Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Date #2
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“Felix, who the heck should I meet tomorrow?”
The day before the weekend.
I poured out my complicated feelings to Felix.
Felix glanced at me briefly, then indifferently swept the dormitory floor.
“Why are you asking me?”
“I’m being serious right now!”
“More importantly, didn’t you see my honey biscuits?”
Honey biscuits?
My lifelong dilemma getting pushed aside by some biscuits.
I shot back at him.
“Why are you asking me about your biscuits?”
“Wipe the cookie crumbs off your mouth before you talk!”
Shit!?
I thought I’d gotten rid of all the evidence!
I rubbed my lips frantically.
Felix tried to whack me with his broom.
“You punk, it’s fine if you eat my snacks, but at least ask first!”
“Hey! Eat? Don’t accuse people without proof!”
“Why are you two making such a racket this late at night?”
Creak—.
The dormitory door opened, and Hammer appeared.
“Your voices carry all the way down the hall to the next unit over.”
How welcome this iron lump felt!
I quickly hid behind Hammer and reported Felix.
“Hammer, Felix is bullying me!”
“Felix, why are you bullying Yor?”
“Hah, even you, Hammer?”
“Kuhahat! Just kidding! You two look like you’re getting along great without sleeping.”
Hammer was on night watch.
He checks on noisy rooms like this to see what’s up.
“Hammer, perfect timing! Hear me out!”
Hammer was the perfect adult for advice.
Nearly thirty years old.
Who could be better to consult?
“Major General Ezekiel asked you on a date?”
Hammer tilted his head.
“Sounds like there might be a misunderstanding. Yor, these things aren’t about our opinions—you have to listen to your heart.”
Listen to your heart—.
Those words really struck my chest.
Yeah, that’s the answer.
I should hear what my heart says—.
—Acquire Ether.
—Harvest for two hours every day.
—Exterminate Erdar.
Gasp, is this my heart’s voice!?
That’s when it happened.
Dong-dong-dong—.
The alarm bell rang.
Hammer jumped in surprise.
“Shit, it’s the alert bell! Grab your weapons!”
An alarm bell the night before the weekend?
A bad feeling hit me, but Felix and I grabbed our weapons and rushed into the hall.
“Grraaah—.”
“Ugh….”
Some idiots with pus oozing from their faces were staggering through the corridor.
Symptoms I’d seen during enlistment training.
Dong-dong-dong-dong—.
The alarm bell kept blaring noisily.
Soon, Hunter D.S. from the next unit over drew his sword and crossbow and yelled.
“Invasion!!!! Arkham invasion!!!! Everyone up!!!!”
“Ughhh—.”
“Kraaah.”
Shit—.
Corpses popping out of nowhere lunged at us.
“Hand over your Ether, you bastards!”
I threw my throwing knife, piercing their heads.
Zap-zap-zap—!
The powerful lightning-wrapped attack made them drop easily.
“I’m stronger now than during enlistment training!”
Clink-clink—.
Ether spilled everywhere.
I scooped up a ton of it, and my previously muddled head cleared right up.
‘Collecting Ether really is the best!’
#
“Dalkuk, looks like contaminated ingredients infected the low-rank explorers.”
Priestess Ishitar shook her head.
“Hic, how the hell did quarantine break…?”
Soon Hammer dropped a bombshell.
“So, Yor. We’re under quarantine too.”
“Yeees!? Quarantine?”
What the hell?
Quarantine?
“The corpses we took down had some unknown disease and curse—. We don’t know how it’ll affect civilians—?”
Everyone who faced the Arkhams was under full quarantine—.
“We’re disinfecting all the dorms too—. For now, stay in the prison facility under the Great Wall—urk.”
Even telling us to live in a prison?
What kind of thunderbolt was this?
As I stared in shock, Ishitar shook her bottle slosh-slosh— and comforted me.
“It won’t be long. Just tough it out for one day, Dalkuk—.”
No!
One day of quarantine wipes out my whole weekend!
Nimble, Hermit, Major General—.
I’d been agonizing over those three just minutes ago. How could this happen?
This is hell.
‘Those Arkham bastards.’
They must’ve invaded the Great Wall to ruin my happy date.
From this moment, Arkhams were Erdar-level enemies to me.
And so I got locked in prison.
Felix was locked up with me, which made it even worse.
“Why do I have to spend my golden weekend with you, Felix! In this prison of all places!”
“Who says I wanna spend it with you?”
Anyway, that’s how I spent the weekend behind bars.
“Felix, eat well.”
“This is bread I bought from the market.”
Some girls came to visit Felix.
Loaded with bread and snacks.
Why do they all like Felix?
The world’s so unfair.
‘My weekend that should’ve been fun turned into this?’
I was pissed.
As I stewed in rage at the Arkhams and Erdars, someone approached the bars.
It was Nimble, with her tail.
“You guys get caught and locked up every time I see you?”
Nimble laughed at me and Felix trapped inside.
I apologized to her.
“Sorry we couldn’t go to the village together.”
“Oh? I went with that Hermit girl.”
Hermit and Nimble went to the village?
Soon Hermit came panting into the prison.
“Haa, why are your legs so fast… haa….”
She was breathing hard, but?
Hermit looked much better overall.
Her bandages were off too.
“Ta-da! I made a bunch of potions with herbs I picked today! These are for you two!”
Clink—.
Hermit handed me and Felix bright red potions.
Wondering what they were, I squinted, and she explained.
“It’s my ‘Vitality Potion’—great for internal injuries and boosts your condition!”
With that, Hermit and Nimble left the prison in a flash.
Pfft—.
Felix burst out laughing.
“Hey, those two don’t even seem to care about you.”
What—.
Now that he mentioned it, yeah.
They just needed someone nearby to show them the village and make potions with on the weekend?
My deep agonies felt so pointless.
“Major General Ezekiel’s the same, right? Not a date—just something she wanted you to do.”
Felix’s words jolted me awake.
‘Is that really it?’
He might be right.
Maybe I overreacted alone.
“Urk, my stomach hurts.”
I drank the potion Hermit gave me.
To heal my heart’s wounds.
It tasted awful.
“Urgh.”
Creak—.
Then a woman in a white dress entered the prison.
She was stunning, drawing my eyes instantly, and she stopped right in front of our cell.
“Yor, I heard you got quarantined from the Arkham attack? I waited two hours without knowing.”
She chuckled.
‘She waited for me?’
Confused, I looked closer—it was Major General Ezekiel.
The major general, always in uniform, in a dress—!?
“You’re full of surprises, Yor. That’s why you’re fun.”
I knew she was a beauty, but this beautiful?
As I admired her, she waved.
“Well, Yor, looks like our date’s for next time.”
Creak—.
Squeak. With that, Major General Ezekiel left the prison.
At that moment, Felix looked more flustered as he asked back.
“…Huh? Date?”
“Ooooh! Date!”
It really was a date!
Best mood I’d had lately.
Felt great sticking it to annoying Felix too.
That evening.
Felix and I were released after quarantine ended.
“Phew, slept well.”
Even locked in prison, my body felt refreshed.
Condition at its peak.
‘Hermit’s potion really works.’
Vitality coursing through me?
I thought I’d sweat it out in the training grounds.
But Nimble was already there, looking around.
“Nimble, hunting rats again today?”
“…No, looking for rabbit grass.”
Rabbit grass?
“Doesn’t seem to be any four-leaf ones here. Argh!”
Nimble stood up, cackling keheng.
As I stood there blankly, her tail bristled nervously.
“Hey, next time let’s pick rabbit grass together. I found a spot today.”
Her tail wagged anxiously side to side.
“Instead of Hermit, with you I bet we’ll find four-leaf rabbit grass too?”
Thud-thud-thud—.
With that, Nimble bolted far away.
That’s when I spotted a four-leaf rabbit grass.
She must’ve missed it.
“Guess I’m lucky.”
Anyway, I went to the library to look up what “let’s pick rabbit grass” meant.
There, amid stacks of books, Hermit was studying hard.
“Hermit, whatcha doing.”
“Studying, what else… Ah, that’s a ‘four-leaf rabbit grass’!”
Thud-thud—.
Hermit rushed over to me.
She was thrilled at the rabbit grass in my hand.
“Nimble said four-leaf rabbit grass symbolizes luck in druid spells! Where’d you get this?”
“Oh? Just picked it up on the way.”
“You brought it for me!”
Heh-heh-heh—. Hermit grinned.
She showed off the coin pouch around her neck.
“Newbie, this talisman’s the one you made me, right!”
…It only had one coin inside, she wasn’t complaining about that, was she?
I worried subtly, but Hermit glared at Felix.
“Felix didn’t have anything like this even when his teammate was sick. Hammer didn’t either. Only we look out for each other.”
“…Really!?”
“And wearing the talisman like this seems to boost my magic success rate!”
“Nah, that’s gotta be placebo.”
“It’s real! Plus with the rabbit grass—.”
Whoosh—.
Hermit snatched the four-leaf rabbit grass from my hand.
She popped it in her mouth with various herbs and chewed.
“Ugh, just watching makes my mouth pucker.”
“Ptoo—.”
Hermit spat out the herb mush.
She used it like paint to draw a magic circle on the floor.
“Done. This should raise the magic success rate!”
“What spell is this?”
“Dimension Gate!”
“Dimension Gate?”
“When they did teleport magic in Cunning Town, various coordinates flashed in my mind! One was the Goblin Kingdom!”
Goblin Kingdom—what’s that?
I wasn’t thrilled, but Hermit dramatically raised her hands.
“This is huge! Goblins are famous for greed, so their kingdom must be piled with treasure.”
“Ooooh!”
“Problem is the low odds of the teleport working right. But with this luck talisman and rabbit grass mixed in, it should be fine.”
—Aser Potie!
Hermit chanted the weird spell.
Then hum-hum—a bizarre light poured out, forming a door like a tall mirror in the air.
Hum, huuuum—.
The magic door hummed like angry bees.
The dozing Knight Saxon jolted awake.
“Miss Hermit! Aren’t unstable coordinate dimension gates forbidden? They could connect to dangerous places—be careful!”
“A taboo spell once or twice—what’s the big deal!”
“Jeez, this is why mages from the Magic Tower are…!”
Hermit had no qualms about forbidden magic.
Committing crimes openly and proudly?
She’d make a great thief.
Anyway, we decided to head to this “Goblin Kingdom” connected by the portal at dawn tomorrow.
‘Might be stuff Ashibar would love.’
‘Like female goblins?’
Problem was the party size: four people.
Our party was five now—.
‘…They won’t tell me to sit this out, right?’