n

n

n“What’s a mural?”

n“A painting on the wall.” I explained, “It looks like it tells a story… is this the lore that the guild leader was talking about?”

nI looked from one image to the next. Most images depicted between 1-3 people. There were no words, but the actions the images performed were usually pretty clear to me. My lips moved unconsciously as I went from one portrait to the next.

n“Can you read the story?” The muscular woman asked with some interest. “Can you tell us?”

nSeveral of the other men had turned in interest and were watching me walk along with the mural with a lantern raised to give clarity. Well, I thought I followed the story, but without words, it was all just conjecture. It could mean something, or it could just as easily be a fairy tale I made up. Everyone seemed to be looking at me, though. Perhaps my robes gave me a scholarly aura, and these adventurers were giving me credit for being smarter than I really was.

nI cleared my throat and turned to the woman, who had moved close enough to me that her chest was a few inches from my face. “Ahem, it depicts a story… a story about a man and a woman…”

n“A love story?” She asked, and then blushed, backing up a step.

n“Sort of…” I gave a wry smile.

n“The man was a master, and the woman was her slave. If dungeons are truly created by lore, then this means that this dungeon was created by their relationship.”

n“A master and a slave?” A wolf animalkin snorted. “Probably some poor animal-girl slave.”

nI nodded. “It does show her with a tail and ears. If I had to guess, her name is Mina.”

n“Mina?” The female adventurer blinked. “I thought you said there were no words?”

nI had named her based on the name of the dungeon. However, I didn’t even know if that’s how things went. I didn’t want to explain any of this, so I just decided to take advantage of my scholarly aura and pretend I knew what I was talking about.

n“That’s the name of this dungeon, isn’t it?”

n“Hah? You have Identify?” Another guy took notice, the map maker. “That’s the only way you can find out the name of a dungeon.”

n“Y-yeah… something like that…”

nFortunately, they accepted my words without too much struggle. After all, I was a mysterious class they never heard of. Why couldn’t I have an Identify spell? Actually, I really wish I’d get it. It would make things easier. That would be merchant, right? I’d have to figure out how to level it. That meant a lot of bartering in the future.

n“Anyway, continue…” The girl said excitedly.

n“Ah… well… the story isn’t that complicated. Mina’s first master was abusive and cruel. He’d drag her into dungeons and make her fight for him. One day, they bit off more than they could chew, and her master and the rest of her party fell. She barely managed to escape only to become lost in the dungeon. She was then saved by a young hero. Because her first master had perished, he took her as his slave instead. He offered to free her, but she refused to, afraid of being left with nothing and ending up back in slavery again.”

n“That’s the way it is the farther you get into the country…” The wolfkin explained bitterly, a rabbitkin next to him nodding in affirmation.

n“Yes… well… the girl fell in love with her master, but he only ever saw her as a companion. She never had the courage to tell him that she loved him. Eventually, one day, the hero fell fighting a powerful necromancer. The necromancer brought the hero back to life and ordered it to slay his party. She was killed by the reanimated corpse of the man she loved. Her one desire, to confess, being denied to her.

nThe muscle woman looked like she was about to cry. Some of the other men simply looked contemplative, except one guy in the back who actually was openly weeping while rubbing his eyes with the cloth he was earlier using to oil his ax.

n“I wonder what that means for completing the dungeon.” I pondered out loud. “Getting her to confess her love? That’s how to finish the lore, right?”

n“Don’t worry about it.” The guild leader shrugged. “Tomorrow, we’re going the break for the entrance and get out of this dungeon. After that, we’ll get some dungeon divers and wage a proper strike to destroy this dungeon’s lore once and for all.”

n