Chapter 311: An Ordinary Explorer - 2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 311: An Ordinary Explorer - 2
“Your condition is serious...! It’s too much to try and make it to the portal.”
“I’m sorry…”
“No, don’t speak. I was originally going to use this for myself, but... saving a life is more important!”
Valeria Lancaster activated a small storage artifact she wore as a sleeve garter and pulled out one of the items that tumbled out.
“Here. Drink this. It’s an elixir. It’s only mid-grade, but even then, an elixir’s effects are incredible.”
“I-I don’t have the money…”
“What does money matter when someone is dying? Hurry. You have to drink it before it’s too late.”
It was purely an act of kindness on Valeria’s part, but that was the nature of a Platinum-grade explorer’s favor—it was valuable enough to bring someone back from the brink of death.
She’s so cool…
Rita saw Valeria’s face through her blurred, hazy vision. Objectively, she was a stunning young woman, but when one added the fact that she was a high-ranking explorer, her worth became almost absurdly high.
“I’m going to carry you on my back and run. It might hurt, but bear with it for a bit. You’ll need to rest at a clinic for at least a day!”
It was a sense of speed Rita had never experienced in her life. The pace at which Valeria moved, her long legs devouring the ground, was more than enough to demonstrate the chasm between an Iron Grade like herself and a Platinum Grade like Valeria.
Rita ended up spending a full day at the guild clinic, and thanks to Valeria’s generosity, she didn’t have to pay a single cent.
*
“Big sister, why didn’t you come yesterday?”
“Huh? Oh, yesterday... something happened...?”
“It was so boring because you weren't here!”
“Yeah! We were totally restless!”
“Right, right. I’m sorry.”
Though she only came for the money, Rita worked hard at her side job at the orphanage for children who had lost their parents. Perhaps because of her status as an Iron-grade explorer, the children were always eager to talk about other explorers.
“What do you think, Sis?! The White Star is cooler, right?!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!! The Red Star is way more powerful?!”
This was a debate that occasionally grew heated among the children: the two Cobalt-grade explorers who split the influence of the explorer clans in the basin city of Mascena—White Star Lona Bishuter and Red Star Kiber Delos.
As an Iron-grade explorer, Rita had occasionally seen the two of them. After all, the entire explorer district would be in an uproar whenever their four-person party entered the labyrinth.
“Lady Lona’s swordsmanship is the best, right?!”
“No way! Mr. Delos’s fire magic is the strongest!”
“Mmm…”
For a mere Iron Grade like Rita, it wasn't easy to rank two elite explorers. After much deliberation, the answer she finally gave was:
“Don’t you think... Lady Valeria is cool?”
“Huh? Who?”
“Oh, I know her. She’s in the White Star’s party, right?”
A tall, slender build paired with heavy gauntlets that seemed at odds with her frame. Between her pretty outfit and her unique front-line class as a martial artist, she was quite a famous figure among the explorers of Mascena.
But to the kids, a higher grade was everything.
“So that means you like the White Star better?!”
“Are you stupid? She didn't pick her even though they're in the same party.”
“Whatever, they're in the same party, so the White Star must be better.”
Mascena was a labyrinth with a relatively short history of eighty years. Since it was nearly impossible for small-scale guilds to authorize a twelve-person 'full party,' a four-person party was the best one could hope for outside of a Great Labyrinth city.
“I don't know, I can't really imagine what Cobalt Grade is like... Hehe.”
“True. To be honest, I’ve never actually seen them fight either.”
The children at the orphanage were equally ignorant of how they actually fought.
* * *
Even after resting for a full day following the attack by the Labyrinth Jackal, Rita’s body didn't recover easily. An elixir worked by pushing the body’s natural recovery abilities to their absolute limit, and the rebound from that often left one in poor condition.
That didn't mean Rita could afford to skip the labyrinth for another day or two.
Because she had failed the gathering request, she hadn't received the fifteen copper coins. While she hadn't spent a dime on her treatment thanks to Valeria Lancaster’s kindness, she was still broke.
In order to earn ten copper coins, she finished her work at the orphanage and headed out in the evening.
“Haa... haa...”
Panting heavily, she ran toward the request board—two meters tall and four meters wide—standing in front of the Explorer’s Guild. If she couldn't find a suitable gathering request, she would be completely out of money by tomorrow.
Once you start going hungry, you fall into a bottomless pit. You have no money because you rested, you're hungry because you have no money, and your health declines because you're hungry—a vicious cycle of misfortune.
Even if one's physical condition is poor, there is no such thing as a comfortable rest for a poor explorer.
In the first place, rest wasn't comfortable even if you had money. A three-copper-coin inn had no private rooms; it was just a harsh environment with a single hearth in the middle of a wide room with hard wooden floors.
And if you weren't a strong, burly man, you’d be pushed toward the freezing walls. When she had more money, she could stay in a room with a private space, but even that only cost five copper coins.
The best she could do was a flophouse inn—a series of illegal room partitions like animal cages, barely 1.2 meters high, 1 meter wide, and 2 meters long—where she slept on a pile of dry, crumbling straw infested with mites.
Even for someone with a small frame, it was so cramped she couldn't stand up properly, and the air was thick with a musty stench.
“E-excuse me...! Coming through...!”
Squeezing through the swarming explorers, she managed to snag a single gathering request form.
“T-this... this isn't for Gray Thornbush Flowers....”
Unlike the Gray Thornbush Flowers, which grew on the 4th floor, this was a request for Grace Thicket Flowers, which only began to appear sporadically from the 7th floor down.
If she tried to push through that crowd of explorers again, Rita, with her small stature, would likely be elbowed and shoved by the burly men. She might actually die tomorrow if she took any more of a beating.
But going to the 7th floor alone was impossible.
I’ve never seen him before!
Between doing something she didn't want to do and dying tomorrow, the choice was obvious.
“E-excuse me!”
“Hmm? Me?”
His features were unremarkable, but he was tall and his clothes were clean. Standing at a distance and looking at the board, he looked like an explorer no matter how she viewed him.
“A-are you an explorer from another city...?”
“And if I am?”
“If it’s alright with you... would you like to go do this with me tomorrow morning at ten o'clock?!”
“Hmm.”
“I-I’m sorry if you don’t want to.... But! I’ll work hard so I’m not a burden! I’ll do all the gathering! And I know exactly where they grow in abundance! I may not look like much, but I’m Iron Grade...”
She made her best pitch. After a bit of pleading mixed with a few white lies, she secured a party member.
“Then shall we meet here tomorrow at ten?”
“T-thank you! But... what is your grade, by any chance...?”
“I’m Gold Grade.”
What’s more, he was a high-ranking explorer, exactly what she had hoped for. A Gold-grade explorer could go even deeper than the 7th floor—the initial habitat of the Grace Thicket Flowers—down to the 8th floor.
“Wow...! I-I see.... Thank you! I’ll be going now, then...!”
Having found a partner, Rita bowed happily and hurried off toward the meal her stomach had been growling for all day.
Yellowish, mostly pale, slightly thin but with a thick, viscous consistency—grain porridge.
It was a cheap, one-copper meal made by boiling an unidentified plant called barnyard millet. There weren't even spoons; it was served in a mug, and she gulped down the lukewarm, foul-smelling liquid.
“Ugh... it tastes terrible....”
This was her precious, once-a-day meal.
As always, she spent the night huddled in a corner of the rough wooden floor, far from the hearth, where the chill crept in, trying to stay out of sight.
After paying three precious copper coins, she woke up to a morning where she felt like she hadn't rested at all.
* * *
Looks like she’s coming.
The micro-bee monster I had attached to the kid I met yesterday was sending a signal. That aside, dinner last night was awful.
“I miss Auntie’s cooking.”
That gamey meat was barely edible. It reminded me of the days when I used to tear into direwolves raw, so I left after eating less than half. And they had the nerve to charge one silver coin for it. The inn bed was pretty pathetic, too.
“Hello...?”
“Oh, you’re here.”
“Thank goodness, you’re the person from yesterday, right...?”
While I was contemplating where would be a good spot to build a house in this town, the young girl I’d promised to go to the labyrinth with last night arrived.
But.
“Hmm…”
Was she always this scruffy? Her physical condition didn't look great, either.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes? About what?”
“Your condition. You don’t look well.”
“Ahaha... I’m fine.”
“No, I’m saying you don’t look fine. Wouldn't it be better to take the day off?”
The girl blinked for a moment, then gave a sheepish grin.
“Ehehe... you’re joking.... If someone like me takes a day off, what am I supposed to live on tomorrow...?”
Scratching her head awkwardly, the girl pulled the request form out of the bundle on her back.
Flutter...
“A-ah. Wait a second...”
Even that, she dropped because her right hand was trembling. As she bent over clumsily to catch it, the request form heartlessly took flight on the cold winter wind like a magic carpet.
“I-I’m sorry! I’ll go get it!”
“Hold on.”
Using Horus’s wind magic, I brought the flying request form back to my hand. The nameless girl’s eyes sparkled as she saw it.
“M-magic...! Is that how you became a Gold-grade explorer?!”
“Mmm... well, something like that.”
“Wow... that must be so convenient....”
The girl’s envious gaze was a bit much. That aside, she really looked like she was in bad shape.
“I’ll just go to the guild to register the request and come right back. Can you wait for a moment?”
“Take your time.”
Watching the girl limp away with an awkward gait, I couldn't help but feel she looked incredibly precarious.
“Sigh. I told myself I wouldn't do this.”
Living with Dora for so long had taught me that selfless kindness just makes you a pushover. But when faced with a situation like this, I realized that a person’s heart doesn't always follow their will.
Let’s think of it as an investment.
If she works hard once we’re in the labyrinth, I’ll give her something. If I stack up some good deeds, maybe something good will happen next time.