Alchemist's Cave

Alchemist's Cave (錬金術師の洞窟) is a location south-west of Castle Town of Melromarc.

Background
Its original name was never mentioned. According to legend, an evil alchemist made it into his base. It was clearly known that he was experimenting on an evil plant and it remained sealed in a chest, with a warning of not breaking the seal. In the past, the area had been overtaken by Vines.

Volume 1
It was first visited by Motoyasu and his comrades to break the seal of the miracle seed to help the famine hit villagers. Motoyasu though had to get an artifact from a maze to solve the drought problem. They went and defeat the guardian golem, as he opens the chest and took the seed, the maze collapsed. Wondering why the maze collapse, he told others the condition to clear is to defeat the golem before the torch at the entrance went out, but Malty says that she thought we don't need the torch so she blows it out. As the maze collapse, the party got separated.

Motoyasu heard Malty and others talking about how his food is terrible, how they had sold the last girl who tried to join them as a slave, and how he sexually harass them all the time, telling himself that it is the monster trying to confusing him, he continues to search for his party. He reunited with his party and left the maze. Returning to the village, he gave the artifact seed to the village head and told him that it will solve their food problems.

Volume 2
Later, Naofumi with his comrades and Magic Shop Owner came to get a magic stone/gem which will enable them to make a special thread for Filo's clothes. Naofumi sees the open chest and reads the instruction of not to break open the seal of the miracle seed, as it would cause disaster. He notices the chest was already opened but went on his way to fulfill his own objective. Like Motoyasu, he and his party also hear voices of his friend, but the magic shop owner explained them to be monsters. He and his party defeated a Nue monster which the magic shop owner suspects to be the pet of some rich noble. They succeeded in getting the gem and left the cave.

Landscape
It has an intimidating entrance to a ruined temple with a cave and it was built into the rudiff cliff.

Monsters

 * Guardian Golem
 * Voice Gengar
 * Nue

Trivia

 * Motoyasu had knowledge of this region precisely because of his games. His success is attributed to the games.
 * The theme of the dungeon is a betrayal.
 * Motoyasu admits that he didn't check the castle library for information, instead relied on the secondhand information about the Miracle seed.
 * The voices heard by Motoyasu in the cave is most likely-be true and it may, in fact, be his comrade's voice, as he saw his comrades already killed Voice Gengar monster long before his arrival.
 * Naofumi concludes that the alchemist was not evil. All he tried was an experiment to make a plant that can withstand famine, but it backfired.