Chapter 34
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Ryūgūin the Hero knows that Yamada the Holy Knight, who is generally considered incompetent by the world, actually has the highest contribution in the party’s dungeon exploration.
In fact, it would be a big problem if he didn’t know that.
However, Ryūgūin, who has absolutely no real combat experience in dungeons up to this point, is still unable to fully grasp the difficulty.
Therefore, it’s natural for Ryūgūin to greatly underestimate his evaluation of Yamada.
Ryūgūin thinks.
They must carry out the next exploration soon.
「Ah, damn it!! I should have endured more and done everything at once!! Yamada suddenly went berserk…」
He is furious at Yamada, who has already left the party.
And for the sake of keeping up appearances, he ponders over the next dungeon exploration that must be carried out soon. But he immediately concludes, 「I can just call someone.」
If he can’t do it himself, he can use the power of others—this is always his way of thinking.
Thus, the idea of a joint exploration between the Hero’s party and another high-level party comes up.
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When Ryūgūin informs the Guild that he wants to do a joint exploration, he is led to the Guildmaster’s room.
The competent Guildmaster accepts Ryūgūin’s opinion, and immediately lists the names of several parties staying nearby.
There have been times before when he chose from among the town’s maidens and the second or third daughters of decent noble families who flocked to him. Even then, he couldn’t contain his excitement as his self-esteem was satisfied, but this time it’s incomparably special.
As he flips through the documents listing the information of this world’s S-rank parties, the elites who are envied by everyone, Ryūgūin can’t hide his excitement, breathing heavily as he pretentiously chooses, saying, 「Who should I pick?」 「Oh, this one looks good,」 「I don’t like that one’s face.」 Eventually, he can’t suppress the hardness that has risen in his pants.
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Even in selecting a party, he has his own thoughts to some extent.
The Hero’s party has Eris the Sword Saint and Angelica the Wise.
In other words, they have enough decisive power to bury their opponents—which means they just need someone to buy time for magic manifestation and someone to clear the way when outnumbered—thinking this way, Ryūgūin trembles as he embraces his own body with both hands, overwhelmed by his tremendous brilliance.
According to what he calls economic UTubers,
「Those in leadership positions must see the actual site to a certain extent.」
「90% of the ‘no problem’ coming from below is a lie.」
「Don’t neglect the PDCA cycle in any situation.」
「Accurate information is necessary for everything.」
「There’s a proper way to scrutinize information.」
These are all obvious things, but Ryūgūin, who gleefully brings up their names at every opportunity, doesn’t actually understand anything.
Ryūgūin doesn’t grasp the threat of the next dungeon itself, the combat if Yamada leaves, their own fighting power, the information of the joint party, or the coordination if they join forces. The only thing on his mind is his own fame after conquering the dungeon.
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The dungeon is located about an hour’s carriage ride from the city of Lemone.
This dungeon scheduled for exploration is called the 「Time Dungeon.」
The exploration of the Time Dungeon had stopped at the first floor, but its threat was conveyed by another S-rank party that had retreated from a room in the early stages just a little ways in from the entrance.
They said, 「The dungeon itself has special characteristics, and you can’t move your body as you wish.」
They said, 「Some kind of training is necessary.」
They said, 「If you neglect training and preparation, annihilation is certain.」
In addition to this information, there was even more beneficial information compared to previous dungeon explorations when it came to exploring the Time Dungeon.
That information was brought by an item.
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Back when Yamada was in the party, there was a special item discovered during a dungeon conquest and allocated to Mika.
That item was selective in its user and disposable, but it had a wonderful effect.
It was called the 「Dungeon Appraisal Orb+.」
The user was limited to the rare high-level dungeon appraisers, but perhaps due to the fame of the Hero’s party, a suitable person was immediately summoned.
Reluctantly brought to the front of the dungeon, he grudgingly used that item to perform the appraisal.
As a result, he let out a scream at the sheer ominousness of the 「Time Dungeon」 and lost consciousness.
Finally waking up two days later, he tremblingly conveyed the detailed information about the 「Time Dungeon.」
According to him, the dungeon consists of twelve floors in total, with a boss enshrined at the back of each floor.
And most terrifyingly, all twelve bosses manipulate 「time.」
Yes. He said they manipulate 「time.」 In the Arcana Kingdom, magic that manipulates 「time」 is taboo and considered the domain of the gods.
The male appraiser gathered the 「Time Dungeon Conquest Joint Party」 and, in tears, told them the details, saying, 「It’s impossible now,」 and 「It’s like picking a fight with the gods.」
In front of the male appraiser who hung his head and shed tears, silence fell upon the joint party, perhaps from fear or anxiety—at that moment, Ryūgūin slapped his shoulder as if to encourage him and shouted.
「It’s not impossible!! I am here! Mika is here! Angie is here! Eris is here! And above all, you all are here!
If our powers are combined, nothing is impossible! It’s not just ‘1+1=2’! It’s ‘1+1=infinity’!!」
It was the moment when all the members of the 「Time Dungeon Conquest Joint Party」 were convinced of conquering the dungeon.
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