Maruyama Kugane - The Invaders of the Large Tomb

Part 1

The worker team led by Parupatra, “Green Leaf”, departed from those caught up in expectations and excitement and looked at the surroundings from the top of the main tomb’s entrance stairway.

As if everything in the graveyard had been covered by winter snow, there was nothing alive and everything seemed dead. There was only silence and starlight. The team asked him when they finished climbing the steps.

“Elder, don’t you think it was a wasted opportunity? We could have left searching the surface to other teams.”

“That’s true. No matter the team… except for that bastard’s, there shouldn’t be much difference in abilities. Anything we can do, “Heavy Masher” or “Foresight” can probably do as well.”

“Then…”

Parupatra interrupted his comrade and continued.

“But didn’t we get the right to be the first searchers tomorrow? We aren’t going to be missing out on too much. Plus, by tomorrow, the survey of the inside should be finished. The last team to go in would miss out on all the loot, and in the worst case scenario, get stuck in the base camp with guard duty.”

“Ah-ha…”

“It’s too risky to be the first ones to go into an unknown location. They are going to be our little canaries. I hope they return unharmed.”

Parupatra turned around with cold eyes. His gaze was fixed on the place where the workers who entered the tomb had been standing. His sublime disdainful expression was not befitting the usual jolly and fluffy man nicknamed the “elder”. Those who didn’t know much about him would be surprised, but his comrades knew.

The old man named Parupatra was a very cautious man. He was the kind of man who would check a bridge twice before crossing. That was how he had managed to survive as an adventurer for such a long time, and he had even vanquished a dragon once. Conversely, he had also missed out on many opportunities due to his cautious nature. However, because he had never lost a single comrade so far, all his teammates trusted his decisions.

Although life was the most precious treasure of them all, there was still some lingering regret that they might be missing out on the loot.

“This is a chance to find some really amazing items. Isn’t that worth the risk?”

“You’re not wrong, but take a look at this cemetery. Don’t you think this is too clean? If something is cleaning this place, a monster might pop out to say hello. It’d be best to let the other teams find out what kind of monsters there are. Personally, I don’t really like requests like these. There’s too many unknowns.”

A teammate carefully responded to Parupatra’s complaint.

“But you took it anyway.”

“That’s because the other teams took it as well. In the worst case scenario, we’ll leave them behind as bait while we run away.”

The team stepped off the stairs.

“Is that why you suggested searching the surface? So we can run away in case we hear their screams?”

“That too. But I think of this as a gamble… Like you said, we might miss out on the loot. If we had more information, it might be safer, but we don’t know if the benefits will outweigh the risks. If you are right, I apologize.”

“Don’t worry about it, elder. We all trust you. After all, in most cases, you were right.”

“Plus, even if we miss out today, we can find other jobs to make money. You said it yourself, as long as you’re alive, opportunities to make money will always be there. So there’s no need to dive in recklessly.”

“How nostalgic. That was from when we were still young.”

“Haha, you sure you aren’t still young?”

“Don’t joke like that, elder. You shouldn’t be the one saying that.”

The team headed to one of the small crypts smiled bitterly.

“But I should have discussed this with you guys before making a decision. I’m sorry that I went ahead and decided by myself.”

“Well, you couldn’t help it in that situation. Plus, elder is our chosen leader. If our trusted leader decided so, we’ll follow.”

“…You guys don’t look too happy though. Why is everyone smiling so bitterly? Well, either way.

Let’s finish the survey quick and if we have some time left over, let’s ask Momon for another spar.

This is an excellent opportunity for you guys, too. So how about it?”

“I vividly remember the two of you sparring. Indeed, it was a duel befitting of an adamantite-ranked adventurer.”

“…Even amongst the adamantite ranked adventurers, there are many kinds of people. Right now,

“Eight Ripples” in the Empire is not truly an adamantite ranked party. Someone like Momon would be a proper adamantite ranked adventurer. A man who achieved something I could never do.”

“Elder…”

“Hahaha, don’t worry too much about it. If I was still in my prime, I would have been jealous, but now I’m just an old man. I’m not particularly shocked. I’ve seen a few adamantite ranked adventurers in my time, but Momon is a special one even amongst them. I feel that he’s the real deal.”

“Really?”

“Of course. So you guys should ask him to check out your swordsmanship. If you choose to keep adventuring after I die, that kind of experience will prove invaluable in future.”

“I can’t imagine elder dying. Maybe there’ll be a nice retirement.”

“Right. Elder will probably live long like Paradyne.”

“Hahaha, no, that’s too much for me. He’s on a completely different level.”

“What a wonderful team.”

A woman’s voice came out of nowhere. The only women that were with them were the two from Hekkeran’s ‘Foresight’ and the three elven slaves from Eruya’s ‘Tenmu’. But the voice sounded different from any of theirs.

Everyone turned around with weapons ready.

Several women stood at the top of the mausoleum stairs they had just descended. There were five of them. They were unbelievably beautiful, but that was also what made it so strange.

Everyone wore maid’s clothing, but their clothing was unlike any they had seen before. Those clothes had a metallic shine about them, just like armour.

“Who… are you? I’ve never seen you before… Hmm, is there a secret tunnel just like I expected?”

“Women? They are just as good-looking as the beauty of ‘Darkness’… They don’t look like ordinary people.”

“They don’t seem like an enemy… But, not likely to be hired by same people who hired us…”

“What should we do, elder?”

His comrades asked Parupatra while keeping their eyes on the women. Negotiating with them would be the best option, but there was no way it could end that well.

“We have the same numbers… It could be even?”

The opponents’ strength must be equal or just a little above theirs. The reason why they hadn’t attacked when all the workers were gathered must have been because they were not strong enough to take on everybody at once or because they thought it might have been a trap. The reason they finally showed their face must be because they were confident they could win against Parupatra’s group.

Parupatra sweated less and less as he got older but in this moment, his hand that was holding the spear was wet.

“Even so, to put a maid in a cemetery… Someone has questionable taste.”

In an instance, the comrade who had been joking just now shivered, his face pale and his brow full of sweat.

Parupatra also felt a sudden chill come over him, but the reason he had goosebumps all over was not just because of the temperature.

The coldness in the eyes of the maids who were aligned on top of the stair was clearly visible under the moonlight. It was almost as if their eyes were shining