Chapter 13: Charlotte and the Reason Behind the Nickname 〇

"Buurn~"

With that half-hearted shout, the swarm of monsters went up in flames. No matter how many times I see it, that magic is terrifying. If it were aimed at people, there’d be no chance of survival.

We’re currently on the second floor. After descending one level, the dungeon has changed. It almost feels as though the monsters are moving to block us from advancing, given how often we’ve been running into them.

Even Trichel’s magic, which we’d been trying to conserve, has been brought into play to speed up our exploration as much as possible. Lucky for me, I haven’t had to step in yet — nobody’s been injured badly enough to need healing magic so far.

"Still, sure feels like there are way more monsters now."

"Yeah, you could call this an irregularity, but we’ll need to figure out what’s causing it."

Exactly. That’s what an investigation is for.

Trichel twisted her body around to peek at me, staring straight into my face.

"Hey, Charlotte-chan. You’re not feeling anything weird?"

…What’s with the sudden question? Out of nowhere like that.

Being stared at so directly made me a little self-conscious, so I turned my face away. She just gave me a wide grin. W-What’s with that…?

"No, not particularly…"

"Hmm, then maybe it’s just my imagination."

What!? What is!? Throwing that out of nowhere without explaining doesn’t help! I’m not like you — I’m not a sensory type, you know! What I can sense and what you can sense are on completely different levels!

"Is something bothering you?"

"Shut it. Don’t talk to me."

…Oi oi oi. She’s still picking fights, huh?

Even Reven raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled. He’s probably trying to figure out what’s going on and what her goal is. Guess I’ll have to step in.

"Please stop fighting. Anyway, is there something on your mind?"

"Hmm, just a little. But if Charlotte-chan says she doesn’t feel anything, then I’ll take her word for it and assume it’s nothing."

Why do you have so much trust in me all of a sudden!?

Reynard, looking curious, asked Trichel,

"Why not just say it? It’s not like you to brood over things. Aren’t you the kind who usually acts first and thinks later?"

"Well, yeah, but… it’s just, y’know, kind of hard to put into words…"

Even as she said that, Trichel kept stealing glances at me. What is her deal? The only time she ever worries about her surroundings is when she’s up to some kind of harassment, and now she’s acting all cautious? That’s rare.

"Well, whatever. Newbie Reven-kun, do you know why Charlotte-chan’s called the Goddess of Luck?"

"…How snide of you. No, I don’t. And what does that have to do with anything?"

For the record, I don’t really know either. I knew some of the people I used to dive with treated me like a lucky charm, but I have no idea why that turned into such a grand title. Honestly, I don’t even know why I was considered a lucky charm in the first place.

"When it comes to dungeon-related decisions, Charlotte-chan never makes a wrong call."

"Ehh!?"

Wha— That sounds like you just dropped a ton of pressure on me out of nowhere!

"Hooh, that’s an interesting claim."

"There’s even a rumor that she can hear the dungeon’s voice. How about it, is that true?"

"I don’t know anything about that!? And what do you even mean, ‘the dungeon’s voice’!?"

The dungeon’s voice!? I’ve never heard anything like that in my life!

Seeing my reaction, Trichel gave me a vague little smile.

"…Guess it really was just a rumor. Anyway, among adventurers, it’s kind of accepted wisdom that if you ask Charlotte-chan when you’re stuck, you’ll get the right answer."

"Ehhh… what’s with that? Shouldn’t the leader be the one making those calls, not me? Why are you dumping all the responsibility on me?"

Sure, people ask me questions a lot, but I didn’t realize that was why. That’s news to me. And how did such a rumor even start? Who started spreading this nonsense!?

"Well, there is some basis to it. See, when Charlotte decides something’s a bad idea, anyone who ignores her and pushes forward anyway… usually ends up regretting it. That’s where it all began, I think."

"Isn’t that just common sense though? Anyone could tell it’s dumb to charge into obvious danger."

Reynard chuckled at my response.

Exactly. Anyone willing to dive headfirst into danger even I can recognize is just being reckless.

"Charlotte, considering the current situation, do you think we should head back now?"

"Eh?"

Another sudden question. Where’s this going?

"…I think we can still keep going. Even factoring in the return trip, we should still have some margin left."

"Yeah, see, I was actually debating whether we should retreat for now."

I froze for a moment at his unexpected disagreement, blinking several times before I caught up to what he meant. Reynard’s worried about the irregularities. If monsters are trying to keep us from advancing, it could mean even more will ambush us on the way back.

If that’s their goal, the return path would theoretically be easier… but that’s just wishful thinking. You never know what might happen inside a dungeon, and I’d almost forgotten that.

"Trichel, how’s your remaining magic looking?"

"Hmm… well, I’ve got about four big area-wipe spells left. If I split them into smaller bursts, I can squeeze out a bit more."

Four. Sounds like a lot, but in reality, it’s not. At the current encounter rate, we’d probably burn through them all before making it back.

I stopped to reconsider. Should we head back or not?

…If we want to prioritize safety, we should. But… I feel like we can keep going.

This one comes down to instinct. Even if we head back now, we’d still have to resume exploration tomorrow. That would just be delaying the inevitable. Rather than that, I’d rather finish as much as possible today while we’re already in the flow.

I still have plenty of magic left. Our equipment isn’t too worn down either. Thinking ahead to the coming days, I’d say we have enough leeway.

"So, what do you think? Can we keep going?"

"…Yes, I think we can."

If we push on now, we can allocate tomorrow’s resources elsewhere. I don’t feel like ending things halfway today.

"Alright, then let’s go."

Reynard agreed without hesitation.

Ah, so this is how it is. My opinion gets respected because I rarely make the wrong call in situations like this. I guess that explains why they treat me like some kind of lucky charm. Still, calling me a goddess is seriously over the top.

"Goddess of Luck, who hears the dungeon’s voice, huh?"

"Can you not call me that, please?"

I shot back at Reven, who muttered something unpleasant under his breath.

As we moved forward, strangely enough, the monsters stopped appearing altogether.

We’d nearly finished mapping out the second floor, and judging by our progress, today’s exploration had been quite productive.

I pictured the layout of the second floor in my head. Now that I think about it, there were more monsters clustered near the stairs leading down to the third floor. If that’s the case, the source of this irregularity must be deeper down.

But still… there’s this strange sense of discomfort. What is this feeling? Weird. Weird, but— I can’t hear any “voice of the dungeon” or anything like that, yet… it’s like there’s a faint ringing in my ears.

"Hm? Something wrong, Charlotte-chan?"

"No, I just… feel like I’m hearing some ringing in my ears."

"Ringing? …Hold on a sec."

Trichel pulled a potion from her magic bag and handed it to me.

I glanced at her, silently asking if I should drink it, and she nodded.

I took a sip to test it out. What kind of potion is this? Some people can tell just from subtle differences in taste, but I couldn’t recognize this one. It’s not something I usually drink.

…Did the ringing get better? I… think it did.

"Ah, I think it’s gotten a little better."

"Yeah, makes sense now. Huh, I didn’t notice at all."

Trichel pulled out another potion of the same color from her bag and downed it in one go.

"Reynard, drink an anti-toxin potion. I think there’s paralytic poison floating around here."

"What!?"

Wait, what!? That was an anti-toxin potion!?

Hold on— more importantly, there’s paralytic poison in the air? And the ringing in my ears came from that?

I’ve heard anti-toxin and antidote potions are almost the same thing, with the difference being how long they last and how they take effect… so the ringing cleared up because the anti-toxin neutralized trace amounts of the poison?

Could this be another irregularity? If this were a common occurrence, Reynard would’ve warned us beforehand.

"…It’s in the air. Now that you mention it, there’s a strange smell."

"I didn’t notice either. Charlotte’s body is the frailest, so the effects showed up on her first. You noticing saved us, though."

"Ahaha…"

I can’t tell whether to be happy or depressed about that. Who knew being weak would actually be useful for once?

Still, for an irregularity like this to happen…

If I remember right, the Adventurers’ League officially announced that this dungeon is under lockdown. Good call on their part. Wandering in here unaware and slowly getting poisoned without realizing? That’d be terrifying.

"Since when, though?"

"Probably ever since we entered the second floor. The concentration must be really low — not enough for combatants like us to notice right away, but just enough that non-combatants would be affected sooner."

"Charlotte-chan, when did the ringing in your ears start?"

"Just a little while ago… ah, I think I get it now."

If there’s a mild poison being dispersed, we’ll need to pinpoint the area.

But if it were spread across the entire second floor, the effects should’ve shown up sooner. That means this is localized to a smaller region.

"I think it’s near the stairs leading down to the third floor. We passed through there earlier, and it’s not far from here, so I probably picked it up while we were moving around."

"…Makes sense. That just about confirms it — something doesn’t want us going any deeper."

I nodded at Reven’s conclusion.

Since we passed by the staircase earlier, we must’ve been affected there. If that’s true, it’s safe to assume the concentration of paralytic poison will be even higher past the third floor.

…What the hell is going on with this dungeon? I didn’t think the environment here was this dangerous.

"Alright. We’re almost done mapping the second floor anyway. Once that’s finished, we’ll head back to the surface. We’ll tackle the third floor another day, but we’ll need to stock up on plenty of anti-toxin potions first."

Reynard was already shifting into planning mode for tomorrow and beyond.

That’s the right call. At this point, it’s basically like the dungeon’s saying, “The cause of the irregularities is deeper in.”

But can we even reach it safely if we keep going like this?

…This dungeon’s environment is getting harsher and harsher, and deep down, I was starting to get scared.

And the only one who noticed… was just one person.