S&D: 2 – My first exploration

Web Novel Written by Minkansukii ミンカンスキー

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　A dungeon suddenly appeared within the basement of my house.

　Making up my mind to explore it, I decided to head back home for the time being.

　My parents taught me that preparation is key for any adventure. It’s sheer stupidity to head into uncharted territory without making the proper arrangements.

「…..」

　After completing my preparations, I stood before the dungeons entrance.

　Wearing leather gloves on both hands, robust steel toe boots and safari jacket my parents had given me. I carried a small rucksack with tools in it and a survival knife on my waist.

　Because we have so much adventurer gear laying around in the house, it was fairly quick to put a set of equipment together.

Now according to the book, there should only be low Lv monsters on the first level….. While paying attention to the situation, the goal is to retrieve the items from the First Zone and to bring them back safely.

　After thinking about what my goals were once again, I step of into the dungeon. While my current Lv is Zero, the Lv of monsters on this level are between 1 – 5.

　Let’s see how far I can go with this Lv gap and see how much of a difference it makes in battle. At the very least, I want to acquire those 『Magic Tools』 that were mentioned in the book.

　Obviously I shouldn’t become too greedy, but its within an Adventurer’s nature to know what kind of rewards they’ll get.

「…………」

　Moving down the corridor I could feel my heart pounding through my chest. And then I passed the area from my first time around, finally arriving at the stairs which headed down.

　It was mentioned that from here on, monsters would begin to appear.

There are four enemy creatures in the First Zone, a “Tanuki”, “Dormouse”, “Azure Rose” and “Hollow Tree”…… Each one must have a distinct way of fighting.

　Before I went down the stairs, I commit the contents of the book into memory. Having read the entire book, I memorized all the information from the First Zone to the Fifth Zone.

　All that knowledge should be enough.

「Phew…… All right then….」

　Taking a deep breath, I exhale to calm down before using the stairs.

　Rather than feeling anxiety, my excitement was what was expanding.

　Just like an adventurer.

　Did I already go down more than fifty steps?

　Having gone down and reached the end of the stairs, I stepped into the First Zone.

Nothing appears different from before…. Everything still made out of stone. The wind is still blowing down the corridor. It’s probably carrying my scent down……

　Worrying about how the wind is carrying my smell into the dungeon, I carefully move down the hall.

　Because this was a labyrinth, the paths opened up in various directions.

　The Dungeons paths & structure weren’t recorded in the book, from here on out, so I’ll have to explore everything on my own.

For now let’s just move while sticking to the walls on the right….

　Knowing what needs to be done by heart, I cautiously begin walking. A standard maze can easily be mapped if you stick your right hand along the wall, and move forward along that wall alone.

　This is one of many methods to solve a maze, and often called the right-hand-rule.

　And of course there are cases where mazes can’t be solved in this manner, but at least I don’t need to worry about not finding my way home.

　If I want to go back home, I just need to go in reverse and back track by using the same wall.

……………….okay

　Every time I neared a corner, I moved while paying careful attention to my surroundings.

　Move forward, stay alert, and then turn, move forward, stay alert, and then turn, move forw………

　With how complicated this dungeon is, I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone became lost. The next time I come back, I’ll definitely map out the place.

　Well then again, if I do become lost, as long as I become critically hurt, I’ll be brought back to the entrance, inflicting harm to myself is also an option.

「…………」

　The exploration of the passageways went smoothly as nothing unexpected occurred.

　If my senses are right, the first zone is a fairly moderate size, if I were to measure from the stairs to this point in a straight line it would be about 300 meters.

　But since I haven’t come across any monsters, this place may be larger than I originally thought.

(Those torches….. I wonder what makes them keep on burning?)

　Whenever I pass by one of the torches hanging on the wall, that sort of question naturally comes to mind.

　Because there is air freely flowing, I know that, that is one of the factors for combustion.

　My only issue is…. what keeps it from burning out?

　It’s just strange, it hasn’t been long from when I found this dungeon, but it’s obviously been burning for a long time.

　Just looking at the torch, it should only burn for about 2 hours, but it just keeps on……..

Whatever, I shouldn’t lose sleep over this…..

　Saino quickly casts aside his doubts and just focuses on his exploration.

　The dungeon world uses the concept of Levels, which should be an inconceivable reality.

　So maybe its better to just throw away some common sense here.

　Eventually coming upon a small room space.

　Saino silences his breath and peers from the rooms entrance.

Looks like a treasure chest in the rooms center….. But next to the wall, there’s also a Hollow Tree creature that’s lying still….. 

　The room itself is roughly the size of a ten tatami mat floor. ¹

　And in the very center of the room lies the treasure chest made out iron & wood, i really does look like there is treasure inside.

　And with that, the Hollow Tree in the corner towering at roughly 2 meters is still in its corner.

　It doesn’t have any leaves, its trunk looks old and it has holes & crevices which makes it seem like a human face.

　But right now its expressionless.

　It almost matches the drawings that were in the little book, so this is definitely a Hollow Tree Monster.

I’m currently looking at it, but….. Is it aware of my presences as well?…...

　Observing the eerie Hollow Tree in the corner, Saino wonders if he’s been found out.

　If it is aware of my presence, then it will be hard to sneak in the room to open the chest and take its treasures.

　Then again, I don’t think I have the courage to do that sort of thing, I also want to try to get some battle experience, so let’s not do that.

　I’m going to fight this thing properly, defeat it and acquire the treasure from the chest with dignity.

　I close one eye just in case, and scan the Hollow Tree’s Lv.

　And a number floats into my view.

　Lv 1 ……… Considering that I’m a Lv 0, the opponent I’m facing is in a moderate category.

　Making up my mind and filled with determination, I pulled out the knife from my waist and charged into the room.

「UAAAAAA……」

「!」

　A small growl like groan leaks from the Hollow Tree’s mouth.

　Is it sensing me as a threat?

　The Hollow Tree begins to move and starts toward me.

　It wasn’t moving quick, because it moved with its roots dragging all over.

　From what it looks like, its about half as fast as me.

「Hit!」

　Using a hit-&-run tactic, I stab the knife into the trunk and immediately move away to build some distance.

　It really feels like I’m hitting a withered tree.

　But rather than chopping at it, it’s more like I’m bashing it instead.

The attack wasn’t effective…..

　Knowing that, that’s how it feels, I try to cut at it again.

　This time I aim for one of its branches, one that looks like it would be its arms.

　Successfully chopping off the branch, I quickly move back and take some distance.

「UAA……」

　The Hollow Tree became bewildered after receiving the attack and tried to attack me.

　This time I attacked its trunk from the side where I severed one of its branches, and didn’t receive any damage.

　Using all my power and weight, I struck deep at its body.

　With that a large amount of wood scattered from the Hollow Tree’s injury.

「UA.. A……」

　The Hollow Tree’s trunk loses its momentum and falls.

　The last attack I made seemed to work pretty well.

　It doesn’t seem like it will be getting up to attack me anymore either.

　And then――

「……！」

　The Hollow Tree’s figure instantly scatters into particles of light, going all over the place.

　The light particles were absorbed into the surroundings, the walls, the ceiling and floor of the dungeon; and within several seconds the light disappeared.

　All that was left in the room was just me and the treasure chest.

　It seems like I won that battle.

「Haa~, *exhale deeply*……..」

　Having some weight lifted off my shoulders, I could only sigh in relief.

　That was my first battle, I was pretty nervous, but everything seemed to go well.

　The number of times I attacked, amounted to three strikes.

　If it’s just a Lvl 1 Monster, then I may be able to win quite easily, like just now.

But I’m exhausted…….

　I could feel the fatigue assuage my body.

　I’m just your average High School student and this was the first time I have ever fought.

　I’ve never been in a fight with another person, so this was my first experience at actually causing harm to someone else.

　The battle itself wasn’t that long, but I feel so exhausted.

I’ll just take a look at the Treasure Chests contents and head home for day…..

　Placing my knife back into its sheath, I move closer towards the treasure chest.

　I wanted to keep on exploring, but with the way things are, I think it will be better for me to head back.

　I should just retrieve the item from the Treasure chest and end this exploration.

　Slowly opening the Treasure Chest, I thought to myself that I may have some hard times ahead, exploring the dungeon from now on.

　And inside the chest was――

A candle?…… and a piece of paper…...

　Within the Treasure chest, was a plain white candle, which didn’t seem like anything special and old parchment paper with something scribbled on it.

　Picking up the paper, I began to examine it myself.

　Oddly enough the words written there, were in Japanese characters as well.

　And the contents of the parchment was a description of the candle.

“The Night Invitation Candle” A candle, when used in a room with a man and a woman, would lead them to desire each other.  Can Not Be Used Outdoors. Number of Uses: 1

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Translated by: K4!M@|\|a Proofreader/Editor: Kuro_0ni

Notes:

1. Tatami Mat article & Wikipedia article