Despite the fact I was suspecting a trap from this Iron fellow all this time, we reached the "Village District" with no worse for wear after we escaped the skellies of the Halloween District.

And boy does this place live up to its name. It is a real village, scratch that, a real city full of life! Or, as much "life" you can have when the whole populace is made out of different types of undead creatures. Skeletons, Zombies, Ghouls, Ghosts, you name it!

There's no hostility in the air, unlike the Zombies in the Graveyard District or the Lesser Lich's subordinate in the Halloween District. If anything, curiosity is filling the undead creatures' (some non-existing) eyeballs.

"Iron! You have returned! Thank the Netherworld you are safe."

A Skeleton came and greeted Iron. The ghostly knight casually waved back without replying, but that's Iron's normal state. I've gathered that much from the short time we've been together.

"Where are my manners? My name is Merwell Tirnog. I am a Skeleton Wiser and the mayor-like person in this humble village, Tirnog" said the Skeleton with the most polite tone I've heard in forever. Our group is the one who's lacking in manners.

And this guy and Iron's last name is based after this place? I guess that's a thing...

"It is a pleasure. I am Filyn Nequitas, the CEO of the Nequitas Security Organization." - Filyn

What the-!? ...I get it. This is her "work face", isn't it? I guess it's my turn now...

"The name's Garami. The Guild Master for the Guild 'Nightmare Voyagers', and at the moment, this one here's bodyguard...of sorts." - Garami

"...? ??? V-very well. It is an honor to have you both here at our humble village..." - Merwell

Did we overload him with too many new terms? These guys are pretty much hermits to the rest of the world.

"And may I ask why we have this honor? Sir Iron brought you here, so...?" - Merwell

"Kukuku~. Be glad, my walking corpses! Today, someone has descended to your home in hell to fulfill your dearest wishes!" - Filyn

We're the ones who need to do all the wish-granting though.

---

One explanation later:

"O-oh! I see. So Sir Iron has finally obtained the allies for his quest...!" - Merwell

The Skeleton Wiser said so with tears in his (non-existing) eyes after we told our story to him in the village's mayor's office. By the way, Mira is taking a look at the village with Iron as her guide. It helps to get to know your "allies".

"Are you people in that much of a crisis?" - Garami

"Well, you could say that. This town, or to be more precise, the castle used to be a construction known as a 'Dungeon' in the past, but after a certain event where the royal family at that time invoked a great sin, they were punished and the island itself transformed into a haunted ground based on the castle the royalties lived in to force eternal suffering to them for their sins." - Merwell

"Yikes. Gloomy much?" - Filyn

"I am only repeating what I read from the surviving texts that existed before this city was destroyed. However, a few survivors among the civilians had been caught up in the punishment event. The gods took pity on these people and decided to turn the 'Dungeon' of trials into a habitat where the survivors could exist." - Merwell

"Wait. Are you trying to say that those 'survivors'-" - Garami

"Became undead while alive. Yes, that is right. According to the journals we discovered inside the various ruins of the city." - Merwell

For real? That's one ****ing insane punishment. What in the world did those royals do to make things go so bad?

But other than that, the story mostly matches what Bloom had discovered. Other than the secret behind this "great sin", we have this "Tir na Nog mystery" completely solved.

"Okay, I get the story here. But where do you guys come into the picture? Don't tell me you're those civilians." - Garami

It's quite possible they could be the idiot royals who made this mess in the first place. If the common folk got turned undead, the royalty would face the same fate...or worse.

"No, we are not. A few decades after the incident, undead-type aether started to pool together, allowing the birth of us natural undead. That includes us in the Village District and the ghouls working in the Hotel District. We have also confirmed that the undead born in the Graveyard District, Halloween District, and the Church District are still loyal to the royal crown, even now." - Merwell

So the Dungeon Master royalty who was punished back then is still alive. As much as being turned into an immortal undead can be classified as "being alive". Either that or someone else is in control over the Dungeon Core, but I doubt anyone would want such a messed-up Dungeon. The only crazier example I can come up with is the Water-Knot, and it was connected to a Disaster.

"And that is the reason why Iron asked for help? These 'royal-serving undead' are a threat to your village, so the best thing is to get rid of the Dungeon-part of this island altogether." - Garami

I can easily see them gather a horde and assault the village if their numbers grow too high. Good thing both the Graveyard and Halloween have a sharp drop in undead population now thanks to yours truly.

"Y-yes! Ah, but not 'everything'. The great dome above protects our kind from the sunlight, so we need it intact." - Merwell

Right. The undead hates the sun more than I do. And that's saying something.

"That's easy-peasy, lemon squeezy! We'll kick this undead tyrant out of their castle and move you guys in there in no time!" - Filyn

Filyn started to promise stuff right off the bat. Come on...

Hold it! When did we say that the royalty was still alive? I had the same line of thoughts... I sometimes forget, but Filyn is smarter than she appears.

"Y-you will!? We do not have that much to offer, but if you could-" - Merwell

"No problem~. The castle's treasures are worth everything~. FYI, you should bring your furniture when you're moving in." - Filyn

"You're planning on having them move into the castle!?" - Garami

"Why wouldn't I? There may be the case that the mastermind will destroy the dome, or the dome gets destroyed if the mastermind dies." - Filyn

"M-mastermind?" - Merwell

"Don't mind that~. In any case, we'll have you guys safe inside the castle even if the worst-case scenario is that the dome goes bye-bye. Not that I'll allow the mastermind to do that~. You have the Filyn guarantee on that~." - Filyn

Just how effective is that guarantee? Even skull-face here has his doubt shown on said face. Despite the obvious difficulties in doing that.

"...Let us just ignore the possible base-destruction-due-to-the-death-of-the-mastermind for now and focus on getting into the castle. Mr. Merwell, do you have any clues regarding that?" - Garami

"Ah, yes. To enter the castle...... I am sorry. We have lived in this town for a long time, but nothing like that has ever been found as far as I know." - Merwell

"Did you check everywhere on the island?" - Garami

If the castle walls are invincible by the few remaining Dungeon functions, then they shouldn't be "impossible" to break through as long as you follow the logic behind the walls. There is no such thing as a Dungeon you cannot clear. No matter how difficult it seems, there HAS to be a way to the Dungeon Core. I cannot believe this place has lost this most fundamental rule behind any Dungeon.

"Everywhere...? I am sorry, but there are not many of us who dare to walk outside the city's walls-" - Merwell

"No worries there. I'm talking about anything within the dome." - Garami

The "key" to the castle should be somewhere within the Dungeon's area. The dome should cover all that, so anything outside it has low odds of being related to unlocking this Dungeon's defenses. The Dungeon can extend further than the city walls, but that can be looked at if we don't find anything within the city.

"Oh, that is all. Hmm, the Hotel District is run by the ghouls living there who have not told me of anything strange, and we have done our investigation of that District as it is so close to the castle. The Horror Hills District is as empty as it looks, and there is nothing here in the village. As for the hostile districts, they are too dangerous for us to search there. However..." - Merwell

"Did you remember something?" - Garami

"Take a look at this." - Merwell

Merwell revealed a map of the island on his desk. It is divided into eight districts, just like the one I saw at the station, but its coloring is different. The Halloween District, Graveyard District, and the Church District we've yet to be at are colored black, while the areas with no hostiles are colored white. The castle is red, but the Theater District past the Church District is grey and has a large question mark on it.

"This area here," said Merwell as he pointed at the Theater District "is a location we have yet to fully understand. The most we know about it is that there are no undead being born there."

"And that is important because... Wait, I understand now. No undead born there means something is sucking up that undead aether stuff before new undead can be 'born'. And I suspect you're gonna say the 'hostile districts' such as Halloween and Graveyard are also examples of these no-birth zones, so there's gotta be something going on with the Theather District if there's no undead, artificial or natural, there at all." - Garami

"Y-yes! That is exactly it!" - Marwell

"Do you now get why I hired this girl?" - Filyn

And here I thought it was because of my outstanding good looks~(lol).

Jokes aside, it seems we're going to watch a mystery play at the Silver Key Theater. All that stands in our way is this Church District, and going by the process of elimination, after Zombies in the Graveyard District and Skeletons in the Halloween District, I'm sure we're going to see some nasty ghosts of priests and nuns now...

---

Later, at the Church District:

"I didn't sign up for this!!" - Garami

True to its name, the Church District is made out of countless buildings a demon like me would rather stay far away from. I'd say the ratio of churches VS other buildings is divided by 70:30. Just how faithful was this city before the "extinction event"? Not that it helped to prevent the "great sin", but I digress.

In the present, the once-magnificent buildings have grown weary from tear and time. Especially the tear. Because there's a ton of undead dragons wandering these formerly holy streets.

"And here I expected ghosts..." - Mira

"Affirmative. This is a common response if people visit this location after having seen the Graveyard and Halloween." - Iron

The local knight of iron responded to our surprised outbursts with a knowing expression. Is he speaking from personal experience?

Now I know why the Theater District is a big unknown for the village undead. These dragons are making it too difficult to travel to that location. It's not impossible, proven by the few pieces of information that Merwell had, but the dragons seem to be able to travel into the Theater District if enough of a ruckus is made there.

A heavy-handed investigation is impossible, which is why we're treated to the sorry state...of various undead dragons being butchered by a swordswoman from hell. And yes, I'm talking about Filyn.

"She is having the time of her life over there." - Mira

"Is this fine? Is she, not a VIP?" - Iron

"You could say that. And you could also say she's a VDP." - Garami

"A what?" - Iron

"A very dangerous person." - Garami

I'll have these two keep a look on our CEO berserker while I take a look at those churches. There may be some clues hidden here. And some treasures I can sneak past Filyn's eyes while she's not looking~.