I experienced an unexpected event, and a few more days passed.
The chick that confessed to me kept a distance whenever she saw me for a while, causing me to be more cautious,
but it didn’t really change my life in any meaningful way.
The incident with Sister Melody was quickly suppressed as just a minor happening,
and I could prepare for the second dungeon expedition with a lighter heart.
“Take care, junior. Don’t worry about the temple. We’ll guard it well.”
“Always be careful. You are not alone, junior.”
Priest Chilan and Priest Ando tried to lighten my shoulders by assuring me they would manage the temple properly.
‘I wonder if it’s really for my sake, or if they’re just happy with the hat they’ve regained.’
Either way, I was just glad that someone trustworthy was looking after the temple.
As long as I addressed them as seniors and treated them respectfully, I wouldn’t create unnecessary trouble that would cause confusion at the temple.
Moreover, the reputation I unexpectedly found out about myself recently made me understand why the seniors had affection for me.
‘Why didn’t I ever think about how people saw me?’
I guess it didn’t matter much since my reputation wasn’t important for running the temple.
I was directly ordered from the church country to manage it, so why would my reputation matter?
Still, it wasn’t a bad thing to find out my reputation was better than I imagined.
In fact, I felt proud to be recognized by my fellow priests.
Of course, I wasn’t just basking in the compliments.
‘Since the number of people has decreased, I need to prepare properly too.’
When I entered the dungeon last time, there were quite a few items I kept thinking, ‘Ah, why didn’t I bring this?’
At first, I didn’t know what to pack, so my luggage was light. This time, however, with few porters, I had to reduce my luggage and couldn’t bring everything I wanted, so I had to pack only the essentials.
For the next expedition, I had ordered some custom-made items.
I packed everything securely, entrusted the work to the seniors, and left the temple without looking back.
Since the chicks sent me off again, I had to comfort them for a while in front of the temple, creating a warm episode.
“Ah! Welcome, Priest.”
When I arrived at the site, Baron Moil, who had arrived earlier, greeted me.
Since the last time I saw him was when we were drinking, it naturally brought up the topic of that day.
“Did you get home safely last time? I don’t even know when you left since I was so drunk I lost my memory.”
“…Yes, I got home fine. I had help from Sister Melody.”
“Ah~ You didn’t drink that day, right?”
“Yes.”
“You did your escort duty properly. Haha!”
While I was chatting with Baron Moil, the rest of the group gradually arrived at the meeting spot.
Maybe because of the fun memories from drinking, everyone casually greeted me as if we knew each other.
‘As expected, once they’re sober, they’re not sticking around like before.’
Since they were nobles concerned about their dignity, it was a big deal that they even acknowledged a commoner first.
The dinner party Princess Lasiell organized that day wasn’t pointless after all.
And it seemed that I was the biggest beneficiary of that dinner.
“Priest! How have you been?”
“Ah~ Priest, have you been exercising? Your body looks better!”
“Priest! Please take care of us in this dungeon expedition too.”
Regardless of being noble or commoner, everyone came up to me, exchanging greetings and well wishes.
I didn’t stop anyone from coming or going, accepting all the greetings.
And then, the main character always appears last.
“Everyone’s here.”
Princess Lasiell arrived last at the meeting spot.
“Your Highness, you’ve arrived.”
“Are we ready?”
“Perfectly.”
Princess Lasiell smiled with satisfaction at the confident report and spoke to everyone.
“We’ll go in right away. Prepare to move.”
It was an order that snapped our minds back into focus as we were resting after unloading our luggage.
Everyone seemed filled with anticipation rather than tension since it was the second expedition.
‘We made quite a bit of money from the last expedition.’
Why would anyone go to a dungeon where it’s difficult to preserve their life?
Because the labyrinth brings in money like no other place.
Despite spending several days unnecessarily searching for comrades, we still earned quite a lot of money.
If we had sold the items we found at the Evil God altar, we would have been sitting on a massive fortune.
‘That’s why it’s more dangerous.’
It seemed that the church wasn’t staying idle either.
From my perspective, it didn’t seem like Sister Melody, the Inquisitor, was the only one sent into the dungeon.
Who knows?
Maybe others were slaughtering heretics in secret places that no one else knew about.
No, I think there’s a high probability they are doing just that.
The church has always been strict with heretic punishments.
‘The quiet ones seem even more dangerous.’
While I was lost in these thoughts, we had already moved to the entrance of the dungeon.
There was a long line in front of the dungeon.
“What’s this?”
I was puzzled, having noticed something new, and asked the person next to me.
“Didn’t you know? They’re making a roster now when you enter the dungeon.”
“A roster? Why?”
The dungeon, frequented by people from all over the world.
With hundreds of people entering and exiting daily, why would they do something like that?
Without a device like a computer, it seemed like a waste of paper and manpower.
“They say they’re tracking the survival rate.”
“Ah~ the survival rate.”
“They’ve been getting too many missing persons from the dungeon, so they need to investigate just how many people are dying.”
“That’s definitely something that needs to be looked into. So, anyone can enter the dungeon now, right?”
“Yes. I think they’ll probably set up some minimum requirements to enter the dungeon.”
It seemed that everyone thought there should be at least some basic qualifications for entering the dungeon.
The people around us, who were listening to the conversation I was having with the person next to me, were all nodding in agreement.
Even Baron Moil joined in the conversation.
“It’s a good sign that the higher-ups are finally starting to act. They’ve done nothing so far, and it’s been frustrating. It was annoying just watching, but now it looks like things are going to be more organized.”
“The fact that the dungeon is a neutral zone is a big factor.”
It was clear that gathering opinions wasn’t easy.
Each country probably had its own desires regarding the dungeon, and in order to achieve them, conflicts with neighboring nations were inevitable.
Still, I didn’t think this change was a bad thing.
“At least they’ve started now, so it’s a good thing.”
“Of course, you’re so positive, just like a priest. Everyone else is complaining about why we have to go through all this hassle now.”
They were complaining about the new requirements for entering the dungeon, even though it was for their own safety, and the frustration of waiting in line.
I knew that many people tend to complain first when the government does something, but even though this policy was for our benefit, blindly expressing anger is problematic.
“Everyone, please come this way.”
“Excuse me? We’re in line here?”
We were also waiting in line to register, but not long after, the leader called us.
And just like people with theme park passes, we moved straight ahead without waiting in line.
“Ah.”
It really was like having a theme park pass.
“You can go in now.”
Even though people were still in line right behind us, we got the chance to enter the dungeon while skipping ahead of everyone.
It was probably because our team had royalty with us.
I glanced back and saw someone in line glaring at us with an angry expression.
‘It’s understandable they’re upset.’
Even though it’s a class-based society, open discrimination like that would be irritating.
Today, the grace of our benefactor was shining down on everyone.
In short, it was unbearably hot.
This weather is unpredictable.
It can get cold and suddenly become hot, or from hot to so cold you need to put on a coat.
In my past life, I’d have thought the weather was crazy because of pollution, but here, after the dungeon’s seal was broken, the weather had been completely erratic.
“Ahh, it’s so cool inside.”
“Cool? Is this really what you call cool? Ugh, it’s freezing!”
The freezing cold made everyone panic, and they hurriedly put on their equipment.
It was so hot outside that we were dressed lightly until we entered, and once inside, we were all shocked by the cold.
“Wow, we’re here again.”
They say movies look different the second time you watch them, and the dungeon looks completely different when revisiting it compared to the first time.
“I didn’t notice this before.”
“I didn’t realize there was a path here.”
After putting on all our gear, we started moving.
The guide was skillfully leading the way.
Since we had been here before, there was no issue as long as we followed the map.
However, there were noticeable differences.
There were traces of human activity that I hadn’t seen before, and I was now able to spot things I couldn’t before.
“There’s a side path here. Wow, why didn’t I see this?”
“It’s probably been cleared already. Look here, there are traces left.”
“Ah, what a shame.”
Occasionally, we came across hidden rooms.
Unfortunately, a lot of the spaces we hadn’t discovered were already cleared.
If we had discovered them the first time, would things have been different?
Now there were traces of many people everywhere, but back then, there wouldn’t have been as many traces, so there might have been untouched spots.
With that regret behind us, we moved forward.
Then, “I have a map I bought separately. It says we should take a different path here to reach a shortcut. What do you think?”
One of the new guides who had joined our group presented a new suggestion.
He showed us the map he had personally purchased, not the one we had made.