The Lament of t Clermont

  If we were to categorize this within the realm of quests, it would fall uhe extermination type.

  In his lifetime, t Clermont was known as an excellent mage and a martial artist.

  Because of this, he achieved various military feats, amassed wealth, and his family was sidered prosperous.

  However, after entering a certain treasure, his fortuook a drastic turn for the worse, leading to his ruin.

  "That's the t's mansiohere."

  "It stinks."

  "Right?"

  Even if we were to describe the t's story with the phrase "the rise and fall of fortunes," I doubt anyone expected it to dee to this extent.

  On the way after accepting the quest, Dent-san expihe past of t Clermont, which is known in this world, filling in the gaps in my knowledge.

  For the most part, the information I knew matched up, and the yout informatio-san heard from an architect was also correct.

  Except for the fact that it's dirtier and more filled with the stench of rotting filth than Nel and Amina had imagined, everything is going acc to pn.

  "My nose is going to fall off."

  "Mioo."

  Even desperately c our noses with masks, the stench pierces through.

  "Why is there so much garbage here?"

  "Look over there, there's a lot of food waste."

  Exceeding our worst expectations, are we really going in here? They both ask me, but cruelly, I nod.

  The nobles in this area have also fled because of this stench.

  Even spending a fortuo carry out extermination efforts has failed.

  Even pushing the job onto the guild doesn't solve it quickly, and evews seem to say they'd rather not live here, turning the area around this garbage-filled mansion into a ghost town.

  It's beyond eerie; it's physiologically disgusting.

  "Ah, the people livihe mansion got tired of disposing of their food waste and started dumping it here. It piled up and accumuted to this state."

  Additionally, a vicious cycle has worsehe enviroo its worst.

  "Aren't they worried about diseases?"

  "The priests regurly purify this area, so there's o worry about that. But fually, unless something is done about the mansion, it's going to cost a lot, and while the temple is making a fortuhe try is at its wits' end."

  "What a waste."

  "But I uand why no one wants to get his pce."

  We're about to enter such a pce.

  "Alright, let's go!"

  "……"

  "……"

  "Sigh, girls, I uand how you feel, but this is also part of the job."

  Trying to psych ourselves up, but the two of them look at us as if in final resistance, a-san, sighing through his mask, relutly pats their backs.

  Relutly, they nod, aer through the wide-open gate.

  "So? Where do we enter? Not just the entrance, but the entire first floor is buried in garbage."

  "Really, where did all this garbage e from?"

  "Hey."

  As expected of a former t's estate, the grounds are vast.

  roceed along the stone-paved path, pulling a cart through the rown weeds.

  At the end of such a path lies the ruined mansion.

  A mountain of garbage that makes you wonder how it hysically collected.

  Furniture, buckets, daily ies, clothes—those are uandable.

  Even small ons, well, that's also uandable.

  The problem is the quantity.

  How was this physically collected? Nel raises the question of the mass, but no one present answer.

  "Of course, we'll break through the front. Let's head over there first."

  The front door is wide open, with garbage spilling out.

  Our destination is right in front of the mairance.

  We pull the cart to the front door.

  "Hey, by the way, doesn't the t's ghost appear?"

  "Speaking of which, we entered normally, but don't ghosts usually attack right away?"

  "The ghosts here won't attaless certain ditions are met."

  "Certain ditions?"

  ilts her head, puzzled by the ck of any attacks so far, looking around.

  Amina also looks around, but it's eerily quiet, with no sign of any ghosts.

  "The dition for their appearance is stealing the treasure. Well, since we know we'll be attacked, we o prepare for the interception first."

  "Hey, monk, isn't it about time you expined your so-called secret pn? It's just us here."

  "That's true."

  Putting down the cart, we remove the cloth.

  "This is the secret pn."

  "Even if you call it a secret pn, there's just a huge barrel and a small barrel, and this is... salt? And over here, a fishi? And this is the lid and bar for the big barrel? Over here, a tent? And four ropes with hooks..."

  The items, which don't look like fighting tools at all, eventually lead to skeptical looks.

  I lick the salt from the pot a out a big sigh.

  "Hey, hey, there's no magic stones or talismans? Are you really sure about this?"

  "Should we back out?"

  "...As long as that fidence doesn't break, I'll stick with you."

  But even so, seeing my unshaken posure, they seem to have decided to see it through to the end, with a resolve akin tnation.

  "Alright, first, let's set up the tent. The entrance should face the front door."

  "Got it."

  "Okay."

  "Sigh, are you really sure about this?"

  We prepare and assemble the tent from the cart.

  It's a simple adventurer's tent, but it's spacious enough for three people to sleep together, so the entrand interior are quite roomy.

  And with four of us assembling it, it's done in no time.

  "The tent's set up."

  ", let's unload all the tools from the cart and put the cart ihe tent."

  What we do is unload the cart.

  We unload everything and push the empty cart into the tent.

  "So? You're not saying that putting the cart ient and using it as a shield is your secret pn, are you?"

  "Ghosts pass through a single yer of cloth, right? That's not it. We do something much safer."

  As the bizarre se unfolds, I grin at Dent-san, whose exasperated expression has only deepened, and pull out the Moti Dungeon key from my pouch.

  "You, you haven't used that yet?"

  Since we went to get it together, he knows what it is.

  "I'll expin ter, but we're going to use this to create a dungeon here."

  Using the dungeon key, we create a dungeorahat perfectly overps with the tent's entrance.

  "Now, let's move all the unloaded items inside."

  "Alright."

  "Okay."

  "We're going in now."

  The reaso up the tent was to hide this dungeon. It might be discovered ter, but it's still better than not doing it at all.

  Starting with the rge barrel, we finish by moving in the hooked ropes.

  "It doesn't stink!"

  "I feel alive again!"

  "Ah, the dungeon is amazing. It pletely shuts out the outside smell."

  I was worried that the inside of the Moti Dungeon might also stink, but it's a relief that it doesn't.

  Being able to take a deep breath is wonderful!

  Everyoakes off their masks and enjoys the fresh air ihe dungeon.

  "Alright, stay as you are and pay attention! I've already expio the two of you, but I'll expin the uping strategy to Dent-san now."

  "Yeah, I was just about to ask."

  Yes, fresh air.

  With that in mind, I expin the simple strategy I know for the Lament of t Clermont.

  We've made preparations for this.

  "The logic makes sense. But are you sure it will work?"

  "It will work."

  And with that, Dent-san, seemingly vinced, nods.

  "The key is timing, speed, and a quick attack. We only have one barrel, so if we fail, we retreat."

  "Got it. Then first,"

  Judging that there's no problem with the strategy, he g the barrel sitting in the first square.

  "We o fill this with water."

  "That's the tough part."

  A barrel se that a person could lie down in it with room to spare.

  We have one for each person, but filling them with small buckets is quite a task.

  In a way, this is the hardest part.

  "The water source is just before the boss room, so let's bring it from there."

  Smiling, I hand the barrel to Dent-san.

  "Sigh, if I had known this, I would have called that guy."

  Along with the sigh, he mentions "that guy."

  "That guy?"

  "Yeah, you girls have met him tht? That bear guy. He could carry a barrel this size filled with water without a problem."

  "Wow, he's that strong?"

  "He's one of the top in terms of strength in uild."

  That bear perso at the adventurer's guild.

  Indeed, with that physique and muscle mass, it wouldn't be strange if he could lift it.

  "'t you do it, Dent-san?"

  "Hey, girl. I'm good at scouting, archery, and delicate tasks. Don't think I have the same skill set as those brute strength guys, okay? Carrying something like this would break my back."

  In this world, level is everything; even someoh slender arms easily lift a huge iron ball.

  But, level-wise, Dent-san wouldn't be able to carry this barrel if it were filled with water.

  Skills are also a factor.

  Well, of course.

  And so, the task of filling the water began in a somewhat rexed manner.

  "It took a ridiculously long time, huh."

  "It took lohan I thought."

  We did it bucket rey style, but there's quite a distance from the water source to the entrance.

  With Dent-san, who has the lo stride and the highest level, filling the barrel while keeping an eye orance, a the far end, with Nel and Amina reying iween, but enough time passed to make us hungry.

  "Well, it's a blessing to have a meal in a pce that doesn't stink."

  "It's my mom's homemade lunch! It's delicious."

  "Yeah, Nel's mom's cooking is really good."

  "I'm always grateful."

  Looking at the barrel now full of water, we mun sandwiches.

  The bread is still hard, but tely, this hardness has bee a habit, and if I were to eat the soft bread from Japan now, I might find it g.

  The barrel also has the salt we brought, and the s and hooks are soaking in it.

  "After this, we'll finally fight the ghosts. Are you girls going to be okay?"

  Watg the preparations quietly, Dent, as the senior, voices his for the juniors.

  "What about me?"

  "Monk, you'll be fihout w. You're a monk, after all."

  "Right, Liberta will be fih this."

  "Yeah, Liberta-kun seems like he'll be okay."

  "Somehow, it feels like I'm being trusted but also treated a bit roughly."

  Only Nel and Amina are being worried about.

  Even if I try to cim that I'm also a child, I'm not treated like one, and in the end, even Nel and Amina agree, leading to a burst of ughter.

  It's unusually bright fhost extermination site.

  "It's good, isn't it? Because the monk is here, the girls rex like this. Being trusted by women is a man's greatest fortune."

  "Being trusted doesn't feel bad."

  Retly, I've finally started to recover from baldness, and my hair is beginning to grow thick. Could you please sthly messing up my hair over the hood?

  It might be fine now, but what if I go bald iure? How will you take responsibility for that?

  I toss the st bite of my lunto my mouth and gulp it down.

  he fox beastman, finishes eating before me and is now drinking from her water bottle.

  Meanwhile, Amina, the bird beastman, is still eating.

  Thinking it might take a bit more time, I gside the dungeon and am startled.

  "Dent-sa-san."

  "Ah, monk, you noticed it too?"

  "Is that?"

  The se outside was supposed to be just the garbage-filled entrance, but noale, translut human face is poking out.

  The eyes, which should be bloodless, are bloodshot and staring ily at us.

  It's still daylight, but the ghost is visible.

  "That's right. That's the t. Well, rest assured, as long as you don't steal the 'treasure,' it's harmless. In fact, if you leave the tent outside and go home, it will let you go peacefully."

  Dent-san says it's probably just cheg out the intruders, but being stared at like this is uling.

  "Ah."

  "Eh."

  Notig aze, Nel and Amina follow it ahe ghost.

  It's impressive that they're not scared.

  I'll keep it a secret that I almost screamed for a moment.

  "Hey, is that..."

  "Yeah."

  "Why is it looking at us?"

  "Is it hungry?"

  "Do ghosts eat?"

  "Girls, you're definitely going to be big shots."

  In respohe two of them are quite posed.

  Without panic or fusion, they calmly observe the t's ghost staring at us.

  Amina, in particur, looks at her leftover sandwich, thinking it's attracted by the smell.

  Dent-san waves his hand, saying that's not it, and I quietly nod in agreement.