The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie - Chapter 74

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Dungeon Gallery's Terrifying Newbie ◈

Chapter 74: Haunted Mansion (4)

──────

Rumble...

The mansion shook with a heavy tremor.

"What's that vibration...?"

"Everyone, stay alert. A dungeon trap may have activated."

The knights resting in the hallway hurriedly got to their feet.

As everyone looked around in confusion,

"Wait a moment."

Comfort, quick to pick up on things, immediately used Detection Magic and soon found the cause.

"Stairs leading to the second floor have appeared."

"Y-You're right..."

"It seems Hector and Olivia figured it out."

It was good news.

They couldn't stay on the first floor forever.

Everyone gathered in front of the stairs leading to the next floor.

Hector and Olivia were waiting for them there.

"Welcome."

"We've been waiting."

Neither of them looked pleased, though.

「5」

A Mark had appeared on Hector's forehead.

Earlier, when they had shared information in the hallway, the number on Leo's forehead had been 1.

This was four higher.

"That number..."

"What else would it be? An Anomaly."

Hector walked over to Leo.

"Excuse me for a moment."

"Of course."

He brushed Leo's hair aside and examined his forehead.

"Leo's Mark is gone."

Leo's forehead was clean.

The Mark had definitely been there just moments ago.

Hector stroked his chin.

"Hmm."

It was impossible not to be concerned.

The Mark could not have appeared for no reason.

Watching the number steadily rise, it felt like a time bomb.

Dreamland was a dungeon where anything could happen, which made it all the more unsettling.

"Let's organize what we know so far. This Mark engraved on our foreheads transfers from one person to another, and the count rises."

"Could it transfer to someone else automatically over time?"

"Why does the count rise?"

There were far too few clues.

They were missing the most basic questions of why and how.

Krok, who had remained silent until then, cautiously spoke up.

"I wasn't checking Leo's forehead constantly, but... before the Mark transferred to Hector, the number on Leo's forehead was already 5."

"Are you sure?"

"I missed the right time to mention it, so I wasn't sure how to bring it up... but I'm certain."

"Now that you mention it... I think I saw the number change slightly too."

"The count probably doesn't increase every time the Mark transfers. There must be a separate condition that makes it rise."

Why the Mark transferred wasn't important right now.

After all, simply bearing the Mark didn't kill anyone.

Hector and Leo had proven that themselves.

Krok argued that what the group needed to focus on was why the count rose.

"The count increasing doesn't seem like a good sign. This place is never kind to us."

Krok thought back.

The count had first risen when we had just begun exploring the mansion.

That was when Leo received the Mark, and the count became 1.

Now it was 5.

Had the count increased simply because time had passed?

Definitely not.

Only twenty minutes had passed since we finished sharing information and resumed our investigation.

Something we had done must have been the trigger.

Every phenomenon was based on interaction, after all.

"I have something I'd like to ask Hector and Olivia."

"Yeah?"

"Could you write down everything you did during your investigation in as much detail as possible?"

"Why all of a sudden?"

Olivia tilted her head.

Krok answered.

"Because I think the answer is in there."

The group was talking now.

The count wasn't rising.

They had been resting in the hallway.

For the past twenty minutes, Hector and Olivia had been the only ones moving around.

There was over a ninety percent chance that Hector and Olivia had triggered this latest increase.

Hector gave a short laugh.

He patted Krok on the shoulder as if he didn't mind.

"Ha. I never thought I'd see the day I'd have to write an incident report for a rookie."

"S-Sorry."

"Whatever, I'll write it. You're sharper than I thought, kid. I'm impressed."

"...Thank you."

* * *

"It's done."

"I'm finished too."

After some time, the documents were completed.

Krok slowly read through them.

According to the reports, Hector and Olivia had investigated the locked rooms one after another.

One was the northern room they had discovered, while the other was the southern room Dragrade had found.

The northern room was the Master Bedroom.

It had furniture like a bed, much like the Guest Room, but it was far larger and more lavish, so they had named it that.

They hadn't found anything meaningful inside.

The southern room was the Drawing Room.

There was a lever in plain sight, and when they pulled it, the stairs leading to the next floor opened.

"Hmm... There's something I'd like to confirm."

"Something you want to confirm?"

"Yes. The count may rise, but I think this will be necessary for our investigation going forward. Would everyone follow me?"

"Alright. Let's go."

Once Dragrade gave permission, Krok took the lead.

The knights hesitated before following him.

They headed to the Drawing Room first.

Krok stepped inside.

He checked Hector's forehead, but the count didn't rise.

"Then..."

Next came the Master Bedroom.

The moment Krok stepped inside,

「6」

The number on Hector's forehead changed.

"Just as I thought..."

"Huh..."

Krok hurried out of the Master Bedroom.

He had discovered the secret behind the rising count.

"Krok's deduction was correct."

"Even if both of them entered earlier, isn't it strange that it rose by four?"

"There's no rule saying it can only rise by one. Or maybe it rose because they stayed there for a long time."

Hector and Olivia had spent around eight minutes in the Master Bedroom.

It seemed best to keep track of time as well.

"...By the way, are there really seventy-nine more floors to go?"

They had only advanced from the first floor to the second.

Yet the count had already risen by six.

They didn't know what the count meant.

Still, it was definitely not good.

According to the record-keeping team, bad things were currently happening in Area 2.

Could they really uncover every secret and make it to the next area?

"Use Detection Magic once."

"Why Detection Magic all of a sudden?"

"Just use it. You'll probably notice something strange too."

Hector suddenly spoke up.

The moment Detection Magic was used, the group understood what he meant.

"The second, third, and fourth floors... and all the floors after them have seven rooms too?"

"Yeah. Look closely. Only the hallway layout is different. The size and placement are the same as the first floor."

Hector was right.

Only the hallway layout had changed. Everything else was the same.

"I think the floors ahead probably won't be much different from the first floor either."

"That could be it. No, it's very likely."

"Yeah. Don't make that face. You're already ugly, so how much uglier are you planning to get?"

"Is that something you should be saying, Hector? What a joke."

"I-I'm ugly...?"

The somber mood lifted again.

Everyone smiled and was about to climb the stairs when,

「12」

The number on Hector's forehead suddenly increased.

Everyone stopped.

Seeing his companions' strange reactions, Hector tilted his head.

Why were they suddenly acting like that?

"What..."

At that moment, Hector's body lurched forward.

It was as if someone were pulling him.

He grabbed his throat and crashed to the floor.

He looked like a slave wearing a dog collar.

"Khk, khk!"

He gasped in agony as he was dragged across the floor.

Unable to watch any longer, Krok hurriedly put a hand on Hector.

But this wasn't something strength could solve.

「13」

The only thing that happened was the number on Hector's forehead increasing again.

Everyone stared at him helplessly.

He was being dragged toward the Prison.

Even then, he didn't forget what he had to do.

Though he knew a terrible fate awaited him, he pointed at the stairs and told the group to keep going.

Krok shouted.

"Let's go!"

"What?"

"Let's go upstairs! Staying on the first floor is too dangerous!"

Krok took the lead.

In the end, the group chose to move forward.

Everyone fell silent.

It was a truly heartbreaking situation, but there was nothing they could do.

* * *

Dreamland, Area 3.

Mansion second floor, 20:05.

The group arrived on the second floor.

Krok looked at the 「6」 on Olivia's forehead.

Only then was he certain.

"This is the Death Count."

"Death Count...?"

"Olivia's forehead currently has a 6. And until just now, Hector's forehead had a 13."

Krok laid out his theory.

When an intruder took certain actions, the count accumulated.

Once it exceeded a certain number, they died.

That was the rule of the Haunted Mansion.

The Death Count triggered at seven.

Hector's life being exchanged for a deduction of seven proved it.

"So this is Dreamland."

"It was beyond anything strength could solve."

"We'll have to investigate without allowing the count to build up..."

Everyone accepted Krok's opinion.

Their thoughts were no different.

"Then why did it suddenly rise from 6 to 12 earlier...?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure about that either. But I think time is the most likely explanation."

Krok asked Dragrade for the clock.

Dragrade willingly handed it over.

Krok held it out for everyone to see.

It was eight in the evening.

"The Academy's Dungeon Walkthrough included a rule like this: 'If you leave the classroom before After School, you die.' So perhaps there is a similar rule here. If you're in a first-floor hallway at eight in the evening, your count increases by one."

The group let out low groans.

Krok was probably right.

The number had risen that much all at once.

Besides entering forbidden rooms, there were likely other actions that increased the Death Count.

"Then until just now, there were seven of us including Hector. Why did it only rise by 6 instead of 7...?"

Krok scratched his head.

Who knew.

Perhaps the person carrying the clock was exempt from the count.

No. That was too much of a leap.

"...Honestly, I don't know."

There was no solid evidence.

Everything Krok said was only a hypothesis and needed verification.