CH 28

“Uuhm….the Wandering Lord…. it’s when the Dream Lord leaves its place at the bottom of the Dungeon and starts wandering around, right? Did that crying voice just now belong to the Dream Lord?”

Luce asked me anxiously.

It seems Luce knew about Wandering Lords too.

No wonder she would, since it’s something that all adventurers should know about, due to the potential terrible consequences.

The Dream Lord is the heart of the Dungeon and ordinarily does not move from its place in the deepest depths.

However, there are exceptions when it moves out from its place and starts wandering around.

That is called a Wandering Lord.

There are a number of factors that decide when something like that happens, but the most common is when adventurers start a fight with the Dream Lord and then try to run away without doing any appreciable damage to it.

Once the Dream Lord leaves its place to chase after the adventurers it doesn’t go back right away, but instead wanders around the Dungeon.

Most likely the same thing happened this time too.

Adventurers who were not up to snuff tried to challenge the Dream Lord and were routed before doing any proper damage.

That being said, the boss of the Angel’s Toybox is a bit special, which makes it very hard to hurt if you go in without proper intel and sufficient preparation, so even in Magic World a Wandering Lord appeared frequently.

More so in this world where people rarely share information.

As for the Wandering Lord phenomenon, even I heard the adventurer guild’s warning about it before.

I also think that this is a bothersome situation they caused, but…. I can’t really say it’s solely because the adventurers were careless.

The publicly available important information about things like that is seriously lacking in this world.

Although that doesn’t make this situation less bothersome.

“There is no mistaking it, that baby voice just now belonged to the Angel’s Toybox’s Lord.”

“I-Isn’t that bad news? The Dream Lord of this place has quite a high level, right? The Recommended Level for conquering this place was level fifty after all….”

“No, the situation is not that bad. Although if we don’t handle it properly it might turn into a problem.”

“Ah….is that so?”

The movement speed of the Dream Lord of this place is not that fast.

Luce with her excellent Agility would be able to easily run away from it even at her current level, provided she avoids running into a dead end at least.

With my Heavy Knight Class it might not necessarily be the case, but I also know how to best run away in cases like this, and an important relevant characteristic of the Dream Lord.

It would be highly unlikely that it would be able to catch up to me.

“We will be aiming for the exit while staying away from its voice. Even as a Wandering Lord it won’t leave the Dungeon.”

Yes, it’s that simple.

It’s not like it’s an especially tricky event.

As an adventurer there are times where you run into dangerous situations despite doing everything you possibly can to avoid them.

I’m thankful that a Wandering Lord is all we have to deal with.

There may not even be a need to hurry that much, but the situation is still mostly unknown.

If we get surrounded by monsters then it may even be able to catch up.

So we turned right around and left the way we came.

However, a thundering sound was accompanied by the screams of people.

I stopped without thinking and turned back towards the noise.

From around a corner a man and woman adventurer duo showed up.

Both were drenched in blood and were obviously seriously injured.

The woman was clearly dazed, needing to get dragged by the shoulder, her partner all but carrying her as they walked.

“Please help us! Suddenly an incredibly strong monster appeared out of nowhere….! ”

I did not take things seriously enough.

This is not a game.

There must be a few people that died to this Wandering Lord already.

If I run away right now, the two in front of me will die for certain.

‘We nobles are much more important than those plebeians. Them doing their best to support us is natural. Do you know why? That is because we have great power in our hands…..and the duty to protect our land and people with it.’

Those were the words of my father.

It’s not like I believe in him or even respect him at this point.

He is a heartless, bull-headed, tyrannical, and egoistical man.

However, those words of his left an impression on me.

If I take what happened at the Divine Blessing Ceremony as the result of him prioritizing his duty above all else, then I may not be able to forgive him for it still, but I may be able to understand it to some degree.

And I’m still a noble, even if barely at this point.

I have my memories from my previous life.

However, my fifteen years as Elma Edvan… the life I’ve lived as the next head of the Edvan County with the duty to protect our land and people was also undoubtedly mine.

My father decided that I would be powerless to fulfill that role, so he threw me away.

However, I believe I do have the power to do so.

It’s not that I want to return to being the next head of the family.

It’s not that I want to prove my father wrong about me.

I just don’t want to throw away even my pride and my dignity at this point.

“……sorry about this, Luce. I’ll attract the monsters’ attention, so could you help guide those two to the outside?”

“I don’t mind doing it, but…. th-the Dream Lord should be close to 【Lv：50】, like the Recommended Level suggested, right? Even Elma-san may not be able to….”

“I know enough about the enemy to confidently say that I should be able to divert their attention for a while and run away if it’s only me here. The Heavy Knight Class is all about fighting while drawing the attention of monsters like this to begin with.”

As I said this I ran towards the two injured people.

Luce followed after me.

Chasing after those two, a strange looking monster appeared.

It had a black hat on its head and was wearing a red military uniform.

It had a short sword in its hand, a large trumpet on its back, and a large drum tied to its waist with a rope. A very flashy getup, all things said.

The two X shapes instead of eyes and its large nose gave it a somewhat comical expression.

In addition, it also had a glossy finish on its entire body.

It looked just like it did in Magic World.

“So you’ve arrived…. Tin Knight!”

Its blade and body was splattered in the blood of its victims.

It was undeniable proof that at least one person has already died to its hands.

“I will buy you time! My teammate knows the way to the exit, so listen to her and run!”

I said this as I passed by them.

“S-sorry….. and thank you, truly!”

The man bowed his head at me.

I pulled out my sword and aimed it at the incoming monster…. the Tin Knight.

――――――――――――――――――――

Monster: Tin Knight

Lv: 40

HP: 21/47

MP: 31/31

――――――――――――――――――――

…..I see, its HP has gone down somewhat.

“Elma-san! Although it’s a strong monster… it’s been weakened already! I should be able to help too! Let’s defeat it with the two of us!”

Luce stood next to me and aimed her Iron Piercer at the Tin Knight.

“….no, we won’t be able to kill it. Luce, run away now.”

“B-but….!”

“The Tin Knight is not the Dream Lord itself. It’s only something like its limbs…. the main body will be here soon.”

Just as I said that….following the first Tin Knight, two other Tin Knights appeared.

The Tin Knights turned their unmoving X shaped eyes at us.

For some reason it felt like those heads were coldly laughing at us.

Luce went as white as a sheet from coming face to face with those three Tin Knights.

“No way….three 【Lv：40】 monsters….”

“I will follow right behind you after buying some time.”

“I-I can’t do that! I can’t just leave Elma-san alone here and run away by myself….! Elma-san, you asked me to be your teammate…..!”

“You won’t get it unless I tell you straight, huh? I can’t fight these opponents if I have to watch out for you too. You will just get in the way.”

Hearing me say that, Luce closed her mouth and bowed her head at me.

“….I, understand. I’m sorry.”

Leaving those words, Luce ran in the same direction the two others fled just now.

“Please….catch up to us right away, Elma-san.”

Without turning around, I gave a small nod at her words.