Ch.7373. Dungeon Practice

“Hey! That’s mine!!”

“It’s mine!”

Another peaceful day at the orphanage.

Birds are chirping, and children are squabbling with friends over trivial matters as children do,

“Everyone. That’s not right. Using violence against friends is wrong.”

Amon gently scolded the children with a kind smile.

Since Amon’s popularity was absolute within the orphanage-cum-daycare center, the children immediately stopped fighting.

The children apologized to the friends they had been fist-fighting with just moments ago.

“Sorry… here, you can have this.”

“No, I’m sorry. I’m fine, so you can have it.”

The children immediately acknowledged their mistakes and practiced the virtue of yielding.

This showed how well Amon had taught the children.

Amon watched the two children with a satisfied smile.

As they shared a hug of reconciliation, Amon patted their heads and said,

“What has teacher always told you? The only things you’re allowed to hit are?”

“”Heretics, beasts, and monsters only!””

“That’s right!”

The children answered cheerfully as Amon gently patted them.

Behind Amon, the crucifix hanging on the wall reflected the light.

Amon patted the children’s backs and sent them off to play again.

Then, turning around, he said,

“Ah, Mother Superior. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

Amon turned around.

The squinty-eyed nun, now the director of the Rose Bird Orphanage in California, was waiting for him.

The nun looked at Amon with distaste and said,

“What are you teaching these children?”

“The truth, of course?”

“Oh my goodness…”

The nun touched her forehead, feeling dizzy.

What exactly did this man think a daycare center was for?

The nun pondered briefly but stopped herself.

Her concerns wouldn’t change anything anyway.

Shaking off her thoughts, the nun called for Amon.

“Shall we go to the director’s office for now?”

Amon nodded and followed behind the nun.

*

The two entered the director’s office located on the 10th floor.

The nun’s office was quite modest.

As expected of someone Amon had chosen, she wasn’t a greedy person.

There was a door in the office leading to an adjacent room, with chains and a crucifix hanging in front of it.

It was a room for exorcists to seal ghosts or store exorcism supplies.

As soon as Amon entered the office, he pointed to that door and said,

“Would you like me to purify it sometime? I think it’s been a while since I’ve done it for you, since I’ve been away on business.”

“Since you mentioned it, could you do it after we finish today?”

Most exorcists didn’t have Divine Power.

They could drive away and seal evil spirits and ghosts, but they couldn’t purify the powerful ones.

Therefore, they typically sealed them and controlled their numbers by calling someone periodically to purify them.

But in the nun’s case, it didn’t matter because there was a Divine Power plant nearby.

Although Amon didn’t know purification spells, the evil spirits would naturally be purified when he bombarded them with his overwhelmingly abundant Divine Power.

“I’ll do it right after we finish talking.”

Amon nodded.

After some light conversation, the nun finally got to the main point.

“You know I’m a visiting professor at the seminary, right?”

“Yes. You’re a… visiting professor of exorcism, right?”

“That’s right. And I’m also an external practicum advisor.”

The nun was also a professor at the seminary.

She wasn’t a professor who formally resided at the university and conducted research, but rather someone who occasionally came to lecture while working externally.

The salary wasn’t much, just the honor.

In the nun’s case, she was serving as a visiting professor on the Vatican’s recommendation.

Though they called it a recommendation, it was essentially a forced order.

Between her visiting professorship, her main job as an exorcist, and managing the orphanage, the nun’s body was wearing thin, but that wasn’t particularly important.

In any case, the nun was a visiting professor.

The nun pressed her eyelids with fatigue and continued speaking.

“As you’ve heard from Sonia, there will be an external practicum for seminary students soon.”

“Sonia said it would be in a dungeon, right?”

Since the seminary was not only a place to train priests but also knights, there were practicums prepared for students aspiring to become holy knights.

However, even for practicums, it was cumbersome to find people to cut or ghosts to bring in, so dungeons often became the main practicum locations.

“Yes. And you applied to be a safety officer for that dungeon practicum.”

Amon nodded.

Students form groups and periodically explore dungeons to develop their practical skills as holy knights.

This was the purpose of the dungeon practicum.

At this time, safety officers were often dispatched for each group to ensure the students’ safety.

Amon had heard about this from Sonia and had applied to be a safety officer months ago.

However, there was one problem.

“As you know, the dungeon we originally used for practicums has been conquered.”

“Haha…”

The nun looked at Amon with drowsy eyes.

Amon let out a dry laugh and avoided her gaze.

As the nun said, the seminary had been using “The Howling Darkness” for practicums until now.

It was old, so the information was reliable, it was full of undead that were good for testing Divine Power, and above all, it wasn’t far from the university.

It was the optimal practicum location in every aspect.

Until someone conquered it.

After Amon cut off the lich’s head, the dungeon gradually withered.

The undead continued to be generated thanks to the magic power stored by the lich, but as the stored magic power gradually depleted, the monsters stopped spawning.

As a result, by the time Sonia was due for her practicum, the dungeon had completely ceased to function.

Of course, this couldn’t be blamed on Amon.

It was just the lament of the person in charge who had to deal with the sudden upheaval in their generation.

“Sigh. I’m sorry. I’m a bit tired. Anyway, because of that, I’ve been going around dungeons with this scoring sheet for the past few months.”

The nun handed over the scoring sheet.

It had items like whether the difficulty was suitable for students and whether the monsters were susceptible to holy magic.

The memo sections of numerous scoring sheets showed clear traces of how diligently the nun had investigated the dungeons.

At the top of the scoring sheets was the one for the dungeon selected by the nun.

——————-

<Swamp of Blasphemy>

98/104

– Main monsters: Poisonous insects and swamp ecological monsters. (Including plant types)

– Cause of dungeon creation: Mutant outbreak due to failed genetic modification.

– Difficulty: Low. However, it might be a bit difficult for students.

– Divine Power vulnerability: The physical threat level of the monsters is very low, and it has been confirmed that their toxicity can be completely purified with holy magic. Safety level is very high.

– Other matters: Mutants are continuously generated from the central nest. However, the threat level is not rated high as they evolve in a form specialized for survival rather than in a lethal direction.

———————

Amon read the document to the end.

No unusual matters were found.

As the nun investigated, nothing special seemed likely to happen in the dungeon…

Slap!

Amon hit his cheek hard.

‘You idiot. Are you trying to raise a flag?!’

Has he become lax due to the recent peace?

Amon quickly reflected on himself.

The nun looked at Amon, who suddenly slapped his cheek, as if he were a strange person, but since it wasn’t the first time Amon had done something incomprehensible, she didn’t point it out.

After his self-reflection, Amon returned to the topic.

“So why are you showing this to me?”

“Before entering the dungeon, the school sent an official document to you through me, the person in charge. Normally, this would be something to discuss over a meal at a restaurant or something… but you don’t really like that kind of thing, do you?”

Amon nodded.

Although Amon knew the importance of procedures and etiquette and tended to observe them, if pressed, he preferred to discard formalities and get straight to the essence.

It was much more convenient to get to the point directly rather than going around in circles, especially since they worked in the same building.

Amon slightly bowed his head in appreciation of the nun’s consideration.

After receiving Amon’s gratitude, the nun began to convey the school’s position.

“So regarding the school’s official document, they want you to take charge of multiple groups as a safety officer.”

“Why is that?”

“There are too few applicants this time.”

“Ah.”

Amon understood.

Being a safety officer wasn’t a popular position.

It was closer to being avoided.

The pay was low, yet you had to care about the students’ safety, and if something went wrong, the school and parents would sue immediately.

If you had the skills to be responsible for the students’ safety in the dungeon, you could earn ten times more by exploring dungeons in that time.

Only those who needed honor, needed to fulfill volunteer hours, or thought of it as a side quest while entering the dungeon anyway would apply for the position.

Therefore, safety officers were always in short supply, and in such cases, it was possible to barely meet the number of safety officers by deploying teaching assistants (or graduate students).

But this year, the number of applicants was severely lacking.

Unlike before, with the change in dungeon, it became difficult to guarantee safety, and consequently, the risk of lawsuits became too high.

Even those who had taken on the role of officers every year refused, and even with the full deployment of graduate students, it was woefully insufficient.

So, as a last resort, the school asked Amon to take charge of multiple groups.

“The school seems to have highly evaluated your combat ability.”

While there’s no objective evidence to measure a mercenary’s combat ability in modern society, the school could investigate through word of mouth.

Amon’s combat ability was already well-established within the mercenary industry, so it wasn’t difficult for the school to find out.

Moreover, Amon’s mercenary rank was platinum.

It was a badge of trust given only to those who didn’t cause accidents and cleanly handled more than 100 requests.

He was the optimal person to entrust the students to.

“In return, they say they’ll give you the compensation that the original safety officers would have received for each group you take charge of.”

“Is this an order or a request?”

“It looks like a request to me.”

There was no expression of force anywhere in the official document.

There would be no disadvantage if he refused.

This was a rare courtesy in this world, but there was a reason for the courtesy.

If Amon had been a mercenary without backing, they might have forced him to take the job by invoking authority and law, but the school knew about Amon’s backing.

Due to Kathy’s machinations, they couldn’t fully grasp the relationship between Amon and Requetio Corporation, but they could sense from the atmosphere that there was some kind of relationship between the two.

The school was clearly being cautious around Amon.

Amon kept this in mind as he considered the request.

The conclusion came quickly.

“I think I can handle up to 4 groups.”

With Amon’s current abilities, he felt he could cover that many.

The nun immediately conveyed Amon’s intention to the school.

A few minutes later, the answer came back.

“They say that’s enough.”

Afterwards, Amon signed the electronic contract that arrived as a file.

“5 people per group. You’ll be in charge of 4 groups. Confirmed.”

“Please make sure to include the group Sonia is in.”

“Of course.”

That much convenience could be easily provided.

Since the safety officer only ensures safety and is not a scorer, there’s no issue of fairness.

Thus, Amon, who ended up being responsible for the safety of 4 groups, had some casual conversation with the nun before returning to his temporary teaching job.

“Hey! You shouldn’t damage your friend’s belongings! The only possessions of others that you’re allowed to break are symbols of heresy!”

The director looked at the back of Amon’s head with a sour expression.

***

As time passed, the day before the practicum arrived.

Amon had already informed the orphanage that he wouldn’t be able to volunteer as a safety officer for a while.

The children followed Amon so much that they cried and threw tantrums at the news that he wouldn’t be coming for a while, which made Amon feel guilty, but it couldn’t be helped.

He headed to Requetio Corporation, being seen off by the children.

It was because Kathy had called him.

A brief body search was conducted.

Beep-

The detector’s warning light went off.

It was reacting to the dimensional coat filled with swords and weapons.

One of the security staff raised his weapon.

Seeing this, his supervisor was startled and hit the back of the staff member’s head.

“You idiot! Do you know who this is?!”

Other staff members dragged that employee away and trampled on him.

Only after Amon said it was okay did the group lynching end.

The supervisor who had hit the back of the employee’s head kept bowing.

“I’m so sorry, Director Consultant.”

“I’ve told you I’m not a director.”

“Ah, I’m sorry, Mr. Amon. That guy just joined yesterday…”

“No, I understand.”

Amon had no intention of pointing out the employee’s mistake.

It wouldn’t be right to be scolded for being diligent in the mission to protect Kathy.

Rather, it was Amon who was abnormal for being able to enter the director’s office with all his weapons.

Amon glanced at the employee who had been lynched.

His body was covered in dust, but there were no injuries.

It looked like a lynching, but they had actually hit him lightly.

In other words, it was WWE.

It was a message asking for forgiveness if the new employee’s adherence to procedure had somehow displeased Amon.

Amon received the message properly.

“I’m really fine with it, so I hope there won’t be any disadvantages for that person.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Of course, since it was WWE, that employee wouldn’t be punished.

There might be some handover, but that’s it.

After such a happening, Amon entered Kathy’s office.

Sonia, who had arrived before Amon, was leisurely reading a book on the office sofa.

Although it was a weekday, classes were canceled the day before the practicum to allow students to manage their condition.

The two women greeted him as he entered.

“Good job!”

Sonia greeted him energetically,

“You’re here?”

Kathy greeted him a bit more gently.

Amon received the greetings from the two women and sat on the sofa.

Kathy finished her work and got up from her seat.

Then she entered a password into the safe placed in the corner of the office.

Beep beep.

When she entered the date she first met Amon, the safe opened.

Kathy took out two small wooden boxes from inside.

“I finally got what you asked for. It was really hard to find.”

Kathy’s face was also full of joy as she said this.

It was the joy of someone giving a gift.

As Kathy put the boxes down, Amon was already operating his phone before opening the boxes.

“I’ll transfer the money.”

“Don’t. It’s from the dungeon you helped me get, so I don’t need it.”

“I have a lot of money.”

“Can you say that in front of me?”

“Now that I’ve said it, I guess not.”

After some wrangling with Kathy, they agreed on about 30 percent of the market value.

‘We’re going to share it later anyway, so this is just losing on fees… what a waste.’

While grumbling inwardly, Kathy managed her expression.

After the transfer was complete, Amon opened the boxes with an excited heart.

Two golden essences came out.

“Finally got them.”

The best combination in Amon’s opinion.