Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

What wasn't a foundational secret however was that this blue temple they were in was destroyed. It was common knowledge to all the ones witnessing its weathered state and it highlighted that they needed to leave.

While there could be some secret somewhere, with everything turned into a ruin, the odds of the artifact or writing hidden away remaining were slim. Even if either of these did remain, the mechanisms to find them might not.

Simply put, sticking around would be kind of pointless. If he had no results then staying to make up for the trip was worth of it but at this point he might not get much.

Before considering staying longer or not however Ed needed to pass what he learned onto Var Agus.

'Var Agus, listen…' He also explained to Var what it was that he discovered written there. Var Agus nodded along as Ed transmitted his knowledge over normally.

"I see…" Var Agus frowned by the end of the story. He would have never thought the Mensch lizardmen capable of sacrificing someone of their own.

"They are clearly not my Reed tribe…" The number of people that came from the Reed tribe could probably be counted in one hand by now. With all the deaths and just Kurgher gathering people from all over, there was not even a trace of the Reed tribe still visible in the Mensch tribe.

Var put away any depressing thoughts though. A new transmission had just come in from Ed telling him to help search around for a couple more minutes. They could come back and search more thoroughly once Ed mastered magic as a mushroom.

'Earth magic would help with all the rubble-' Ed who was in the midst of thinking suddenly stopped. To be exact, he was interrupted. No, his thoughts were interrupted.

[Recalling Champion's Soul]

It was time to return to the dungeon's endless black void. Ed's mind drifted and before he knew it his vision was a deep dark crimson. Turning of sixth sense off returned him to the pitch-black darkness he was accustomed to.

Alone in the dark, Ed had no one other than himself to keep himself busy.

'I wonder what body I will return to…' So his mind started wandering. The threat of Eon was neutralized and there should be no threat in the orc plains either.

'Hm? Is it the new floor?' He had stated that getting a head start on the floor would be a good thing.

'Are you finally acknowledging my thoughts?' Ed asked the dungeon which was usual did not respond.

'Well, whatever we'll find out' Ed was ok with any of the floors he could travel to. The only one he wasn't ok with was the Marshlands considering he was already there. The mushroom caverns weren't to his knowledge a destination either.

***

At the kingdom's border, there was a lonely carriage making haste through the wilderness of the night. The rider had no time to admire the verdant grass swaying softly under the caressing of the wind.

They had a mission to accomplish, the mission to deliver a potion.

The coachman didn't know what potion, but he knew it was an important potion. The timeline was short and the guards he was assigned were few in numbers but strong in power.

This was not told to him, and though the coachman was nothing but a peak C-class adventurer, his observations were not wrong. The people assigned to him were strong, but they were also strongly opinionated.

"Coach" Someone said from within the carriage. The potion and its packaging was firmly attached to the carriage itself thanks to a built-in cage. It prevented any easy theft from happening. Unlocking it required a key which was actually hidden and only known by the coachman.

This arrangement guaranteed that if the coachman wanted to steal the potion, he'd have to get past the hired hands. On the other hand, if the hired hands wanted to steal the potion they needed to get past the coachman.

While he was weaker than the hired hands in strength and numbers, there were measures against this too. 

One relied on the coach. As long as he was not willing to say the location of the secret key, the coach's job would be done.

In that scenario, the coach's life would be likely threatened. Just in case, the safety of the coach's family was guaranteed even in the event of their death. This benefit limited the chances of their betrayal.

The other measure was that all the hired hands did not know one another. They were all procured from different regions with almost exactly equal combat abilities. Before trying to rob the potion they would need to be on the same page with the others or be confident they could take them out.

The only way this was possible was if their strength was reported incorrectly.

To sum it up, it should be impossible for anyone present in the carriage to harbor ill intentions and on the chance they did, they would also need to have the courage to act on these bad intentions.

So as the selectively bred top class magic horses sped down the Galeburst mountain range, the carriage was peaceful. The coach would hum a happy tune and the adventurers would chat up with him occasionally.

They could not be any happier. The only way to make it possible was to push the deadline further back so he could relax further and take it easy.

"Tell us more, I'd love to hear more" A blonde man with a friendly smile said.

"You are all too kind, but me nephew is an even nicer lad. You see..." The conversation somehow shifted to whether or not the coachman had family. Naturally, he started talking about every family member in his family tree.

"So Natasha she-" Before he could continue however, the carriage suddenly rocked.

"Huh?" The coachman was dazed. The red scent of blood managed to enter his nostrils and his eyes widened in disbelief. This was a smell he never wanted to smell again!

The coachman clenched their fists. They quickly turned behind them and were surprised to find one of the adventurers had died mysteriously.

...As if! The kind man from before had ruthlessly stabbed a knife into a quiet one wearing a cloak. He had a devilish expression.

"Coach, how about you hand over the key?" The material of the cage was pretty sturdy. Getting the key was advisable.

"This punk wasn't interested in joining us" The blonde man said looking at the dead man with disdain.

"Do you want to suffer the same fate?" He turned back to the coachman asked.

The coach was shocked. They were having a civil conversation moments ago why did it suddenly turn out like this? There were so many countermeasures put in place to discourage theft!

What the coach had not considered were the factors under which these measures were placed. First, although the adventurers were from different regions they were assigned the mission near the Galeburst laboratory. That was due to time concerns.

Secondly, the failure to deliver that potion actually benefitted the Galeburst dynasty. Well, it was a bit complicated but, without the miraculous potion the odds of the Bosque kingdom falling were much higher.

The majority of the Galeburst family members believed that letting Bosque eliminate the dragon was a good thing for them but there were also some more prideful members that might believe it was disadvantageous and act on it.

"So?" It was a tense situation. The blood of the murdered man was forming a pool in the now stopped carriage, the coachman did not know what to do.

"Hahaha!" So he laughed a bit.

"I ate the key!" He declared.

The now 3 adventurers were shocked by the wagon man's declaration.

"Why would you be foolish enough to do that?" Without the key, the receiver of the potion would not be able to open it.

"Come kill me if you want it you b*stards!" The coachman didn't even register the words of the blonde man and simply scrammed.

Then the sound of something cutting through the air sounded.

"Argh!" The coachman shouted loudly.

The archer released a very accurate arrow onto the leg of the coachman.

"Ah…" He barely even ran! The man felt his heart beat rapidly. His expression continued to collapse with every step the adventurers took to get closer to him.

"Say your prayers" If he ate the key they just needed to kill the man and open up his stomach! Only A-class adventurers could break the cage thanks to their special abilities usually packing a punch.

"I- Please! Wai- No I lied!" The coachman shouted frantically. He might have been an adventurer but he was also an old man. How could he remain as courageous as in his younger days?

"If you can't accept your death, you shouldn't have accepted this job" The man raised his sword and within moments, the head of the coachman found itself on the floor.

"Dirty thing…" The man then shifted his eyes to the other two.

"You are an archer and you are an assassin, make yourselves useful and go scout the area" The blonde man didn't spare them another glance.

"Hehehe" The amount of money he would make with this job could finally allow him to go to an academy and study magic theory.