Chapter 86: Dungeon City Oraria

They were standing in a deserted back alley. Beyond the alley, Qiu Nuoya could see large numbers of people walking along the street. "Is this the dungeon city of Oraria?"

"That’s right. Shall we take a walk along the main street?" Viktor lowered Qiu Nuoya from his arms and gestured for him to follow.

Qiu Nuoya stepped out of the alley toward the main street. He found himself looking at a bustling commercial district, while peeking out from the narrow alley

I’m going to get lost if I get swallowed up by that crowd.

Qiu Nuoya instinctively looked down at his own hand. Normally, this was the moment when Warren would hold out his hand with a simple, "Hm," or Igor would casually scoop him up into his arms. But right now, the person standing beside him was Viktor.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it’s nothing." Qiu Nuoya shook his head. For a brief moment, he had wondered if perhaps Viktor would take his hand.

What was he thinking?

He had become completely accustomed to being treated like a child. Besides, Viktor knew that Qiu Nuoya was not actually the same age as he appeared to be.

Igor and Warren constantly treated him like a little child, but Viktor never did.

Viktor treated Qiu Nuoya almost like a knight protecting a princess, yet he had never once treated him like a child.

Qiu Nuoya had always found that more comfortable and yet, for some reason, he had felt a little lonely when Viktor did not offer him his hand. That realization left Qiu Nuoya flustered.

Stop it. What was he thinking? He needed to think about something else.

"Hey, Viktor. They call this a dungeon city, but where is the dungeon? Is it outside the city?"

"No. It’s over there." Viktor then pointed toward a slightly elevated hill overlooking the city.

Standing on top of the hill was a massive building surrounded by walls. If anything, it looked more like a castle.

That’s the dungeon?

Qiu Nuoya tilted his head in confusion. The dungeons he had imagined were usually places found inside natural formations such as caves, so the reality was completely different from what he had expected.

"More precisely, the dungeon is beneath that building. The structure above ground is mostly just decoration."

That castle like building is just decoration?

Ah, so that’s why it was considered an attraction?

"That castle used to function as a proper castle long ago. However, it seems that monsters began appearing from beneath it, making it impossible to continue living there, so it was eventually abandoned. The fortress walls that once protected the castle now serve as defensive barriers to prevent the monsters from escaping outside. You could say that the lord of this region was quite shrewd to turn such a troublesome castle, dungeon and all, into a source of business."

Interesting. So that’s how the dungeon in Oraria came to be.

"By the way, how large is it?"

"As far as we currently know, it’s around fifty floors. The dungeons continue to grow every day, though, so it’s impossible to give an exact number."

Huh?

Qiu Nuoya thought he had just heard something rather unsettling.

The dungeon keeps growing every day?

What exactly did that mean?

Surely the dungeon itself was not a living creature, but Qiu Nuoya could not understand what Viktor meant at all.

"Viktor, do dungeons actually grow?"

"Hm? Ah, yes, they do. Dungeons have something called a core, and they grow outward from that core. So when a dungeon is discovered, you need to find and destroy its core as soon as possible. Otherwise, monsters will multiply in enormous numbers and things can become very dangerous."

"A dungeon core... So does that mean the dungeon here is still growing every day?"

"Yes, exactly."

Wait a minute!

Wasn’t that a problem? Why were the people of this city casually developing a town around such a dangerous place?

Wouldn’t monsters eventually overflow into the city if they did not destroy the core and stop the dungeon from growing?

"Why are the people here casually building a city around such a dangerous place!? Shouldn’t they hurry up and destroy the core to stop the dungeon from growing?"

"Of course, I imagine they would like to do exactly that, but the dungeon itself is one of the city’s major tourist attractions. That said, it is not as though the city has never tried to destroy the core. There is even a reward offered for destroying it. However, if the core were destroyed, the value of this city as a dungeon destination would decline. So there are probably various complications involving what you might call ’adult circumstances.’"

Qiu Nuoya could not help thinking that putting the entire city at risk because of those so-called adult circumstances was questionable.

These people certainly have a strong sense of business.

"Still, because this place has become famous as a dungeon city, adventurers are constantly coming here. Monsters do not normally overflow from the dungeon either, so this is actually a relatively safe dungeon. There are so many adventurers here, though, that you probably should not expect to find many valuable dungeon items."

"Dungeon items?"

The term sounded familiar. Qiu Nuoya was sure he had heard it somewhere before, but he could not remember what it meant.

"Dungeon items are things like the bag I gave Nuoya. Dungeons are overflowing with elementals, which are the source of magic. Under certain conditions, these elementals can produce strange effects and create unusual magical tools. I found that bag inside a dungeon, but originally, it was probably just an ordinary bag that some adventurer had dropped. However, after being exposed to an enormous amount of magical energy, or perhaps what you might call magical essence, it changed and became a useful magic item. Things like that are called dungeon items."

Ah, that was right. When Viktor had given him the bag, he had mentioned that it was a magic bag from a dungeon.

So that’s what "from a dungeon" means!

Still, it was strange to think that simply leaving something inside a dungeon could turn it into such a useful magical tool.