After Marinnie left, Walter looked over to the man to his right—a bespectacled merchant named Satoh.
“So?”
Satoh seemed exasperated. “She’s always like that, so it’s hard to know if she’s telling the truth, but...it didn’t seem like she was playing dumb. Anyway, you want to send in a hero? Where would we get the funds for that? Who do you expect would pay for it?”
“They’re the ones who messed this all up first! It’ll be fine—I have a lead on the funds. One of the kids on that decimated beginner’s tour was the child of a noble. If we rile him up...”
“Chairman, you know that heroes vary wildly, right? Do you even have any connections with one in the first place?”
Walter remained silent.
“So you don’t! And you were still using one as a threat?!”
“I-I didn’t have a choice! A hero was the only thing I could think of that could destroy a dungeon!”
“Why are you trying to destroy it?! It’s common sense to squeeze a dungeon for all it’s worth! It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. Also, do you have a plan for what to do after the labyrinth is destroyed? It’s basically financially supporting our town single-handedly, isn’t it?”
Walter had no reply.
“No plan either?!”
“Anyway, we should sort out what we know at the moment,” another man—a warrior named Bison—said gravely. “To start: the cause of all the first-floor casualties is a mimic.”
“Mimics are those things that pretend to be treasure chests, right?” Satoh asked.
“That’s impossible! Mimics are the type of monster where—worst-case scenario—you get a small bite if you mess up!” Walter cried.
“I know it is hard to believe, but a silver-class adventurer by the name of Johannes who survived testified as such. He’s trustworthy.”
Apparently, Johannes had barely managed to teleport out of the dungeon after losing most of his body.
“So, as for the mimic in question... Well, it had legs,” Bison continued.
“A mimic did? You’re joking, right?” Walter asked, incredulous.
“No, I’m not. Once again, that came straight out of Johannes’s mouth. And I repeat, he’s trustworthy.”
“Well, whatever. So we know it has legs, but how does that lead to so many deaths?”
“It was also wearing red high heels.”
“Huh? Are you fucking with me?”
“No, I assure you I am not. That was what Johannes said, and he is trustworthy.”
“Yeah, we get it. You trust this guy way too much,” Satoh finally retorted. Though he seemed like the serious sort with his glasses, he was actually rather comically inclined.
“As for the high heels in question...here,” Bison said as he took a piece of paper from his pocket.
There was a sketch detailing a pair of high heels on it, so accurate and lifelike that a person could believe that they were looking at the real thing.
“This is...a rose motif? Anyway, this is an amazing drawing. You had someone do this, didn’t you? Work of this quality actually calls things into question. For example, are you sure there weren’t any problems in the description?”
“Johannes, the one who witnessed it firsthand, drew it himself. He is trustworthy.”
“Just how much of a genius is Johannes?!”
“Anyway, what’s the problem with this thing?” Walter asked as he stared fixedly at the drawing.
“This is a legendary item named Crimson Rose. There’s no way something like this would be in a place like our Aldora Labyrinth. That means that someone brought it in from the outside,” Bison explained.
“Mm? Which means...”
“Exactly. If all this is true, then that would indeed indicate that Miss Marinnie had nothing to do with this, and no knowledge of it either...”
“Hey, you should’ve told me earlier! No, this is still under the dungeon’s purview, so I wasn’t in the wrong!” Walter cried, shaking away the fear that threatened to creep into him and tell him that he had been rash.
If all this was true, the only one that could’ve brought in such an item would’ve been an adventurer. In other words, they would be at fault; this travesty would just be them reaping their just deserts.
“So? What kind of item is it?”
“First, as a legendary item, it boasts unparalleled defense. It’s not like we’ve appraised it, so we don’t know the exact numbers, but it should at the very least be around this much.” As he spoke, Bison pulled out another piece of paper with statistics on it.
Defense: 5000
Maximum life: +10000%
Elemental resistance: 80%
Physical resistance: 80%
Magic resistance: 80%
Ranged attack resistance: 80%
Melee attack resistance: 80%
“What?! Are you sure this isn’t a mistake? This defensive stat is far too high, isn’t it?”
“This is more than just legendary! This is the first time I’ve ever even seen percentile buffs!”
“Indeed. As for those percentile resistances... Let’s suppose there was a Fireball with a power of 10,000.”
“There’s no such thing as a Fireball that strong!”
“It’s a ranged fire-elemental spell. So with Crimson Rose equipped, the damage would be reduced to 2000 because of its elemental resistance, then to 400 because of magic resistance, and, finally, to 80 because it’s also a ranged attack. And even after all that, the remaining damage would still be negated thanks to the absurdly high defense stat.”
“That’s ridiculously strong! There’s no way we can believe that’s the truth!”
“I’d also like to remind you that these are the minimum numbers—it could actually be even stronger. More importantly, the real problem is the skill it possesses. Apparently it is something that confers the explosive trait.”
“I’ve never heard of such a trait! I’d get fire, wind, water, or something like that, but what the hell is ‘explosive’?!”
“I suppose it must mean that it explodes and tears itself apart,” Satoh explained.
“I’m not asking for the literal meaning! Actually, where did you even get info on such a shady-sounding item?! It’s not like intel on legendary items is something that’s just spread around, right?!”
“Johannes knew about it. He’s trustworthy.”
“You trust that Johannes guy way too much! Just bring him here already!”
It seemed that the problems in the first underground floor would persist for a while longer.