Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 30: Charlotte (2).

After that, Dojin and Charlotte continued their sparring. Sometimes he lost, sometimes he won. Their win rates were quite even.

Looking at the results alone, Dojin’s swordsmanship seemed to be on par with her own, and overall, it appeared superior.

‘How is this possible?’

It was unbelievable. Charlotte was a conqueror who had cleared the dungeon located in the Holy Kingdom up to the 50th floor and had completed three level-ups, mastering the Holy Knight’s swordsmanship.

Even if she had no intention of using her exceptional physical abilities, they naturally influenced the sparring, allowing Charlotte to observe all of Dojin’s slow techniques.

So the reason she lost to him was due to a gap in skill that could not be overcome, even with her overwhelming physical prowess.

She couldn’t accept that fact. Her heart felt it was true, and her mind tried to understand it somehow.

‘Fine, I suppose it makes sense that the gods would be interested in someone like him…’

She glared at Dojin. By this point, it seemed undeniable. The fact that the Saintess’s words were correct…

As she acknowledged the fact and looked at him, Dojin, who met her eyes, slowly turned his head. She felt something strange and tilted her head.

“Well then, I’ll get back to work.”

“Yes, please do.”

“Excuse me.”

As Charlotte returned to her workplace, she realized that her maid outfit was torn here and there, thanks to the sparring that had her rolling on the ground.

She was in a rather embarrassing state.

Only then did she realize why Dojin avoided eye contact, and her face turned red. She quickly adjusted her clothes to ensure no one would see.

There was one question that arose from frequenting dungeons. Why was it that I never encountered other adventurers in the dungeon?

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with this question. Pion earnestly read out a prepared manual in response to my query.

When I saw the headache-inducingly thick book, I asked her to summarize it in one sentence, and she said, “It’s a four-dimensional expansion of a three-dimensional space.”

“… What does that mean?”

“Well, should I draw it for you?”

“Please…”

Pion should have done that from the start, but only after I was exhausted did she take out paper and pen to continue the explanation.

“Here, I’ll draw the x and y axes like this.”

“Math even here…”

“Heh, you know about functions? Not many people do.”

“Ah, well. Just a little from back home…”

“But why an adventurer—ah, anyway, since you know, the explanation will be quicker. Do you know what this expanded picture is called?”

“Two-dimensional.”

“Yes. Then, if you include the z-axis here?”

“Three-dimensional.”

“Then what happens if you cut this two-dimensional plane with a three-dimensional axis?”

Pion said this while lifting a piece of paper with two drawn lines. Numerous non-overlapping two-dimensional planes were created.

“…So, the dungeon is a space infinitely cut from a three-dimensional space with a four-dimensional axis, which is why you can’t meet other adventurers?”

“Yes, you understand well.”

“Then how can you see if you enter with the same party?”

“Oh, that’s through what’s called the Paradox of Fabius—”

I stood up immediately, indicating I wasn’t interested any further. Pion gave a wry smile, as if she understood.

“It’s a bit difficult, isn’t it? I understand. I complained about having to memorize these things when I took the guild member exam.”

“Do you memorize such things?”

“Yes. Since I memorized it, I can explain it to you like this.”

“Being a guild staff is tough.”

“That’s right… I’m relatively lucky.”

“Why?”

“Because I met you, Mr. Dojin, and became your dedicated guild staff.”

She seemed quite pleased with the fact that she became my dedicated guild staff. Well, seeing the employees working on the first floor, such feelings were natural.

When you see them dealing with adventurers fiercer than Earth’s day laborers…

“So, in the end, you don’t know the cause.”

“Yes, unfortunately. That’s why there are some religious groups that claim dungeons are the remains of gods.”

“Understood. Thank you for informing me.”

“You’re welcome. If you have more questions, feel free to come and ask… Honestly, please come often. My boss thinks I’m slacking off.”

“I will.”

I stood up and left the guild with a smile. However, I still felt a lingering curiosity stuck like food between my teeth.

There weren’t many people who could satisfy my doubts at times like this. Either Pion, whom I just met, or someone knowledgeable in this kind of otaku information.

“Deokgu! Are you alive?”

“Ah, what? It’s you.”

Deokgu, who looked much more gaunt than three months ago, welcomed me. Seeing his cheeks thinning day by day, revealing his struggles, pricked my conscience.

“Is the newspaper preparation going well?”

“Of course… Especially after leveling up with someone.”

Deokgu adjusted his glasses and showed the newspaper draft he was working on. It was quite a decent level of newspaper, considering it was made in a world without printing presses.

“But you know, right? This alone won’t be enough.”

“Wasn’t it the 19th century when newspapers became widespread?”

“Yeah, after the Industrial Revolution.”

Without mechanical production, newspapers couldn’t be widely distributed. While considering whether to switch to mass-producing books, Deokgu pulled something out of the drawer.

“So, I found this.”

The item he pulled out was a crystal ball, commonly seen in this world. Inside, tiny letters were densely packed…

“What is that?”

“A fantasy version printing press.”

“…There’s a printing press? Then why aren’t there any newspapers?”

“Because it’s not cost-effective… Do you know how much it costs to operate this thing even once?”

“How much?”

“Roughly calculating, it’s about one gold coin… Even if you run it like that, it’s cheaper just to pay the wages of peasants or slaves and have them transcribe. Do you understand what this means?”

“Attempting a newspaper itself is a foolish thing?”

“Right. For a newspaper to adapt to people, attach advertisements, and gather people like that, you’d need to spend a mountain of gold coins… Is there really a need to do that?”

If you had to point out the wealthy in this world, you could name three.

Nobles.

Merchants.

Adventurers.

None of these were likely to make a newspaper.

Nobles, who wish to easily control the populace, do not want information to be widely spread among the citizens.

Merchants who are mindful of nobles tend to avoid actions that might upset them.

Adventurers living with piles of gold coins neither understand nor care to understand the concept of newspapers.

“So really… this is something only we can do.”

“Yeah, only us.”

Deokgu said this with a sly grin. He laid out the schedule ahead and explained.

“So, you guys need to grow quickly and become our source of funds.”

“That sounds tough.”

“You were the one who suggested it first, right? Honestly, I just wanted to laze around and have fun.”

“Yeah, I’m the one who suggested it. I’ll grow quickly, don’t worry.”

Then, I talked about the secret of the dungeon I heard from Pion, and we had a lively conversation. Deokgu thoroughly enjoyed discussing the settings of such a fantasy world.

“A dungeon is a special space created by the distortion of a four-dimensional space…? That’s totally like an instance dungeon.”

“Instance dungeon?”

“In games, there’s a technique where each player is given an address value to create a new map. Indeed, if that’s the case, there’s no way mana stone mining would be lacking…”

“Hey, it can’t work like a game. If that’s the case, there should be a skip function too.”

“Skip?”

“Yeah, we’re only at the 10th floor of the dungeon, but when we get to the 20th or 30th floor, just going up and down would take all day…”

“Skip, huh…? So you’re talking about a shortcut.”

Deokgu said that while glaring at me. I looked at him with a sense of disbelief. Unfortunately, he shook his head.

“Nothing shows up in my abilities.”

“See, I told you there’s nothing.”

“But just because it doesn’t show up in my abilities doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

“What?”

“Let’s look for it. Why not?”

Deokgu said this and began to explain his plan. It was a pretty plausible response.

Two days later, we gathered at the dungeon entrance, waiting for people. Before long, Hanyoung and his party, dressed in impressive gear, appeared.

“Yo! Damn, nice to see you.”

“How have you been?”

“What about you? Did you level up? If not, I brought a hammer to crack your head myself.”

“I did that ages ago.”

“Oh wow.”

Hanyoung glanced around our group and paused when he saw Deokgu. He tilted his head and asked.

“Who’s this?”

“It’s Deokgu.”

“What? Deokgu? Look at this guy losing weight! Did you go on a diet?”

“…Yeah, nice to see you.”

Deokgu, seemingly displeased with Hanyoung, who used to bully him, greeted him with a sour expression.

Kang Hanyoung frowned at Deokgu’s expression, but even the somewhat socialized version of him didn’t immediately pick a fight.

“Well, whatever. So why did you call me today? To hitch a ride?”

“Didn’t you read the request form?”

“Hey, what’s the point of reading it? You can just tell me now.”

“Alright. Let’s head inside. I’ll explain on the way up.”

As we ascended the dungeon, we talked about various things. What they’ve been up to, where they got their gear, where they live now, and so on.

At the same time, a horde of goblins, drawn by our noisy group, rushed at us. Due to the dungeon’s nature of attracting more monsters as the number of people increases, the number of goblins was about as many as when we first fell into this dungeon.

However, we had become much stronger compared to back then. We reached the 10th floor, slaughtering monsters with swords, hammers, and our respective abilities.

Upon arrival, I explained the contents of the request to Hanyoung.

“Here, break it.”

“What?”

“You know the dungeon wall. Try breaking it.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“Ah, if the client asks, just do as they say without questioning.”

“Oh, no wonder the fee was outrageously expensive.”

Saying that, Hanyoung raised his hammer. His weapon and abilities, specialized for crushing things, were utilized to break the dungeon wall.

Slither, scales that had sprouted on his arms protected his hands. In that state, he struck the wall with full force.

Boom!

A crack appeared, and before long, it began to regenerate. Hanyoung pointed at it, as if to say, “See?”

“See, it regenerates anyway.”

“Aram.”

“Yes.”

At those words, Aram cast her ability on the dungeon wall. It reverted to its state before regeneration. Hanyoung looked at me with an incredulous expression.

However, I firmly commanded.

“Break it.”

“No, damn… I’ll have muscle pain tomorrow!”

Boom!

The dungeon wall crumbled down. It was deeper than before. But it seemed it would take a while for this wall to completely collapse.

I hunted the approaching monsters, waiting for the two to break down the wall.

How many hours had we been pounding on the wall?

Thud!

“What?”

Finally, the dungeon wall collapsed. And a giant door hidden within gleamed as if waiting to greet us.