Chapter 36 - W-Welcome Back...
Someone, please—just kill me already.
It had been a long time since I’d felt this way... probably not since the harshest days of knight training.
Together with the members of the First Unit, we were being run in endless loops through the 11th, 10th, and 9th floors of the dungeon.
We’d soak in the hot spring on the 10th floor to get a power-up effect, recover our stamina in the spring on the 11th floor, eat food made from crops harvested on the 9th floor, gather more crops, haul them up the long staircase to the 8th floor, and hand them off to the waiting Third and Fourth Units—then sleep.
That routine repeated over and over. Endlessly.
Incidentally, the Third and Fourth Units were made up of knights from the First and Second Units who had retired due to age or injury.
Those who had retired because of injuries were carried on stretchers up to the healing spring on the 9th floor. With the lingering effects of their injuries cured, some of them were reinstated... no, gloriously reinstated to the First and Second Units.
Some of them, however, were thrown straight into this hellish training the moment they returned. They were screaming, “Why did you bring me back?! Why?!” But nope—I didn’t hear anything. Not a thing.
From time to time, foreign guests would request access to the 9th-floor spring, so we provided a round-trip transportation service in a day, running efficiently with stretchers to carry them up and down.
Honestly, compared to sprinting through that cursed 11th floor again and again, just running across a flat grassy field for a day was much, much easier.
After repeating this physically punishing cycle for a month—probably helped by the power-up effects of the 10th-floor spring—we gradually started getting used to it.
And just when we did... the First Unit added live combat training into the mix.
We got pummeled. Day in and day out, we were beaten to a pulp.
“What a perfect environment for training! Even if you get injured or your bones get twisted, you just hop in the spring and you're all healed!”
The First Unit laughed as they said that. We didn’t laugh at all. In fact, the expressions and emotions were slowly vanishing from the faces of the Second Unit.
Dear Dungeon Spirit, if you're watching... please give us a spring that heals mental exhaustion. We might not make it at this rate.
And so, how many days had passed?
Even inside the dungeon, there was some semblance of day and night, but it never got truly dark. Over time, our sense of time had completely unraveled.
As usual, we made the full round of the 11th floor today, dead inside. Honestly, this part was the easiest now.
These days, members of the First Unit rarely came down to the 11th-floor area. Apparently, it was too “soft,” and they found it more efficient to train within their own unit.
Occasionally, they’d show up just to soak in the recovery spring.
Once we finished our rounds, we headed back to the 9th floor to prepare a meal. The thought of getting beaten senseless in sword training right after eating was already enough to darken my whole day.
Huh? There were unfamiliar faces on the 9th floor today. Who were they?
“A message! New weapons have been completed. All units are to return to the surface.”
Weapons...? Ah, right. Queen Yuzha mentioned something like that a while ago.
She said something along the lines of, “Until the new equipment is ready, you lot will be training while living in the dungeon.” Wait…
“Eh?”
“Wait, does that mean...”
“We can go back?”
“We can go back!!”
“WE CAN REALLY GO BACK!!”
“YEEESSSS!!!”
Everyone burst into wild cheers. Tears flowed freely as we hugged each other, celebrating the end of our torment.
It felt like the end of a war—survivors embracing each other in joy after making it out alive.
“Sigh... So the power-up period’s over, huh? I kinda wanted to do a bit more.”
“But I can really feel the results of our training, Captain Touji.”
“Still, since we haven’t had a chance to measure ourselves against actual monsters, it’s hard to tell just how much stronger we’ve become.”
The First Unit, for some reason, seemed genuinely disappointed that the training period was over. What kind of nerves did these people have?
“The food was good, and we got to bathe every day. Compared to other dungeons, this place was practically a resort.”
...I see. Compared to the reality of surviving on bland, minimal rations and diving into bath-less dungeons for years on end, I suppose half a year in this dungeon was paradise.
“All right, once we eat, let’s hurry back. You lot should be able to sprint back to the royal capital in a day at full speed, easy.”
...They were saying ridiculous things, but the worst part was, I actually felt like we could do it. That was the scary part.
“If I had to guess, I’d say you guys are strong enough to handle things up to the 20th floor now. Even if the dungeon here expands rapidly, it’ll probably be fine for a while without us.”
The 20th floor... huh.
They say that starting from the 20th floor, you're counted among the world's elite—men and women alike. Had we really reached that level of strength?
It didn’t feel real. All we’d been doing was running until we puked and getting beaten senseless every day...
Still, more than anything, I just wanted to go home. Ah, the light of the surface world, the city streets, the royal palace... the Nausa ducal estate... how I missed them all.
“Oh my! Welcome back, Vihi—ta?! I-It’s been so long... Your skin looks amazing! I mean—your skin...”
Lady Auf was at a loss for words the moment she saw me. She said my skin, but... what about the rest of me? Did something else end up weird?
“Your eyes and aura... they’re kinda like the First Unit right after they come back from the dungeon...”
“Maybe it just happens when you live deep down there for too long.”
I answered her flatly, without even the twitch of a smile. Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to smile anymore. How did one... smile again?
“Why didn’t you come back even once?!”
“If we returned to the surface, the effect of the hot spring on the 10th floor would probably wear off. Captain Touji said going back and forth would be a waste of valuable training time.”
Ah, there it was again. That vague, unfocused stare. My voice came out monotonous and dull.
Now that I thought about it... yeah, this really was how the First Unit looked when they came back from a dungeon.
So that was it—this is what happened when a person stayed too long in a dungeon.
Perhaps this meant we had gotten just a little closer to the First Unit's level—those who had been surviving in the dungeon since they were children.
Ah—Lady Auf was stepping back. That wasn’t good. I needed to reassure her... I had to smile. Somehow. No matter what.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
The moment I forced a laugh, Lady Auf turned pale and looked absolutely horrified.
“Okay... Vihita... just go lie down. Get some sleep. Or better yet, rest as long as you need. Really.”
Yes, she was right. I was tired. I decided to accept her kindness and take a proper rest.
Captain Touji and the others, now equipped with their newly issued weapons and armor from Queen Yuzha, had already departed on their next expedition—this time, to a massive dungeon in a foreign land.
Which meant... starting today, we could rest. We could finally rest. We could really, truly rest.
That’s right... right, my lady? I... I can rest now, right? It’s okay to rest now, isn’t it?
The moment I allowed that thought to sink in, tears began pouring down uncontrollably.
“I’m going to rest! I’m really going to rest—waaaahhhhhh!!”
Wailing loudly, I stumbled toward my room.
The staff around the estate watched in silence, wearing troubled expressions—as if they didn’t know what on earth to say.
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