When monsters vanished without leaving a trace, the first possibility that came to mind was the presence of a Dungeon. I hadn’t heard of any Dungeons inside the Royal Capital, so if that were the case, it had to be an Unexplored Dungeon—likely a newly formed one.
It felt like there had been an unusual number of them appearing lately. We weren't the ones who had found this one, though...
"So, the Underground Waterway underwent Dungeonification?" Lowell asked.
"If that were the case, the situation would be dire. However, I believe a Dungeon has simply connected to the waterway, or perhaps only a small section of it has transformed."
Mildas-san shook his head in response to Lowell's question.
He based this on the number of monsters encountered. Both the rookies on watch and the mid-tier Adventurers who took on the subsequent subjugation had only run into a single Lizard Soldier. If the entire area had become a Dungeon, there likely would have been many more monsters. Of course, there was the possibility of it being a Dungeon with a low appearance rate.
A high monster appearance rate throughout the entire waterway would have spelled disaster. The more monsters there were, the more of them would wander out of the Dungeon. Since there were residential districts right next to it, the ideal solution would be to destroy the Dungeon to ensure public safety.
However, if the Dungeon were destroyed, there was no telling what would happen to the Underground Waterway. In the worst-case scenario, the entire city might collapse. Even if it didn't, considering the Ruins Dungeon we’d seen before, the waterway might vanish without a trace along with the Dungeon Disappearance. With those risks in mind, we couldn't afford to be reckless.
"If it's only a part of it, it seems better to just crush it," Zephyr suggested.
"If the impact really is limited to a single section, then yes. However, that is not something we, as mere humans, can know for certain."
If the impact was limited, then as Zephyr said, the Dungeon should be collapsed to secure the Royal Capital. Mildas-san was only hesitating because there were too few precedents to guarantee a safe outcome.
If the Underground Waterway vanished against our expectations, the Royal Capital would fall into utter chaos. The sewage system would suddenly become unusable. Given that risk, it was better to tolerate some danger and leave the Dungeon alone for now, especially since the monster appearance rate remained low.
Nevertheless, it was like harboring an unknown bomb within the city. The element of anxiety remained. That was why Mildas-san was having such trouble deciding. He likely wanted to hear our perspective to gather as much information as possible before making a call.
...By the way, Mildas-san had been stealing glances at me for a while now. I wondered what that was about.
Come to think of it, he mentioned he’d heard things from Madrus-san. Had he been fed stories about me being the Apostle of the Destiny God?
Well, I didn't really care anymore if people thought I was an Apostle. I didn't know if I actually held that title, but since I felt like Halfa, Shiroru, and I were all involved parties, denying it felt pointless. It would just be a problem if people started worshipping me in some weird way.
I supposed it might be better to disclose what I knew. That said, the only thing I hadn't talked about yet was the information related to Garnalava.
According to the Letter from the Destiny God, Dungeon Monsters were created by a power called Malice, ruled by Garnalava. This wasn't common knowledge. I hadn't reported it to the Guild because explaining the source was difficult, but if he already thought of me as an Apostle, maybe it was okay to talk about it.
Having reached that conclusion, I moved to show the Letter from the Destiny God to Mildas-san—only to stop myself at the last second. No, showing him About My Reincarnation as the Destiny God was probably a bad idea. The title alone would make the God's dignity plummet. To a devout person, it might even be offensive, or they’d simply dismiss the letter as a fake.
I had no choice but to explain while keeping the existence of the letter hidden. Even though I told him the information came from the Destiny God, Mildas-san seemed to believe it quite easily. As I thought, he definitely viewed me as an Apostle of the Destiny God. Well, unlike Madrus-san, he treated me normally, so I supposed it was fine.
"If that's the case, then both the Underground Waterway and the Dungeons being discovered elsewhere are under the influence of Garnalava's power..."
"Elsewhere? Are there others who have found Unexplored Dungeons besides us?" Zephyr asked.
"Yes. There have been several reports. All of them are small in scale, and some have already collapsed."
Apparently, while we were busy making hamburgers, Unexplored Dungeons had been popping up one after another. I was a bit curious to know what kind of Dungeons they were.
"Was that so? Were there any Dungeons as promising as the one we found?"
"No, none of the reported locations seemed likely to yield much profit. However, even if such a Dungeon were found, it wouldn't be surprising if someone tried to monopolize it for a while. I can't say for certain, though."
"Well, I guess that makes sense."
Technically, reporting an Unexplored Dungeon was an Adventurer's duty. However, more rivals meant fewer earnings, so people keeping secrets wasn't unheard of. Since items usually had to be appraised and sold through the Adventurer's Guild, a secret couldn't be kept forever, but some clearly felt there was merit in monopolizing a site even for a short time.
"For the record, there was one Dungeon with a high appearance rate of Treasure Chests, but it didn't result in any profit because it was filled with nothing but Dud Items."
"Ah, that's the Dungeon Tort said he discovered," Zephyr added.
"What, is that so?"
"If it's the Dungeon located slightly off the Cygnil Highway, then yes, that's the one," I confirmed.
"Ah, so it was."
I’d wondered where it was, but it turned out to be a place I knew. Mildas-san hadn't realized I was the one who discovered it. Well, it was a Dud Dungeon, after all. It was only natural that he hadn't paid much attention to the name on the report.
"Come to think of it, I believe that was in a Dungeon Collapse Report."
"Eh!? That Dungeon collapsed?"
"Y-yes. I believe that was the gist of it. Let me see... ah, here it is."
According to the story Mildas-san told us, the Adventurers who explored that Dungeon eventually found an Ornate Treasure Chest on the deepest floor. The chests along the way had been nothing but duds, but since the one at the end looked so fancy, the Adventurers' expectations had soared. However... betraying those hopes, the contents were a Dud Item as well.
Even the most cautious Adventurers would have been irritated by that. One of the party members had apparently vented their anger on a nearby wall... but as fate would have it, that wall happened to contain the Dungeon Core. The Dungeon began to collapse, and the Adventurers had to flee in a panic.
A single, fancy Treasure Chest in a Dud Dungeon...?
Wait, this was starting to sound familiar. Could that have been the chest I dropped in there using the Whimsical Dice?
I see. So I’d ended up giving them false hope. I might have actually done something bad there.