Chapter 47. Picking Glowing Mushrooms (1)
Radel checked his team member and felt a sense of relief.
"Edward Paradik?"
He figured there was someone else besides Leon who wanted to fight him.
Gusto came over, checked the list, and the corners of his mouth lifted in satisfaction.
"Gusto, who are you with?"
"Prince Leon Silvert Cretian."
"What?"
Radel understood why Leon hadn't been paired with him.
"Don't tell me you put down Leon's name?"
"I was certain His Highness would write down your name, so I couldn't just stand by."
He was grateful that he had thought that far, but…….
He was worried a real fight might break out in the dungeon.
"I will make sure His Highness has nothing to worry about."
Gusto said calmly.
Well, he wasn't Inette, so he probably wouldn't make things bigger than they were.
Rather, Radel was the problem, not Gusto.
It was because he didn't know who Edward Paradik was.
'There must be some reason for him to single me out when we've never even met.'
Thinking he should find out the reason and then respond, Radel looked around.
And he found Edward Paradik sooner than expected. It was because the nobles were chattering while calling out his name.
"Oh, Edward! You're on a team with the 8th Prince!"
"All the people who bet that Edward put down the 8th Prince's name, come forward."
"Me! But isn't the dividend too small?"
Amidst the clamor, the boy called Edward was holding his head in his hands.
Listening to his friends talk, it didn't seem like Edward had written down Radel's name for any serious reason.
"You honestly just want to get close to the Prince, don't you?"
"……Shut up."
Edward was going crazy.
It was true that as a high noble, he had wanted to give the 8th Prince a stern warning. He had considered it a duty of the nobility.
He had also thought he could easily win against the 8th Prince, who used ridiculous magic and had no grace whatsoever.
So, he thought it would end with a simple duel.
He never thought he would end up on the same team and enter a dungeon together.
On top of that, with the recent news that he had cleared the Swamp Serpent, a rumor had spread throughout the academy that the 8th Prince was a skilled individual.
'I didn't know he was that strong!'
Edward's feet trembled with nervousness.
What if the 8th Prince, holding a grudge for writing his name, dragged him into the dungeon and did away with him?
He felt sick to his stomach imagining himself being chewed up by a monster.
Just then, the person Edward wanted to avoid the most appeared.
"You're Edward? Nice to meet you."
As Radel greeted him, Edward froze stiff.
"Oh, you're the friend who turned into a toad last time, right? I remember now that I see you."
Radel, recognizing Edward, spoke cheerfully, but then seeing Edward's stiff expression, he apologized awkwardly.
"Ah, it might be a bad memory for you. I'm sorry."
"It's…… alright."
As Edward barely managed to answer, the friends around him desperately held back their laughter.
Edward's unusually rigid posture was just too funny.
'You guys find it funny!'
But Edward felt like he was going to die from nervousness.
The more kindly Radel spoke, the more uncomfortable he became.
* * *
"Your Highness."
Someone spoke to Radel, who was gathering dry firewood at the campsite.
It was Armandy, wearing a hood.
"What? Is there something you want to say?"
Radel was in the middle of preparing to go to the dungeon.
After talking with Edward earlier, he didn't seem like such a bad guy, and he seemed to get along well with his friends.
In fact, as long as he could avoid Leon, anyone would have been fine. So he felt grateful to Edward.
But Edward was shy and acting awkwardly towards Radel.
Anyway, since he wanted to finish the evaluation assignment as quickly as possible, he decided to enter the dungeon right after he finished preparing.
Radel checked to see if anyone was watching and gestured to Armandy.
"I have to go into the dungeon this afternoon, so make it quick."
Was he telling him to hurry up and get lost?
Armandy debated whether to just turn back without telling him, but he eventually opened his mouth.
"……There is something you should know."
Radel nodded upon hearing that other organizations besides the Ability Management Bureau had also infiltrated.
"I see. Alright."
It was something he had already heard from Inette.
"The information is that they are targeting the royal family."
"That would be dangerous."
Armandy was surprised by Radel's nonchalant attitude.
"No, but you still have to be careful……."
"I know. They're probably targeting me."
Why else would Armandy go out of his way to tell him?
If an external secret organization was targeting the royal family, they could just strengthen surveillance; there was no need to tell Radel directly.
He was surely worried about the news that there were people targeting Radel, and had come to tell him despite the danger.
When he had blown up the Swamp Serpent last time, he was at a loss as to where to even begin teaching him, but Armandy's gradual improvement warmed Radel's heart.
"I'm not that clueless. Thanks for going out of your way to tell me."
Radel grinned and slung his backpack over his shoulder.
Armandy was at a loss for words.
That crazy prince sometimes flustered people in this way.
"Right, do you know the market price for glowing mushrooms? The professor said we only have to submit one mushroom each and we can keep the rest."
"……I heard it's 10 silver each."
From the Swamp Serpent byproduct incident last time, Armandy had learned what the 8th Prince valued terribly.
So he had found out the information just in case.
Hearing Armandy's words, Radel smiled brightly.
The education had indeed paid off.
"That's right. You should have told me this sooner!"
Seeing the 8th Prince react more to the price of glowing mushrooms than to the information that he was being targeted, Armandy's eyes glazed over.
The 8th Prince was indeed not in his right mind.
* * *
In the afternoon, Combat Magic class resumed.
Professor Lilian guided the freshmen to the dungeon.
The dungeon was in the back mountain, not too far from the academy's main building.
"Welcome to the Academy's Backyard Hill Dungeon!"
Backyard Hill Dungeon?
As the freshmen were flustered by the unexpected name, Professor Lilian giggled.
"The name is friendly, isn't it? It's because it's on the academy's back hill, and the upperclassmen often go there to gather ingredients as if they're climbing a backyard hill."
The academy students are worse than Hunters.
While thinking that to himself, Radel was looking forward to entering a dungeon after a long time.
Even when he was a Hunter, it was tough blocking the monsters pouring out of the Gate, but he quite enjoyed clearing dungeons.
"I want to go in quickly."
Edward, hearing Radel's murmur, subtly moved away from him.
Seeing him so eager to enter a dungeon, he was clearly not ordinary.
Could it be that he likes fighting monsters?
Edward's face darkened.
'What have I done?'
Regretting it wouldn't change anything.
Soon, it was Radel and Edward's turn.
"Let's go in now."
"Understood."
Edward drew his staff and followed Radel.
Darkness was thick from the entrance, but Radel stopped Edward who was about to summon a light element.
"Don't waste your magic power, save as much as you can."
"Huh? Then how are we supposed to find our way……."
Radel took out a magic lamp he had prepared.
It was an item he had received along with the tent when setting up camp.
"Ignite!"
Radel used element magic on the magic lamp to light it.
It was certainly more efficient than continuously wasting magic power with light element magic.
Even after that, Radel pointed out things Edward hadn't even thought of.
"Our goal is the glowing mushrooms, so there's no need to fight the monsters."
Edward, naturally assuming they would fight monsters, had drawn his staff every time he saw one.
But Radel handled it calmly.
"That monster has poor eyesight. We'll pass through its blind spot. Got it?"
"Ah, understood."
He thought the 8th Prince was looking forward to fighting monsters because he wanted to enter the dungeon quickly, but that wasn't the case.
He avoided them as much as possible, and only dealt with them when he couldn't.
"This is usable."
And whenever he defeated a monster, he never forgot to collect things like its leather or fangs.
He was also often carefully observing not just the monsters, but also the medicinal herbs, moss, and insects growing on the walls.
Even to the clueless Edward, it was obvious that Radel was familiar with dungeons.
"Glowing mushrooms."
The two finally arrived at the room with the glowing mushrooms.
The sight of the glowing mushrooms illuminating the dark and damp dungeon was magnificent.
Radel briefly put down the magic lamp and picked the glowing mushrooms, putting them in his backpack.
Watching him gather them with a delicate touch as if handling a work of art, Edward also felt a little emotional.
'Maybe I've been misunderstanding the 8th Prince.'
He even looked like a mysterious magician captivated by the charm of the dungeon.
But that impression was quickly shattered.
"Handle them gently. They're 10 silver each."
……Is he just a guy crazy for money?
* * *
Everything was going smoothly.
Radel's backpack was full of glowing mushrooms, and the way back was not difficult.
That was, until Edward stepped on a trap.
"Huh?"
Crack!
It was a trap he hadn't seen on the way in. It was a moment when Radel was also off guard, thinking he had solved the evaluation assignment.
Rumble!
The floor instantly collapsed, and Edward and Radel were sucked underground.
"Aaaah!"
As Edward flailed, startled by the sensation of the ground giving way beneath him, Radel quickly drew his staff.
"Wind!"
Although it wasn't a great spell, it was enough to slow down the speed at which the two of them were falling to the floor.
Radel and Edward slowly landed on the floor.
"Where is this……?"
Radel assessed the situation.
It seemed there was a hidden boss room in this dungeon.
A huge stone chamber revealed itself before them.
'If even the academy students frequent this place, it must be a dungeon that was cleared a long time ago.'
Sometimes, there were dungeons like this.
Where there was a separate hidden boss besides the main boss.
It was trickier than the original boss room, but if you succeeded, the rewards were also quite good.
Radel looked up at where they had fallen from. The hole was already sealed, as if the two had never fallen.
It seemed difficult to ask for help from the outside.
"Wh-what is this?"
Edward, who was in a state of panic next to him, asked Radel.
'Ah, there's this guy.'
Radel briefly pondered what to do with Edward.
It was just amazing how this guy, who had entered for the first time, had managed to find a trap that even the academy students hadn't discovered in one go.
On top of that, it was a hidden boss room that had never been cleared before.
Radel, who had been contemplating, looked at Edward and opened his mouth.
"The place you and I have to enter now?"
To get out of here, they absolutely had to defeat the boss.