So, the Dud Item Dungeon was gone. It left me with a complicated mix of feelings—I wasn't quite sure if I should be sad about it or not. As a place to farm Pandora Gifts, it hadn't been half bad, but the rest of the drops had been so mediocre that the whole experience was more of a chore than an adventure.
My internal conflict must have leaked onto my face, because Mildas-san was studying me with a look of pure confusion.
"Just what is the matter?" he asked.
"Ah, no... I was just thinking it was a waste. It was a good place to farm Pandora Gifts."
At my reply, Mildas-san wore an expression that was hard to put into words. To be blunt, he looked like he was barely holding back a wave of sheer disdain, as if thinking, What is wrong with this kid? Honestly, he might not have even been trying to hide it.
Could it be that he hadn't heard about the Pandora Gifts from Madrus-san? I knew my behavior was a bit unusual, but I figured the part where I crack open Pandora Gifts without a second thought was the most noteworthy bit.
I didn't want him to think I was a total weirdo, so I did my best to explain how my skill worked.
"Goodness, so that was the case," Mildas-san said, his expression softening slightly. "If that is how it is, I can provide one for you—if you only need one, that is. To be honest, it was pawned off on me by the adventurers who cleared that dungeon."
As I thought, it seemed like Pandora Gifts were easy to obtain in the Dud Item Dungeon. That made me regret its collapse even more. No, I had to stay positive—it was a stroke of luck that I could get even just one. I'd have to make sure to buy it from him later.
While I was lost in thought, there was a knock on the office door. One of the guide staff entered, followed by Halfa and Shiroru. Apparently, they had insisted on being brought in, claiming they had something they had to convey immediately.
"What’s the matter?" I asked.
"We received word from the God!" Halfa cried. "Something terrible is happening with the Underground Waterway Dungeon!"
It seemed there had been another Oracle from the Destiny God. They had rushed over to tell me, but the timing couldn't have been more uncanny—we were just talking about the Underground Waterway. I had a bad feeling about this.
Halfa explained that Malice was leaking from the newly formed dungeon, tainting the entire drainage system. Normally, such a phenomenon shouldn't happen, but this time, Evil Cultists who worshiped Garnalava were operating behind the scenes. She said the dungeons popping up in various other locations were also the work of these cultists. They were likely decoys intended to draw attention away from their true objective: the Underground Waterway. The tactic had been effective enough that even the Destiny God had been late to notice the threat.
"This is going to be a disaster if it keeps up, isn't it?" Zephyr asked.
"Indeed," Lowell added. "I do not know what their ultimate goal is, but nothing good will come of it unless we stop them."
The two of them traded glances. They clearly intended to act. The dungeonification of the Underground Waterway wasn't just a hypothetical problem—it was a direct threat to everyone living in the Royal Capital. Moreover, if the city fell into chaos, the cooking contest would be the last thing on anyone's mind. For Spira’s sake, we had to resolve this.
The only question was how, but then—
Tort! There's supposed to be a Pandora Gift around here! Lamuyadas-sama has a delivery for you. Find it and open it!
As expected of the Destiny God! He had already prepared a countermeasure.
Shiroru’s thought transmission seemed to have reached Mildas-san as well. He immediately ordered a staff member to fetch the Pandora Gift being held in the guild's storage. Though they clearly didn't understand the full situation, the staff followed the instructions without question, and the gift was delivered in moments.
"If it leads to a resolution, please use it," Mildas-san said. "But, just what is happening...?"
"I don't know the details yet, but if it's from the Destiny God, he must have provided something useful."
With Mildas-san’s permission, I opened the Pandora Gift at once. The box vanished, replaced by a folded slip of paper and a mysterious, cylindrical object.
The paper was a letter from the Destiny God, just like last time. The first sentence read: I'm sorry. Please save the Maiden.
I wasn't quite sure what the apology was for, but I had no intention of letting anything happen to Halfa. Besides, this dungeon mess affected all of us. I would have gotten involved even if I hadn't been asked.
The rest of the letter, aside from that one personal note, was an explanation of the item. Apparently, it was called a "Malice Conversion Reactor." It worked by absorbing the surrounding Malice and purifying it into harmless mana. If we installed it in the deep part of the dungeon near the core, it would immediately convert the dungeon's Malice into mana. Since Malice is what fuels the spawning of monsters, converting it would effectively shut down their production. It didn't stop there—it could even siphon the Malice directly out of the dungeon's structure, eventually causing the whole place to dissolve naturally.
"In that case, the worst-case scenario can be avoided," Mildas-san said, exhaling a long sigh of relief. "We must give our thanks to the Destiny God."
He looked relieved, but it was too early to relax. We were dealing with the Evil Cultists of Garnalava, after all. This wasn't going to be easy.
We immediately began organizing the conquest. Since we were short on time, our party, Glory's Steps, would lead the charge alongside Zephyr, Eina, and a B-Rank Adventurer party we managed to contact on short notice. Our priority was to reach the deep floors as quickly as possible. Since we weren't going to destroy the core ourselves, the existing monsters would still be roaming around—the follow-up parties would handle the cleanup behind us.
The reason we only had one B-Rank party available despite this being a city-wide crisis was because there were actually very few high-rank adventurers stationed in the Royal Capital. While the city is a hub for information, there aren't many high-level threats in the immediate vicinity. Most veterans just stop by to gather rumors before heading off to more dangerous frontiers or specific request areas. They rarely stayed in the capital for long.
Because of that, this was the best force we could muster on the fly. Then again, since we would be fighting in the cramped quarters of a dungeon, having too many people would only get in the way. In that sense, we probably had the perfect number.
We had to move fast. We needed to secure the deep part of the waterway before the cultists could spring whatever else they had planned!