Chapter 35

Smith brought us to his office. Meanwhile, I asked Bob why he's meeting me.

"G told me that someone is waiting near your car. She showed me through a security camera and it's someone we met before. So I came," Bob said.

I guess that means it wasn't long since Smith waited for me near my car. He knows when I will return home from school.

"Please take a seat," Smith said. And we take a seat on the sofa with him on the opposite side.

"Why are we here, Smith?" Bob asked.

"Umm… first of all, my name is not Smith. And second—"

"No, you are Smith. You not only approached Kaiser again. You even have a favor to ask me. So you are Smith from today," Bob said.

"…Yes, I am Smith."

Good. Now we know his name.

"Bob, I want to go home," I said.

"He's waiting for you near your car. So he's obviously looking for you."

"But he's looking for me to find you. Now you're here, I should be allowed to leave," I said.

"No you're not. This might be useful for you. Just listen," Bob said.

He knows what happened. I'm sure of it. He knows why Smith is looking for him.

I have always with an earpiece in my ear. But G is surprisingly silent. Must be because Bob told her to not say anything to me.

"Before you start talking, you need to know that my wallet is in my car. So I have no way to go home," I said to Smith.

"...This should be enough."

Smith gave me some money more than enough for me to travel the city with a taxi several times. Nice. Though there's no reason for me to ride around the city several times.

In fact, I didn't even need his money. I can walk home even though it might take a while. Or I can get someone to pick me up. But who wouldn't want extra money?

"By the way, if you're asking me for a favor, you will have to give me a proper reward according to the risk. So you will have to spend more money," Bob said.

"I understand. We can talk about it after I tell you everything," Smith said.

"And no more saying things like you are not Smith again," I said.

"…I understand. I'm Smith."

It's good that he understands. Now let's begin the talk. Something that I might not need to listen at all.

But I will listen. Having a connection with a guild leader will be beneficial to me.

For now, he's thinking that I'm just someone who will bring him to Bob. But once he learned how useful I am, he will try to curry my favor.

"Actually, we sent most of our members to a dungeon. But after five days, they haven't returned. So we tried to ask other guild for help. But they refused it. Because they assume that this is a Themed Dungeon. And the theme is too difficult for Heroes to complete. That's why no one helped us. They want to wait until Dungeon Break to happen because it's easier that way. But it means that all the members from my guild have died. And our power will be reduced even more. Since I knew that Mr. Bob is a level 5 magician, I hope you will be able to help us get out of this situation," Smith said.

Really? Guilds refused to go to a Themed Dungeon simply because it's easier to take care of it after a Dungeon Break happens. So they will risk the civilians' lives simply because they're scared.

As I thought, they are just Heroes as professions. Not because they really are Heroes.

Guilds or even private organization is allowed to bid for the ownership of a dungeon. Once they owned a dungeon, they are free to let whoever they want to enter.

But when they fail to clear the dungeon and a Dungeon Break will happen, other guilds can reap the benefit. They can help the guild that owns the dungeon or wait until the Dungeon Break to happen so the power and the reputation of the guild that failed to clear the dungeon will get worse. While the other guild can protect the civilians and gain reputation.

I asked Bob about it and he said that it's actually quite common. Many of the Dungeon Breaks that happened were because of competitions between guilds.

"That's disgusting. But there should at least be a chivalrous guild who will help no matter what, right?" I asked.

"There is one here. But there's another guild that needs their help. So they don't have enough power to help us at the moment. That's why I want to ask Mr. Bob to help us," Smith said.

"Just call me Bob. So, about the reward."

"You will help! Thanks. The reward is—"

Now they're discussing about the reward. Still, I learned something new about guilds. They suck. There are a lot of political stuffs involved. A lot of competitions. They're not different than criminal organizations.

Well, I'm more familiar with it. So I guess it's good? I don't know.

"Good. Kaiser, go back home and get ready. You'll be coming with me. This is a good chance for you to learn about Themed Dungeon," Bob said.

"The reward will be split, right?" I asked Bob.

"They all will be yours. But of course it's also for me to help you with getting a better equipment for you," Bob said.

That's even better.

"Wait! He's just a high school student!"

Smith seems to have a complaint. But it doesn't matter to us.

"Don't worry about him. He's a smart kid. In fact, I believe that he could solve most Themed Dungeons because it's not something you need strength or power. Most Themed Dungeons need wits, intellect, and even imagination to clear. So someone as quick-witted as Kaiser will be useful in Themed Dungeons," Bob said.

Since it's Bob, I think he has experience going to a Themed Dungeon before.

I heard that there are Themed Dungeons where once you enter you can't leave unless you clear the objective inside. So the fact that Bob is alive means that he has a lot of experience with Themed Dungeons. He's pretty confident that I could clear it.

"…I understand. But we are a legal guild. We can't just send someone who is not a Hero into the dungeon," Smith said.

"We'll be there without anyone discovers us. But for your guild members, you can take care of it, right?"

"…Fine. Just please help my guild members."

The negotiation is over. And I return home with Bob. In a taxi whose driver is someone we both know.

"Bob, tell me more about Themed Dungeons," I said on our ride home.

"They're not common dungeons. I only ever entered four in my entire lives," Bob said.

He explained to me what they are. That we simply have to complete a task given in the themed dungeon before we can clear it.

From what Bob told me, the task given could vary. Bob never received the same task twice.

The first Themed Dungeon, he was tasked to protect someone. Basically it's protecting an NPC. Which is a very annoying quest because we don't know what the NPC will do. And they don't really obey us.

The second Themed Dungeon he entered was the hardest. Because he has to gather five drop items from the same monster that will only appear every six hours. And the drop item is rare as well. So they don't always appear. It took him a week to gather five of them and clear the dungeon. 

The most dangerous one is the one that you don't know how long you have to be there for. Because you might not have enough supply. And sometimes, the Gate is closed and don't allow people to enter until it's cleared or everyone dies. I guess for the Themed Dungeon we're going to enter, the gate is not closed.

The third Themed Dungeon, he was told to search an object. He found it easily.

The fourth Themed Dungeon, he had to fill a bucket with human blood. He was with a party so everyone could spill some until the tank was filled. Though this one, after the bucket was filled, a monster appeared. And Bob and his party had to defeat it while they were tired from running out of blood.

"I see. So this one might be hard and could even last for a while," I said.

"Yes. But getting experience in a Themed Dungeon is extremely rare," Bob said.

"Don't you think that you're risking too much to let me, someone who only has one experience in clearing a dungeon, to enter a Themed Dungeon? What if I can't clear it?" I asked.

"You'll figure it out. When you told me that you can alter… you know what, I realized that you might actually be a perfect person for any Themed Dungeon. Let's say that this is a test. With our lives at risk," Bob said.

"If it's too much for me, I want you to burn everything and everyone," I said.

"It can be done."

He's right. Being a warrior might be difficult in a Themed Dungeon. And being a magician, if you don't have the right magic, it will be harder.

But I'm both a warrior and a magician. Not only that, I can already use all kind of magic by creating my own magic circle. I'm the most versatile superhuman in the world. Maybe. At least at the moment, I am.

So I might really be the best person to enter a Themed Dungeon. This is a good test for me to see if it's true or not.