Live Dungeon! Chapter 95, Cleaning Up

The Explorers, basking in the rush of their victory over the Devourer Dragon, returned to the city to see the security and medical staff cleaning the aftermath of everything. Collapsed buildings and dead bodies were all over the place, and the injured were being either transported away or treated on the spot. It was only then that Tsutomu realized just how many casualties there were.

Most of the corpses laid under white cloth were beginner and intermediate Explorers who had declined to comply with the evacuation request. There were some high-level Explorers among them as well, unlucky to be hit by the flying debris and weapons on their heads and other vital parts on which Divine Blessing had a weaker effect. The bodies of those Explorers, less mutilated because of their VIT being higher than the average, were left lying with their faces exposed so that they could be easily identified.

Things were even uglier for the civilians who had not evacuated. Many of them smashed against walls with such force that they burst into pieces, while others had been crushed and mangled by the collapsing buildings. Most corpses were so disfigured that they had to be completely covered with white cloth — the ones that still had their heads intact could even be considered lucky.

Underneath those clothes were unorganized placements of mostly arms, legs, and torsos. One girl who had miraculously survived the disaster came over to search through the mess for at least a part of her mother. Tsutomu grimaced at the direct sight of so many parts of what used to be living, breathing people.

The unlucky high-level Explorers aside, these deaths could have been prevented if they had only evacuated. It was obvious that they would die; they had paid for their mistake — was what a spiteful person would think, which Tsutomu did for a fraction of a second, and he felt as if he was stabbing himself in the chest. The rest of the time, all he had in his mind was regret; he wished he could have done better to help.

During the battle, the medical unit had worked without fear of the Devourer Dragon’s roars to treat the severely injured, who surely would have died otherwise. Thanks to such quick decision-making, many lives have been saved. Still, that did not mean absolutely everyone had been saved, since among the body count, well over a hundred were ultimately barely injured but still dead. No one was sure if they should, or could even, be happy that they had managed to limit the total damage caused by the Devourer Dragon.

“Hurry, bring my mom back to life!” The girl shouted to the medical unit. She had found her mother’s head in the pile of bodies, and was holding it up with her hands.

“…We can’t do that.”

“Huh? Why not? Come on, bring her back! Aren’t you all magic doctors? I’ve seen the things you can do! You were always there to help mom before!”

“We’re sorry. It’s impossible… We’re sorry.”

“Liar! You’re all liars!”

All of the medical staff cast their eyes down, avoiding eye contact. Those who died in God’s Dungeon could be brought back to life with [[Raise]], but that skill would have no effect elsewhere.

Once the fact sank in that resurrection was impossible, the girl broke down sobbing, still holding her mother’s head. The child’s cries echoed through the air. Indeed, this was not at all a situation in which one could let loose and rejoice.

The celebrating people returning from the front lines, including Tsutomu in front of them, found themselves immediately disheartened, but still proceeded to help clean up the battlefield. They moved collapsed buildings out of the way, cleared away the rubble, and checked to see if there were any people stuck inside. They did eventually find some survivors, but the majority of the bodies they found were lifeless.

Once the group was done searching for people under piles of rubble, they had the Shell Crab, restored to its full health with [[Heal]], use its giant pincers like a piece of heavy-duty machinery to lift up and sort the debris. The Fire Dragon also carried some smaller pieces with its mouth.

While the work was going on, Tsutomu checked the faces of each of the deceased Explorers. In the end, he was somewhat relieved to not find anyone he knew. Unfortunately, Garm and Amy had to spend a few moments to mourn silently, since they did find that some of their acquaintances and friends had passed.

The battlefield clean-up proceeded under a solemn atmosphere, and before long, the reddish sky started to darken. Regardless, stopping work was not an option; if corpses were left unattended, flies would soon come to lay eggs in them, in turn causing a maggot outbreak. The decomposition would also cause indirect damage such as bad stench and infection.

Light balls were conjured to be set up around the area to ensure visibility. Tsutomu stayed to help while still holding on to the Black Staff, until…

“Give it back!!”

He was suddenly assaulted by a screech, prompting him to stop his rubble removal work out of surprise. Where the voice was coming from, Alma, while being held down by Weiss, was crying out in unbridled rage.

“Give it back, you thief! You can’t do this to me!! It’s mine! Give it back! GIVE IT BACK!!”

Alma thrashed about in a futile attempt to break free. Tsutomu, spooked by how uncannily dramatic Alma’s expression was, looked at the Black Staff in his hands. While it may have originally been his, and its enhancements worked only for White Mages, he had indeed sold it off to the Scarlet Devil Squad in an official transaction.

“Give it back! GIVE IT BACK!!”

“…Sorry for subjecting your ears to this,” Weiss quickly apologized.

“It’s all right. Here.”

Tsutomu, taking no particular offense with this tantrum, handed the Back Staff over to Alma. Immediately upon being released by Weiss, Alma hugged the staff and crouched down on the ground.

“This is mine… all mine…” Alma muttered incoherently, budging not an inch from her spot. From the looks of it, she was so relieved to have the staff back in her hands that tears streamed down her face.

While Tsutomu was taken aback by Alma’s display of abnormal obsession, Weiss approached him and whispered,

“If Alma gives you any trouble later, let me know. I’m sure she’ll leave you alone if I threaten to take that Black Staff from her, though…”

“Ah… yes, I understand. Sounds like you’ve been having a hard time as well.”

“…Sometimes I think she shouldn’t have bought it at all.”

Weiss cast his eyes down, looking somewhat sad, before escorting Alma away. Tsutomu watched them go, while disappointed that not much talk had actually happened between him and Weiss.

And so, the clean-up work continued, a while after which the Explorers were allowed to return home.

“Now go get all the rest you need, boys and girls,” Bruno said.

“All right,” the Explorers answered before going their separate ways, silently returning home like defeated soldiers, devastated by all the losses. It was unheard of for a Stampede to cause this much damage under House Babenberg’s rule of Dungeon City.

“…And Tsutomu, you’ve done everything the best you could. Don’t be so harsh on yourself.”

“…Yes,” Tsutomu nodded to Bruno’s words of encouragement before heading back into Dungeon City, leaving the Security Team and the soldiers to finish up the work.

Amy, Garm, Camille, and the other Guild staff did not speak a word as they walked in a group with Tsutomu. The joy they had felt over their victory over the Devourer Dragon was already all gone. The evacuated people, seeing the Explorers returning in such low spirits, anxiously started talking to them.

From the civilians’ perspective, especially with no updates from the front lines, the barrier suddenly disappearing, and the ensuing explosions and roars, had been quite horrific. They had been so scared that they holed themselves up in their homes or buildings.

“Miss Camille! What in the world happened!?”

“Guild Master! Do you know anything about the barrier disappearing!?”

The people, desperate to know what had gone down, flocked to Camille, the person they knew well as the local Guild Master. Camille gestured for the others to go on ahead, and began to tell the civilians what had happened.

“All right, we’ll be going this way.”

“See you later.”

The Guild staff headed back to the Guild Dormitory, while Tsutomu dragged his feet back to the inn. With a downcast face, he greeted the reception, entered his room, threw himself onto his bed, and fell asleep.

――▽▽――

The Stampede damage clean-up and reconstruction proceeded at a rapid pace. Most of the rubble had been cleared, blood had been washed away, and the Devourer Dragon’s mangled remains had been relocated elsewhere. The Labyrinth Conquerors had also returned from the north, their numbers reduced.

The bodies of the deceased were returned to their families or relatives, and a large-scale funeral service was held… And the blame game immediately followed, with House Babenberg being the first to take the brunt of it. They apologized for the barrier’s breach, and guaranteed financial aid and housing for the families and relatives of the deceased. Moreover, they had to answer to the Royal Capital once word of the incident inevitably got out.

Dungeon City’s populace turned against the news outlets and heavily criticized House Babenberg. A minor riot broke out among the bereaved families and a few surviving citizens. However, there were no casualties among the civilians and Explorers who had either followed the high alert order or complied with the last-minute evacuation request.

The only civilian deaths were from those who had refused to follow both warnings — and the disgruntled Explorers exposed the facts as such one they had had enough. As such, the rioters, whether it be those who suffered losses or the people who had joined to take advantage of the situation, were promptly shut down.

House Babenberg, despite taking a hit to their reputation in Dungeon City, did not suffer nearly as much in the Royal Capital. This went to show how trusted House Babenberg’s barrier magic was, and moreover, the other powerful barrier magic-specializing household had nothing to gain from undermining House Babenberg.

In fact, the other notable noble household, which was proud to be in charge of protecting the Royal Capital, did not want to be transferred over to run Dungeon City in House Babenberg’s stead. There also existed other noble households that could handle barrier magic, but House Babenberg was far better at their craft than every single one of them, being an almost even match with the protectors of the Royal Capital.

The difference that set them apart, however, was that House Babenberg had the ability to alter the nature of their barrier magic, making them highly versatile. Furthermore, in the thirty years since the current head of the house took over, their barrier had never been breached. Their well-known track record was not affected all too much by this one incident.

As such, House Babenberg did not receive much flak from the higher ruling power, and in fact, many sympathized with them, if only because of the perceived number of monsters they had had to defend against. In the end, the Royal Capital provided them with assistance with the rebuilding efforts in the form of Gold and manpower, all free of charge.

After house Babenberg, the organizations that came under the most fire were the Labyrinth Conquerors and the nobility’s military force. Detractors argued that this Stampede had intensified so much because these two organizations had neglected to cull out the Dungeons’ monster populations beforehand.

Though, it was a fact that those two organizations alone had never had enough manpower to do the job in the first place. In the past, it was not just them regularly sweeping the Dungeons; the regular Explorers had done so as well. That was why the Stampedes before now had been of a much smaller scale.

However, after the emergence of God’s Dungeon, most Explorers had stopped going to the other Dungeons, in turn greatly slowing the process of thinning out the monsters within them. Up until that point, the Labyrinth Conquerors and the military force had had to deal with just the less popular Dungeons, but after the change, they had found themselves responsible for the rest of the Dungeons as well.

The issue of their lack of manpower became more and more apparent as a result, and the Stampedes started to intensify with each passing year since. The problem had been brought to attention a few years in, but the people’s indifference and the nobility’s negligence meant nothing much had been done to help matters. The organizations had been left looking out for themselves, and months and years of things worsening culminated in the Devourer Dragon incident.

As such, the responsibility ultimately was on those who had been complacent about the threat of Stampedes. The same could be said for the general populace, who had been wholly lured by the entertainment value of the monitor footage showing the Explorers go through God’s Dungeon, thus keeping those Explorers building their careers around that specific economy. A more specific explanation for this was they had once protested, and successfully prevented, the nobility’s attempt to introduce a certain law — a law that would have made it mandatory for Explorers to periodically assist in clearing out all the other Dungeons.

Once all the past information was considered, the criticisms toward the Labyrinth Conquerors and the military quickly died down. House Babenberg proceeded to publicly hold an official statement of apology, and also introduced the previously rejected legislation.

From now on, all Explorers were tasked with the thinning out of monsters in all Dungeons. With that said, all available information would be provided by the Labyrinth Conquerors and cross-checked with the regular Explorers’ layer progress records, so as to make the process as easy as possible going forward. Alternatively, one could pay a certain amount of G to contribute to the efforts, and in doing so, be exempt from combat duties. The amount for that exemption was quite high, however, and Major Clans with greater financial power would not have access to that option, since they had to be in combat for the sake of putting on a show for the people.

With the storm of controversies out of the way, the criticisms largely ceased, and Dungeon City’s reconstruction proceeded steadily. It took a while, but the scars from the Stampede were beginning to heal.

About a month after the Stampede, the nobility decided to hold a small victory banquet for all the organizations that had participated.

During this time, most were not in the mood for exploring God’s Dungeon if they could help it, so all organizations gladly accepted the invitation.

Tsutomu was invited as well, as one of the Guild’s representatives. He wore his usual white robe, freshly cleaned, and headed to the nobility’s residence.

Seeing Camille in her black dress and Garm and Amy in their Guild uniforms made Tsutomu feel a little self-conscious, but then he was relieved to learn that most other Explorers were in their usual gear. Upon entering the designated mansion, he was led to the hall.

Representatives of the major Clans and the Security Teams were already there, talking and eating as if the party had already started. The overall atmosphere here was slack and somewhat noisy, feeling as if it was not hosted by the nobility at all.

Amy leaped straight to the fish dishes, and Garm, upon seeing the whole roasted Shell Crab, immediately ran over to it. Camille was going to converse with the nobility crowd first, so Tsutomu was left alone; he decided to walk over to the Shell Crab as well, and looked up at it.

The Shell Crab smelled delicious, and was quite popular with all the hungry people around it. A butler served Tsutomu a slice of the Crab’s meat on a plate, which the latter stared hard at.

[So this is what the biggest contributor gets in the end, huh…]

The Shell Crab had played a decently active role during the battle against the elemental Dragons, and its acting as a decoy against the Devourer Dragon was pivotal to the defending force’s final victory. Additionally, its giant pincers and inexhaustible supply of stamina had contributed greatly to the reconstruction efforts. Despite the daily cost of Colorless Magic Stones required to keep it active, this Shell Crab had been kept in use the longest of all the summoned monsters.

Once most of the construction work was done, however, the supply of Magic Stones was cut off, and the Shell Crab finally went silent and still like an unplugged machine. The Summoner who had summoned it was still crying… while eating its meat. Tsutomu tried taking a bite, and it turned out to be so delicious that his cheeks naturally puffed up. He proceeded to eat the rest of it with heartfelt gratitude, thankful for its splendid contributions in every step of the way.

At one point during the meal, Tsutomu was approached by Stephanie and Eunice, the former in a yellow dress, and the latter in red.

“Hello there, Mister Tsutomu.”

“…W-wassup?”

Stephanie’s dress was her usual one, so Tsutomu did not question it, but this was his first time seeing Eunice in this getup.

[I wonder how her dress works…]

Tsutomu looked at Eunice, wondering particularly about how her fox tail fit in there. The latter spun around once and made quite a self-satisfied look on her face.

“Hmph, so now you wanna stare at me, huh?”

“Say, Stephanie, you were friends with… her?”

“W-well, yes. I actually was asking her some things about you — and as I’ve been told, she was your first student, wasn’t she?”

“Wait, you think I don’t have friends or what!? You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Eunice, I’d prefer that you stopped spreading misinformation — my first student is Lorena over at Silver Beast. You’re the second person I’ve taught… but in terms of skill, you’re dead last out of all three. How about you be more polite to Lorena and Stephanie here, hmm?”

“W-what’s up with your attitude today!? That smug is all over your face!”

As Eunice started throwing a tantrum, Stephanie put a hand over her own mouth and chuckled. After that, Tsutomu made some small talk with Stephanie while continuing to taunt Eunice.

“I’ve seen all the amazing things you’ve done during the Stampede, Mister Tsutomu. I am ashamed to admit, I had underestimated your competency before then.”

“Huh? Uh, okay?”

“After all, your abilities truly shone through during those large-scale battles, out in the open… But one day, I will surpass you, even if only during smaller-scale conflicts in God’s Dungeon. Just you wait and see — I won’t disappoint you, Mister Tsutomu.”

“Oh, yes, of course.”

Tsutomu, not quite understanding Stephanie’s intention behind h