After retreating to their inn for a night of rest, the trio came back to the guild early the next morning. Similar to the previous day, Soleil had already arrived before the couple did.

Matthias bumped fists with her while Manna hugged her tight.

Since they spent an entire day with her previously, Matthias and Manna had familiarized themselves with a lot of Soleil’s unique characteristics. Essentially, she was a good woman who had her heart in the right place, even though she insisted on being the villain known as the demon lord. She was also strong enough that she could easily keep up with outliers like him and Manna. Though she was arrogant about her personal qualities, she never compared herself with other people, and only against her idea of what a “demon lord” should be.

In other words, she was a strong, likeable nutcase.

Unlike the morning before, the guild was already bustling with activity. But instead of the usual people lining up to have their spoils be assessed at the receptionist counters, they were all gathered at the waiting area and the restaurant. Even the quest bulletin was all but empty.

“What’s going on?” Matthias asked. Perhaps Soleil, who had arrived first, would know of the situation.

“Oh. The guild found the dungeon last night. Everybody’s waiting for the official announcement and the details.”

He whistled in response.

Every time a new dungeon opened, it was guaranteed that it would be swarmed with adventurers on its first day. The first matter would be mapping it. Maps of new dungeons sold for astronomical prices, especially for high-ranked ones. At the same time, people would invariably try to check how many levels it had. Larger dungeons did not necessarily mean that it was high-ranked, though it usually did since the deeper one went, the stronger the monsters became. In fact, there was a dungeon at the dwarven territories that was almost a hundred floors deep, but it only spawned weak fodder from top to bottom.

As for the matter of conquering the dungeon and destroying the core... while it was true that dungeons continuously spawned monsters, the enemies of all races, it was also true that the materials it provided was an economic asset. Most states didn’t allow the subjugation of a dungeon unless it was of an unmanageable rank.

But that was extremely rare. That was why everybody was excited about the announcement. It was easy money.

Soon, they were approached by Nail, and that time, he came along with his party.

“Yo,” he greeted happily. “You guys are here early.”

Matthias shook hands with Nail and responded with a smile.

“This is our usual time to wake up. We were also here at the same time yesterday.”

“Oh? What a dutiful noble you are. Most of them don’t even bother waking up in the morning.”

Nail and most of his party laughed. But it was a gentle kind of mirth that had no offense behind it, so Matthias didn’t mind.

“By the way, this is my party.”

He stood aside to introduce the people behind him.

The first was a female cleric, who wore a robe of red and white. She had a pretty face framed by long, golden locks of hair that reached her back. Her green eyes looked steady but also warm and brought comfort to the people around her. Surprisingly, she was an elf, the first non-human adventurer Matthias had seen in the guild aside from... whatever Soleil is. And judging from her appearance, she was rather well-off.

“My name’s Ujel. It’s nice to meet everyone. I hope we all get along well,” she said and graced them with a gentle smile.

The second was a male archer. He was clad in dark green leather armor and black pants, with a black cape that also hid the lower half of his face. In contrast to the cleric, he looked steely and hard to be around with. However, his handshake was firm and honest.

“Kilo. Well met.”

Then, it was the male scout’s turn. He had a wiry body with two short daggers on his back. Similar to Soleil, he emphasized his focus on speed by only wearing a tight sleeveless shirt and fitting pants, with dark green boots and black detached sleeves. But unlike Soleil, he was a man of... no words, actually. He simply shook Matthias and Manna’s hands without saying anything.

“Oh right. This guy’s mute. His name’s Egan,” Nail suddenly said, introducing the man to the others. How he was able to perform his job as a scout without being able to speak was anybody’s guess.

Lastly, there was a female mage and—

“Why do you waste your time with these people, Nail? Don’t we have better things to do?”

She stomped at her party leader impatiently, making a bad impression for herself. Nail, in response, rubbed the back of his neck and apologized to Matthias and his party.

“Sorry. Her name’s Mie. She may act like that sometimes, but I promise you she’s not a bad person.”

“What do you mean, a “bad person”? I’m the one taking care of your public image here!” she pointed accusingly at Nail and blurted irresponsibly. Everybody, including her own party members, could only stare with exasperated looks.

Typical of mages, she wore a robe and held a large staff. But unlike most mages, she had on a pointed, wide-brimmed hat, which made her look more like a witch. Though her face was equally as pretty as the cleric, it was twisted in disdain for Matthias and his party.

Nail apologized for her behavior and reluctantly walked away. Matthias also received everybody else’s apologetic smiles and bows as they followed their party leader.

“What an experience,” he thought. Still, it was a relief that there was at least one party that was friendly to him despite him being a noble. He didn’t expect everybody to accept him, but he also didn’t want to be isolated from everybody else.

The nobility were rarely popular among the commoners after all.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

An hour had passed since they arrived. Finally, the guild staff started moving. The receptionist called for everybody to calm down as they announced the guild master’s arrival.

All eyes went to the mezzanine above the counter. There, three people walked up to address the crowd. Two of them, a male and a female, wore striking dark blue uniforms, while the last one wore...

“Wait, huh?”

“Isn’t that guy...?”

“Hey, it’s that buff dude that throttled the priest.”

Manna easily recognized the man who stood ahead of the others. Unlike last time, he now wore an ironed vest over a spotless white shirt and jeans. The insignia of the guild was sewn onto the breast pocket.

His gaze, free of the annoyance from the other day, was sharp but refined, like a well-forged sword. Even as part of the crowd, Matthias felt suffocated by his presence.

“What is he, anyway?” he asked to nobody in particular. But Soleil, who just happened to hear him, answered.

“He’s the Guild Master. Didn’t you know?”

Matthias coughed twice. How was he supposed to know? The first time he saw him, he was shaking a poor old priest half to death.

People sure are full of surprises.

The man waited until the crowd settled down before he spoke.

“Adventurers. The guild has located the dungeon. And, it opens today.” He didn’t beat around the bush by giving courtesies. The crowd became restless again, but that time he didn’t wait for them to calm down. “The dungeon has been assigned as D-rank.”

Excitement swept through the crowd.

D-rank dungeons were ideal for training. Not only that, they were also an excellent choice for making easy money, as practically none of the monsters on the upper levels could pose a threat to experienced parties.

The town of Rosen Elk only had one dungeon prior to that. It was a C-rank ruins-type dungeon that spawned a mix of plant, insect and golem-based monsters. Due to its difficulty, E and D-ranked parties didn’t want to take the risk of diving into it, while C-ranked parties, which the vast majority of adventurers were, had to maintain constant vigilance inside in order to stay alive.

In a way, D-rank dungeons were the most popular because they had a perfect balance between profitability and difficulty for most people. C-ranked dungeons were for higher-level training while B-ranked and A-ranked dungeons were out of most parties’ reach.

And that was why everybody had been excited ever since the upheaval.

Because of the noise, the man had to stop talking for a while until it died down.

Without any change in his expression, he announced, “... the dungeon is a tomb-type.”

With those words, the entire room fell into silence.

Tomb-type dungeons spawned only undead monsters. They were difficult to manage, because the zombie-types could turn others into their own kind if they so much as scratched them. Clerics were required to purify the effects, and they were generally more effective against them anyway, so these types of dungeons were only popular for parties with at least one of them. For the others, they were nothing but a nuisance. The materials inside were useless, the monsters were annoying, the stench was dreadful; these and other factors made them the most hated kind of place.

Matthias looked around. Everybody had a stupefied expression on their face to show their disbelief. Then, the entire hall exploded in dissent.

“Are you sure?”

“That’s not possible.”

“No way that’s true!”

Everybody shouted their disagreement. Matthias had no idea what was going on, so he looked for someone to explain. Fortunately, he quickly spotted Nail who was standing just a few paces away from him with his party. Ignoring the surprised and spiteful gaze of the mage Mie, Matthias, followed by his party, approached him and asked what the commotion was about.

“Ah, right, you weren’t here when the upheaval happened,” Nail said with an enlightened look on his face. “You know what upheavals are, right?”

“Of course. They’re the monsters released by the dungeon when its entrance breaks the surface.”

“That’s right. Since that’s the case, it means we could make a guess as to what the dungeon’s type is from the monsters we encountered from the upheaval.” Nail frowned deeply. He looked towards his party’s scout and nodded. Egan took a pouch out from his sack and emptied the contents onto his hand. There, Matthias saw something like a seed and a couple of sharp, conical objects.

“We took some materials from the monsters we killed from the upheaval. We’ve already sold everything else, but held onto these for later use. It’s a Bullet Flower’s seed and two stingers from Mad Wasps.”

Matthias immediately realized what Nail was trying to say. It was that the dungeon type the guild announced did not match the monsters it released.

“So it should have been a forest-type dungeon?”

It was Manna’s turn to ask. As a hunter, she was the most experienced among them both with regards to monster behavior. After all, she's been observing them ever since she was a kid. Her guesses should be more accurate than anything Matthias could make.

But Nail shook his head.

“There were golems as well, but we’ve already sold all their cores.”

Manna’s eyes narrowed. “Ruin-type dungeon again,” she deduced. The others nodded in agreement. To be sure, she took a map out of her pouch and checked the surrounding areas.

“There’s no pre-existing area where those monsters could have come from. None of the forests around here have monsters strong enough to be D-ranked, so the upheaval definitely came from the dungeon.”

They were back to square one of the mystery. However, Manna had something to add.

“Unless those monsters were chased out,” she said gravely. “Animals, and even insects and sentient plants, don’t like the undead as much as we do. I think dungeons are assigned as “tomb-types” the moment they see undead, and not by the inside geography. So, maybe, the dungeon turned into a tomb later on and those forest monsters were displaced as the upheaval.”

Then, she stopped and thought again. That moment of pause was much longer than the previous one. Perhaps the thought was so absurd that she actively denied it. Still, she had to bring it up anyway. With a grim expression, she said, “Or it was someone’s fault it turned into a tomb.”

If that was so, then something strange went on in that dungeon. Nail’s jaw dropped a bit. Manna’s idea startled him slightly, and even his party had thoughtful looks on their faces.

Normally, nobody would ever entertain that idea. Dungeons were monotonous things that were predictable in the strangest sense. Even though there were no explanations behind the things it did, what few things people knew were considered facts because nobody had seen otherwise. That included the "fact" that dungeons didn't change types. And that was why when Manna gave her thoughts, it was impossible for their heads to get rid of it.

Because it made sense, but at the same time, didn’t.

And what did that imply? Suddenly, dungeons weren’t so simple anymore. The implications weren’t so obvious then, but Matthias knew that something else was going to change. Maybe those were the first signs of the demon lord’s descent?

The mood between the two parties tensed as they chewed on Manna’s idea. Even Mie, the annoying one, kept quiet in thought.

All except one.

“Well, who cares?”

Everybody turned to the source of the voice. It was Soleil, who was nonchalantly nibbling on some dried fish she pulled out of god-knows-where.

“We’ll just beat them all to their second deaths anyway. I’m a demon lord; what’s a few undead to me?”

...

Nobody knew who started it first, but someone chuckled at her remark. Like a dam breaking, everybody followed with laughter.

As much as they hated to admit, she was right.

Well, the first part of her sentence was, at least... probably.