I Give Up on Conquering the Heroines

21 – Episode 21. Blackstar Dungeon

The central lounge of a mercenary group’s base.

The men packed inside remain silent with grim expressions on their faces.

A strange tension flows between them as they stand still without a word of conversation, as if waiting for something.

“I’m here!”

“Cain!”

At that moment, the door bursts open and a man enters, smiling cheerfully.

The young men soon became agitated and stood up from their seats.

Cain’s expression is more than bright.

It wasn’t that difficult to predict the result.

“Is it a success?”

“Of course I succeeded in conquering that dungeon!”

“What about the casualties?”

“My youngest’s scratched knee is the biggest wound!”

“Woah!”

A shout rang out telling the lounge to leave.

Cain moved forward, slapping the palms of everyone who asked for a high five, and finally reached the reception area.

A small stone appears in his arms.

“This is the core of dungeon 57. Please evaluate it.”

Stuck in the deepest room of the dungeon.

A stone that gave off a gloomy purple light.

This is the core of the dungeon, proving the completion of the strategy.

The dungeon from which the core has been extracted stops functioning and can no longer create monsters.

The appraiser who received the nucleus places his hand on it, closes his eyes, and concentrates.

“Yes. Confirmed. It is definitely the core of dungeon 57.”

“Waaah!!!”

Cheers erupt again, and hands reach out from all over to rub Cain’s head.

It is a success.

Cain’s party finally conquered dungeon 57, which they had worked so hard to achieve without sacrifice.

Cain managed to get through the crowd and reach the huge map placed on the desk in the center of the lounge.

“Number 57 is this way, Cain!”

Dungeons marked on the map have stars indicating their level of difficulty.

Yellow stars are attached to unexplored dungeons.

The red star that appears from time to time is attached when there is an unexploited strategy and a victim appears.

So, even if the number of stars is the same, the red star dungeon is treated as a more dangerous dungeon.

And lastly, there are only 13 Blackstar dungeons in the entire map.

Black star means that the dungeon is abandoned.

If all mercenary leaders agree, the dungeon will be officially abandoned.

Even if there are five identical stars, the black star is one level different.

If a red star means that it is dangerous to go, then a black star means that if you go, there is only death.

“······Hu.”

Dungeon number 57 with five yellow stars.

Number 57 is the only dungeon that has five stars and is still yellow.

Cain picks up a pen and draws an X on the map.

With this, dungeon 57 became the only dungeon of highest difficulty that was completed without any casualties.

“Send a messenger and inform all mercenary groups! We succeeded in conquering dungeon 57! Without shedding a single drop of blood!”

“Yes!”

After receiving the order, the subordinates hurried out of the lounge with excited faces.

All information about the dungeon is shared between mercenary groups.

When a new dungeon is discovered or a casualty occurs, the information is immediately shared and the map is updated at the same time.

Although they are mercenary groups that fight each other for loot, they cooperate unconditionally when it comes to creating dungeon maps.

It had to be that way.

If everyone begins to hide the existence of the discovered dungeon, the damage to the civilian population increases rapidly.

Will my family be safe at this time?

Is my hometown safe?

With that in mind, the mercenaries came together to create a dungeon map.

It was the result of a minimum of conscience and a minimum of love for humanity in a group full of selfishness and calculation.

The dungeon map created in this way and constantly updated to this day boasts such high public trust that even nobles and royals who look down on mercenary groups purchase it and refer to it.

Cooperation to protect my family and hometown resulted in enhancing the honor of mercenaries.

“Cain! Aren’t you going for a drink?”

“It’s okay. Drink it among yourselves.”

“What if the main character is missing?”

“Because today is the anniversary of my brothers’ deaths. Let’s drink tomorrow. Tomorrow.”

“Ah…”

The heated atmosphere subsides in an instant.

The mercenaries soon stopped trying to persuade Cain and quietly left the lounge.

Around when all the mercenaries left.

Cain was staring at a place on the map.

A dungeon with 5 black stars.

It was dungeon number 6.

“It’s already been 5 years.”

Cain, who was left alone in the lounge, placed five glasses on the empty table.

Whiskey flows out of the bottle with the cap off.

Finally, after filling all five glasses, Cain picks up one of them and toasts into the air.

“Brothers. I think I am now free from trauma.”

I close my eyes and think about the past.

It was 5 years ago.

A memory of Cain, who was still young, excitedly telling the older members of the party that he had discovered a new dungeon.

The memories of going to the dungeon with my brothers who praised Cain and said he was special come back.

The dungeon was strange from the moment it was created.

Usually the entrance was on the wall, but this one was in the middle of a large pupil.

But Cain was young, and he was so excited about making his first achievement that he carelessly touched the door.

That was the beginning of the tragedy.

‘Awww!’

‘It’s Fenrir’s cry!’

‘Battle ready! ‘Surround Cain!’

‘f*ck! When will the door open!’

‘Oh, it’s coming! How many there are?!’

‘aaah!’

A one-sided massacre, no, a hunt has begun.

The sound of flesh being torn and torn and sharp screams were rampant.

In that living hell, the young Cain was able to survive thanks to the large mercenary who fell down and covered him.

I had to watch as the bones of the person covering my body broke and screamed in despair.

“If I hadn’t begged him to go, would the outcome have been different?”

From that day on, the party suffered the stigma of being a stupid party that failed to even enter the dungeon and was wiped out.

Of course, the difficulty level was not set, and since then, numerous parties have attempted to conquer the dungeon.

However, no party was able to break through the entrance, and eventually a black star was attached to the dungeon.

Dungeon number 6, which is remembered as one of the worst dungeons, was decided to be abandoned.

‘I’m sorry. I criticized your party. ‘I didn’t know it was such a dangerous place.’

The party’s honor was restored to some extent, but it was not enough.

Cain inherited the will of his deceased brothers and diligently challenged the dungeon.

I became stronger and stronger again.

And today, 5 years later, I conquered dungeon 57, famous for its viciousness, bloodlessly without losing a single comrade.

It was a great achievement that will remain in history.

In this way, the honor of her older brothers was preserved.

I proved that the choice of my brothers who saved me was right.

I won’t be embarrassed by my brothers in heaven.

At that moment, Cain smiled and filled his glass again.

“Hmm.”

A boy looks around and approaches the map.

This is a newly hired apprentice appraiser.

Cain put down her glass and walked over to him and spoke to her.

“I think I need help.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. I haven’t memorized the map yet, so it’s hard to find the dungeon.”

“How many times do you have to find a dungeon?”

“Number 6.”

“What?”

Cain’s expression distorts.

That can’t be true.

What’s the point of messing with dungeon number 6, which has a black star on it?

“Why are you looking for dungeon number 6?”

“I want to mark the completion of the strategy.”

“hahahahaha. I guess I was mistaken. I gave up on conquering dungeon 6. Some crazy person is challenging Blackstar Dungeon.”

“Huh? But, when I analyzed the core I just received, it clearly matched the wavelength of dungeon 6…”

“What? Give it to me!”

I snatch the stone from the boy’s hand and examine it.

The moment he picked up that ugly stone, Cain noticed.

We don’t know much about the structure of the nucleus or its unique wavelength.

But this stone was clearly emitting the same energy as the door Cain touched that day five years ago.

“The person who handed over this nuke! Who is that person?”

“Yes, yes? I don’t know either. He’s not a member of our mercenary group, but an outsider…”

“Where are you now?”

“You must have left a while ago.”

“Damn it!”

Boom.

Cain bursts out of the lounge and looks outside.

After looking around, I found someone’s back at the end of the hallway.

“Wait! Stand there!”

“······.”

He stops at the sound of Cain’s voice and turns around.

But something is strange.

Small stature.

Rusty silver hair.

No matter how you look at it, it looks like a young girl.

The girl then looked at Cain with an emotionless expression and slowly raised her arms.

“······Peace.”

“What?”

The girl holds up the V she made with her own hands.

Cain froze, not knowing what that meant.

It’s like watching an emotionless machine act out emotions.

As Cain was confused, the girl walked away and disappeared around the corner.

“Hey! Stop right there! Talk to me for a moment! hahahaha…”

Cain, who came out of the building after chasing her girl, had to face a large crowd of people.

No matter how much I look, I can’t see the girl.

I missed it.

Cain lost all her strength and let out her sighs on the spot.

“That little girl defeated Fenrir’s group by herself?”

The tips of Cain’s eyes are trembling.

It’s hard to believe, but I have no choice but to believe.

She knew the difficulty of Dungeon 6 because she had experienced it herself.

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The girl’s strength has already far surpassed that of a mere mercenary.

It was the moment when a new legend was born.

.

.

.

“He must be making a fuss like this right about now.”

A new legend.

Rising divinity.

What is the identity of the cool beauty chic silver-haired girl?

I think the mercenary group would be abuzz with this controversy by now.

It would be natural to hear that the dungeon that had been abandoned and abandoned for 5 years was broken.

Once you clear a high-difficulty dungeon like this, you’re bound to attract attention.

As your reputation increases, the possibility of contacting the main heroines naturally also increases.

This is a special measure taken because I want to sweep through dungeons as I please, and I don’t want to become famous.

“I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”

“······I’m not hungry.”

“It’s because I’m hungry. You don’t eat anyway.”

“······Yes.”

I decided to put this guy first.

Mijeong, wearing a hood, glances up at me.

Now that I see it, the hood suits me really well.

The skin is sensitive to sunlight, so it needs to be protected.

If you show your pale skin to others, you may be caught as a blood demon, so covering your face is essential.

No matter how you look at him, he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would slaughter dozens of Fenrir.

So I was worried that everyone wouldn’t believe it…

“I saw it? It was a short girl!”

“Aren’t you seeing it wrong?”

“Oh, I’m so frustrated! I’m sure! There was no emotion on his face at all, so he must have lost his emotions because he fought too much! Maybe his growth stopped because he fought too much!”

“True. There’s no way Cain is lying…”

Look at me.

It works well.

The restaurant is very noisy as mercenaries sit on one side and talk about Mijeong.

I smile and look to the side.

“······Huh.”

Mijeong lets out her snort.

He looks very proud.

The facial expression remains expressionless.

“Wow, I’m tired. I ran through a few dungeons today.”

“······12.”

“That’s right.”

“······My performance was great.”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I woke up smoothly.”

After going through dungeons non-stop since early in the morning, I beat 12 dungeons.

In the past, when I worked with heroines, the limit was about 5 a day.

Even if I went around alone, the maximum was 10.

As long as you provide Mijeong with blood at the right time, she will not get tired and will follow you without a word and activate her guardian knight.

Even when presented as a bait with a high risk of death, it obeys without hesitation, making it very comfortable.

“The harvest is good.”

When I open the bag, I see a lot of magic stones inside.

Mercenaries claim that they fight to capture monsters that harass people, but in reality, the rewards from the dungeon may be their greater motivation.

If you get it right, there are times when you can hit a jackpot.

But the problem is that the reward is random.

If you go without any risk and only kill slimes, you may end up with a mountain of magic stones.

The last room you reach after losing your companion may be empty.

Of course, there are exceptions.

In Black Star Dungeon, the highest level reward is guaranteed.

“······Wow.”

Take the bag you had set aside under the desk and slowly open it.

Then the black jewel reveals its brilliant appearance.

The light inside flickers beautifully, as if it contains the Milky Way.

It is a top-quality magic stone whose value cannot be compared even if you pile up a mountain of cheap magic stones in your bag.

“······I want to touch it.”

“No.”

Close the bag again and shove it into the bag.

I could make a fortune if I sell this, but I have no intention of doing such a wasteful thing.

Now that I have it, I have to use it.

Management control is still at level 1, so it is difficult to control.

If I were to exhaust my mana or overload in the dungeon, I would be dead without any movement, so I was not able to fully utilize my mana control today.

If you make magic tools with this magic stone, it will also help control magic power.

“I’ll let you touch it once it’s processed.”

“······Yes.”

I know a craftsman with amazing skills.

He becomes famous and a big player later in the story.

I plan to go and recruit him in advance.