I Became the Hero While Paving a Flower Path for My Niece - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Hero Who Paved the Way with Flowers of the Joker 014
Ethan Caldis, the young lord of Caldis Barony, had been remarkably fortunate today.
During his morning walk, he’d found the Cufflinks he’d lost as a child—precious with memory—received praise from his teacher in Management Studies, and during Swordsmanship Training, movements that usually eluded him came as naturally as breathing.
And he’d received a gift and letter from the woman he loved, his betrothed, which had lifted his spirits immensely. Pondering what to give in return, he’d come to the South Gate to choose something himself.
‘This shouldn’t have happened. I should have just called for someone.’
He’d never imagined being sucked into a Dungeon.
‘I should have stayed home and behaved.’
He couldn’t fathom why a Dungeon had spawned precisely where he stood.
Of course, Dungeons could appear anywhere, but for one to materialize right at the South Gate of the Lord’s Castle—right beside him—filled him with dread.
In any case.
Ethan Caldis set aside complaint and focused on escape. Fortunately or unfortunately, five soldiers and dozens of local residents were with him.
“At least it’s not an extreme terrain, my lord. We’re fortunate in that respect.”
“True. If we hold out until the Rescue Team arrives, we should be fine.”
He was grateful for the forest.
Had it been an ice region or a flame region, he’d have perished before the monsters even reached him.
“By the entrance size, this is a Low-Grade Dungeon.”
Just before being pulled inside.
Cain, a soldier who’d seen the Dungeon entrance as it formed, spoke those words.
A Dungeon’s grade could be determined by its entrance size—small meant Low-Grade, large meant High-Grade.
Ethan Caldis had seen it too.
It was welcome news.
A Low-Grade Dungeon could be escaped with the people present here.
“Goblins or slimes, probably. Nothing worse.”
At those words, the soldiers and townspeople brightened, and with caution against ambush, they began moving to search for an exit.
But something was wrong.
Shriek—!
A Goblin Shaman appeared—a monster that should never emerge from a Low-Grade Dungeon.
And it wielded toxins and Weakening Magic,
“Is that a growth?”
“Why does it look like that?”
Black, tumor-like masses of flesh sprouted from one side of the Goblin Shaman’s head.
The grotesqueness of it filled everyone with inexplicable dread.
‘When will the Rescue Team arrive? No—even if they come, there’s a problem.’
Outwardly it appeared to be a Low-Grade Dungeon. But here was a Mid-Low Grade Monster—a Goblin Shaman.
If a rescue party came thinking it a Low-Grade Dungeon, they’d walk straight into disaster.
‘The only knight left in the castle is Loren.’
It struck Ethan Caldis that Loren was the only knight remaining in the Lord’s Castle—promoted just a week ago.
‘Loren.’ Still strange to call him that. A friend, really, a knight he sometimes trained alongside.
Loren’s skill wouldn’t be enough to face a Goblin Shaman alone.
Moreover, the forest within the Dungeon seemed quite expansive. Splitting forces because they’d underestimated a Low-Grade Dungeon would be catastrophic—they’d be picked off piecemeal.
‘If we had mercenaries’ help, perhaps.’
But mercenaries wouldn’t come.
It was only a Low-Grade Dungeon.
With soldiers and a knight from the territory, there was no way they’d swallow their pride and hire mercenaries.
‘Damn it, what kind of Dungeon is this?’
They’d entered thinking it harmless, and it was perfectly suited to massacre them all.
Cold sweat ran down the back of Ethan Caldis’s neck.
Whether from the poison’s pain, the Weakening Magic’s drain, or the anticipated future of death—he couldn’t say.
Faces flashed through his mind: his father, his mother, his young siblings. They’d grieve, he knew. And his beloved betrothed—her worry gnawed at him.
‘Please, someone save us!’
He prayed with desperate fervor that if anyone came to rescue them, he’d reward them, make donations to the Temple, and offer prayers to Solenius.
Then.
Fireballs materialized in the sky.
He gasped, thinking it was the Goblin Shaman’s magic, but the flames fell toward the goblin instead.
“Magic?! How?! Loren!!”
And a welcome face appeared.
Ethan Caldis felt tears threaten to spill. Behind him, he heard the townspeople’s cheers rising.
He didn’t know how a mage had come with them, but there was no time for questions. They had to flee.
First, he sent the townspeople and wounded ahead.
Then Ethan Caldis moved backward with Loren, the mage, and the soldiers, wary of the goblins.
At that moment, the Goblin Shaman cast Weakening Magic.
Ethan Caldis, along with Loren and the soldiers, staggered as though crushed beneath a heavy stone.
But the mage was different.
Near the arm extended forward, something shimmered, yet she seemed unaffected by the Weakening Magic, standing perfectly fine.
‘Did she cast a defensive spell?’
It was reassuring to realize she was a mage of considerable skill.
That such a capable mage had come to rescue them in this strange Dungeon felt like divine providence.
Today truly was a fortunate day.
Though fortune after the worst of catastrophes is rare enough.
‘If we make it out alive, I swear I’ll pray. Solenius.’
Of course, he intended to reward the mage handsomely as well.
Then something changed.
The dependable mage had stopped moving.
It didn’t seem to be from the Goblin Shaman’s magic.
Yet she was simply staring blankly at the Goblin Shaman.
“Mage, what’s wrong?”
Loren’s question went unanswered.
“Ha… haha….”
Instead, she began to laugh.
“Mage…?”
Laughing in a moment like this? Why?
Even when Loren silently asked with his eyes, Loren only shook his head. Of course he didn’t know—wasn’t this the mage they’d only just met at the Dungeon entrance moments ago?
‘So it really is a mage.’
Did she get thorns in her mouth if she didn’t do something mad?
Still, he wished she’d behave herself now. This wasn’t the time to run toward danger.
Then.
The mage, who had blocked the attack with Shield, drew her sword with a sharp ring—! A sword he’d wondered why she’d been carrying.
‘Surely she doesn’t mean to charge them?! She’s a mage?!’
A whoosh—!
Fireballs appeared in the sky. Thankfully, it seemed she wasn’t quite that unhinged.
Instead.
She seemed to have lost her mind in a different way.
The Fireballs hovering in the sky transformed into arrow-like shapes. Then they began to spin rapidly. Scalding sparks seemed to rain down below.
Ethan Caldis swallowed hard without realizing it. Knight Loren and the soldiers did the same. No one dared to breathe heavily under the oppressive force radiating from the mage.
“Die!!”
The spinning flaming arrows descended upon the goblins in unison.
Boom!!
A tremendous explosion, a shockwave, searing heat, and devastating power.
“!!!”
Everyone stared, mouths hanging open in wonder, at the mage’s figure as her Cloak billowed in the wind.
After the smoke cleared, the grim landscape left behind only deepened the awe they felt toward the mage.
Then.
A glint of blade caught Ethan Caldis’s eye.
‘But why did she draw that?’
As he was puzzling over it, the mage moved.
Thunk!
He watched as she drove her sword directly into a goblin’s skull. Ethan Caldis and the others’ eyes went wide.
Crack!
Without hesitation, she delivered the finishing blow, sending a chill down everyone’s spine.
“…Could she have a grudge against goblins?”
“…Possibly.”
But to finish off a goblin with a sword rather than magic—it was more than a little unhinged.
In any case.
The mage really did seem to be one of the mad ones.
Look at her now.
Stabbing her sword in with a thoroughly pleased expression. Thrust! Thrust!
The obsession and madness with which she delivered finishing blows to even the Goblin Shaman—already clearly dead—was terrifying to behold.
So when he saw the mage picking something up, he didn’t even think to ask.
Well, even if a Mana Stone emerged, it would rightfully belong to the mage.
What he truly regretted was that the Dungeon Core had shattered during the fight. If it had remained intact, he could have sustained this Low-Grade Dungeon indefinitely.
Then the Dungeon let out a deep resonance, and openings of various sizes began appearing throughout the cavern.
Exit portals.
When a Dungeon began to collapse, these passages to the outside world would form like perforations, puncturing through to the surface.
Living monsters couldn’t escape through them.
“…?”
Alex’s relieved expression faltered into confusion.
“…Exit portals have appeared?”
Corrupted Dungeons weren’t supposed to disappear even after the boss monster and Dungeon Core were destroyed—he couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
“Sir Alex, shouldn’t we leave now?”
Ethan Caldis asked carefully, watching Alex frown at the exit portals.
“…Yes, let’s do that.”
At Alex’s nod, Ethan Caldis, Loren, and the soldiers hurried into the nearest portal with expressions of relief.

* * *
Outside the Dungeon, chaos erupted.
As the missing people emerged from the Dungeon entrance, their families and acquaintances surged forward to examine them.
“Oh, my daughter!”
“Father! Are you all right!?”
“Get the wounded to the Temple, now!”
The Goblin Shaman was dead and the Weakening Magic had lifted, but the poison damage remained, so the soldiers quickly sent the wounded to the Temple where healing priests waited.
“Poison? Wasn’t this supposed to be a Low-Grade Dungeon?”
“Wow. If they’d stayed much longer, it would’ve been a disaster.”
When spectators and mercenaries who’d come to watch heard of the rescue, they were startled to see the poison victims.
Poison damage like this from a Low-Grade Dungeon—it made no sense.
“What happened?”
“There was a Goblin Shaman.”
A friend asked one of the rescued people who seemed relatively unharmed.
“A Goblin Shaman? In a Low-Grade Dungeon?”
Even those unfamiliar with Dungeons knew that a Goblin Shaman wasn’t the sort of monster that appeared in Low-Grade Dungeons.
“Yeah. It was so strong… without the Lord and the soldiers, we’d have been dead in seconds.”
“Its skin color was strange too.”
“Right, right!”
And the rescued people spoke of the mage dressed as a mercenary.
“When that mage cast spells, all the goblins just died.”
“Yeah! I saw it too! So incredibly powerful!”
At those words, the crowds gathered at the Dungeon entrance remembered the mercenary who’d gone in with the knights.
“What an extraordinary mage!”
Then.
Alex, Ethan Caldis, Loren, and the soldiers emerged from the Dungeon.
Cheers and applause erupted.
The crowds showered praises upon those who had rescued the missing.
As a Lord, Ethan Caldis was accustomed to such acclaim, and he glanced sideways at Alex.
Ordinary mages rarely received such cheers, yet Alex remained composed.
There was a reason for that.
He’d heard such cheers countless times before.
Though, admittedly, they’d been directed at Leo the Hero.
‘Back then, I was shouting too.’
‘Whoa! That’s my nephew for you! Well done!!’ I’d offered silent praise no one could hear.
After briefly recalling those memories, Alex turned to gaze back at the Dungeon entrance.
The Dungeon had been shrinking, and now it had vanished entirely.
It had truly disappeared.
[But wasn’t it said that Corrupted Dungeons don’t disappear?]
Alex found this equally strange.
In the Future, despite countless experiments, Corrupted Dungeons had never vanished—so why had this one suddenly disappeared?
Alex narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the empty space where the Dungeon had been.
Ethan Caldis, exchanging a glance with Loren, carefully spoke.
“Is something troubling you?”
“No, nothing. I just didn’t expect the Dungeon to disappear like that… I apologize. We should have left the Dungeon Core alone.”
Of course, he’d been half-delirious at the time and hadn’t given it that much thought.
Ethan Caldis quickly waved his hand.
Since the Dungeon had already vanished, building a connection with a skilled mage had become all the more crucial.
“It’s no trouble at all. There are Low-Grade Dungeons to the north as well. In fact, demolishing the South Gate and constructing new roads and entrances would cost far more.”
What troubled him most was that a black Goblin Shaman—a creature he’d never heard of before—had emerged from a Low-Grade Dungeon.
The prospect of such an anomalous Dungeon existing within the Lord’s Castle unsettled him deeply.
Perhaps its disappearance was a blessing in disguise.
“Mage, ah—we haven’t even introduced ourselves properly yet. I’m Ethan Caldis.”
“Alex.”
“Alex, if you’re injured anywhere, wouldn’t it be wise to visit the Temple? We have Potions prepared as well.”
At Ethan Caldis’s words, Alex politely declined.
“No, I’m fine. I have somewhere I need to be.”
Leo would be waiting for him anxiously.
And….
[A Temple in another world!]
[I’m so curious!]
It’s your fault I can’t go.
“I understand.”
Ethan Caldis continued, a note of disappointment in his voice.
“Then would it be alright to ask where you’re staying? I’d like to invite you and your companion to dinner as thanks for saving me and the castle’s people.”
“Well, that’s….”
[A noble’s dinner invitation!!]
[A feast!]
[Delicious aristocratic cuisine!]
Alex had been about to refuse Ethan Caldis’s invitation when Ibek’s excited cry gave him pause.
[Let’s go, Alex!]
[Leo will love it too!]
After a moment’s hesitation, Alex asked:
“Would it be alright if my nephew came along?”
“Of course it would be!”
Ethan Caldis nodded eagerly, his face brightening.

* * *
Meanwhile.
Word had also reached the Lake House Inn.
“Sir! Cain is at the Temple. He’s safe!”
At this, everyone in the inn let out a breath of relief. Sophia and her mother, who had been anxiously waiting for news, finally broke into broad smiles.
“Then Alex… the mage…?”
At Haron’s question, the soldier’s eyes gleamed as he answered.
“The mage? Of course he’s safe! Without the mage, things could have ended very badly!”
Leo, who had been worried, broke into a radiant grin.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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