Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 23: Productive Meeting II

After Saria left the room, Grahl fixated his gaze on me. Just as I was about to ask why he sent Saria out of the room, I could feel a slight pressure.

Oh? Bloodlust? I guess he is testing me?

After seeing my reaction, or lack of one, his face became more strained as he increased the pressure.

This is actually not bad for a human. But to think that I would get tested like this. Cute.

“Are you done? Or do you want me to push back?” I asked with a smile.

Grahl stopped releasing his bloodlust and shook his head. “I have never met anyone that didn’t even flinch…”

“It wasn’t bad,” I said and put a finger on my cheek. “But it’s not something that works on me.”

“I guess you weren’t all talk.”

“As long as you are satisfied.”

“Saria, you can come back,” Grahl yelled at the door.

Saria entered the room. “How did it go?”

“Didn’t even flinch,” Grahl said with a deep sigh.

“Can we go back to finding something for me to do now if you are done with your test?”

“A quest won’t magically appear for you to do.”

“Don’t you have a mountain you want me to blow up or something?” I asked jokingly.

“I would prefer it if you didn’t ruin the landscape.”

“But guildmaster, what about that dungeon?”

“That dungeon, eh…” Grahl murmured as he leaned back in his chair.

“What is this about a dungeon? I asked.

“About one and a half months ago, a new dungeon sprung up close to the mountain southeast of the capital,” Saria said and pointed to a map that was hung on the wall.

“And what is the issue with that dungeon?”

“We sent some scouts there, and their report made us dispatch a party of A ranks and two S ranks, but they couldn’t get through the first floor before being forced to retreat.”

“So it’s a high-rank dungeon?”

“Yes, our estimate is at least S, and that is for the first floor. We have no clue how deep it is or what lurks below,” The guildmaster said and frowned. “The mountain it is close to is a natural hot spring with mines for both eradite and bronkonite. Both of which are used for alchemy and magitech production. They have been forced to cease their mining operations while we investigate.”

“That reason alone has made the country put a lot of pressure on the guild to handle the situation, but we have trouble gathering enough S ranks, nor do we know if it would be enough. Not to mention the S ranks in this country aren’t all on the best terms with each other. Whenever they get together, they mostly want to fight each other.”

“Can’t the soldiers handle it?”

Both of them looked at me in mild surprise. “Guess you weren't lying about how long you have been an adventurer,” Grahl said and frowned. “Dungeons are the guild's territory. The army won’t do anything unless monsters leave the dungeon. That is the agreement we have. And considering the difficulty, the average soldier is not strong enough to go in there even if they wanted to. Most strong people choose to be adventurers instead of joining the army.”

“I can understand that. The army is full of stuffy rules to follow.”

“It is also a matter of national security to have such a dangerous dungeon fairly close to the capital,” Saria added. “We don't know if our strongest barrier could contain the monsters if they tried to come out.”

“It’s not often that monsters decide to leave a dungeon, though.”

“But it can happen.”

“So what you are saying is that you would prefer it if the dungeon collapsed?”

“That would be the optimal outcome to resume mining operations and bring security to the capital,” Saria said.

“How about I just go there and grab the dungeon core then?”

“We don’t know what is down there. We can’t even give the request a proper rank. We can’t send a young aspiring adventurer to what might be certain death, no matter how strong you claim to be. We are trying to put together a party that you can join, but that will take a while,” Grahl said while tapping his desk with his index finger.

“Wouldn’t be much of a test if I had other S ranks with me, now would it?” I said with a shrug.

“Overconfidence will often kill you, you know,” The guildmaster said and frowned.

“I took down a behemoth, didn't I? Chloe said that could be SS rank.”

“But still…” The guildmaster seemed reluctant to accept.

“Look, from what you said, it will probably require an SS rank to take this on alone if your previous party had to retreat on the first floor,” I said while looking at the map. “How about I go grab the dungeon core and that will count as my test for SS rank? If it’s impossible, I will retreat. But if I succeed, you will get both the country and me off your back for a while, which means you can slack off more,” I said and winked.

Retreat? Good one, me.

“You make a compelling argument,” He said and pondered for a moment. “Okay, let’s do that.”

“Guildmaster, you can’t be serious!” Saria protested.

“Why not? This might possibly be the best solution we can have for this problem. Remember that you were the one that mentioned that dungeon.”

“But I didn’t mean to send her alone!”

“It’s decided. Unless you want to take over as guildmaster, of course?” He looked at Saria and grinned.

“Sigh, I understand,” Saria said, sounding defeated. “When can you depart? We will send someone with you to disable the barrier.”

“No need, it’s faster if I go myself.”

“The magitech device is also protected by the barrier. Only the one that activated it can disable it.”

“I’ll just break the barrier,” I said and shrugged.

“It’s our strongest barrier. Are you saying you can dispel that?” Saria asked with a frown.

“Of course,” I said and smirked. 

Dispelling takes time, though. Brute force is way faster.

“Oh right, can I bring someone with me? She is only rank C, so I obviously won’t let her do any fighting. I just want the company.”

“You would bring a C rank to a dungeon where S ranks had to retreat?!” Saria almost yelled at me.

“If I thought anything could harm a hair on her head, I would never.” 

“The guild will take no responsibility and may even hold you liable if anything happens. You know that, right?” Saria said in a stern voice.

“Of course. I won’t let anything happen.”

Saria closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. “We can’t stop you if she wants to go, but you better bring her back in one piece. We have enough adventurers dying already.”

Adventurers are always dying. It comes with the job. Speaking of…

“By the way, do you know what this is?” I asked as I pulled out a vial of Mindflayer Extract and put it on the desk.

Grahl picked up the vial and looked at it. “Hmm, I can't even get the name.”

“It’s called Mindflayer Extract. It supposedly breaks the minds of people and leaves them susceptible to brainwashing. I’m not sure of the exact effects because they are unknown to me,” I said with a frown, remembering the state I found Mira in.

“Where did you get this?”

“From someone that kidnapped mage adventurers and used it to create slaves capable of using magic, which they would then sell to Kaydossa. They said they got the drugs from there as well.” 

“Slaves capable of using magic? How would that be possible?”

“By using the drug, they can make them obedient even without collars.”

“We need someone to be able to identify this,” Grahl said and looked at Saria. “Bring-”

“I can tell you that I can’t see the effects with level ten. You need something better than that.”

Grahl looked at the vial in surprise. “... Better than max level? Does that even exist?”

“If they can hide it, it should be possible to see it. I just haven't figured out how yet.”

“We will have to investigate, can we keep this?” He pointed at the vial.

“Go ahead, I found a few. They said it requires administration over several days depending on the target's mental resistance, so one vial should be rather harmless.”

“Thank you. We will try to get some people on it as fast as possible. Something as dangerous as this must be taken seriously, especially if Kaydossa is involved.”

I turned around and looked at Saria. “Regarding what you said about dead adventurers. From what I was told, they only target women.”

“Why? Some men use magic.”

I gave her a look of disgust.

“... I see,” She said, realising what I meant. “I will look over any recent adventurers reported missing or dead.”

“I don’t know how long this has been going on. Those who did it in Baruda just started. There might not even be more than one group, and even if there is, they might not be around the capital,” I said and looked at the vial. “But it would be weird if they set something like this up only to use on a small scale.”

“It feels like I was just given a lot of extra work,” Grahl muttered. “Is there anything else?”

I pondered for a moment. “Oh, can I leave the behemoth here on the way out? I also have everything else on the subjugation list, except for what I had dismantled at the Baruda guild if you want anything,” I said and showed him the list that Chloe had written.

“Let me take a look.” He operated the device for about a minute while writing down a list and handed it to me along with my guild card. “This is what we can take for now. Our dismantlers can’t handle more.”

I took the list and saw an impressive amount of monsters. “This is fine. However, I want to keep the magic stones of these three and the heart of this one.”

“Very well. Saria, can you escort her to the dismantling area?”

Saria nodded. “If you would follow me, please.” 

We walked back down the stairs and through another corridor to what seemed to be another building. We continued all the way to the back of the frankly impressive dismantling hall until we reached a cold storage. I unloaded a pile of monsters, including the massive behemoth, almost filling the room. I noticed I got a lot of looks when we were walking back.

“Is there a reason why they are staring at me?” I asked while looking around.

“We rarely get monsters of that difficulty and basically never of that size. The magic bags that can hold them are extremely expensive, so of course they would stare at someone that just pulled them out of thin air,” She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Fair point.”

I have used it for so long that it has become second nature. It’s good that Liz wasn’t here to hear that. She would probably tell me I lack common sense again.

We walked back to the hall where I left Liz and said my goodbyes to Saria before going to where Liz waited.

“So, how did it go?” She asked as she stood up from the bench.

“Decent, we are going on a date,” I said with a smile.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at me. “Date?” 

“Yeah. A small excursion to check out a dungeon to the southeast of here.”

“Do you consider that a date?”

“Is it not a date when two people go somewhere?”

“I… Guess it can be?”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” I said and pouted.

“I never said I didn’t want to.”

“Great, let’s go then.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her along as we left the guild.

“Are we leaving right away?”

“That was the plan. Would you rather go later?”

“How could I say that when you make that face?”

“Face?” I asked and touched my face.

“You are grinning from ear to ear. Do you like dungeons that much?”

“You could say that.”

Liz let out a deep sigh. “So, how are we going there? I don’t feel like walking all the way back outside.”

“We're going the faster way on this one,” I said while looking around. “So let’s find an alley without people.”