A ruthless agent.

I'm Beibei. The leader of 'Shining Sword' and a mercenary from the Holy Nation, hired by the Gidlarga Empire.

However, I'm the only actual mercenary. The rest of 'Shining Sword' are Empire agents. They're quite capable and loyal to me as their leader.

With them under my command, it felt as if I too had become a ruthless agent—and that felt great. They even give me a massage once a day, which also feels amazing.

… The only slight dissatisfaction is the lack of women.

Now then, my mission is to destroy this dungeon.

Apparently, this is necessary to save the world.

Dungeons are evil existences that drain the world's energy and lead it to ruin.

To protect the world, destroying dungeons is absolutely essential—or so they say.

Upon successfully completing the job, I've been promised the title of 'Hero' in the Empire, along with a life of luxury befitting that status.

For this mission, I infiltrated the Paverkant Kingdom and built up my reputation within the Adventurers' Guild.

All to destroy the dungeon.

I even acted friendly toward those beast kin scum. It was really hard work.

Thanks to all that effort, I finally succeeded in leading everyone to the dungeon's depths the other day.

However, the dungeon core was protected by a barrier.

"So Cargo, what do we do from here?"

"Ah. Beibei, you just watch. Migo, Chino."

The twin men, Migo and Chino, both took out magic tools.

They fiddled with the barrier for a bit, and it thinned before disappearing.

Apparently, it was a magic tool that temporarily disables barriers.

"All that's left is for Joe to set up the time bomb, and we're done."

"Hah, easy stuff. So I'm gonna be a hero now… But why aren't we detonating it right away?"

"Dungeons are living things, you see. They have times when they're not doing well. We can only destroy it during those times. Besides, if we blew it up now, we'd be buried alive."

"I-I see. Then it can't be helped."

—And so, after finishing our mission, we were supposed to confirm the dungeon's destruction before heading to the Empire.

But then.

"Everyone! Listen up! A bomb was planted in the dungeon!"

"What, a bomb!?"

At the Adventurers' Guild, the Guild Master made this announcement.

"Hey hey, then we gotta evacuate quick!"

"Don't worry, the bomb's already been disarmed. You lot! We're searching for the culprit! The Empire's people are suspicious!"

And so, starting with those present, interrogations began.

Our 'Shining Sword' was questioned too. The culprits were definitely among the adventurers who had door guard duty records, and that number was limited.

"Weren't the 'Shining Sword' folks from the Empire?"

"No. (I'm) from the Holy Nation."

"Oh, that's right."

I, the leader, answered on behalf of the group. That alone made the interrogation much simpler, and my silver-tongued companions had no trouble slipping through the Guild Master's questioning.

But it seemed true that the bomb we planted had been disarmed.

This means we can't destroy the dungeon.

"Hey, what do we do? We can't destroy the dungeon like this."

"… Can't be helped, let's go plant it again."

"There's not much time until the next new moon, but should we wait another month?"

"No. By next month's new moon, they'll probably have countermeasures. Going now would actually be faster."

"The people here shouldn't know that the dungeon weakens during new moons. If we dive in just before then, it should seem natural enough."

Thus, we decided to dive into the monster-filled dungeon just before the new moon.

As a result, we ended up experiencing that nightmare.