Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party: Volume 3 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Color Illustrations

  Return

  Girl Snatcher vs. Black Shadow

  The Assignment

  Soliciting and Shadowing

  The Main Characters’ Untold Backstory

  His Role Within the Arrivers

  All Kinds of Disaster

  Revenge Match

  Raising the Curtain

  The End-Defying Choice

  Epilogue & Prologue

  Midword

  Side Story: Who Ate the Pudding?

  About J-Novel Club

  Copyright

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  Fame, fortune, magic, wisdom... Endless treasure and bounty lay within the otherworldly depths of the land—depths yet to be conquered that beckon people with the intangible power of curiosity. Be it in the name of hopes and dreams or greed and self-interest, adventurers from all walks of life risk everything to challenge the dungeons.

  One of many daring groups was the Arrivers, who held the remarkable claim of being the closest to actually clearing a dungeon. They also happened to be the party that took me in. Our party, however, was currently in the midst of a grave—no, a completely ridiculous problem.

  “Excuse you, Erin. Aren’t you getting a little too close to Note?”

  “Am I? This was totally normal for us when we were living on floor 20.”

  Both sides glared at each other. Neither was backing down.

  The woman who’d spoken first was Roslia Minkgott, the Arrivers’ paladin. Her indigo hair was long and lustrous, and her eyes were a glistening red. She was extremely well endowed, and her captivating figure was topped off by her lovely face. In short, she was a beauty whose looks were virtually hand sculpted to bewitch the men of the world.

  Those looks, however, were deceiving. Roslia was infamous around Puriff for seducing numerous men and breaking up their parties in the process. Nowadays she aggressively insisted that she was in love with me. But knowing her past, I didn’t really believe a word she said. It made our relationship somewhat precarious. I was as surprised as anyone when we recently hit the six-month anniversary of Roslia joining the party.

  Now, as for the girl she was arguing with... that was Erin Fortlord, our mage. She had a sharp gaze and a dainty figure, and she always wore her hair in her trademark silver pigtails. A while ago, we’d gotten caught in a teleportation trap in the dungeon that left us stranded on floor 20 alone together for months. We used to clash all the time, but after overcoming that hardship together, we’d grown fairly close. She’d softened up a little—at least with me. She was still as savage as ever with Roslia.

  “What’s gotten into the two of them?” asked Force.

  Force Granz was our party leader. He was a swordsman and a standout fighter, even in our party of top-tier adventurers.

  “Dunno...” I said with a shrug.

  I was lying, of course. I knew the reason they were bickering: Erin had invited me along to go grocery shopping for the day, and Roslia had a problem with that. That was what had started all of this. The girls were fighting over me, which was way too embarrassing to admit... I mean, what if I had the wrong idea? That would be even worse.

  Well, there’s no end to that spiral of negativity, so let’s just say they were fighting over me and call it a day. Either way, I couldn’t spill the beans to Force. He knew that Roslia was interested in me, but he wasn’t yet aware that Erin had developed a thing for me too. You see, Force was a bit of a lonely heart who was tormented by his inability to find love...And he was 100 percent the kind of guy to take it out on other “luckier” people. There was no telling what he’d do if he found out I had attention from two women.

  For the record, our roles were reversed not all that long ago. I begrudged his relationship with Roslia and was ultimately the reason they split up, so... I don’t have a whole lot of room to criticize, huh? Anyway, it would only be a matter of time before he realized what was happening if Roslia and Erin kept fighting like this...

  “Smells like a catfight... Neme’s got a nose for love troubles, you know!” declared a sprightly dwarf.

  That was Neme Pargin, our priestess. She had the appearance of a young child, but she was actually six whole years older than me. She was also a self-proclaimed guru of all things romance.

  “This does seem like trouble, Note...” added Jin, the final member of the Arrivers and the de facto party mediator. He was also my mentor and a top-tier assassin. “Those two weren’t on such bad terms before.”

  Wait, was he implying this was my fault?! His voice sounded a little colder than usual... I suppose, as the party mediator, he couldn’t just look the other way when two members were fighting. He was probably especially concerned given Roslia and Erin’s rocky history.

  Thus he placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “I’m counting on you.”

  So he was expecting me to take care of this, huh? I wanted to explain to him that even though they were fighting over me, I personally hadn’t done anything...

  “...”

  But one look into his gentle yet cold eyes quashed all my objections. I had no choice. I’d now have to turn to an alleged expert for help.

  “I’m counting on you, Miss Neme.”

  “You’re passing this off on me?!”

  She nearly jumped out of her seat when thrust into the spotlight, but I knew her one true weakness.

  “Please, Miss Neme. I’m begging you.”

  “Nuh-uh, no way! Getting involved in that stuff is scary!”

  “That’s exactly how I feel. But for a mature and reliable woman like you, Miss Neme—”

  “Yeah, it’s nothing! You can leave it to Neme!”

  Yup, Neme was a pushover. She saluted me before running right over to Roslia and Erin.

  “You know, you have a bit of a nasty streak, Note...”

  Trust me, Jin. I know.

  *

  One way or another, the commotion that morning had settled down. It was now just after two o’clock, and the party was taking a bit of a break after lunch.

  “Shall we go dungeon diving tomorrow?” Jin asked out of the blue.

  I’d been waiting for him to say that, but not everyone else seemed to feel the same way. Erin flinched a little at the mere mention of the dungeon, and neither Roslia nor Neme looked particularly excited. Understandably, of course.

  Erin and I had nearly died in the dungeon, and the others were forced to suffer through the grief of thinking they’d lost us. It was a harrowing ordeal for everyone, so the prospect of returning to the dungeon was indeed foreboding. It didn’t feel good to admit, but essentially, we’d only ever been playing around until now.

  After the scare of nearly losing two members, there was a grim veneer to dungeon diving that hadn’t been there before. Countless adventurers had lost their lives to the dungeon, and the Arrivers now knew firsthand they weren’t exempt from that danger. We could all die in the dungeon tomorrow, or maybe the day after that. We could end up losing one of our dear friends and close comrades.

  That reality fell upon each of us like a lead weight, Jin included. He knew perfectly well why everyone was getting cold feet, but this was an important crossroad for the Arrivers.

  “It’s been an entire week now. If we don’t get back to it, we’re going to get rusty.”

  If we stayed away from the dungeon any longer, it would likely elude us forever. Jin knew that, so he’d taken the thankless job of maki
ng such a heartless-sounding proposition to everyone.

  “Sounds good to me. Let’s go,” I volunteered.

  I’d had a feeling this would happen, and I’d long made up my mind that I would be the first to speak up when it did. Force, Neme, and Roslia had all been spared the ordeal on floor 20; they were naturally hesitant to say anything, especially in front of me and Erin. So in order to assuage them, I made the first move.

  They seemed unsure how to respond, however, and much to everyone’s surprise... it was Erin who spoke up next.

  “Yeah, I agree...”

  Her tone was contrary to what she said, but nevertheless... she’d technically consented. I couldn’t help recalling the conversation we’d had the night I finally woke up after escaping floor 20. She told me she was going to quit dungeon diving, then changed her mind after hearing I was going to stick it out. It seemed there were lingering doubts in her heart, and she was doing her best to choke them back.

  “Then we should start preparing right away!” Roslia brightly volunteered next, clapping her hands together to dispel the gloomy atmosphere.

  To her credit, she knew how to read a room. She normally took a certain pleasure in disrupting the peace, but she could—thankfully—be incredibly considerate at times like this. She was acting like she and Erin had never fought this morning.

  “Yeah, let’s do it,” Force agreed.

  “Let’s go to the dungeon!” clamored Neme.

  And with the two of them on board, the decision was final. The Arrivers would be returning to the dungeon.

  “All right, then. It’ll be our first excursion in a while, so we won’t go too deep. Maybe just floor 10 or so,” explained Jin.

  That was a kindness on his part. Instead of heading straight back to floor 17 where we’d abruptly left off, we’d be warming up on a comparatively easier floor. It was a good idea.

  “Floor 10, huh? That’s the one with all the golems, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah. The climate and terrain aren’t terribly extreme, and the monsters aren’t too strong either. It should be perfect,” Jin confirmed.

  The environment of the dungeon changed with the floor—it had everything from volcanoes to snowy mountains, swampland to floating islands. Floor 10 was a simple mechanical factory, however, so the environmental hazards there were minimal. Like Jin had said, it should be perfect for getting back into the swing of things.

  *

  The day we set out for floor 10, we all departed HQ in full gear. Our destination was the Dungeon of Puriff just outside of town. Perhaps it was because of the change in attitude, but something seemed different about the party.

  The most striking change was Erin, who was walking at the very back of the group. She had her head hung low and was sweating profusely along her brow. She was as pale as a sheet. Worried, I slowed my pace until I fell in line beside her.

  “You okay, Erin?”

  “I’m fine... Don’t worry about me...”

  Her reply was stiff and her voice lacked spirit. She didn’t seem fine, which only made me worry more.

  “Are you feeling bad? If so, just let Jin know and we can call off the expedition—”

  “I told you I’m fine... How are you so unfazed right now, Note?”

  “About what?”

  “How can you stay so calm when we’re about to go back to that terrible place?”

  Ah, so that was what she meant. But when I stopped to think about it... she had a point. Erin and I had survived the same horrors, but I was undaunted by the idea of getting back into the dungeon. After the two months of living hell we’d been through, most people would probably do anything in their power to avoid ever going through the same thing again...

  Yet there were no such thoughts in my mind. I completely understood how Erin felt; I just didn’t feel the same way. Maybe it was because I simply wasn’t that smart. But whatever the reason, here we were.

  As I analyzed my own state of mind, Erin’s wavering crimson eyes peered up at me. I placed my hand on my chest and tried explaining myself.

  “It’s not that I’m calm... If anything, I’m kind of excited.”

  “Really?”

  I didn’t think Erin was wrong for feeling the way she did, but I couldn’t deny that I was looking forward to our excursion.

  “It’s been a while since we were all together like this. How could I not be?”

  “Hahh... You really are a dungeon-obsessed weirdo.”

  “See? It’s been a while since you made fun of me, too.”

  After our ordeal on floor 20, Erin had taken a kinder tone with me. It was rare for her to lash out or make such biting remarks anymore. When I pointed that out, however, she waved her hands in a fluster.

  “N-No, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you! Honestly, that’s just what it seems like to me!”

  Great, so she genuinely thinks I’m a dungeon-obsessed weirdo?

  She was probably trying to soften the blow, but that only made it worse. I was actually kinda hurt...

  “I mean, I was trying to compliment your mental fortitude!” she continued, trying to recover. “After all, you’re still excited even after everything we’ve been through... It’s like nothing shakes you. Are you some kind of monster or something?”

  Well, she was doing pretty good until that last comment there. I really did scare her deep down, didn’t I? Her choice of words was rather revealing... I guess I could always count on Erin to speak her mind. It wasn’t like she was trying to be mean, but sometimes being too honest was just as hurtful.

  But if nothing else, I had to correct her on one point.

  “Of course there are things that shake me too. Really, I consider myself rather fragile. I’m easily discouraged and tend to assume the worst... It’s like my heart’s made of glass.”

  I spent half a year wallowing in self-pity just because my childhood friend dumped me, after all. I took it pretty hard whenever Erin criticized me, too. I also got frustrated whenever my training didn’t go well... I was no monster. In fact, I was all too human.

  “Are you being serious right now...?”

  Erin, however, just looked at me incredulously.

  We’d now arrived at the ruinous dungeon entrance and made our way to the warp crystal on the first floor. Erin was in the process of connecting it to floor 10, and we all patiently waited behind her while she worked. Working with the warp crystal was normally her job as the party mage. Apparently you got the different crystals to connect to one another by fiddling with the magical energy inside of them, and once they were connected, you could travel between them as long as you’d been to the destination floor before.

  I, however, was a thief and had absolutely no experience with magic. I had no idea what it really meant to “connect” the crystals. It seemed super complex to me, though Erin claimed it was fairly simple. The warp crystal system was made so any mage could use it. You didn’t even have to be a mage, actually—anyone who could use spells could do it.

  I thus turned to Neme, a dedicated healer, for more details. I asked if she’d ever worked with a crystal or if she could, but all she said was...

  “I’ve never tried, but probably!”

  I then tried asking Roslia, who was a paladin with a few spells up her sleeve.

  “I’ve never tried it either. I did a little bit of dungeon diving before I joined this party, but I always left all the busywork to the menfolk, so...”

  Go figure. I shouldn’t have bothered asking.

  Incidentally, the warp crystal on each floor of the dungeon was automatically connected back to this one at the start. There was no need to program them to return here. All you had to do was touch one and you’d be teleported back to the dungeon entrance.

  Once Erin was done working her magic, Force led the way and used the crystal first. Neme, Roslia, and Jin followed suit... but I hesitated. I stood there watching Erin as she stared at the crystal with a grim expression.

  “Aren’t you going?” I ask
ed.

  “I am. I just... I thought I was ready. But now that I’m standing here, I’m scared,” she muttered as she looked down.

  Months ago, I never could have imagined the assertive and confident Erin saying that. But things were different between us now. After what we’d been through together, we were a lot closer. She confided in me like she never had before. And when I reflected on our life on floor 20 together...

  “If you’re that scared, do you want to hold hands when we go?”

  That was what I came up with. I think we held hands at every possible opportunity back then. I guess it wasn’t all a living hell after all.

  “Thanks, but no thanks... I don’t want to hear what Force would have to say about it. Or Roslia, for that matter,” Erin laughed, seeming to relax a little. “It’s okay. I’m fine now.”

  There, she waved at me and tapped the warp crystal. I was half joking when I suggested holding hands, but I was half serious too... I stared down at my lonely right hand.

  “I wonder what exactly this is...”

  I didn’t have the leisure to stand around and contemplate our relationship, however. I quickly tapped the crystal myself and followed Erin.

  “You’re late, Note!” Force ribbed.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said, waving him off.

  Now that the Arrivers were all together, we took our first steps outside of the safe zone around the warp crystal. We were officially on floor 10.

  To describe it in a single phrase, it was a golem factory. There were production lines running throughout the place, creating golems that would attack adventurers on sight. The farther in you went, the stronger the golems got.

  No surprise, then, that the boss on this floor was a golem too. It was a larger model that could produce smaller units itself, making it quite annoying to fight. But our goal today wasn’t to clear the floor, so we wouldn’t be going all the way to the boss room.

  “Note, can you guide us to any unique golems or rainbow crystal golems if you detect them?” Jin asked.

  “Sure, but why?” I asked in turn.

  Unique golems were special units that didn’t come off the production lines. They often had special abilities and could be a real pain to fight because of it. The rainbow crystal golems, meanwhile, were a mass-produced variety that was notable for their elemental magic and shining crystal bodies. They were tough opponents that inhabited the depths of the factory.