"Crow-sama, concerning news has come in. It appears there's been abnormal weather in Greedragon, adjacent to Bluedragon."
"Huh?"
Abnormal weather had occurred. My first thought was, so what? There's nothing I can do about heavy rain, floods, droughts, or landslides.
"Black raindrops are continuously falling. They don't seem to stop."
"Come again?"
"Anyone exposed to this rain falls ill, and it seems to corrode houses and forests. It's not normal rain."
"Crow, when you solved the water shortage in Bluedragon, you mentioned something about conquering a dungeon, right? Could this strange weather be related to that dungeon?"
As I listened to Platanus and Instructor Catolea's theories, I started to feel increasingly uneasy.I felt as if I was being forced to tackle tasks and training at the officer school despite being extremely sleepy. It was a strangely familiar and unwelcome feeling.
"Crow, it's likely as they imagine," Holly chimed in. "When a dungeon appears, abnormal weather patterns and unprecedented disasters are common. If we don't tackle it soon, monsters from the dungeon could start to spread to the surrounding areas."
Again with this pattern. Why do I always get wrapped up in trouble every time I travel somewhere?
"Um... maybe we should return to Pendragon first and bring Shion along..."
"What? Didn't you handle a dungeon before with just Iris and Saffron? With me along, it'll be a piece of cake."
"I will also assist. We must eliminate the cause of this abnormal weather as soon as possible."
"Right..."
So there it is, me, visible only to Holly, guiding the two of them.
I'm used to it by now.
Well, not really.
"This is the worst..."
I was driving the Pegasus Sword-drawn carriage with Catolea and Platanus aboard, flying over Greedragon under relentless rain. It was tough to fly in such conditions. Though I wore a hooded cloak, I was completely drenched. The rain itself was unusually black, giving an eerie feeling. Certainly, this situation couldn't be ignored.
A hero, after all, is supposed to resolve difficult situations without neglecting those in trouble.
Next time, I must absolutely bring Shion along. If it's happened twice, it's bound to happen a third time. I really can't go through another dungeon experience.
"Crow, we're too late," Holly said, looking down.
"What do you mean?"
"It seems the dungeon has already entered its final stage."
Following Holly's gaze, I looked down.
"No...!"
Monsters I had encountered inside the dungeon were now roaming outside. A dungeon starts producing monsters from the moment it appears, and once their numbers exceed a certain limit, they spill out and start attacking humans.
This meant the dungeon had been active for far too long.
"Damn!"
This might be partly my responsibility. Although I had reported the details of the dungeon to the king with Iris, that was all we did."I should have arranged for immediate notification to Shion at the royal capital if there were any signs of dungeon emergence anywhere on this continent. I thought that after clearing one dungeon, there wouldn't be another one for a while, or maybe never again."
"Holly! What does the final stage of a dungeon mean? What happens?"
"The first stage is the multiplication of monsters within the dungeon. The second stage is when these monsters start emerging outside. And the final stage is when the dungeon's master comes out, leading to the disappearance of the dungeon."
"The dungeon disappears? What do you mean?"
"If the situation is only at the second stage, defeating the master monster in the deepest part of the dungeon will eliminate all the monsters along with the dungeon. However, once it shifts to the final stage, the dungeon itself has already vanished, making it impossible to conquer."
"What!? So we have to eliminate every single monster now?"
"Not exactly. If we defeat the master monster that was in the dungeon, the one Sinelaria referred to as the 'boss,' all the monsters will be annihilated."
"Find the boss, then..."
"The boss, having escaped the dungeon, will be significantly stronger. It's probably impossible to defeat it without Shion."
Now, leaving the monsters multiplying and roaming around to return to the royal capital and bring Shion...
In the meantime, the nearby residents would continue to be attacked by the monsters.
I felt a chill unrelated to being wet from the rain.
Looking back at the ground, I saw villages ravaged by the monsters.
"Houses destroyed, villages unrecognizable, all under the gaze of me, who's safely flying above. What am I doing just watching from up here!"
"Instructor! Platanus!"
I entered the carriage from the driver's seat and shared all the information Holly had given me with the two inside.
"So, we have no choice but to bring Shion now?"
"With the damage already done, it seems we are too late... As you suggested, Crow, we should have returned straight to the royal capital from Bluedragon."
I grabbed the shoulders of the disheartened pair.
"No, we won't let our coming here be in vain. Instructor, I'll go fetch Shion with Pegasus Sword. In the meantime, please stay here and keep fighting the monsters. I'll drop you off near populated towns, so please fight there. The monsters gravitate towards areas with people."
"Oh? Okay..."
It was a rather unreasonable demand, but Catolea Instructor could likely handle hundreds of monsters."Then, should I assist the instructor?"
"No, Platanus, you should use the Senri Sword to evacuate the nearby civilians. The true ability of the Senri Sword isn't telepathy. It's the ability to convey one's voice to people a thousand miles away."
"Ye-yes..."
"Listen, Platanus. I'll drop you off at the town where the lord of Greedragon resides. Explain the situation there, and arrange for the acceptance of evacuees. After that, use the Senri Sword to guide the residents to evacuate. Support the instructor by commanding the lord's forces."
"There's so much to do... it's making me nervous..."
"I'll quickly explain how to use the Senri Sword. Stick the sword's tip into the ground or floor, and shout your instructions close to the hilt. Your voice will carry for a thousand miles from where you've stabbed the sword. This technique can't be used in war because it leaks your voice to the enemy. The original purpose of the Senri Sword is to help people escape to safety. Master that power, and do it now."
"Understood. Leave it to me."
After dropping off Platanus in the most populous and safest capital city of Greedragon, surrounded by city walls, and leaving Catolea Instructor in the area most infested with monsters, I flew the Pegasus Sword.
I wasn't pulling a carriage.
Riding directly on the Pegasus Sword, I flew towards the royal capital, Pentragon, soaked in the rain.
I should be able to reach Pentragon in about an hour if I fly at full speed, so I feel I can return in about two hours. But during that time, I couldn't help feeling guilty about leaving Platanus and Catolea Instructor with such an unreasonable burden, especially Instructor Catolea, who I dropped off alone in the heart of the monster swarm.
"Damn it! It always ends up like this!"
I've been through enough tough situations and acted with enough caution, but unexpected things still happen.
In the end, if I had brought Shion, things would have been resolved quickly.
No, that's not it.
The role of bringing companions on the Pegasus Sword, that's all Shion's.
I complicate things by overstepping my bounds.
"But why are dungeons appearing before the revival of the Demon Lord?"
"I really don't know. This has never happened before."
I continued to fly through the air on the Pegasus Sword, talking to Holly flying alongside me."Is it just my imagination that dungeons keep appearing wherever I go?"
"I think it's just a coincidence. Both last time and this time, you only started acting after you learned about the anomalies, right?"
That's true. Both the water shortage in Bluedragon and the incessant rain in Greedragon were problems I learned about before heading to the sites.