Many students had gathered in the square in front of the Holy Ruins.

　In this square, there is a three-story building called the Holy Ruins Hall.
　The Holy Ruins Hall was also explained to us by instructor Joseph after the magic class.

　The Holy Ruins Hall is where the students prepare for the Holy Ruins.
　Although it is a building with the name of a place to rent a room in the hall and discuss strategy, other support is also very good.
　Weapons and armor are lent out, tools and preservatives are sold to help you in your search, the procedures for exemption from classes for long term search, and crystals obtained in the ruins are purchased, and many other things related to the search of the Holy Ruins are supported.
　By the way, you can prepare the weapons and tools by yourself.

　Take a quick look at the square.
　Here and there you can see students sitting in a circle or discussing something at a table.
　There are several crystal lights in the square as well, so that even after the sun goes down, the darkness does not obstruct the view.

　In terms of feeling, there would be a lot of new students, right?
　Well, it's only today that the ban on new students entering the Holy Ruins was lifted, so it's not surprising that the place is thriving.
　Besides, there seems to be a lot of upperclassmen who have come to watch the rookies for fun.
　The reason why there wasn't a single person in the room when I was chasing after Currier-san a while ago is because, perhaps, students were gathering here.

''Hm?''

　That's........Ira.
　
　Are they going to the Holy Ruins now, too?
　They are all dressed not in uniforms, but in armor and cloaks, as if to say that they are going to attack the dungeon now.
　Ira-san is carrying a saber at her waist.
　Perhaps she's emphasizing ease of movement, her armor is also relatively light.
　There was something of a stylish atmosphere to the whole thing.
　.........Ira-san, nice.

　I look at the surroundings with a look of puzzlement.

　There was no sign of Cecily-san or Asaro.
　Maybe they haven't come here today, or maybe they're already diving.......

''..........''

　Well.
　I'll see what I can do.
　For now, I'll just dive one level today and come back soon....
　I also need to formulate a plan for how I'm going to attack the game solo.

　And then.

　One corner of the plaza - a square, flat, stage-like area surrounded by an iron fence and ceiling - was enveloped in a blue-white light.
　At the four corners of the stage, majestic pillars with embedded crystals stood, and the crystals embedded in the pillars also emitted a strong light.

'Oh, you're here.'

　Several guards, who had been waiting in nearby chairs, stood up, drew their swords from their scabbards, and gathered around the stage.

　In the next moment, five students, armed with swords and armor, appeared on the floor of the square, black stage.
　And besides those five, there was one -.

Giaaaaah!

　The one that appeared with the students was a humanoid white demon with wings - a gargoyle.
　The demons up to the fifth level had been briefly confirmed in the demon illustration book of the Holy Ruins that was handed out after school, so I recognized them immediately.
　........Even in RPGs, they're standard monsters.

　One of the students who saw the scene said, without seeming to be in any particular panic.

It's a gargoyle. So that means they've gone to the fourth level.

　The gargoyle that emerged dissolved, just like that one-eyed giant - the cyclops, as well as the acid-covered gargoyle.
　While being chased around by five students, the gargoyle screams screaming and smashes its body repeatedly against the iron fence and ceiling.
　But it was soon finished off by one student, and then melted away and disappeared.

　The other students, who had been watching the scene, watched the gargoyle disappear and quickly returned to their conversations and preparations as if nothing had happened.
　The students who appeared with the gargoyle also let out a breath of relief as they opened the door part of the iron fence and emerged from the cage.

　They were the students who had used the transporter in the Holy Ruins to return.
　The Holy Ruins is quite a friendly design, and there is a transporter device at each level that will transport them to the ground.
　However, when the transporter is activated, it takes five minutes to enough time to be transported.
　Moreover, after it's activated, a lot of demons will spring up.

　So, every once in a while, like that, the demons would be transferred together.
　Anyway, even if the demons of the Holy Ruins go to the ground, they will melt and disappear if left alone, so it seems that they are not considered to be so dangerous, but even so, the school's policy seems to be to surround the destination of the transfer with an iron cage and deploy guards to help in case of an emergency, and so on.
　In the meantime, retired holy warriors are also said to be packed into the hall.
　If you become a holy warrior, you may not have any trouble finding a job after you retire.

　Hmmm........a transporter, though.
　It's certainly a useful device, but--.

..........

　

　Thus, I turned my head towards the Holy Ruins Hall.

　　　　　　　　　　*.

'One longsword, leather armor and a search suit, right?
Yes, sir.

　The person in charge of the counter smoothly writes the names of the items I borrowed on a piece of paper in a familiar manner.

　I borrowed a longsword (without a sheath), leather armor, and a search outfit from the Holy Ruins Hall, which are the clothes we wear when we dive into the Holy Ruins (it seems that the search outfit is not mandatory, but since many students don't like their uniforms to get dirty or torn, most students wear the search outfit).

　) For students who can't afford it, this is how the school lends the minimum amount of equipment to students who can't afford it.
　For me, it's a very nice system.

　The equipment for loan is stored in a warehouse at the back of the hall, and the students themselves bring in their own used equipment.
　As a rule, students are not obliged to pay for any damage to these items, even if they are damaged.
　The reason for this is that most of the items loaned out are left behind by graduates and others as donations (incidentally, only the search clothes are provided by the school).

　After changing into the borrowed equipment in the changing room, I returned to the counter.

Then, could you take care of this?　One Year Lion Class, at Soraku Kurohiko.
'One year lioness, Sagara Kurohiko...................Okay, okay.

　After quickly writing the grade, group and name on the name tag, the person in charge puts the name tag on the uniform he received from me.

'Are you sure you want to apply for food or a class exemption?
'Yes, we're only going to visit one level today. I'll be right back.
Are you gonna be alone today?
Yes, I'm alone.
'Well well, I guess I can at least visit one level... yeah, I hope I can find one of the crystal shards. That way I can buy some more decent equipment.
Haha good luck finding him.
And, at the very least, be careful not to be 'eaten' by the ruins.
Yes, I'll be careful.

　After such an exchange, I left the Holy Ruins Hall.

　There were still a lot of students in the square, but the number was a little less than before.
　I walked past the gate with intricately carved patterns, aiming at the vacant underground stairs.
　That is the entrance to the Holy Ruins.
　When I passed through the gate, the guards and seniors who were standing in front of the gate threw words of support to me.
　Inside, they said, 'Oh, aren't you a forbidden user!　So you can capture it all by yourself?　Well, good luck with that!'' What did some people say to me?

''Ha but I'll do my best...''

　I walk past the gate, sputtering and fearing.

"..........

　I was feeling pretty nervous inside.
　So, one deep breath.
　..........
　Okay.
　I got myself together and started walking again.

　The stairs weren't completely dark.
　Thanks to the wall's pale blue-green luminescence, my vision was clear.
　Instructor Joseph explained that this was due to the holy elements that filled the Holy Ruins.
　The fine crystals buried in the wall react to the holy element and cause this kind of luminous phenomenon.
　Thanks to this, there are hardly any situations where torches and lanterns are needed in the Holy Ruins.

　After going down the stairs, they arrived in a rather large room.

　There was one guard here as well.
　At the back of the room, there was an open, double-opened stone door.

''Hmm?　You're not alone, are you?
Yes, sir.
You look like you're pretty light on your gear, are you okay?

　To the guard who asked that, I gave the same answer as I did at the Holy Ruins Hall.

"I see, then........is it okay? But be careful not to be 'eaten' by the ruins, okay?　

　I nodded with a reply, ducked through the back door, and went down more stairs.

　-Eaten by the ruins.

　I don't know if this is one of the characteristics of the holy relics, but I've heard that there are many students who, if they are careless with this holy relics, make the mistake of going a little further, just one more level........
　That's what people call 'being eaten by the ruins'.
　........Well, for someone who has had experience with dungeon-type games, it's not hard to understand how people feel about it.

　This is how I finally stepped into the first level of the Holy Ruins.

''Hoho.......so this is the first level of the holy ruins.......

　The aisle is just wide enough for two people with swords to fight side by side and have a little room to spare.

''Well...''

　I pointed my longsword at the ceiling.
　Hmm.
　The height of the longsword is such that the tip of the sword doesn't reach the ceiling even if I point it at the ceiling.

　At this moment, a thumping sound like a stone hitting something rang out.

　Perhaps the internal structure of the Holy Ruins had changed.
　Apparently, the Holy Ruins is like a living thing, and the structure changes every time you enter it.
　Therefore, mapping is useless.
　This is also the reason why it is not possible to build structures in the Holy Ruins.

　I look around.
　I don't see any other students.
　According to one theory, the Holy Ruins is said to be divided by the ruins themselves to prevent the parties from meeting each other in the passages.
　On the other hand, there is a theory that the rate of encounters with other parties is higher in large rooms...

　Hmm.....
　So the probability of encountering other students in the corridor of the ruins is low.......

　What a thought, I could see flames blazing in the darkness far ahead.
　........................Is someone fighting?
　

　I look down at the bracelet on my right arm.
　This is the one I received at the counter in the hall before I borrowed the weapons and armor.

　A black crystal is inlaid in the bracelet.
　Apparently, the lower you go down the hierarchy, the more the color of this crystal changes to transparent.
　In other words, the academy judges and evaluates the hierarchy you reach based on the color change of the crystal.
　The details of how this is judged are not yet known, but it is said that any fraud such as processing the crystal into a crystal has been detected until now.
　Well, even though their names are carved into it at one point, there might have been someone who thought of stealing the bangles of a guy with an amazing attainment hierarchy and digging in their name........
　.........well, I'm not going to cheat.

　Well.
　I look out at the corridor that is turning to the right and left.
　Let's take a wander for a while.

　　　　　　　　　　*

　Occasionally, there are doors of a different color than the blue-green walls.
　These doors may lead to a room with demons, or they may lead to a staircase that leads to the upper or lower levels, apparently.

　And there.

　Ugh.

　A bug in my stomach chirped.

"..........

　Hmm.
　I'm hungry.....
　I think I need to take a bath, at least for a while.
　.............................
　Well, I guess it's time to focus on finding the stairs back up and go home....................
　In fact, I wanted to try out a little forbidden curse test against a demon--

　And that's when it happened.

　With a bang, a half-moon shaped hole appeared at the bottom of the wall.

"Heh?

　And out through the hole was a white child demon that was only as tall as my chest - a goblin.

''Ugh, so there it is!

　Reflexively, I readied the sword in my hand.