How the Cult Saves the World

"What is that method?"

I asked Katu, who pondered for a while and slowly gave me an answer.

"There is a mine near the village. There are top-grade Magic Stones there, but... it's very dangerous. Maybe even more than the Black Moon Lake."

Katu's expression was full of worry, but I was fine because I knew where he was talking about.

"...Is it that dangerous?"

Zain looked worried somehow.

"Zain, don't worry. We have the Leader. Didn't you see? The Leader is a scammer who hid his power."

Troy pointed at me and reassured Zain. I was grateful that he trusted me so much, but was that a compliment?

I wondered for a moment and looked at Troy, who avoided my gaze somehow.

'That guy, he was good at talking when Kyros appeared last time...'

Meanwhile, Zain's attitude changed a bit from before, as Troy's words were convincing.

"Then... hmm."

Zain kept pondering. I grabbed his shoulder and said,

"If you don't like it, just rest in the village."

"Really?"

Zain's face brightened. This kid, he must have wanted to avoid going.

"Zain. Are you really going to rest?"

"The Master said I could."

"Pathetic."

"What?!"

"What good are you if you're so scared?"

"I'm not scared, I'm just lazy- no, why do I have to explain to you?"

These guys never had a day without fighting. I ignored them and asked Katu.

"Where is that mine?"

Katu and Lufu decided to guide us personally. So we followed the two dwarves out of the village.

"You're going with us anyway, so why did you resist?"

I smiled at Zain, who came along after all.

"Ha, really."

He glared at Troy and sighed deeply. Zain, who was bickering with Troy, ended up joining us somehow.

"This way."

The place where Katu and Lufu led us was not the big rock mountain of the dwarf village, but another rock mountain next to it.

"This is the mine."

There was a fairly large mine where Katu and Lufu stopped.

"There are top-grade Magic Stones inside. I believe you can do well, Leader, but still be careful. If you feel it's dangerous, come back right away."

"Yes. You have to come back safely."

Katu and Lufu looked at me with moist eyes. I smiled and said to them.

"Don't worry."

"Then we'll be making your equipment first. We wanted to give you something useful, but we don't have anything to offer you right now."

"It's okay."

"Be careful!"

Katu and Lufu kept urging us and left. After the two dwarves left, I took out a club from my inventory.

"Zain, Troy. Get ready."

"Yes, I understand. Master."

"I'm always ready."

After confirming that the two were ready for battle, I stepped into the mine.

[You have discovered the hidden dungeon 'Miner Mole's Mine'!]

[The hidden quest 'Miner Mole Extermination' has occurred!]

[Hidden quest occurred!]

[Hidden quest

<Miner Mole Extermination>

<Miner Mole Extermination>

Content: There is a miner mole living in the mine that loves ore very much. The miner mole has a special ore that he cherishes, though he mined and consumed from all kinds of ores. You never know. If you kill the miner mole, you might find that ore!

Goal: Exterminate the miner mole

Success: Obtain the miner mole's ore

Failure: -]

[Do you accept?]

[Yes/No]

I skimmed through the quest and accepted it.

In the original game, I didn't do this mole extermination hidden quest after clearing it once.

The hidden dungeon of the mine was one of the easiest among the hidden quests, so it was not fun for me, who was a multi-player, to clear it, and it was not a necessary part of the game progress.

'It's similar to a boring sub-quest.'

Besides, unlike the thousand-year-old genie, there was nothing to gain from the mole itself.

That is, the only thing to get from this hidden dungeon was the top-grade Magic Stone.

'...Of course, the top-grade Magic Stone itself is a pretty good reward.'

As I was thinking about the quest, we entered the entrance of the mine.

The inside of the mine was marked with traces of the dwarves' use. There were a few ores rolling around, and pickaxes used for mining were scattered.

"Ugh, it reminds me of the genie's cave."

Zain muttered with a twisted face as he looked around the inside of the mine. The mine was no different from a cave, so it reminded him of the memory with the genie. On the other hand, Troy looked fine. Well, he met the genie before he met Troy, so he must have had no bad experience.

---I don't know what's inside, but I can feel a strong energy, just like I felt at the Lake.

'Really?'

---Yeah. Be careful.

Even if the difficulty was easy, it was a hidden dungeon, so Kyros seemed to feel the energy properly.

'But judging by the comparison with the Lake, it's not as bad as the genie.'

I was worried that the hidden route's characteristic difficulty spike would occur here. Fortunately.

"Squeak."

That's when it happened. In the dark interior, yellow eyes appeared. Their numbers were... about thirty.

"Squeak!"

Thud thud thud-

As soon as the short cry ended, the monster 'mine rat', which was three times bigger than a normal rat, started to swarm.

"Ugh."

I groaned softly.

'That's why I didn't come here.'

I had met many monsters, but these ones felt especially disgusting. They looked bad on the monitor, but even worse in reality. That's why I clenched my mace tightly when I heard Zain's low chuckle.

"Do you have something you're afraid of, Master?"

"...I'm not afraid. I'm disgusted."

"It's the same thing."

This kid. I glared at Zain, and then I saw something black running out.

Thud-!

It was Troy, who had transformed into a black panther. Oh, right. He was a cat!

'Go, cat!'

I cheered for Troy in my mind and smiled.

Slash-

Troy's long claws mercilessly slashed the gray rats.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

Indeed, cats are the best.

"Good job, Troy!"

I unconsciously shouted to cheer for Troy, and then I felt a gaze. Zain was looking at me, trying hard to hold back his laughter. At the same time, I heard Kyros's laughter.

---Our little bird has something he's afraid of too.

'I'm not afraid, okay?'

---You look like you are.

'No, I'm not!'

As I vehemently denied Kyros's words, Troy came back after finishing the battle. Behind him, I saw the corpses of the rats that had lost their vitality and focus.

"Good work, Troy."

"No, it was easy. It felt like my instincts came alive for the first time in a while. It was fun too."

'That's because panthers are cats.'

I swallowed the unnecessary words and patted Troy's shoulder, praising him generously.

And we went inside again. The inside of the mine had only one path so far, so we followed it.

"Wow!"

In the meantime, Zain started picking up some of the ores that were rolling on the floor.

"Zain. Why are you picking those up?"

"Why?"

Zain looked at Troy with contempt. 'You idiot, of course it's because they're money,' he seemed to answer without saying. And Troy looked at Zain with pity.

'They both look down on each other...'

---They're interesting kids.

'They're only interesting once or twice.'

I was sick of seeing them every day.

"Zain, I told you before, if you show off your money too much, you'll lose all your hair from your body."

"Do you believe that nonsense? How naive."

"It's not nonsense, it's true. It starts from your head and falls off. Even now, every morning, your pillow has more hair than the Master's."

"What, you bastard? I'm balding... I should shut up."

Zain said that, but he still picked up the ores diligently. The ones he picked up didn't look very valuable. I guess he was trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

"Zain, if you pick up too much, it'll be too heavy to carry them all."

"Don't worry. I'll find a way to carry them."

"What if monsters attack, how are you going to run away?"

"I'll think about that when it happens, okay? Maybe I'll swing them around?"

Zain smiled brightly and put the ores in an empty sack. That hopeless guy.

I stuck my tongue out at him and continued walking.

As we followed the long path, we heard a strange sound.

Scratch, scratch.

It sounded like something was scraping the rocks.

"Shh."

I signaled Zain and Troy to be quiet and moved carefully. When we finally turned the corner, we saw a bunch of moles gathered together.

The moles, which were about the size of an adult male, were eating something in a line. It was the ores.

But those guys.

"...They're oddly cute."

The mine rats were bad, but the moles looked pretty good in reality. I didn't feel anything in the game.

Scratch, crunch!

The moles finished their meal. Their eyes turned to us as a group. There were four of them. That was enough.

"Zain, Troy."

I didn't have to step in.

As I thought that, Troy leaped and Zain's arrow cut through the air.

Thump, thud!

They were monsters of the hidden dungeon, but they were easy enough for the two of them to kill.

"That was nothing, right?"

"Yeah, good job."

After we killed the moles, we saw a forked road. The problem was-

"...Wow, what is all this?"

The number of forked roads. There were more than thirty passages drilled in the huge wall.

"The moles must have dug them all and made them look like this. What are we going to do?"

Zain frowned. Yeah, what are we going to do? I had only cleared this hidden dungeon once. And that was thanks to the choices that helped me overcome the difficulties. I rubbed my neck and wondered.

Sniff, sniff.

Troy started sniffing.

"Master, this way."

'Of course, cats save the world.'

We followed the passage that Troy pointed to. It was big enough for five adults to enter, so we could pass easily.

"I smell something similar to the moles we smelled before, but more vicious."

"What? Then there are more monsters?"

"The dwarves said we had to kill the monsters to get the top-grade Magic Stones, Zain."

"I know, but we could have gone a safer way."

These guys, they're at it again.

"Calm down, Zain. Troy's nose is the only clue we have."

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