chapter_0065

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
65

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
65

Grandpa said that the moment
he saw the mansion in the back alley.

It did look quite sinister.
The iron front gate was rusty, the walls that were supposed to
protect the house looked like they would collapse at any moment, and
beyond them, the garden was filled with dead, brown plants.

The house in the middle was
nothing short of monstrous.

…When I saw it on screen, I
didn’t think much of it, but seeing it in person, it felt quite
eerie.

“This is the place Miss
mentioned.”

Karl looked at the mansion and
seemed delighted.

How can he make that face
looking at this rundown place?

Do knights have to have such
strong guts?

“I used to come here often
during my school days.”

“As a punishment?”

“Yes. There were rumours
about ghosts appearing, so it was often used for that.”

The concept of students coming
here and causing a ruckus still seems to hold.

I wonder if anyone is here
today?

It would be nice if no one
was, so we could look inside more easily.

“I also came here often, but
I’ve never actually seen a ghost. It was probably just a false
rumour.”

‘They’re here…’

“There is a ghost. It’s a
timid, sloppy one, though.”

“…Pardon?”

Wasn’t it the daughter of the
old owner of this mansion?

I seem to remember something
like that.

Anyway, it’s not harmful, so
there’s no need to worry.‘Let’s go.’

“Come on, Sloppy.”

“Miss, wait. You’re
joking, right? Miss!”

We walked through the rusty
front gate and entered the mansion.

Nothing in this long-abandoned
mansion was in good condition.

The doors were all smashed,
making it easy to get in anywhere.

As we stepped inside the
mansion, the wooden floor creaked under our feet.

“Eeek!”

Turning my head at the scream,
I saw Karl’s face turn pale.

What the…

Could it be…

‘Karl, are you…’

“Sloppy, are you afraid of
ghosts?”

“No! How could a knight fear
such an unholy being?”

Karl’s loud denial didn’t hide
the tremble in his voice.

Does it make any sense for
someone who seems like they could one-punch a troll to be scared of
ghosts?

What’s he going to do if we
end up in a dungeon full of ghosts later? That kind of dungeon is
seriously filled with unexpected things, feeling like a completely
different genre of game.

“I’m serious! Believe me!”

‘Got it…’

“Okay, Sloppy.”

There’s no point in arguing
here, so I just let it go.

With Karl flinching at every
little sound, we made our way down to the basement.

My objective was the iron door
at the far end of the mansion’s basement.

In this decayed mansion that
seemed ready to collapse, it was the only thing that retained its
original shape.

“That key is the one that
opens this door.”

Karl swallowed hard at the
sight of the door.

Still, as a knight, he stood
in front of me, but his trembling hands revealed how scared he truly
was.

Sigh.
Can he even help clear the dungeon like this?

Just as I was about to use the
key to open the door, a thought crossed my mind.

In the original game, you
couldn’t break this door and had to open it with a key. But now…

Breaking a door like this with
my mace seems plausible, doesn’t it?

With that in mind, I raised my
mace and struck the iron door.

Boom!

Although I struck with
considerable force, the iron door remained undamaged.

“Miss, no matter what you
do, this door won’t break.”

Seeing my actions, Karl
asserted that the door couldn’t be broken, and Grandpa explained
that such gimmicks are somewhat common.

So, does this mean that doors
like this won’t move unless you receive a quest, just like in the
game?

Ugh. If I could have broken
the door myself, I could have used various tricks in the future.

Feeling a bit disappointed, I
unlocked the iron door with the key.

A staircase leading to the
second basement level was revealed.

With no light, it looked like
the perfect setup to fall if you just charged forward recklessly.

In the past, I would have
brought a torch, but now I have another way.

‘O holy light.’

As I recited the prayer to
myself, a sphere of light of suitable brightness appeared before me.

‘When was it that I couldn’t
handle this magic?’

Ignoring Grandpa’s laughter as
he recalled me rolling on the ground clutching my eyes, I started to
move.

Grandpa, if you’re old, act
like it and forget things quickly.

Why does he have such good
memory despite his age?

“Now we just need to find
the item that girl asked for, right? Let’s find it quickly.”

‘Don’t worry about it.’

“Sloppy. You’re really
short-sighted. Don’t worry about that.”

“Huh? But…”

‘It’s just an excuse.’

“That NPC #1 girl just made
it up.”

It’s a long story, but the
item the girl asked for was just a lie to send the player here.

The real objective lies
elsewhere. I gave Karl a vague response as I walked deeper into the
second basement.

When I opened the innermost
door, a stone door was revealed inside.

“This is… a dungeon
entrance.”

Indeed, it was the entrance to
a dungeon.

Ding!

[The quest has changed.]

[A girl’s request]

[???]

[Reward: ???]

‘Here…’

“The goal of NPC #1 is to
make us tackle this place. She’s quite a shady girl.”

“It’s strange. If she
wanted the dungeon cleared, it would have been quicker to report it
to the Academy or the Church.”

I could provide an answer to
Karl’s confusion.

The girl is actually a novice
necromancer who can communicate with the mansion’s ghost.

She’s become friends with
the ghost and the ghost asked her to clear the dungeon in the
mansion.

However, if she asked the
Academy or the Church, they would clear the dungeon but also exorcise
the ghost, which she was worried about.

Telling Karl such a story
would only scare him with talks of ghosts, so I just shrugged and
pushed open the dungeon door.

The surroundings changed.

It now resembled a gloomy
cemetery.

The sky was filled with dark
clouds, with no starlight and only the sound of rain pattering.

An unpleasant scent emanated
from the rain-soaked graves. I didn’t pay much attention to it in the
game, but now that it’s real, it’s quite an annoying place.

I need to finish up and get
out of here before my hair gets all wet.

With that thought, I created a
shield imbued with divine magic.

“Just when we got out of
that eerie mansion, now it’s a cemetery.”

Karl sighed as he looked at
the dungeon’s surroundings.

‘Don’t worry, Karl…’

“Sloppy. Don’t worry. There
are no ghosts here.”

No ghosts. Really.

As soon as I spoke, I felt a
presence from the direction of the graves.

Looking that way, I saw
corpses rising from the graves like in a B-grade zombie movie.

Zombies.

The main monsters of this
dungeon.

No doubt, the Sloppy Knight
would be terrified of them.

I waited for the scream, but
it didn’t come.

Instead, the head of a zombie
rising from the grave flew through the air.

“Undead? That’s a relief.”

‘What…’

“What’s this, Sloppy?
Aren’t you scared of these things?”

“What I dislike are things
whose nature is unknown.”

I thought to myself that both
are the same undead in the end, but it seemed Karl had a different
understanding.

That’s a relief.

I brought him along just in
case Agra did something crazy, but it would have been troublesome if
he froze up, scared of the undead.

‘Grandpa, at times like
this, it’s best to pretend you don’t know.’

Even though he is a knight,
wouldn’t he be emotionally wounded if he was treated as a coward?

I think it’s his master’s duty
to graciously let it slide.

‘Karl…’

“Sloppy, there’s no need
to deal with such trash. Let’s go.”

“What? Aren’t they
monsters?”

‘Just do as I say!’

“If you’re a dog, act
like one and just follow your owner. Got it?”

If we mess with those things
and they ramp up the difficulty, it’s going to be a hassle.

When I said that, Karl seemed
reluctant but nodded his head.

Getting Karl’s agreement, I
took him and dashed forward.

Those zombies are incredibly
slow anyway.

Sure, they have good stamina
and strength, but that’s all. If we run fast, they can’t keep up.

So, when attacking this
dungeon, the best strategy was to ignore the zombies and run straight
ahead.

How long did we run through
the cemetery?

I could see the end of the
cemetery in the distance. Under the broken cross, the one digging a
pit saw us approaching, put down his shovel, and raised his head.

“Welcome, guests. Were my
family’s greetings to your satisfaction?”

The necromancer, the boss of
this dungeon, greeted us extravagantly, his coat sagging from the
rain.

“Miss, is that guy the
owner of this dungeon?”

‘Yes.’

“Right. He looks as
messed up as this dungeon, doesn’t he?”

“Oh my, thank you for the
compliment.”

Despite my criticism, the
necromancer chuckled and moved his hand.

That was the moment.

Karl stepped forward.

It was a charge driven by the
combat logic that the enemy should be taken down before they could
pull any tricks.

The necromancer didn’t react
at all.

Karl’s sword cut through the
necromancer’s coat.

“Wow! You’re strong!”

However, despite Karl’s
attack, the necromancer remained unscathed.

It wasn’t that he used magic
for defence.

Nor did he evade.

Simply, there was nothing
under the coat to cut.

“But it’s unfortunate! I
exist on the boundary between this world and the afterlife.”

As the leather coat was sliced
and fluttered away, what was hidden beneath was revealed.

The necromancer’s body was
semi-transparent.

Like a ghost straight out of a
horror movie.

“Such attacks cannot harm
me.”

The owner of this dungeon was
a necromancer and, by extension, a wraith himself.

To bring him down, something
other than physical attacks was required.

To inflict damage on this guy,
you’d need at least a level 30 cleric or mage.

In other words, he was a boss
you couldn’t defeat early in the game using the standard method.

But there was a trick.

Ignoring Karl, who was
frowning in frustration, I swung my mace.

“It’s futile.”

The necromancer laughed and
spread his arms wide, ready to receive the hit, as if to say it
wouldn’t harm him at all.

However, the outcome was
different.

“Huh?!”

The moment the mace struck, I
heard the necromancer gulp in pain.

Was he startled by the
unexpected agony?

The necromancer staggered
backward and shouted at me in a now less confident voice.

“What on earth did you
do?!”

“Is your brain so rotten
you can’t think?♡ I attacked you♡ You wretched wraith♡”

“You! You shouldn’t be
able to wound me!”

That’s right. Normally, that
would be true.

But you know what? You can’t
expect normal things from a veteran gamer.

You sloppy fool.

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