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Sōzoku Shita Sofu no Ie no Urayama ni Danjon ga Dekimashita - Chapter 99

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Takaya and Misuzu Explore the Dungeon’s Fifth Floor (Part 2)

We crossed the stone bridge and slipped between the parted waterfall, entering the cave beyond.

The cave stretched into darkness, the depths ahead barely visible.

I asked Freesia, the light spirit, to conjure an orb of light to guide our way.

With the high-ranking spirit leading us, we followed along until we reached a wide, open space.

Floating throughout the room were orbs of brownish light.

Earth fairies.

They were probably under the protection of the high-ranking earth spirit.

That was the same with the high-ranking water and wind spirits we’d encountered before.

Along the wall of this spacious room, piles of magic stones were stacked high.

Maybe the monsters that originally lived here were defeated by the earth spirits, and they claimed the place afterward?

I approached the high-ranking earth spirit and asked for an explanation.

Just as I’d suspected, this place used to be occupied by monsters.

Those monsters had dug tunnels through the earth, creating rooms and passageways underground.

All of the tunnels slanted upward, and near the summit of the mountain above, there were three entrances leading into the nest, each guarded by the monster’s soldiers.

Wanting to create a sanctuary for the fairies, the earth spirits wiped out the nest’s creators.

Later, the hole we had come through behind the waterfall was created by the high-ranking spirit.

Apparently, it was meant to be an emergency escape route for the fairies, in case the three original entrances at the mountaintop were ever blocked.

This chamber, then, was the very bottom of the complex.

At the back of the room, a slightly elevated platform supported a single, ornate chair.

That must have been the throne of the monsters’ king—or queen.

And in front of the throne sat a treasure chest.

No doubt about it—this needed to be reported to the branch manager.

I asked the high-ranking earth spirit if we could take some of the magic stones, and it happily replied that they were in the way anyway, so we could have all of them.

Perfect—I'd submit them as evidence when I made my report.

Next, I asked about the treasure chest.

The spirit said it had tried multiple times to move it aside with earth magic, but the chest wouldn’t budge.

When I explained that treasure chests disappeared once their contents were taken out, the spirit eagerly urged me to open it.

It wasn’t interested in treasure and was happy to give it to us.

I opened the chest—and inside was a bow.

Just the bow itself. No string, no arrows.

The moment I pulled it out, the treasure chest dissolved into motes of light and vanished.

The high-ranking spirit was delighted that the bothersome chest was finally gone. It even told us we were free to use any of the unused rooms in the area as we liked.

However, this floor was the lowest level of the dungeon, and trying to return to the upper floors wasn’t going to be easy.

All the passageways angled sharply upward, the walls slick and smooth, barely wide enough for one or two people to squeeze through—and far too steep to climb.

Now what…?

As I was pondering that, an image appeared in my mind—sent by Viola, the shadow spirit.

Apparently, we could move to another room using shadow magic.

I explained this to Misuzu-san and took her hand.

Our bodies began to slowly sink into our own shadows.

Once we were completely inside, the world went pitch black.

Misuzu-san gripped my hand a little tighter.

Was she feeling anxious in the dark?

Just as I thought that, our bodies began to rise again, slowly ascending.

We emerged fully from the ground into another room.

Still pitch black.

I called out to Freesia, who flew in through a connecting hole and lit up the space with her magic.

The room had been carved cleanly from stone.

The floors and walls were smooth, almost like polished marble.

Being underground, the temperature was stable—neither hot nor cold—but the lack of windows made it feel a little stifling.

In the end, we decided to borrow one room as a fallback shelter and a place to store our belongings, just in case.

We used Viola’s shadow magic again to return to the throne room and informed the high-ranking spirit we’d be borrowing a single room.

Then, on a whim, I decided to ask if I could form a contract with one of the earth fairies.

Didn’t hurt to try, right?

The high-ranking spirit gave a simple reply—do as you like.

Whether the contract was accepted or not was entirely up to the fairies themselves.

So, I decided to give it a shot.

Even if it didn’t work out, nothing would change.

There was nothing to lose—so why not take the chance?


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