Prologue C

Prologue C

ANSWERS TO BE FOUND

"Captain, it's been a week since Brine set out to reclaim the dungeon for the empire. Shouldn't we be concerned whatsoever?"

"Her ability isn't the best, but she makes up for it with quick thinking and a team that completely trusts one another. She'll be fine."

Somewhere in the empire, a captain and his subordinate were talking about the squad that set out to reclaim a dungeon. Talk about the dungeon wasn't happening just here, but all over the empire in general. The rumor was that the dungeon was simple enough to beat, or at least it was at first.

It began with a maze full of traps, but it had already been fully mapped out. After that, all you had to do was clear rooms full of monsters, with the hardest one being the demonic minotaur room all the way at the end. After that, all you had to do was keep going until you turned the corner, and you were in front of the majestic door that led to the final room.

Yet, all the issues kicked in at that point. No matter how many people walked in there, there was absolutely no information relating to the room behind the door, except for one. Yet, it was so silly that many people didn't even consider it.

The rumor was that the room was simply a bar.

"By the way, you've been summoned by general Louto to meet with him at the capital's HQ."

"WHAT?!"

It was extremely rare to be summoned by one of the generals, as they were almost constantly out on the front line, the border between the two warring nations, conquering dungeons.

"...I'll head out right now. For now, send out a squad to back up captain Brine."

"It'll take around a week to arrive sir, are yo-"

"When were you allowed to question my orders?"

"Right away, sir."

After that, the captain got up from his desk and left the office. Of course, Crasker knew that was what happened, but he couldn't see it. He went to stand by the window that showed a great view of the city they were in.

"Why?"

From behind Crasker, a voice spoke.

"Don't concern yourself about it."

"You're useless."

The voice disappeared, and the lieutenant turned back only to see that it was gone.

"Hmph, it's to better our captain. The way he is right now, he isn't going to make it far."

Crasker walked out of the office, and began walking towards his office. On the way there, he stopped by the main work place where most of the dungeoneers could be found. He began looking around until he found the blond head he was looking for.

"Betty, you're the one that's covering the southern region, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Pull out the dungeon that captain Brine is trying to reclaim."

After rummaging around in her drawers for a while, Betty pulled out a file and held it out towards lieutenant Crasker. The lieutenant took it and thanked her for it, and went to his office right after. He closed and locked the door behind him, and took a seat at his desk. He took a sip from his bottle of beer before opening the file.

"What?"

However, the only thing to be found within the file was a single paper, which wasn't even front and back. He sighed, but he decided it was better than absolutely no information.

As he read through it, all of it seemed like a normal dungeon up until the very end.

"There was purple carpet right before the majestic door, which was covered in fine materials such as jewels and gold…?"

As he read through it, he realized that the dungeon was actually quite the majestic one. It definitely wasn't any monstrous dungeon, yet it more than made up for it with the design.

'Just who the hell is the owner of this thing?'

To this day, it was still unknown who took the dungeon away from captain Brine. The only thing that is known is that Brine came back one day and issued a report almost immediately concerning how her dungeon was taken from her.

'In her words, she didn't even realize it was taken away until she tried to enter it and realized that everything was different? Did the Rajulian kingdom really just take it away when she was out?'

It was rare, but it did happen sometimes, where a dungeon would be taken away and absolutely nobody would know about it, not even the previous owner of the dungeon

"Still, to be so underprepared while in the middle of a war with a kingdom…"

SIGH

All of a sudden, an orb appeared into the lieutenants hands, and he looked into it. Inside it, he could see Betty still at the desk writing reports.

"Betty, send out a squad to back up or rescue Brine."

"Huh? Oh! Yes sir!"

After hearing the voice of the lieutenant, Betty immediately sent out an order for a squad to assemble and head down to the dungeon.

"Send in Rebellion as well, he'll be sure to clean up."

After hearing that, Betty had a look of shock on her face.

"Sir, I don't think the situation really calls for such drastic measures…"

"I haven't gone senile Betty, hurry up and call for him."

"...Yes sir."

Betty didn't seem to have any more concerns, or at least she wasn't willing to voice her concerns, so the lieutenant left her to her own affairs. He continued reading the paper, but there wasn't much more to it that he didn't already know, such as the bar rumors. After a while, he put the paper down and took a deep breath.

"Now, that should be dealt with. I suppose I'll go have a nice dinner."

--- SEQUENCE 2 ---

The usual adventurer had just beaten Dionysus' dungeon again and arrived at the bar. However, there was something different about the bar. When he looked behind the counter, the bartender was nowhere to be seen.

The adventurer continued to look around for a bit, as he wanted to get the usual drink he would always get, but the bartender really was nowhere to be seen.

WOOSH

Suddenly, he felt an extremely chilling aura breathing down his neck. He jumped forward and whirled around, but it was only Dionysus that had appeared behind him.

"Wha…? Whatever, can I get my usual drink?"

"..."

The bartender was usually weird, but he was acting even weirder than usual today. After a few seconds, he pointed to a sign on the counter.

"What does it say?"

The adventurer walked up to it, and read what it had to say. Afterwards, he was a bit shocked by the contents.

"The bar is temporarily closing?"

Dionysus nodded.

However, it seemed that the bartender had come upon an epiphany while standing here in front of the adventurer. The bartender pointed at him, and then pointed to the counter.

"Work behind the bar for me a bit?"

At these words, the adventurer was even more shocked than he was before. He had never heard Dionysus talk before, but his first words were him asking for a favor.

"... What if I were to beat the final boss and take the dungeon from you?"

"..."

"Fine, I'll do it. Consider it payback for always letting me drink for free."

At first, the adventurer seemed noble, but he then suddenly had greedy eyes on him. Dionysus could tell that he would have conditions.

"All right, I'll actually do it on a condition. Can I drink while I'm here?"

This time, it was Dionysus who was shocked. His eyes widened slightly, as he really did not expect such an innocent favor.

Dionysus nodded, and even had a slight smile on his face.

"Great, well we might as well introduce ourselves. The name's Bruno, what about you boss?"

"...Dionysus."

--- SEQUENCE 3 ---

Dionysus was currently sitting around a bonfire, one that he had set up for the night. He was currently trying to fall asleep, but something was keeping him up.

YAWN

He was currently out to conquer another dungeon.

'If done right, Bruno could be permanent…'

"What are you thinking about?"

Dionysus looked up, only to see another person sitting by the bonfire he had set up. He looked at him in a confused way.

The man had lovely brown hair, and a sharp face. He was dressed in rags, like a slave would be.

'I couldn't hear them approaching here…'

"Don't worry, you don't have to answer. I can already tell what you're thinking. After all, it is me that I'm looking at."

All of a sudden, the person sitting in front of him turned into a black silhouette and stood up.

"...The abyss awaits you."

CHOMP

***

GASP

Dionysus woke up and looked around, but there was nothing around here. It was morning, and the bonfire had already been extinguished by the wind.

Just like every other day, he had the exact same nightmare. All the nightmares happened in different locations, but every single one of them ended the same.

"...Useless."

Dionysus got up and grabbed his bag, and continued walking.

"..."

Just to make sure that nothing would change, even if he left the dungeon, he looked around.

WOOSH

The winds were certainly harsh, but Dionysus was still able to find what he was looking for. Though it was pretty hard to see, he could very well make out the silhouette of a person from where he came from. Of course, it disappeared as soon as he looked at it.

"..."

He sighed, and continued on his journey to conquer another dungeon.