“Oh? What is it?”
My brain stops for a moment, probably because of the sudden information overload.
I figured she’d have to be of a certain social status to give us permits to enter the castle, but royalty?
I peek over at Sahana, and our eyes meet. She has a big smile on her face, like she’s happy about a well executed prank.
“I’m sure they’re all stunned by your beauty, big sister.”
“T-that can’t…”
Sahana says to a bewildered Yuini.
Yuini’s face turns red, and Sahana laughs at that too.
I guess you could say the same for Sirk, but is there more than meets the eye with this girl?
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am a merchant named Sora. How did you hear about m… about us?”
“Fufu, don’t be so formal. I’m royalty, but I’m not that big of a deal. You can speak normally.”
“Very w… All right. I’m not used to talking like that, so that’s a relief. So how did you hear about us?”
I don’t have a high opinion of royalty, but Yuini seems good.
Then again, the only royalty I know about is that old man from Elesya. Does the head of the church in the Holy Kingdom of Frieren count as royalty? I guess so, if royalty is someone leading a country. That one I just see as a useless man being strung along by a demon.
Once I start thinking about that, I start to get the feeling that a lot of people in the top position of countries tend to be no good.
Maybe it’s just that the ones I’ve met tend to fall on the unfortunate side?
“Well, I heard you are looking for laurel tree fruit, but… Are you sure?”
“Are you talking about fighting minotaurs?”
“Yes. I spoke to my father… The king, and he did give permission, but…”
She’s being evasive while looking at me and my party. I guess we don’t really look that strong, do we?
This is a world where skills and magic exist, so there are people whose strength can’t be gauged by appearance alone, but maybe she thinks of adventurers as fierce looking burly men.
And we even have a kid among us. Although she is stronger than the average guy.
I also assume she’s worried about us because she’s thinking about how strong minotaurs are.
I’ve never actually fought a minotaur, but I think they appear in Majolica’s dungeon from the fortieth floor down.
That means they have to be strong enough to match.
The further down you go in that dungeon, the stronger the monsters get… Even if some are easier to defeat depending on how compatible you are with them.
“If we can, I’d like us to at least try to defeat them. If it’s no good, we can just run away. Or is it a place that’s hard to escape from once you start fighting?”
“I don’t think that will be a problem, but minotaurs are more agile than they look. It might not be so easy to escape from them.”
Sera hasn’t fought one either. Should we attack with long range magic and lure out one monster at a time?
We should ask what the geography is like, and how it feels like first. Maybe there are people with fighting experience here.
That should be our first step in planning our strategy.
Maybe we’ll even find a way to get the laurel tree fruit without fighting, like using Presence Concealment, or having someone lure them while someone else uses the opportunity to get the fruit.
I feel like using Life Granting to create a decoy could very well work, but I’d have to test if I can actually make something big enough to be a decoy.
I ask her about it, and Yuini says she’ll introduce us to someone that knows more about the place where the laurel tree is.
“Can you call the captain?”
Asks Yuini, and the maid calls someone. I guess she’s not going there herself because she doesn’t want to leave her master alone, and to look after us, since we are technically guests.
And since we’ve been standing up this whole time, they take this opportunity to prompt us to sit down, and that’s what we do.
We are brought tea, and Yuini asks about things outside the city, until one man walks in.
I think it’s a man, but that mask covering half the face and the armor make it difficult to be sure.
“Did you call, Princess Yuini?”
“Yes. I’m sorry to bother you while you work. I would like you to tell them about the floor where the laurel tree… No, about the dungeon.”
“…Are you sure?”
“I received permission from the king.”
“…Very well. My name is Alfriede. I will tell you about the dungeon in the castle.”
I’m surprised to hear there’s a dungeon here in the first place, but the way they use it surprises me even more.
All this time I’ve been wondering how they produce food on this cramped island, and the answer is that they do it in the dungeon.
Each floor is a field floor with a day and night cycle, so that’s what they use.
They use the first and second floors for farming and livestock. This is where the general population works, so there are typically no monsters there. I say typically, because although it’s very rare, it does happen.
The third floor is where they collect minerals, but they don’t have a lot of people that specialize in that sort of thing, so it’s mostly left alone. Like the two floors before it, monsters rarely appear there.
Monsters whose meat is edible appear in the fourth and fifth floors, mostly wolves, bloody snakes, and orcs.
The sixth floor has a lake, and although lizardmen live there, it’s mostly peaceful. We’re not told a lot about this one.
The seventh floor is where the laurel tree are, and also where medicinal herbs can be picked. Monsters appear from time to time, and unlucky for us, we happened to come here at one of those times. And even though minotaurs don’t appear on that floor, they’ve been hanging around there.
There are more floors, but they’re not relevant now, so that’s all we’re told.
“Did monsters escape the dungeon here too?”
“…No, mostly due to the power of the Dragon King, but…”
I asked that because I thought back to Majolica’s dungeon, but Alfriede’s answer feels unclear.
The defensive measures like the walls around the castle lead me to believe something might have happened before.
“That is all from me. Any questions?”
After asking for some more details, we thank Alfriede, and start discussing what to do.
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I think they will easily clap the minatoars and they will ask what the fuss was met with shock face from the people.
So that’s why the fortification was aimed at the castle
Thanks for the treat.