CH 157

Episode 157 – A Tale of Yore in Labyrinth City

After reaching the public road, we continued to be attacked by groups of monsters for a while, but their numbers began to dwindle the more we progressed. About a day after reaching the public road, there was not a single monster in sight. The reason for this was clear, as the number of adventurers on the public road had increased by an overwhelming amount.

According to Edward, Landaust was right nearby, and the road was crowded with adventurers arriving at and departing from Landaust. And thanks to this, even if any monsters were to appear, they would be defeated quickly, which naturally made this area an unapproachable zone for monsters.

“Oh, look. It’s coming into view,” Edward, who was walking in front of me, said while pointing in front of him. I immediately turned my gaze to the area he pointed to, and, sure enough, I could faintly see what looked like a wall in the distance.

“Is that wall where Landaust is?” (Lewin)

“When you say that you… ran away, does that mean you ran away from the Dungeon because you couldn’t conquer it?” (Lewin)

“Yeah. In my younger days, I didn’t know fear. I was overconfident in my own skills when all I had was a bit of half-baked talent. The party that I was in at the time would always attempt the Dungeon recklessly, and we became an A-rank party before we knew it… But reckless Dungeon attempts don’t always go so well. The moment one of our vanguards was killed, the rest of our party quickly fell to shambles. Among the 6 members of the party, 3 of them died just like that, so I ran away from Landaust.” (Edward)

What came out of Edward’s mouth was a much heavier story than I expected. Three of his party members had died in the Dungeon. I was somewhat excited about the Dungeon, but Edward’s words made my heart drop into my stomach.

“Hohohoho. You don’t need to be so frightened. It’s only because we were thoughtless and rash when we were trying to clear the Dungeon that we ran into an accident. As long as you attempt the Dungeon at a reasonable pace, with your skills, you’ll be fine, Lewin. Besides, your goal is to find Ahmed, isn’t that right?” (Edward)

“That’s right… Edward-san, you knew Ahmed-san, didn’t you?” (Lewin)

“Well, there isn’t an adventurer in Grezesta who doesn’t know Ahmed. If you’re with Ahmed, you’ll be fine on the lower levels. Well… if she acts as rashly as I used to back then, who knows what’ll happen.” (Edward)

Hearing that last remark he tacked on at the end, a chill ran down my spine. I knew Ahmed’s strength well, having been rescued by her before, but I also knew that she did have a reckless personality. Even though it was probably too early to think this, after hearing the fate of Edward’s party, I started feeling anxious, wondering if I would have to keep her recklessness in check while we were in the Dungeon.

I listened to the stories of Edward’s past as we walked, and the wall that once looked faint in the distance was now in plain sight. It was hard to tell from a distance, but the height of the wall was completely extraordinary. Grezesta was also surrounded by a solid city wall, but this towering, pitch black wall was about three times taller than the city walls in Grezesta. I hadn’t the slightest idea how they managed to build a wall this high.

“What an amazing wall… No matter what kind of outside invaders come, they wouldn’t be able to attack the city with a wall like this, huh?” I muttered to myself in awe, and Edward chuckled in response. I couldn’t help but tilt my head at his chuckle that seemed to possess hidden meaning.

“These walls aren’t meant to protect from outside invaders,” Edward muttered in a profound tone.

Isn’t an outer wall supposed to protect from outside invaders…? Is this supposed to be some kind of riddle?

“It’s not meant to protect from outside invaders, you say… Then what’s the purpose of this high wall?” (Lewin)

“Well, it’s to keep the inside from leaking out.” (Edward)

“…..I see. For some reason, I’m getting more and more scared of going to Landaust.” (Lewin)

“Hohoho. I think I might have frightened you too much. But, don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I haven’t heard any rumors of monsters breaking out of the Dungeon in 10 years now. It seems that the facilities surrounding the Dungeon have been improving with each passing year. Plus, the number of adventurers setting their sights on the Dungeon have only increased, so there aren’t enough monsters in the lower levels to cause leaks anymore.” (Edward)

After hearing this, I finally felt a little relieved. Perhaps… Edward was just saying those things just for the sake of scaring me.

After all, I knew that among the people who knew me, many found my reactions funny, probably because they were so exaggerated. I suddenly remembered that fact as I looked up at the amused expression on Edward’s face.