I Run the Protagonist’s Favorite Café in a Hopelessly Depressing Game World - V1 Chapter 4.1

I Reached the Dungeon

I arrived at the dungeon.

A tower that looked like it was trying to pierce the sky—or actually was piercing it—stood tall, glaring down at the empty grassland with a heavy, ominous atmosphere.

About five kilometers from the stone wall to here. I thought I’d make it in a little over a minute, but the time I’d spent away from the front lines had really taken its toll. It ended up taking about thirty seconds longer than I expected.

I looked up at the tower blocking the sunlight while my shoulders rose and fell just a little.

Then I tilted my head.

“Something feels… different?”

The old stone tower that carried the weight of history—that hadn’t changed.

But somehow the outside looked more worn down.

There was no way a dungeon created almost at the same time as the barriers would age in just a few years.

Maybe it was just my memory playing tricks on me.

Well, looks didn’t matter. What counted was what was inside.

The function that kept monsters from spilling out of the hole in the barrier by locking them inside the tower.

As long as that was working, there was no problem at all.

I rolled my shoulders once and touched the small door set into the tower.

It reacted to the magic power flowing through my body, and the thick metal door moved.

I called it a door, but it was probably more like a lid plugged into the tower.

A lid that only someone with magic power—a witch—could open.

With a rumbling sound that shook the ground, the entrance to the dungeon opened.

“Still got that heavy miasma, huh.”

In an instant, thick air spilled out. Roaring.

Its true identity was the magic power filling the inside of the dungeon.

It felt so sinister that calling it miasma was probably more accurate.

I was completely used to it, but someone visiting for the first time might feel sick from the density and, in the worst case, even pass out.

“Whoops.”

I slipped inside before the door could close.

It was built to close on its own after a certain time so monsters couldn’t get out.

“Nostalgic.”

The outside of the dungeon looked like a tower, but the moment you stepped inside, it opened up into something that felt exactly like a cave.

Jagged rock walls and lamps hanging on them.

Using lamps in a cave with barely any fresh air would normally make you worry about oxygen, but the ones glowing blue ran on magic stones, so there was no real problem.

By the way, magic stones were things you sometimes got when you killed monsters.

In game terms they were just items for making money, but if you thought about it realistically, they were probably the core that made up the mass of magic power that formed the monster.

You couldn’t actually use magic by fueling it with magic stones.

They just caused “exactly the phenomenon you imagined” when you poured magic power into them.

If someone asked, “Isn’t that what magic is?”—the definition of magic in this world was a little different.

For now, that lamp was simply shining because of the wish “let there be light.”

That’s all.

“Alright… I’ll hide until Tamaki and the others get here.”

I tucked my body into a nearby shadow.

If nothing happened, great. If something that looked like it might lead to a bad end popped up, I’d somehow fix it. That would shift the story quite a bit from the game, so I really hoped nothing would happen.

I was thinking this and that when the door started moving with a heavy “gogo…”

“This is the dungeon──”

“Please stay alert. There’s a barrier near the entrance, so there’s almost no chance of monsters, but… we can’t say there definitely aren’t any.”

“Those who let their guard down die first.”

“That’s right. You remembered well. Anyone who dives into a dungeon as a witch must never let their guard down, no matter what. We should also avoid situations where we have no choice but to use magic as much as possible.”

A group of about a dozen students and what looked like their teacher.

Even though it was the academy that trained witches, they weren’t dressed in anything overly fantasy-like.

Their clothes prioritized ease of movement and looked closer to what you’d imagine adventurers wearing.

Not that adventurers who made a living subjugating monsters existed in this world.

On top of that—their weapons.

Not swords or staves or anything with strong fantasy vibes.

Rifles, machine guns, machetes… more like military gear.

Since modern technology provided effective weapons, there was no need to rely on outdated stuff.

That raised one question.

If they were using weapons like guns whose power didn’t depend on the user, was there really any point in witches diving into the dungeon?

Monsters ignored all interference that didn’t involve magic power, so even if normal humans shot bullets at them, it would be completely useless—like punching a curtain.

Only when a witch who possessed magic power used the gun did it become an effective attack for the first time.

As a side note, that was also why the dungeon tower was created with magic.

Even if you physically sealed the hole, monsters would slip through like ghosts.

Only humans with magic power—in other words, only witches—could oppose them.

While I kept watching them, I spotted Tamaki Omuta at the very back.

She was clenching her fists so hard her hands had gone pure white, and her face was frozen stiff with tension.

She looked nothing like her usual calm self.

“It’s okay… it’s okay…”

When she passed right by the shadow where I was hiding, I heard her whisper.

“Is this bad…?”

One of the causes for a bad end was over-tension making someone unable to show their normal ability.

The current Tamaki was clearly acting abnormal.

What I had feared might actually happen.

Good thing I came to check.

◇

After walking through the dungeon for about ten minutes or so.

The woman who seemed to be the teacher at the front spoke up.

“We’re about to enter an area where monsters might appear. Stay on high alert.”

“──!”

Right away, the witches lowered their center of gravity.

They didn’t even try to hide their fear as they looked around.

But only Tamaki looked used to it—though fear still flickered across her face—she stayed ready.

Her background was special, after all. She had been doing combat training her whole life.

Today was her first real battle.

The chances of it going exactly like practice were low.

“…………”

I held my breath and watched them when—it came.

Thud. Thud.

The ground shook lightly.

Beyond the corner.

A dense magic power so thick the space itself looked warped.

‘The sheep on the altar shed pale purple blood and received a quiet oracle. The pilgrim apostle was stained with madness, and held an umbrella for whom? People fallen into messiah complex. Asura. The width of the faraway bridge is harder for a camel to pass than for a rich man to enter heaven. Repent. Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends on your frame of reference. Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Old-fashioned neoteny.’

What stood there was a Buddha statue.

It resembled a Buddha statue.

It only resembled one.

Everything except the appearance was completely different.