, it’s quite intelligent for a monster. And strong. That’s not something we can fight head-on.”

Intelligent and strong…

“Fenna, could it be that nest mother?” I asked.

“Chances are pretty high that it is the nest mother, yes.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“We’ll first take a break. The lake is off-limits, though. Too dangerous. After that, we’ll try to at least catch one roper here.”

“Catching a roper? But how do you want to do that now?”

With a smile, Fenna pointed at me.

“With that magic or whatever you were going to attempt.”