— Third person —
The day after the conversation between brother and sister, Adel headed to the island of Valren to receive his weapon.
Just like last time, it didn't take long before he arrived, and once he disembarked, he could already feel eyes on him.
'Too bad, I wanted to surprise them in person,' Adel thought, sighing.
He knew the men watching him were members of the Merchants, and that his appearance would be immediately reported to Alfred and Prince Erik.
With a casual pace, he made his way toward the palace. He expected to waste time with the guards like before, but upon his arrival, the gate opened without hesitation, and he was waved inside.
"What an honor..." he muttered sarcastically, continuing without stopping.
He was led to the same office as last time. Inside, he found Alfred and the prince, the latter sitting at the table with no disguise as a soldier.
"Well done. Close the door on your way out."
At Alfred's words, Adel's escort nodded and left, shutting the door behind him, leaving the three of them alone.
"No disguise this time, Your Highness?" Adel remarked with a half-smile, sitting on the couch.
"Don't use that title. Just call me Erik," he replied coldly.
"Alright, alright..." Adel nodded, feigning indifference.
A long, tense silence followed, during which both Alfred and Erik seemed to search for the right words. In the end, they couldn't hold back the question.
"How did you do it?"
"Getting in? I just came and you opened the gate."
"Not that, you psycho. How are you still alive? And how did you return to the island without being caught?" Erik pushed, exasperated.
"Oh, that..." Adel raised his eyebrows, pretending to understand only now what they were referring to. "Who knows? But you know what I'm really curious about? The fact that you knew what I was doing. Were you spying on me, by chance? Because if that's the case... I might do something unpleasant again."
His voice was soft, almost cheerful. But the poison hidden in his words was impossible to ignore. Erik clenched his fist under the table, trying to suppress the memory of the corpse they had found.
"Come on, I'm joking, I'm not that crazy to do something like that to everyone... more or less. I get it. I'm suspicious, full of secrets, and potentially able to destroy you with the information I hold. It makes total sense to keep an eye on me."
A sharp smile accompanied his words as he leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table and supporting his head with his hand.
"Besides, I have nothing to hide."
Erik glanced at Alfred, who was the first to react.
"In that case, you won't have any problem telling us how you managed to avoid all our surveillance."
"Of course. And it's not even that complicated. I found a dungeon and escaped using a return stone."
The revelation made both of their eyes widen. Adel just smiled.
Due to the situation in the archipelago, managing more than one dungeon was too dangerous.
If a dungeon wasn't regularly cleared, the number of monsters could increase disproportionately, causing a stampede. For that reason, the rare times a new dungeon formed, they made sure to clear it and recover the dungeon core, which had astronomical value because of its many uses.
"What kind of dungeon is it?" Erik asked, intrigued.
"Whoa, slow down. It's a yellow-class dungeon, mostly filled with undead."
Their expressions instantly darkened. Undead were among the most annoying monsters to deal with, but the real issue was the dungeon's category. Within the Merchants, only the prince and Alfred were Grade 2. They had about a dozen Grade 1s, and the rest were Grade 0s or normal people.
Their strength might be enough to explore the dungeon, but conquering it was another matter.
There was only one thing the two of them couldn't figure out.
"How did you survive a yellow-class dungeon?" Erik asked, not hiding his suspicion.
"Good question, but I already gave you the answer last time. My best trait is that I always survive~"
His cheerful tone brought a heavy realization to the minds of both men: what he said was true. They had already received many messages proving he wasn't a normal boy, and they didn't want to take any risks.
"...I see. But satisfy an old man's curiosity. Do you, by any chance, have a stigma or a grace?"
Alfred's question made Erik raise his eyebrows slightly, while Adel clapped in respect.
"I like talking to smart people. As you've guessed, to survive in that dungeon, I couldn't be an ordinary person. I'm a Grade 1."
"I see... that explains a lot," Alfred replied thoughtfully.
"Could you give us the location of the temple you used? That would be of great help to our faction."
Because of the strictly controlled pantheon, the presence of a secret temple would allow more awakenings. The only downside of single temples was that the god could refuse to grant any gift if uninterested in the person, but at least some might be chosen.
"Seems like there's been a misunderstanding between us." Adel's expression went blank. "I don't work for you and I have no intention of doing anything for you. Our relationship is one of mutual benefit to reach a common goal. Clear?"
"Then, what's your price?" Erik asked, getting serious again.
"Don't you think you should pay me first for the dungeon information?"
"A dungeon we can't even use," Alfred commented dryly.
"Not my fault if you're so weak," Adel shot back, earning sharp glares from both. "Besides, there's a silver lining. The dungeon seems relatively new, based on the monster density, and it's the second type of dungeon—so treasures and artifacts won't be lacking."
Adel's words made Erik sink into thought. Meanwhile, Alfred remained strangely neutral, wanting to leave the decision to his prince as a sign of trust and experience for the future.
The truth was that Alfred didn't trust Adel at all and saw him as a threat, but the dungeon info did intrigue him.
"I need more information. I can't send my men into an unknown place with such a high death rate."
Erik's tone became more diplomatic, understanding the opportunity offered. But he was a cautious man by nature and wanted to approach the matter with maximum safety.
"Makes sense. Let's see... the dungeon is maze-like, with intermittent rooms and hidden traps. I don't know the exact number of floors since I only reached the second one, but judging by the strength of the monsters, I'd say it probably goes up to the fifth floor."
"What about the monsters?"
"The weakest, as you can imagine, are Grade 1 skeletons, followed by other types of undead of the same grade and young skarridi. As for Grade 2 monsters, I saw mutated undead and adult skarridi—and I know who the boss is."
The last part puzzled them both.
"You said you don't know the dungeon floors, so how did you reach the boss room?" Alfred asked reasonably.
"The bastard was calmly walking around on the first floor," Adel said bitterly.
Erik and Alfred exchanged confused glances. They had never heard of a boss wandering out of its zone.
"What?"
"Believe me, I'd like to know too. It's not great to explore peacefully and suddenly run into something like that," Adel lied without hesitation—though it was partially true.
"And the boss?" Erik asked.
"A corpse golem."
Hisss...
As soon as he mentioned the creature, both men drew in a cold breath.
"...Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"Pretty hard to misidentify a pile of rotting corpses stacked into a single entity."
"Then it's not worth it." Although it was unfortunate, Erik made a quick decision.
If it had been another boss, he might have considered it, but that thing ranked at the top of Grade 3 monsters, with unmatched strength and regeneration.
"Come on, don't say that. If you give up that easily, how do you expect to rule the archipelago?" Adel tried to play on his pride.
He didn't want to admit it, but re-entering the dungeon in his condition was pretty much impossible. Now, a Befael was guarding the entrance—and exploring it alone again was out of the question. He had already almost died once. Repeating the experience wasn't on his wish list.
He needed someone to serve as... bait, in case of danger.
"It's no use trying to convince me. It's suicide, with a boss wandering around."
"As for that, I believe it was more of a one-time event. Have you ever heard of bosses roaming freely in a dungeon?"
To his question, neither of them could deny it.
"And the boss is a secondary issue. What you need is just the dungeon, right?" Seeing Adel's unfiltered smile darkened both their expressions.
As Adel had mentioned, what they needed was the dungeon, so they could get stronger.
Since the only dungeon in the archipelago was under Paul, leader of the Explorers and the only Grade 3, he didn't allow anyone who was a Grade 2 to enter, making it harder for them to get stronger and challenge his position.