Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Chapter 1 - 1st Floor #8
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[Chapter 1 - 1st Floor #8]
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Cheon-ho already had a fine griddle in the form of the kite shield.
But a griddle alone wasn't enough to make a proper meal.
'Grilling and boiling.'
Father had divided cooking into two main categories.
The griddle was a tool solely for grilling.
For boiling, he needed a concave vessel that could hold water.
'If I had to choose between a griddle for grilling and a pot for boiling, I'd pick the pot without hesitation.'
'Why?'
'To drink the broth.'
Broth.
Water infused with ingredients.
It could bulk up the volume first and foremost.
And secondarily, it could extract deep flavors.
Cheon-ho closed his eyes for a moment, recalling memories of camping with his father.
A starry night.
Sitting by the campfire, sipping chicken broth with the cold night air as a side dish.
That feeling from back then.
The kind of satisfaction you get from eating cup ramen after a long day at the pool.
'A father, why are you so obsessed with eating?'
He remembered the question he'd asked as a child.
And along with it, his father's answer, which encapsulated the truth of the world.
'Of course. Everything we do is to eat and survive, isn't it?'
Since it's all for eating and living, we might as well eat well.
Cheon-ho nodded slightly with his eyes closed.
No matter when he thought back on it, it was nothing short of truth—his father's words.
Lucille watched such a Cheon-ho with anxious eyes.
What could he be thinking while holding that helmet?
'Ah, I see. He's resolving to carry on the will of his heroic predecessor.'
As expected of the Hero.
I really picked a good one.
Lucille gazed at Cheon-ho with warm eyes.
Like that, a few minutes passed.
Finally emerging from his reminiscence, Cheon-ho opened his eyes and spoke.
"By the way, Lucille, a Chronicle Quest has popped up."
"Yes, Hero! A Chronicle Quest has appeared!"
Lucille, beaming with smiles, replied with eyes full of enthusiasm.
As she wiggled her fingers, new windows of light appeared one after another in the air.
[Chronicle Quest: Adversary of the Plague God]
[The God of Healing, who is hostile to the Plague God, entrusts you and your angel with a grave mission.]
[The Plague God is conducting rituals at altars he has set up on four floors, from the 1st to the 4th floor of the Labyrinth World.]
[If the rituals are completed, disaster will surely strike the lower levels of the Labyrinth World.]
[Destroy the Plague God's altars to thwart his rituals.]
[The God of Healing will aid you.]
It was a quest that would put him in direct opposition to the Plague God.
"Hmm."
He had already clashed with the Plague God enough times, so that wasn't a concern.
Cheon-ho looked a bit further ahead.
"Lucille."
"Yes, Cheon-ho."
"Let's summarize the situation first."
"Uh... about the Plague God's altars?"
"That too, but first, our immediate goals."
The five goddesses and their subordinate forces summoned heroes from other worlds to conquer the Great Labyrinth and liberate the Labyrinth World.
He already knew that.
Lucille had asked him to save the Labyrinth World, after all.
But that was the ultimate goal.
It was hard to call it the objective right now, standing on the 1st floor of the Great Labyrinth.
"You said you planned to summon a hero and descend together? Aiming to join up with the heroes who were summoned before me and are already pushing forward."
"Yes, there should be areas below where the Labyrinth World's natives live too."
"Then our immediate goal is to head down to where those natives live. Which floor is that?"
At Cheon-ho's question, Lucille pursed her lips once before crouching down right there and groping at the air.
Seeing the chalk in her hand, it seemed she planned to draw diagrams like when they first met.
"The Labyrinth World is truly vast. In fact, the 1st floor alone is big enough to fit a whole continent. So each floor is divided into multiple regions. There are areas dominated by the Demon God's minions, zones where the Labyrinth World's natives are the majority, and sectors where heroes have banded together to conquer."
Lucille drew a large circle and divided it into sections like a game of tic-tac-toe.
"Our current location is key. If we're lucky, we might arrive at our side's region right away on the 2nd floor."
"Hmm."
In other words, if luck was bad, they might stay in enemy territory.
"Can't we figure out our current position?"
"We entered the Great Labyrinth via emergency escape, so I can't tell right now. But if we scout around a bit more, we should be able to."
Lucille spoke with a face and voice full of apology.
Cheon-ho nodded for now.
"Got it. And it's not your fault, Lucille, so no need to feel too bad."
"Ah, but..."
"It's fine."
Cheon-ho flashed a grin, and Lucille's eyes reddened.
Cheon-ho continued.
"Then let's proceed downward while tackling the Chronicle Quest. Since we have to go down anyway, it's better to move with some purpose."
Moreover, if the quest description was accurate, they couldn't ignore the Plague God's ritual.
'A disaster from the Plague God could mean a plague outbreak.'
He was already summoned here anyway.
So, like a true son of a hero, he'd make his mark properly.
"Hero..."
Admiration gleamed in Lucille's eyes.
Following his father's teachings, Cheon-ho flashed the smile of a cool guy before looking back up at the light window.
"By the way, Lucille, is the God of Healing one of our side's gods?"
"Yes, the God of Healing is one of the lesser gods under the five goddesses. As the name suggests, she oversees the domain of healing."
"Is she deep in the lower levels too?"
"Yes, she's supporting the heroes from the depths. She's an incredibly beautiful, wise, and compassionate goddess."
"Hmm."
That was a relief.
He'd been worried after getting on the Plague God's bad side, but with a god on their side, things should work out.
Birds of a feather flock together, after all.
"Understood. Then let's not delay any longer and get to work right away."
Cheon-ho extended his hand to Lucille.
Lucille took his hand and stood, unwittingly asking back.
"Work?"
"Yes, work."
Cheon-ho replied with the face of a working man, and Lucille felt an inexplicable foreboding.
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No matter how much antidote they'd taken, staying in a cave filled with Ankabura poison mist wasn't a good idea.
So they had to hurry, and Cheon-ho put Lucille to work as well.
'Ugh... this is gruesome...'
Lucille stripped the clothes from the corpses of the dead Plague God priests.
A simple reason.
'Processed cloth and leather are valuable.'
They could be used anywhere.
Worst case, just patch them up into blankets.
Lucille couldn't argue with Cheon-ho's words.
Following the words of a survival-savvy Hero was the best course right now.
'Ugh... gotta push through, push through!'
With her face pale as a sheet, Lucille glared determinedly. She pursed her lips and focused on stripping the clothes.
It was absolutely necessary.
She had to help the Hero.
While Lucille stripped the priests' clothes, Cheon-ho didn't idle either.
He gathered fragments of the altar for firewood while recalling the layout of the cave tunnels they'd passed on the way here.
'There should be a pantry.'
It was easy to forget because of the status window, quests, levels, and such, but this world was no game.
Giant Rats and the other monsters were real, living, breathing creatures.
So they needed to eat and sleep too.
There had to be some kind of ecosystem formed within the Labyrinth World.
Dozens of Giant Rats.
Over ten Plague God priests.
A group that size wouldn't survive by foraging daily.
They must have stockpiled food.
'The most important thing for survival is water. Next is food.'
Father's teachings.
Water was secured.
But food was still lacking.
Meat alone wasn't nutritionally sufficient.
He needed vegetables and fruits for fiber and vitamins.
'Structurally, the pantry can only be there.'
Having roughly pinpointed the location, Cheon-ho turned his head.
Lucille, having finally stripped all the clothes, was wiping sweat from her forehead and panting.
'Lucille, I'll feed you well.'
Was this the sense of responsibility Father always talked about?
Their eyes met, Lucille smiled brightly, and Cheon-ho pressed his lips together and nodded firmly.
He turned his gaze toward the direction he suspected the pantry was.
&
Cheon-ho's guess was spot on.
Deep in the Rat Hole was a pantry nearly as large as the altar room.
'Whoa, oh wow!'
Cheon-ho marveled at the pantry, while Lucille turned pale and backed away.
And for good reason—it wasn't a pantry for humans or angels, but for Giant Rats.
Corpses of various monsters.
Huge insects.
Unidentifiable moss and tree roots.
'H-Hero?'
Lucille looked back at Cheon-ho with uneasy eyes. And unwittingly, she swallowed a scream, closing her eyes.
Because Cheon-ho's eyes were sparkling.
"Let's take it all for now. It should all fit in the inventory, right?"
"P-Probably?"
"Let's hurry."
Lucille had no say. Her inventory began filling with bizarre things she'd never touch under normal circumstances.
'This is weird, it feels so gross!'
It felt like stuffing her pockets full of bugs.
But she had to endure. She had to overcome it.
Because she might have to eat these things outright later!
'Waaah! Now I've thought about it!'
Lucille tried to shake off the thought, but it was futile. She'd never learned a spell to erase memories.
And twenty minutes later.
Cheon-ho stepped out of the Rat Hole with a satisfied face, while Lucille followed behind looking half-dead.
"What should we do? Rest here for today, or since time's still okay, look for the next campsite?"
"L-Let's find the next campsite."
Maybe something edible besides rats, bugs, and moss would turn up.
Lucille replied earnestly, and Cheon-ho nodded.
"Got it. Then let's hurry. I'll prepare a much nicer dinner for you tonight."
"Huh? Ah... y-yes. L-Looking forward to it!"
Lucille managed a smile despite her pallor, and Cheon-ho thought.
'She must be really tired. Gotta put some real effort into dinner.'
It'd be great if better ingredients showed up.
Gripping his kukri, Cheon-ho took the lead with shining eyes.
The face of a hunter.
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[Chapter 1 - 1st Floor #8] End