Chapter 420 – Preparing for the Dungeon

It was the day after we had enjoyed the bath.

We ate breakfast and we made our way to Elkay.

It was time to check out the dungeon.

Those I was taking with me were Cruz, Femm, Moofy, Chel, and Shiggy.

Timi and Vi-Vi would see us off.

Vi-Vi was wearing a mysterious backpack that I guessed was filled with food for the trip.

Tom, Kay, Tant and the rest all wanted to see Jearl, so they came with us.

And then Steff came along to watch over them.

「Wow, look at Jearl!」「So cool!」「Huge!」

「The kids are petting him without being scared.」

Tom started, and then the other kids followed in looking over Jearl. They petted him without even being frightened.

It might have been that Steff was a bit more scared than the kids were.

「Gaaa」

And Jaerl wasn’t taken aback by the children either. He just wagged his tail happily.

Jaerl seemed to like people, one reason being that Belda had cared for him so well.

On the other hand, Cruz, with her lion mask still on, was ready to go.

「This is going to be fun, Al!」

「Yeah. I just hope you don’t get carried away.」

「Of course I won’t.」

「You two can relax, because I’m going too.」

「You’re coming with us, Vi-Vi?」

Cruz looked confused.

That was the first time I heard of it as well. I thought she was just going to see us off.

「Of course! There’s magic circles in there! Who else is going to help you with them?」

「I see. Well, I’m happy you come with us Vi-Vi!」

Cruz said, and hearing that, Timi thought a bit and said,

「Is this the first time in a dungeon, Vi-Vi?」

「Yeah!」

「Well, I think you’ll be fine – Alra and I will be there too.」

Seems that Timi was intent on coming too, which made us even stronger.

We had packed up everything the previous night. We still went through a final check.

And while this was happening, Luka and Yureena ran up to us.

「Hey! Wait! Were you thinking of leaving without us?!」

「Yeah! What a shock!」

「We weren’t leaving you, I just thought you had guild business, Luka, and Yureena had church business.」

「Yeah, Al’s right. But I’d be happy if you came with us too.」

Cruz and I said, and Luka responded proudly,

「This dungeon is under guild jurisdiction. Of course I have to go.」

「Ah, I see, thanks.」

「Don’t worry about it, Al.」

Then Cruz said with a bit of worry.

「I’m happy that Luka’s coming, but is it going to be okay?」

「I told Leah to handle all the guild quests from now/. It’ll be fine.」

Yureena was clinging on to Cruz with a worried look, but then patted Cruz’ head.

「If you get hurt, I’ll heal you right away.」

「Yureena, thanks, but I’ll be okay.」

「Yeah, don’t worry about Cruz. She’ll be fine.」

「I know, but…」

But healing was the only healer in our party, though everything else could be accomplished by the other party members.

And so while Luka helped us check through all our final supplies, the kids played with the dragon.

And Jaerl was saying 「Gaa gaa」happily.

「Huff huff」Belda was out of breath as she ran up to us.

「Please wait, Sir. Alra.」

「What is it? Are you seeing us off?」

「No, not that, I wanted to go as well.」

It was a surprise to hear such a thing from Belda.

「Wha?」

「With us?」

「Gaa!」

Cruz and Luka AND Jaerl were surprised.

「There there」「Be a good boy.」

The kids just kept petting the dragon.

「Yes, please. I must know what is in there as the agent of Elkay.」

「What do you say, Alra?」

Luka said, with a troubled look.

「I’d leave this to Alra.」

「Yeah, what do you say?」

「What do you think?」

「Just do what you want.」

All the girls were laying the responsibility with me…so I thought a bit.

「Belda, it’s dangerous.」

「I am prepared for that. But I’m not some summon soldier.」

Belda was the vice chief of the dragon knights. She was also a very strong fighter.

「You don’t have responsibilities as town agent?」

「No. I have many talented workers. And there’s a person that can help them take care of things.」

「Help them?」

「An excellent vice agent whom I trust.」

I wondered why I never met the fellow, but I knew she was telling the truth.

「I see…then I guess it’s okay.」

There was no problem with Belda’s situation, so the only problem left was the dungeon.

The Lord of the Undead had said that royal blood must be near for the dungeon’s seal to be broken.

It seemed we were carrying that key, as Belda was with us.

Cruz said, as she saw me worrying,

「Alra, just bring her, you’re going to slaughter anything in there anyway.」

「I don’t know if you can say that.」

There was also the plan B of running away and resealing the seal stronger.

「What? You don’t kill whatever is down there?」

Luka said, a bit confused.

「We should just kill whatever it is…it’s easy.」

「I know you say that, Timi…」

「But, we should think it over. With an ancient dragon like me, Alra, and all the others, there’s really no one that can stop us.」

「You can say that, but…」

「If we just seal the thing, demons and other stuff is going to raid Elkay.」

Timi was probably right about that. It might be better to just defeat whatever was down there.

「Okay. Belda, come with us.」

And with me saying that, Belda smiled happily.

At the same time, Jaerl cried out「Gaaa gaaa」in a confused voice.

Hearing this, I got closer to Jaerl, and looked over at Timi, who was suddenly nervous.