WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 31: Guess I'll Have To

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Lunchtime.

“What? We're going into a dungeon today? When?”

“Right after lunch.”

Cecilia looked dumbfounded at the sudden declaration that we were clearing a dungeon, but I had no intention of changing my mind.

“Come on... It’s our first day at the academy. Shouldn’t we introduce ourselves to the other students, check the course curriculum, and look around campus or Nevil first?”

‘Says the person who isn't interested in any of that.’

My plan had never changed.

Clear the Doll Dungeon within a month.

In Academy of the End, the Dungeons of the Evil God were the stages that marked the grand finale of each chapter.

They were overwhelmingly more difficult than other dungeons, and starting with the Doll Dungeon, the monsters came packed with all sorts of special mechanics.

Normally, the dungeon I should have been clearing at this point was the Beast Dungeon, but since the scenario had changed, I needed to prepare more thoroughly.

I couldn't let my stats stagnate for a month.

“It’ll be better because everyone else will be busy doing that stuff. I hate crowded places.”

“...Even so, a dungeon on the first day?”

“Didn’t you want to get stronger too?”

Academy of the End might have been an unpleasant game, but that didn't necessarily make it unfriendly.

Before clearing the Dungeons of the Evil God, it provided plenty of dungeons where players could lay the groundwork.

That was why just completing side quests and running dungeons could get you a fairly decent build.

With that in mind, the dungeon I was aiming for was one of the newly opened upper-tier dungeons: the Goblin Dungeon.

It was the easiest of the four, a typical farming dungeon.

Still, as a farming dungeon, its Tier 1 Shard drop rate was incomparably higher than the earlier dungeons, and Tier 2 Shards dropped fairly often if you were lucky.

“If you want that, you'll need to change your Shard setup. You'll hit your limit soon with your current build.”

In other words, it was the perfect dungeon for upgrading Shards.

“How do you know that?”

I knew Cecilia's standard build from the original.

Cecilia was a burst-damage character built around powerful Arts.

The optimal setup was to focus on Mana and Critical Hits around the Special Shard Nebula, which she was guaranteed to obtain later.

And now that she had Lumen equipped, Health mattered even less.

“I've taken your Arts before.”

“Not recently, you haven't.”

“I’m still sure. You’ll be much stronger if you change your Shard setup.”

No, honestly, wasn't everyone but Cecilia aware that her current health-tank build was wrong?

Either way, improving our stats wasn't just about me.

There was a good chance Cecilia would be beside me when I cleared the Doll Dungeon, so her growth needed to keep pace if we were going to have a real shot.

It would be even better if every playable character, including Aren, got stronger.

“...Then, are you doing this for me?”

‘Not just for you.’

There was another reason I had chosen the Goblin Dungeon, aside from it being a farming dungeon.

‘Because the Shattering Sword drops there.’

Equipment in Academy of the End was divided into Tiers I through V, with further ranks within each tier.

Among them, the Tier 2 Shattering series was optimized for early-game use. The Shattering Sword in particular was an excellent item that could serve me well all the way to the entrance of the Demon Dungeon.

The Shattering Sword was a reward that could drop when you cleared the Goblin Dungeon.

What I lacked most right now was a weapon.

It wasn't like I couldn't use my current one, but an issued iron sword had obvious limits.

‘I’ve got to get it while I can.’

Stats had to keep rising steadily, step by step.

So my first goal was to raise my stats until I could Instant Kill every monster in the Goblin Dungeon.

Even the boss, if possible.

“You don't have to come if you don't want to. I can go in alone.”

“I-I never said I didn’t want to!”

“If Cecilia can't, couldn't you go in with me instead?”

“Didn't the instructor say that's not allowed?”

Normally, I wouldn't have minded if Senia came along.

No, it would have been even better. The Goblin Dungeon didn't really need magic DPS.

But Follower Selection had a rule that allowed solo action while prohibiting Followers from freely pairing up with one another.

If you got caught, an academy-level penalty would be issued immediately.

It couldn't be helped.

It was part of the academy's educational policy that students had to learn to work with companions who didn't suit them and still clear dungeons together.

That meant I couldn't take Senia with me, no matter how much she wanted to come. I didn't want to be penalized either.

“If I'd known it would be like this from the first day, I should've just picked my sister...”

“...Then you should have.”

Exactly.

If Cecilia had chosen Senia, I might have been paired with Luna.

Haah.

Three sighs drifted across the table at once.

⁎⁎⁎

‘It really is fast.’

That thought crossed my mind as I walked down the forest path leading to the Goblin Dungeon.

The reason I had planned everything around enrolling at the academy was because students had access to an overwhelming number of privileges.

The most useful of them was transportation.

Ruidel had a student-only tram.

Unlike the Christoph Cross-Country Train, which traveled throughout the Empire, the Ruidel tram was more like a local bus.

Its routes were limited to Nevil, the imperial capital, and a few major hubs, but for a student, it was an incredibly convenient way to get around.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that being able to use it changed your quality of life.

In the original, unlocking the tram also let you instantly travel to maps you had already visited.

Reality wasn't quite that convenient, of course, but cutting a trip that took hours down to just over ten minutes was satisfying enough.

‘If it comes to it, I could commute from here.’

I didn't have a home for the time being anyway, so it might not be bad to settle down here for a while.

When I looked back amid those stray thoughts, Cecilia was following with her lips pushed out in a pout.

“Haah... You're seriously too much.”

She was wearing dungeon combat gear instead of her uniform.

Close-fitting mobility armor was layered over a white leather jacket with a soft sheen.

Naturally, it drew my eyes to certain places...

Academy of the End's signature defense-first design. The way it made her chest stand out was probably intentional on the developers' part.

What they probably hadn't intended was for me to see that outfit before Aren did.

A laugh slipped out, half wistful and half hollow.

Cecilia grumbled, but she ultimately joined me for a Goblin Dungeon run.

I wondered why she was acting like that when she was coming anyway, but considering her personality in the original, this was much better.

And easier to handle.

After walking along the forest path for some time, the entrance to the Goblin Dungeon finally came into view.

Dense demonic energy poured through the cracks of its old gate.

For a place that called itself an upper-tier dungeon, its presence alone rivaled the Beast Dungeon.

But I had already cleared the Beast Dungeon.

“The demonic energy is so strong. I don't want to stay here long.”

“Then let’s go in.”

“...Yeah. We should finish quickly and head back.”

‘We should. If the item drops.’

We threw ourselves into the dungeon.

When we landed, dense darkness greeted us.

As I raised a torch, an unpleasant cry rang out, as though drawn by the light.

-Kirik! Kiriririk!

Greenish skin and wrinkled faces appeared where the light reached.

Rotten teeth showed unevenly through mouths dripping with saliva.

Goblins.

And there were more than one or two.

The sight of dozens of them glaring at us with flashing red eyes was horrifying enough to put most horror movies to shame.

‘Could’ve at least used a turn signal before coming in.’

“What is this? Why are there so many?!”

“Seriously.”

It was still a familiar sight.

In both the original and reality, most dungeons didn't have monsters rushing at you from the moment you entered.

Even civilians had been allowed near the entrance of the Beast Dungeon.

But the Goblin Dungeon was different.

It had a special mechanic where dozens of goblins swarmed you the instant you entered.

If you went to the bathroom during the loading screen, you'd come back to find your character dead.

The goblins shrieked in unison.

-Kyaaaah!!

Of course, I wasn't worried.

This was just a scripted set piece the developers had intended.

The goblins in front of us were the kind that fell to a single basic attack, made solely to give players a nasty surprise.

Instant Kill was guaranteed.

Squelch!

I drove my sword into the neck of the first one to charge.

Cecilia quickly steadied herself beside me and shifted into a fighting stance.

White sword energy scattered through the air as goblins were cut down one after another beneath her blade.

There were many of them, but they were nothing more than weak mobs rushing in without even decent weapons. They couldn't leave so much as a scratch on us.

Still, there were so many that cutting them down one by one was starting to get tedious.

Cecilia gathered energy along her blade.

“Halibal! Get back!”

It had been a while since I’d seen the real thing.

“Shattering Light!”

Kwwaaang!!

A white flash burst from her blade and raced to the end of the corridor in an instant.

The goblins were swept away without even getting the chance to scream, vanishing like dust.

I leaned against the wall and watched the scene calmly.

Was it because Cecilia had accumulated so much more experience over the years?

Her Shattering Light had advanced far beyond what it had been before.

But something bothered me at the same time.

‘What was that? That’s way too strong for a basic Art. Was Cecilia in the original really that strong?’

I shook my head.

The stronger, the better.

“Phew... That startled me.”

Cecilia caught her breath and flicked the blood from her sword.

I picked up the torch that had fallen to the floor, shone it into the darkness, and moved forward again.

“Getting attacked the moment we entered the dungeon. Have you ever experienced anything like this?”

“No. It’s my first time.”

Here, anyway.

“I guess upper-tier dungeons really are different. Do you think we can make it all the way through?”

Who knew.

Judging by the power of the Art she had just shown, the question wasn't whether we could make it to the end. It was how many times we could run this dungeon.

I already had the dungeon's mechanics and stats in my head.

This time, I didn't need to push myself like I had against Varhatan.

“We should be able to.”

What concerned me more was the darkness.

I knew the Goblin Dungeon was dark, but seeing it in person, it was far worse than I expected.

Even with a torch prepared just in case, darkness still blanketed the floor up to my calves.

It seemed like I needed to turn on the lights first if we were going to move forward easily.

‘If I remember right, there was a switch around here...’

As I felt along the wall, my fingers caught on a recessed groove. This had to be it.

Click.

At the sound, lamps along the corridor lit up one after another.

Cecilia's eyes widened.

“What? How did you do that?”

“There was something like a switch here, so I pressed it.”

“...What if it was a trap?”

Exactly.

I had no excuse, so I looked away.

“...This...”

Then something other than Cecilia caught my eye.

Bodies lay scattered along both sides of the corridor.

Every one of them wore Imperial Army uniforms and armor, their entire bodies slashed apart in a gruesome state.

The dog tags around their necks bore the mark of the Second Regiment.

They weren't from the 2341st I had belonged to, nor from the Gale Raid Party, but if they were from the same regiment, it wouldn't have been strange if I had crossed paths with them once.

More importantly, the Second Regiment meant they were part of the Raid Corps.

They had probably died while scouting the newly opened dungeon.

Their bodies had been left here, unrecovered because of the monsters.

“Tch.”

I had seen this sight countless times, but I never got used to it.

Even knowing the duty of the Imperial Army, it still left a bad taste in my mouth every time.

“...Did you know them?”

“No.”

I quietly set the dog tag down.

Cecilia watched me, then carefully asked, “Are you going to do it again...?”

“Do what?”

“That... funeral rite.”

‘...There was such a thing.’

The Funeral Sword's funeral rite, a rumor that circulated among the units, was a training method where I pushed my body without end until I could defeat every monster in a dungeon with a single strike.

People had simply attached the meaning of honoring fallen comrades to it.

But I had never said anything like that. My dungeon runs had always been for farming.

Even so, people assigned a heavy meaning to them.

At first, it had burdened me, but if it gave someone comfort, there was no reason to deny it.

‘The objective is the same anyway.’

So this time, I was able to answer relatively calmly.

“Guess I’ll have to.”

Footnotes:

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