Episode 25 – Survival V
After that, Clarisse followed Corvo into a small shop.
It was a bar.
Countless bottles lined the shelves behind the counter, and the place was lit by small lamps powered with Calvaon. A few customers were scattered about. But this was the Academy City—naturally, most of the customers looked like adventurers.
The two of them sat at a corner of the counter, away from the others.
Corvo ordered a whiskey on the rocks, while Clarisse ordered a sweet cocktail. They also got some dried fruit.
Corvo brought the glass to his lips, took a sip, then swirled it in his right hand, making the large ice clink.
“So—how did this adventure look from your lot’s perspective?”
“‘Your lot’? Who exactly are you referring to? Surely you don’t mean us—‘Magicians,’ do you?”
“Yeah, that’s right. How did this adventure appear to you magicians?”
Corvo nodded and clinked the ice again.
“…Let’s see—right now, nothing—”
“Nothing?”
“Yes. Because this adventure hasn’t been passed around to everyone yet, so it’s hard to say anything—”
Clarisse said with a bitter expression.
“It hasn’t been passed around?”
Corvo tilted his head.
“Yes. I’ve already given a rough report to the higher-ups. It’s probably reached their higher-ups too by now. But most magicians only know that I’ve returned. The rest will spread gradually, I think.”
Clarisse took a sip of her cocktail as she spoke.
Corvo shifted his question.
“Then what about you? You—what did you think of this adventure? Who do you think is closest to becoming the next generation’s hero?”
“The next generation’s hero, huh—”
Clarisse hadn’t expected that question. She looked down into her glass, staring at her reflected face.
She looked… clueless.
“Yeah. That.”
“…Honestly, I don’t even know what I should say.”
“Oh?”
Corvo watched Clarisse’s profile with curiosity.
She kept her eyes on the trembling surface of her drink and began to speak haltingly.
“We certainly did clear that dungeon. We reached the heart, defeated that ‘insect’ stray that was there, cut the heart, and escaped from that ‘dungeon inside the dragon’s body.’ But— I can’t help thinking that killing the stray dragon was the real requirement for escaping that dungeon.”
“In reality, the one who defeated the dragon was Nada.”
“Yes, that’s right. Nada-senpai killed the dragon. And he did it alone, without relying on anyone else’s strength. If that’s the case, then the only one who truly cleared that dungeon was Nada-senpai. That’s the only conclusion I can reach.”
The surface of the drink in Clarisse’s glass rippled.
Her hand was trembling—from anger.
Not Bramia, who picked up the insect’s Calvaon.
Not Amarelo, who killed the insect itself.
Not even Corvo, who led the party.
Only Nada, who happened to be unconscious and then stabbed the dragon’s heart as if stealing the glory, only he seemed to be treated as having the “qualifications of a hero.”
She simply could not accept that.
“…I see. Clarisse doesn’t want Nada to become a hero?”
Corvo drained the rest of his glass and asked.
“Yes, I don’t want that. I can’t even believe someone like him is working as an adventurer in the first place—”
Clarisse finished off the last sip of her cocktail and, wearing the brightest smile Corvo had ever seen from her, answered.
“So that’s what you think—”
But Corvo did not agree with her.
If anything, he averted his gaze from the frightening smile that had replaced her earlier expression, and stared into his empty glass—nothing left but melting ice.
After that, neither of them spoke. While Corvo settled the bill, Clarisse stepped out of the bar a little ahead of him.
Outside, where midnight was approaching, the air was cold—especially for Clarisse in her thin dress. She shivered once.
“Corvo-senpai, don’t you… Want to become a hero?”
She asked him as he came out after her.
It was a genuine question.
Corvo, apparently also feeling the cold, rubbed his elbows with both hands while gazing up at the beautiful crescent moon hanging in the night sky.
“Let me tell you… a little story from long ago.”
“A story from long ago…?”
Clarisse gave him a doubtful look.
“Yeah. There have been several excellent parties from our academy who managed to slay dragons. But among them, there was one party that defeated two dragons.”
“I at least know that party’s name, you know—”
Aghiya. That name immediately came to Clarisse’s mind.
There had been many parties throughout history who defeated a dragon, but almost none with the misfortune—and the strength to encounter two and slay them both.
In the past ten years, only Aghiya had accomplished that—Clarisse remembered that clearly.
And even she—who entered the academy later—knew that just nine days after slaying Exlidhao Ragario, that same party encountered another stray dragon and defeated it, at which point Iris was widely regarded as the strongest in the academy.
“But you don’t know the name of the adventurer who delivered the final blow to those two dragons, do you?”
“…That’s impossible.”
Clarisse felt the words No way rise in her mind.
“No, it’s true. If you want, you can ask Aghiya’s members from that time—those who know the details. Both dragons were killed by Nada. Not by Iris—he killed them. Just like this time.”
“So that’s why you think he’s close to being a hero, Corvo-senpai?”
Corvo snorted at that.
“No, not at all. I don’t care who becomes a hero. Not in the past, not now. I’m not going to become one, and I don’t intend to. And I’m not interested in whoever becomes one in the future either.”
Clarisse frowned at that statement.
But Corvo continued.
“However, I am interested in Lord Adamas as an adventurer. There are countless exaggerated legends about him, but one of them says this: he cleared a dungeon without using any Gifts or Abilities. What do you think? Doesn’t that sound familiar? Doesn’t it sound just like… a certain someone who killed a dragon?”
At his words, Clarisse stopped breathing.
◆◆◆
It was a dungeon.
One of the dungeons in Inferno—Tohe.
Tohe was a dungeon known for its simple and easy-to-understand structure.
Each floor contained exactly one isolated room of fixed size, twelve rooms in total, stacked endlessly downward. Monsters inhabited each room—sometimes a single one, sometimes several, and occasionally large numbers would slip in from somewhere whenever new adventurers entered.
Another notable feature of this dungeon was that you could not proceed to another room until you had defeated all of the monsters in the room you were currently in. And even after defeating them, if another adventurer party was already inside the room you wanted to move to, you couldn’t enter until they proceeded to the next room.
And one of Tohe’s biggest characteristics was that internal shifts rarely occurred.
Because new paths never appeared and old ones never collapsed, adventurers could challenge the dungeon in a stable, predictable manner and reliably obtain Calvaon. It was one of the favorite dungeons of veteran adventurers.
—But in that very dungeon, an internal shift occurred for the first time in centuries.
Every adventurer inside Tohe sensed it.
That was because the dungeon shook for hours—long, slow, and massive tremors that made adventuring impossible while they lasted.
Yet even several days later, despite continuing their attempts, no adventurer could tell where the anomaly had happened.
It was only natural.
It happened on the 77th floor.
Only parties of exceptional skill—even among veterans—could reach that depth. Ordinary adventurers couldn’t even hope to get that far.
And on that 77th floor, a new room had appeared.
—The thirteenth room.
The monster inside that room was still seated there.
Ever since it awakened, it had remained in that lightless chamber, never encountering a single adventurer.
But at last, fresh air drifted into the room. At the same time, the stones in the ceiling began to flicker with points of harsh light.
The room lit up.
It was a simple chamber with no decorations whatsoever.
—Except for one thing.
Beside the staircase located at the center of the room, a small “dragon’s footprint” had been engraved. It was clearly not a naturally formed mark—someone had carved it there by hand.
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