Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 42

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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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Chapter 42: The Harmless Dungeon of Dreams
“Did everyone enjoy themselves?”
As we left the Casino, I asked the question, and each team member responded according to their nature.
“I’ve been so troubled lately by worries about Astremia that a change of pace like this feels wonderful!”
……
Pendrick answered with a broad grin, while Rosalia nodded silently in agreement.
“Both of you lost so much, yet it seems you found it enjoyable all the same?”
“When you’re betting coins worth one gold each, it’s impossible not to have fun?”
This is why gambling addiction is so dangerous.
There was a time when I myself got so caught up in a quasi-gambling mobile gacha game that I sank my entire fortune into book purchases, purged my idle thoughts, and fattened my brain instead.
“Astremia, I’ll attach this as a counterweight.”
– Not bad at all, actually.
Thanks to the Beautiful Brooch, even Astremia seemed satisfied, so our work at the Casino was done.
“Now then, everyone steel yourselves. We’ve finished our leisure time, and it’s time for the truly enjoyable exploration.”
I was preparing to begin the serious work of clearing the Dungeon.
“Where are we headed, sir?”
“Just follow me. I’ll take you to a place that’s quite comfortable.”
I led the team to what could be called the crux of this expedition.
“It’s the starting point—the Inn?”
A towering high-rise building that stretched toward the heavens.
At this very moment, Explorers were steadily moving in and out through the glass entrance, some coming, some going.
Since tomorrow would make it inaccessible for another ten days, the flow of Explorers was naturally constant.
“Would you mind watching the rooftop carefully for a moment?”
Pendrick, shading his eyes with his hand and gazing upward, soon opened his eyes wide.
“Huh… it keeps getting taller, doesn’t it?”
Even as we spoke, the hotel-like building continued to increase its number of floors.
However mystical this world might be, it was clearly unnatural.
“It’s happening because Explorers keep entering.”
“Will such technology be developed a thousand years in the future?”
– How could it possibly?
The Ego Sword, who lacked anything that could be called a “head” but whose mind worked faster than even his lover’s, asked me directly.
– Sir Kar, is this a world made of illusions?
The corners of my mouth naturally rose.
Not because he’d guessed wrong, but because he was closing in on the truth rapidly.
“Close. I’ll give you a hint—think back to how you entered the Dungeon.”
– …We lay on a bed as if falling asleep. Surely not?
“Exactly.”
I pressed my palms together and brought them to my right cheek, closing my eyes gently.
“The setting of The Grand City of Pleasures is the Dream Realm a thousand years hence.”
A Dungeon where dreams serve as the stage.
Astremia let out a gasp, having grasped the meaning at once.
– Surely not! Normally, spaces like ‘dreams’ that don’t exist in reality shouldn’t become the stage for a Dungeon at all, should they?
“If a dream persists long enough that the laws of the world treat it as a real place, or if it radiates sufficient influence, it can still be manifested as a Dungeon.”
– Oh dear.
At his lover’s worried tone, Pendrick blinked his eyes slowly.
“What’s wrong, Astremia?”
“Pendrick, do you know the most fundamental rule that every Explorer must understand?”
When I posed the question on behalf of the anxious Ego Sword, Pendrick seemed to realize something, and his expression hardened.
“…A Dungeon’s environment never works to an Explorer’s advantage.”
“Precisely.”
A harmless Dungeon of pleasant dreams where you can have fun and leave whenever you wish.
Such a thing does not exist in this world.
“A dream that works against humanity. Do you know what such a thing is called?”
……
Pendrick’s posture and demeanor suddenly grew grave.
“Now you understand why I said C-rank was appropriate, yes?”
The moment we strip away the veil of happiness that shrouds this city, we’ll taste an endlessly grim reality.
That was something to look forward to.
“If you’re ready, shall we enter?”
We returned to the Guest Room where we’d first opened our eyes.
The red-haired elf sitting on the bed met my gaze and gave a small shrug of her shoulders.
“What should we do now? It’s simple.”
I answered while casting my eyes toward the ceiling, where Rosalia lay stretched out beside me.
“We do nothing at all. For four days.”
……
“I’m not joking—I’m serious, so please don’t look at me like that. Do you think I’m always just fooling around?”
I nodded.
“How can you nod without the slightest hesitation? This time I really mean it.”
The first stage of exploration to fulfill the Clear Condition.
Spending four days in the Guest Room without doing anything.
“You absolutely cannot go outside. You’re also forbidden from extending your arms out the window.”
“Leader, so we just have to sit around waiting the whole time?”
At Pendrick’s question, I shook my head.
“As long as you don’t leave the Guest Room, it’s fine.”
“What about eating and… biological needs?”
“Hunger, thirst, the need for sleep—they’re all illusions. We’re in a dream, after all. Just relax and sit idle. It’d be nice to have pleasant conversations too.”
If I’d come alone, I would’ve been in trouble with only the Eyes That Penetrate Truth as a conversation partner, but fortunately two Explorers and a sword were here with me.
– Now I understand why the Clear Condition for The Grand City of Pleasures itself is treated as a Hidden Piece….
Astremia let out a mental sigh.
– If what you say is true, we’d have to just sit in this room for four days without moving, but who in the world would do such a thing? Especially since this is a Dungeon you come to for fun.
In truth, it’s a remarkably simple condition for veteran players brimming with experimental spirit, but actually experiencing it is never as easy as it sounds.
In a game, you just leave it running and do something else while time passes quickly, but reality doesn’t work that way.
– There’s no way to make time pass faster, is there?
“A Chrono-spatial Magic user could manage it, but where and how would we bring in such high-level personnel right now? Just enjoy this leisurely time.”
I retrieved a water bottle containing Abel’s specialty tea, Flower Garden in the Lake, from the sub-space of the Radiant Belief, and swung my legs idly.
“This is how you relax at your ease. Rosalia, would you care for a cup?”
Rosalia didn’t refuse and took the water bottle to sip the tea.
After drinking nearly half, she pulled a Toxic Plant from the shadow—something bought from an Explorer goods shop—and handed it to me.
“Is this a token of appreciation?”
Or perhaps a roundabout way of telling me to drop dead.
Since that didn’t seem to be the case, I pretended to munch on the grotesque-looking plant the way a cat presents a hunt to its human as a gift.
Then Rosalia gave me a thumbs-up and pulled out a Poison Mushroom to chew on.
“…Ugh.”
Her expression twisted as the poison took effect, but not long after, she broke into a radiant smile—one she’d never shown before.
“That Beautiful Brooch really suits you, Astremia.”
– Really?
Pendrick, meanwhile, stood idle for a moment before sitting on the window-side sofa and beginning to chat quietly with Astremia.
For a group that had come to Clear a Dungeon, it was quite a leisurely time.
And so one day passed.
“Your skin is starting to turn blue, Rosalia. You should ease up soon.”
……
– It’s actually pleasant just having these conversations, isn’t it?
“It really is.”
Two days had gone by.
– Ugh, why are you eating poison too, leader!
“My mouth was getting restless.”
– Just let it be restless! Your skin is turning blue!
“There’s nothing wrong with living as a blue person every now and then.”
Four days had passed.
“Everyone, now we should start to grow alert.”
And finally.
The fourth day dawned.
The moment the first light appeared in the sky of the Dream Realm visible through the window.
Suddenly the landscape of the great city visible beyond the window was swallowed by darkness.
Nothing could be seen.
Nothing could be heard.
A silence so oppressive it was almost suffocating.
“…Leader.”
Pendrick, standing at the window, trembled and stepped backward.
In the darkness buried beneath that awful quiet.
An eye of indescribable enormity fixed its gaze upon us.
Meeting the stare of that eye—terror itself made manifest—I stepped forward slowly.
“Now the real trial begins.”
A C-rank Dungeon.
The Nightmare World.
“Commencing exploration.”
***
The silence was suffocating.
The world had been swallowed by desolation.
The hush was so profound that Pendrick’s swallow sounded like thunder.
Within that oppressive quiet, the enormous cyclopean eye remained fixed upon us, never wavering.
King of the Dead (? Level)
A giant of unimaginable size. Level disparity prevents detailed analysis.
Even the Corrupt Metedr Statue at maximum enhancement was incomparably weaker than this monster.
We were only exchanging glances, yet pressure bore down across my entire body.
A presence that gradually crushed the mind radiated from it.
“…This is dizzying,” Pendrick whispered, leaning against the wall to barely stay upright.

Rosalia’s complexion had noticeably paled.
This was precisely the moment when the expedition leader had to step forward.
“Please, take this.”
I distributed the Mental Barrier Potions I’d purchased from the outfitter, one to each of us.
Upon successfully entering the Nightmare World, the King’s stare would gradually erode one’s mind—the potion prevented that collapse.
“I feel alive again….”
Pendrick’s color had improved enough that he managed a weak smile.
“So that’s why you purchased nine bottles of Mental Barrier Potion—the expensive kind?”
“Yes. Those eyes are capable of inflicting mental trauma simply by looking at us.”
“As expected, you know everything, don’t you?”
“Don’t relax your guard yet. If more than four days pass like this, a mental collapse will occur that the potion cannot prevent.”
It was a kind of time limit, in other words.
Failure to clear the Dungeon within four days meant death.
“But there’s no need to worry.”
I tore away the obstinate curtains and brushed them aside, then caught the eye of each of my two companions before allowing a smile to cross my lips.
“This is a C-rank Dungeon, but as I mentioned, with thorough preparation it’s only D-rank difficulty.”
Unlike the seamless clear of the Feast Hall of Blood earlier, we would face some hardship—but I saw no point in mentioning that now.
Controlling the truth was essential to keep morale and resolve intact.
There was one encouraging fact besides.
“Fortunately, we don’t have to fight that monster. Strictly speaking, it’s safe as long as we don’t provoke it.”
The King of the Dead.
A Level 9 monster, no less.
An opponent of an entirely different dimension—one that would only appear in an A-rank Dungeon—but now it had just awakened and was still drowsy.
So long as we didn’t strike first, it would not attack us.
It would simply watch, oppressively, from afar.
“Our objective is to find, within four days, the single small patch of white light in this dark expanse.”
Its location was entirely random.
With luck, we might discover it in a day; with misfortune, we could toil fruitlessly all four.
“Put these on.”
I withdrew the dim-colored robes I’d purchased from the sub-space alongside the potions and distributed them.
Night Sky Cloak – Exploration Tool
When worn in dark places, it prevents one from being easily noticed.
Not a luxury item, merely adequate equipment—but useful all the same.
I donned my robe quickly and stepped onto the windowsill.
“Moving out now.”
I jumped down and landed on ground barely visible below.
I could stand, but it was no ordinary surface.
Whoosh.
As Astremia, held in Pendrick’s grip, emitted a faint starlight, our surroundings became clear.
An expanse of cold, deep blue.
So vast that perception struggled at first, but staring long enough brought its true form into focus.

— …the hand of someone.
The King of the Dead’s hand.
More precisely, his palm.
The Guest Room we’d occupied now rested atop the silent giant’s outstretched palm.
“We need to move. Now.”
There was no time to hesitate.
Even in a C-rank Dungeon, I had no wish to die if I could help it, so I led the way down the massive arm.
“Astremia, extinguish the light, please. We must move as discreetly as possible.”
— Understood.
We’d reached the crease where the arm bent when the choking silence was shattered.
Without warning, shadows emerged from across the way—multiple silhouettes taking shape.
“…How foolish.”
A figure advanced toward us, visible only as a dim outline in the gloom.
A priest draped in ceremonial vestments.
My eyes couldn’t quite make out the details, but I had a partner who could pierce darkness with ease.
《Lonely Silent Priest — Demon Race (Level 4)》
《A heretic cultist who commands the Flame of Annihilation and the inverse current of death. Due to racial traits that strengthen them by consuming negative concepts inherent to the Demon Race, physical prowess is exceptional—caution advised.》
A Demon Race heretic cultist.
In the real world, such a combination would be doubly despised—weak, reviled. But here in the Dungeon, the inverse held true: they embodied authority and power.
The Nightmare World was a possible future in which Demon Race heretic cultists and Dark Mages had conquered every sentient being across the entire continent.

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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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