WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈

Chapter 53: Oddball

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Chase arrived at the storage room on the first floor.

There were three storage rooms in total, and his destination was the one where the explorers' corpses were kept.

He used a Goblin's claws to pry open the locked door.

The stench that hit him was unlike that of rotten meat or Goblin corpses. The Goblins likely used it to distinguish their own corpses from those of explorers.

Chase glanced over the bodies.

They were the mercenaries I had brought into this dungeon.

All of them appeared to have died while undergoing Goblin Transformation, but their causes of death couldn't be determined just by looking at them.

"......"

It had all been for results.

He needed to gather as much information as possible to win the Dwarves over.

That was why he had used the mercenaries' greed.

After all, the claim that this was a newly formed dungeon containing a Magic Stone had been true.

Still, the biggest reason Chase had been able to resolve to use human mercenaries as tools...

Was probably because he valued human lives less than Dwarf lives.

Of course, Dwarves and humans didn't have a bad relationship.

The Dwarves of Fire Forge, who traded with the North Kingdom, were generally friendly toward humans.

If Chase hadn't gone through those events...

He might have viewed humans favorably, like the other Dwarves.

There was a term in this world called confirmation bias.

Chase considered humans a more selfish, narrow-minded, and wicked race than Dwarves.

That prejudice applied to these mercenaries as well.

Gronak had said it.

Chase had once been a successful mage, and that was true.

Before becoming Fire Forge's mayoral aide, he had been a mage of the Spatial School.

The reason Goldhand had connections with Spatial School mages.

The reason he could buy Escape Scrolls faster than anyone else.

It was all thanks to Chase.

He had never openly revealed his true feelings.

But Chase hated humans.

That hatred had begun when a human mage he had been close with envied Chase's talent, shattered his Mana Circuit, and forced him to give up magic.

Well, it was just another boring story.

The mercenaries' deaths were unfortunate, nothing more and nothing less.

He had brought them here expecting them to die in the first place.

Chase looked away from the corpses.

He picked up a journal from the shelf.

It was the journal he had written during the previous Dungeon Raid.

He opened to the first page.

Most of it concerned the Elevator.

Judging by the entries, the mercenaries had been quite cooperative with Chase from the moment they entered.

My past self had been pleased, thinking we would be able to gather a great deal of information this time.

"......"

Chase turned the page.

From its contents, it seemed he had started writing after arriving in Area 3.

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P.04

I barely managed to get my journal and pen back from the Merchant.

I can't call it entirely fortunate, since I got them through Captain Derid's death.

Four people have died so far.

Derid died after being enchanted by the Merchant, while Pass, Dorji, and Onnic died in the cave.

I never imagined so many Goblins would pour out.

If Aurora hadn't urgently dragged me away, I would have died in the cave too.

I barely escaped with my life.

I didn't know it would be this bad.

I never dreamed this place would be filled with such absurd Anomalies.

The sight of countless Goblins pouring out like a waterfall is still vivid in my mind.

Was the Elevator really only the beginning?

Honestly, after going through all that?

I thought the mercenaries would kill me.

Because, to avoid pointless losses,

I made the kind of remarks someone who knew about the Elevator would make.

I tried to pass it off as intuition somehow.

But it seemed some of the mercenaries had realized I had already been in this dungeon before.

Which meant...

The mercenaries had every right to condemn me for knowing this was such a dangerous place and hiding that fact.

But.

The mercenaries didn't hold me responsible.

So I spoke honestly with them.

I asked why they weren't angry at me.

What did Aurora say again?

"There's nothing more foolish than fighting and hating each other in this situation. No matter what, we're comrades raiding this dungeon together... If you want to blame yourself, show it through your actions, not your words."

It was something along those lines.

The mercenaries were straightforward.

They said they were grateful that I'd been honest with them.

They said they had all entered this dungeon prepared to die anyway, and since they had come this far, shouldn't they trust one another and keep moving forward? That was how they forgave me.

They were strange bastards.

Maybe because they lived through constant conflict and fighting, they thought differently.

Wasn't this a situation where they could reasonably believe it wasn't Dreamland, but me, who had killed their companions?

The humans I knew weren't like this.

Guilt crawled up my back.

As an apology, I cut my beard.

Then I gave it to Aurora as a gift for saving me.

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"......"

Chase turned the page.

So that had happened.

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P.10

The mercenary group's captain was Derid.

Aurora was the vice-captain.

Derid died to the Merchant.

So Aurora naturally took over as captain.

In many ways, she was the one who kept the mercenary group together.

Even in this hopeless situation, everyone refused to give up on the Dungeon Raid. She must have had a gentle sort of charisma as well.

Things had gone wrong from the start.

But I was also in a position where I had to gather as much information as possible.

I suggested that the Goblins might distinguish intruders by smell.

The Merchant killed Derid and left behind foul-smelling perfume as a complimentary gift, so I didn't think it was meaningless.

We sprayed on the perfume.

There wasn't much of it, so we decided to use the trees nearby that grew rotten meat...

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The mercenaries investigated the cave at a far faster pace than the current group.

They also established the rules quickly.

Act like Goblins.

Explore in the evening after working, and so on.

They were short on food and water.

And past Chase had thought he shouldn't work,

So there was also the minor incident where a large Goblin beat him up.

Still, the situation had been far more optimistic than it was now.

They had moved at least four times faster.

And...

The most decisive factor was probably the atmosphere within the sixth raid party.

The mercenaries supported Chase.

Chase opened his heart to them and relied on them in return.

It would be nice to raid the dungeon with these guys.

Maybe things would work out somehow if things stayed like this?

We could do it. We definitely could.

Those lines made it clear.

Emotional security. Yes.

The past Chase had surely felt that kind of comfort with the mercenaries.

There was one thing that bothered him.

"The sentences about the rules have been cleverly erased."

They were easy to read now that he knew quite a lot.

But many parts had been concealed so thoroughly that it would have been impossible to infer them without prior knowledge.

It seemed someone had tampered with the journal.

If so, there was a high chance other information had been hidden as well...

Even so, Chase quickly turned the pages.

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P.20

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

■ ■ is ■■■ like ■■■ ■■■.

What the fuck is this fucking bullshit?

I can't calm down at all.

How am I supposed to get out and live looking like this?

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

I'd rather die.

Dying would be much better.

I need to get out before I completely ■■■ ■■.

I have to get out somehow.

I'm thirsty and hungry.

I keep ■■ ■■ ■■■■, and my body's going fucking insane.

I don't care about information or anything anymore.

I need to get out fast.

I need to get out fast, but I don't have the scroll.

The scroll...

Yeah, the scroll.

Ah, fuck, my scroll.

The Merchant definitely has it.

Can the other bastards buy it too?

No... They can definitely buy it.

At the beginning, when Derid died, the Merchant took my journal, right?

Then doesn't that mean the others can buy my scroll too?

I need to do something.

But what should I do?

What if I buy something from the Merchant and die like Derid?

I need to find a way...

A way faster than anyone else...

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"Was that when the Goblin Transformation began...?"

The past Chase looked far less composed than he was now.

That made sense.

At the time, Chase likely didn't know that the Goblin Transformation would be undone if he escaped the dungeon.

Goblins.

No one would want to live as a Goblin even more hideous and grotesque than those Goblins.

He had a bad feeling.

His instincts warned him that what came next would surely end in ruin.

There were two kinds of truth in this world.

Truths one could know.

And truths one must not know.

He shouldn't read any further.

He would touch a taboo.

But.

Curiosity always killed the cat.

He couldn't rest until he had satisfied his curiosity.

That was also why he had set foot in this dungeon again.

In the end, he turned the page.

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P.22

I found a way.

The Merchant was something I could communicate with.

As long as I don't get enchanted, I can manage somehow.

But.

It was meaningless.

The Merchant said she didn't sell an item called an Escape Scroll.

That meant someone had already bought an Escape Scroll from the Merchant.

What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do.

If I become ■■■ here and live forever, I, I...

No.

Calm down.

Let's calm down.

The number of people hasn't gone down yet.

That means whoever has the Escape Scroll

Is still here.

They're probably thinking the same thing as me.

They'll use the bastards here as much as possible,

Then get out of the dungeon and sell information or raid it.

That must be what they're planning.

Then I can use that very thought against them.

I have to kill them now.

It's okay. I'm stronger.

If it comes down to it, I can use magic.

■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■.

They were investigating separately, one at a time, for ■■ ■■■.

This was the right time.

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"......"

Chase faced a page stained with blood.

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P.23

I killed Cecil.

No scroll.

I killed Celestine.

No scroll.

I killed Krak.

No scroll.

I killed Audrey.

No scroll.

I killed Asile.

No scroll.

I killed Arld.

No scroll.

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P.24

Aurora had the scroll.

I asked Aurora if she had an Escape Scroll.

She honestly said she did.

She claimed she had paid for it and kept it herself,

In case the Escape Scroll caused conflict.

She saw the blood on my body and asked what had happened.

She was worried.

Did she not realize it was the mercenaries' blood?

Maybe she simply couldn't imagine that I had killed the mercenaries.

Aurora told me not to worry anymore.

She said hopefully that she had found an Elevator that led to the next area.

Then she asked me.

Was I the owner of the scroll?

She said she would return it, and that I should use it if there was no answer at the end.

She said all we had to do now was find a way to get our belongings back from the Merchant.

I didn't answer.

Because I sensed that something had gone wrong.

So I just turned her into a corpse.

Because I couldn't find the courage to keep talking to her.

And now I'm alone in the dungeon.

I just need to use the scroll.

I should be able to use it.

But useless thoughts keep stabbing into my head.

Why didn't Aurora use the scroll right away?

Was she waiting for a chance to take my journal from me?

Yeah. She needed to take the information out, and I'm the only one with the journal...

But if that were true...

There had been too many openings ever since we slept...

If escaping was her goal, she could have just left...

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Of all times.

At this moment.

Why, why, why, why...

My head is spinning.

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There was no next page.

It seemed someone had torn it out.

As Chase stood there blankly,

A Slime wriggled over to him without him noticing.

It handed him the pages Chase had burned from the journal,

Along with pages he had failed to find.

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P.30

Without a doubt, setting foot in Dreamland was the stupidest thing I have ever done.

■■■ and ■■... Those were only tiny fragments of it.

Something else was far more terrible.

Thinking I could raid this dungeon.

Thinking I should return with plenty of information, then begin the raid.

Only now do I realize how fucking stupid those thoughts were.

I want to go back.

I want to go back.

I want to go back.

I don't mean I want to return outside.

I want to return to before the sixth raid began.

I don't know.

Even if I leave, can I go back to how I was?

I don't have the confidence to face the sins I committed.

At least it's fortunate that I can lose my memories.

Living as a coward is better than dying bravely.

I'm certain of that.

If.

Just if.

I were given a chance to forget everything that happened in this dungeon and live a new life.

I would never waste that life.

God, please, just give me one chance to set everything right...

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P.31

nevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercomenevercome...

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Chase examined the corpses.

Only then could he determine their causes of death.

I definitely killed them.

When he examined Aurora's rotting body,

He found his beard as well.

The journal hadn't been altered.

This was my story.

My original sin.

The taboo itself, which the God of Forgetting had told me never to open.

The Slime beside him spat out one final note.

It wasn't a page from the journal.

「Never come back.」

It was a message someone had sent to him.

The wriggling Slime disappeared.

"......"

Chase faced the taboo.

How long had he stood there blankly?

Only when his legs began to ache did his thoughts finally begin to clear.

Chase started walking.

He might not be able to set everything right.

But there were things he still needed to do.

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Chase headed to the forest first.

The Merchant appeared quickly, as though she had been waiting for him.

"I'd like to buy one Escape Scroll."

The Merchant smiled.

Her hand passed through Chase's abdomen.

But there was no pain.

There was no wound or sign of being split open.

Like a ghost, like an illusion, the hand that rummaged through his stomach cleanly took only its price.

The Merchant handed Chase an Escape Scroll.

Then.

【I'm selling Escape Scrolls. You need one, don't you?】

She asked while glancing at the sleeping Gronak.

Chase didn't answer.

Still smiling, the Merchant nodded.

She waved her hand.

It was likely her own kind of farewell.

Once the Merchant disappeared,

Chase looked at the journal he had used during this raid.

【Seventh Raid Results】

【Written by: Chase】

Whoosh.

Blazing flames flickered.

Every record vanished.

Just like oblivion.

Then he tore out the pages from the journal used during the sixth raid.

He moved his pen.

Chase was writing a will.

Its contents could be summarized as follows.

A pledge to distribute the property of Chase, mayoral aide of Fire Forge, evenly among the bereaved families of the mercenaries who participated in Dreamland's sixth Dungeon Raid, including Derid and Aurora.

An apology to those who died in Dreamland, to Mayor Goldhand, and to all Dwarves.

Thanks to Gronak, the old friend who had followed him all the way to the dungeon.

And a request that, though it would be terribly bothersome, Gronak properly deliver and carry out the contents of the will.

「Never come here.」

And.

The message he had received from someone.

'This should be enough.'

Chase stopped writing.

He placed it in Gronak's arms and woke him.

"Gronak. Gronak."

"■■■■......"

"Good news. Wake up."

"■■ ■■ ■■■. ■■ ■■■."

"I found a way to get our belongings back from the Merchant."

"■■■......? ■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■."

Gronak no longer spoke human language.

But.

Seeing that he wasn't hostile toward me,

It didn't seem he had become a complete Goblin.

Chase gave a bitter smile.

"I wrote everything in the journal. Read it once you get out. I'm staying here a little longer to gather information about the dungeon."

"......"

"Do you know how much an Escape Scroll costs? I need to get my money's worth before I leave. Don't worry about me. Just wait quietly in Fire Forge."

Gronak used the Escape Scroll.

Chase prayed that his friend would never come to this terrible place of his own accord.

Chase was alone in the cave once again.

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Chase thought.

Would a Dwarf like me enter Dreamland again?

I have a strong thirst for knowledge.

I'm curious.

I'm greedy too, so I might drag others into this dungeon again.

If that's the case.

It would be fine to remain here as I am.

If this is my ending.

If it's an ending that will never change.

There is no need to drag this story out any longer.

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After that, Chase decided to live like a Goblin.

He continued his life as a diligent Goblin who slept in the evening, woke in the morning, and worked.

"Hey. Don't you think today's work ■■ pretty ■■ ■■?"

As time passed.

The Goblins' language became clearer and clearer.

My eyesight grew dim.

My sense of smell became sharper.

Even so, I never put rotten meat in my mouth.

The food originally brought from outside the dungeon tasted awful enough to make me vomit.

But slowly.

Just slowly.

I became one with this place.

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My vision shut completely.

Now I could understand my surroundings and move around using only my sense of smell and hearing.

My memories of myself gradually faded.

The past, knowledge, everything turned black.

At some point, I could no longer remember my name.

What was my name again?

I don't know.

Was a name really that important?

You didn't need it to eat or sleep.

Then it was probably fine to forget it.

I am a Goblin who works in the cave.

Memories aren't important to Goblins.

Then it was probably fine to forget them.

"Hey. Are you eating that disgusting stuff again today?"

A Goblin said.

"Ah, yeah."

"Only intruders eat stuff like that."

"I suppose so."

"Then why are you eating it? You're confusing the Goblins who sniff you out."

"I don't know. I have to eat this instead of meat. This is the one thing I just can't forget."

"You're a strange one."

And another day passed.

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"■■■■■."

Someone suddenly greeted me.

It wasn't a language we used.

Yet it was a strange voice whose meaning I could understand.

He wasn't an intruder.

After all.

How could such a warm and peaceful being

Be a detestable enemy?

He must be a lovely and beautiful being.

"Hello."

I greeted him and bowed my head.

"■■■ ■■■■■?"

Did he ask whether I wished to rest?

Did he ask whether I wished to receive another chance?

If he was asking me that.

Well.

A Goblin's life was busy and harsh,

Boring and uninteresting.

Even so.

I didn't want to stop.

This was the final thing I had to do.

I had to do this.

■■■ thought so, at least.

He respected me.

Thankfully.

"Goodbye."

"■■■."

He vanished.

Then, incredibly, time stopped.

Perhaps only our god could do something like this.

It was surely an honor to have met him.

Until time began to flow again,

I fell into an eternal yet finite dream.

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They say that a clothed Goblin sometimes appears in Goblin Cave.

He works harder than anyone.

Once work is over, he goes straight to sleep.

When morning comes, he heads to work before anyone else.

One unusual thing about him is that he never touches rotten meat.

Sometimes, he picks up and eats the trash intruders leave behind.

Though he makes a disgusted face as he forces down the trash, the Goblins gave him a new name.

Oddball.

* * *

That was how the Wave ended.

I uploaded the last live update and closed the gallery.

Normally, I would've passed the time exchanging comments.

But I felt unsettled.

He was an enemy, an intruder I had to defeat.

Still, I didn't feel refreshed or relieved.

Maybe it was because I was a soft-hearted Dungeon Master.

I really didn't know.

All I could do for that Dwarf was

Warn him not to make any more mistakes,

And bid farewell to someone who had chosen his ending.

"Goodbye."

Holding someone's Escape Scroll in my hand,

I left the quiet Area 3, where the forest and cave had disappeared.

Footnotes:

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