Ruins Guard Request (5)
"What? Are all those boring stories finally over?"
Est, who had been leaning against the stone monument since midway through the conversation, spoke up. She stood and gave the ground a few solid kicks.
"Right, then. Let's get to work. Time to clean those things up."
The word those things was her charming way of referring to the goblin corpses.
Ah, damn it. I'd completely forgotten while I was busy slacking off.
"We'll harvest any parts worth money and dump the bodies outside. You weren't seriously planning to leave corpses rotting inside the cave, were you? The stench will be awful, and it'll attract bugs and monsters."
"Hiiiiiiik... Smell... Sewers... Bugs... I hate iiiiiit..."
The unsanitary keywords triggered Franchesca's PTSD instantly.
My own trauma switch flipped with an audible click. Aaaah! They're coming! In swarms! Crawling along the walls! That horrible rustling sound! The stench-filled sewers! Those blasphemous compound eyes and the sickening legs attached to their exoskeletons! Hiiiiik!! Almighty Akarat, shield me with your eternal light!
"Still, if we've got any conscience at all, we should let that big brother rest," Est said, pointing at me while I was busy having a mental breakdown. "Honestly, we wouldn't have gotten through that fight in one piece without him. He was basically carrying us the whole time, so the least we can do is handle cleanup ourselves."
"That's an extremely admirable attitude!"
I spread both arms wide in enthusiastic welcome. It was a fantastic suggestion. Never mind that I would never have suggested resting myself after hard-carrying the fight. Fuck. This was all because I'd been conditioned by years of grad-school slave mentality.
"It is regrettable that I only have one hand now, but it cannot be helped."
"P-please rest... We'll clean everything up ourselves..."
Even in the middle of her PTSD episode, Franchesca's sympathy for a fellow sufferer was palpable. Without hesitation, I gracefully lay down on the mat. The secret to life is sucking up all the honey you can while it's available.
But this damned isekai world, of course, had no particular fondness for the foreign substance known as me.
─Plop. Drip.
The moment I lay down on the mat, several droplets of water fell onto my face.
Drip-drop. Patter-patter! Whoosh—!
Water pouring through the gaping hole in the ceiling! There wasn't even time to react before the deluge hit, leaving me completely stunned.
"...Well, shit. We're fucked."
The same disgusting, cursed rain that plagued me back on Earth and now in this new world. It was a sudden downpour.
Of all the things I'd experienced since coming to this other world, the most surprising was the realization that nature was a fucking dangerous place.
All that talk about the "blessings of nature" was complete and utter bullshit. The temperature swings between day and night were enough to kill a person. How spoiled did you have to be to think of pajeon and makgeolli on a rainy day? The idea that you could stand in the rain without freezing to death was a luxury that only existed after humanity built civilization.
Whoosh—.
"It's really coming down," Franchesca said, hugging her knees.
Est chewed on jerky with loud crunches while glaring at the pouring rain.
"In all my years, I never thought I'd be stuck inside a cave getting rained on. Moments like this make me want to quit being an adventurer."
"At least we aren't camping outside. The water is flowing out through the entrance, so that's something to be grateful for," I said.
The rain falling from the ceiling was draining out through the cave mouth thanks to the elevation difference. Paragon cleared his throat, watching our expressions.
"I hope you won't hate the rain too much. Since ancient times, rain has been called heaven's grace. Just over a decade ago, there was a drought that left everything withered and dying. This is all valuable experience."
"I'll be sure to drag your ass right under that gracious hole while you're sleeping, so keep that in mind."
"Even excessive grace can sometimes be a burden."
The rain had begun pouring suddenly while we were cleaning up the corpses. To be precise, I hadn't been cleaning, but I still suffered collateral damage from the random downpour.
"The firewood... isn't going to dry, is it?" Franchesca asked with a pitiful expression as she looked at the thoroughly soaked wood.
We'd quickly split into teams—after I reluctantly got up to help—and gathered firewood, but the rain-soaked logs showed no sign of wanting to burn.
"Thank goodness we have lanterns."
"Those idiots didn't bring any."
"My apologies."
"I didn't even think of it."
We huddled around the lanterns belonging to Est and Franchesca, trying to warm ourselves. They were cheap models—thin leather pouches with candles inside. Fire hazard was extremely high and the light was weak.
"Thank you for letting us use the lantern. It's warm."
"I suppose this repays a little of the debt for saving our lives."
Franchesca spoke with a slightly happier tone. I chuckled.
"I guess we should thank the goblins for this."
With the lanterns and blankets, we managed not to freeze to death. The temperature wasn't as good as a hot pack, but holding your palm near it gave off a decent amount of heat. The downside was that Paragon was doing the same thing on the opposite side, which didn't exactly improve my mood.
I really don't want to be stuck next to another guy.
"Paragon. Can't you use Fireball?"
"I can, but..."
"I figured as much."
"If you already knew I couldn't, why did you ask?"
Because it's fucking cold, you idiot. Even though it was still autumn, the perceived temperature had plummeted in an instant. I had zero interest in the rain pouring down on the ruins. It wasn't enough to kill me, but it was steadily draining my stamina.
At that moment, Est—who was also wrapped in a blanket like me—snapped her fingers as if she'd had a brilliant idea.
"That's it! Why don't we just hug each other for warmth? We've got two men and two women! We can pair up by gender—men with men, women with women!"
"The part about two men and two women sounded rather hopeful at first," Paragon said.
"I have zero desire to hug a monk who only spouts nonsense. Oh, but you two can go ahead if you want."
"She said it's fine. What do you think?"
"Let's do it."
Est asked Franchesca. The latter, who had been pulling her hood down to preserve every scrap of body heat, answered immediately as if she'd been waiting for the question.
"Good. Then I'll just warm up a bit and come back."
Est stood up with her short spear and moved to a spot where the rain wouldn't splash, swinging the weapon around. She was trying to raise her body temperature through movement.
"Hm. That looks like something I could imitate."
Paragon, who had been blowing on his hands, stood up holding his staff.
"Wouldn't you like to join us? As a priest of the God of Abundance, I can tell this rain will continue for some time."
"I would've appreciated that information before it started raining."
"My apologies. I can only use healing magic. If I had any other abilities, I wouldn't have become an adventurer."
"How tragic."
Healing magic was the specialty of the priests of the God of Abundance. That didn't mean priests of other gods couldn't use it. For priests, healing magic was like an English proficiency score. It was a required skill if you wanted to pursue higher studies. Knowing only healing magic was enough to make a living. But if that was your entire spec, it became rather awkward to do anything substantial. Most priests could use healing magic anyway. Those who struggled financially among them probably ended up becoming adventurers.
...I hope this guy at least got permission from the church before leaving. Please don't let him be some heretical anti-communist priest who got fed up with the church's food rations and defected to the free market.
"Anyway, Nord. Are you just going to sit there? If you stay still in this cold, you'll really freeze to death. Unless you wrap yourself in thick beast pelts, that is."
"Pray to the Sky God (yáǵeswō deiwōm dyeus)"
⟨ Beast Regression ⟩
"Oh, fuck."
Thank you, Verimuchi. I'd completely forgotten. I took Paragon's advice and activated Beast Regression. The primitive sorcery that granted a human body the power of a beast was instantly effective. As green mana enveloped me, the cold was almost completely blocked.
"This is fucking versatile. The primitives must have been pretty capable."
"This is incredibly irritating. When I return to the church, I will definitely learn Keeping Warm."
"Wow, I'm so jealous."
"Damn it."
Grumbling, Paragon went off to warm up his body. I focused on conserving my mana as much as possible. I tried adjusting the thickness of the mana circuits spreading through my body. With the sensation of my blood vessels contracting, I succeeded easily.
"Heh, succeeded in one try. As expected, I'm a genius."
I muttered in satisfaction and watched Est exercise. She was performing typical spear techniques, swinging her weapon.
"Your movements are different from when you were fighting the goblins?"
"Huh? Of course. I have a shield, so why would I only use the spear? My weapon is a short spear. Without a shield, it's worse than a sword."
Were the short spear and shield a set? I recalled old man Gentric's impressive performance in the sewers.
"Are the short spear and shield a good combination? The adventurer I saw last time used them too."
Since Est had finished her exercises and returned, I asked her. She wiped away her sweat and gave a small laugh.
"Calling it a good combination is a bit much. It's a weapon that's easy for adventurer warriors who lack confidence in their skills. Short spears and wooden shields are easy to handle and cheap."
"Doesn't a wooden shield break easily?"
"It's sturdier than you think. Unless it's a monster on the level of a Silver-class or higher, it won't break easily. Oh, Franchesca. The smell is gone now, right?"
"Yes. You didn't need to worry about it."
Est, having wiped off all her sweat, pulled Franchesca into a hug. Thanks to their height difference, it looked like she was hugging a doll.
"Wooden shields are usually designed to handle weapons getting stuck in them. That way, while the enemy is struggling to pull their weapon free, you can attack."
Franchesca, nestled perfectly in Est's embrace, spoke up.
"Oh. So wooden shields are actually okay even if they get pierced?"
"What are you talking about? Of course it's not okay. The repair costs are enormous. If it gets completely destroyed, you have to buy a new one. This is definitely a business tactic."
Est, who was a money-conscious bottom-tier adventurer, spoke with clear dissatisfaction. Still, from what I was hearing, the short spear seemed like a fairly convenient weapon. In the real world, the spear was called the King of All Weapons. Yet it wasn't very popular among adventurers. The main reason was that it was difficult to swing in tight spaces. The cave we were in right now was a perfect example. The inner area with the ruins was wide, but the passage leading to the entrance was extremely narrow. In a space that tight, there was no room to swing a spear. Trying to perform spear techniques in an area enclosed by walls on all sides would just result in the weapon constantly hitting obstacles, turning the fight into a pathetic comedy.
"The short spear is a weapon specialized for thrusting. If you're not going to swing it, there's no need to obsess over length, right? On the contrary, an unskilled fighter will be in big trouble if the enemy grabs their spear shaft."
"A hundred times correct."
The spear's true power came from swinging. It was no coincidence that Guan Yu's signature weapon was the Blue Dragon Crescent Blade. The crescent blade and the fangtian huaji were the ultimate evolutions of the spear. In that sense, the short spear could be seen as a weapon that sacrificed the spear's damage output in exchange for faster attack speed and lower equipment requirements.
"Block with the shield, thrust with the short spear. Pretty simple, right? The fact that a third daughter from a poor merchant family in the countryside like me can make a living as an adventurer is all thanks to this short spear and shield."
"I'm jealous that you can use it without thinking. Fighting while trying to use your brain is incredibly difficult."
Swordsmanship required precise control of attack range, careful footwork, and important counterattacks and defense. That's why a noob with bad fundamentals like me would narrow my field of vision by overthinking during battle and end up getting stabbed in the back.
Just like how my sword got stuck in a goblin's body and I took a hit this time.
This wasn't a problem that could be solved by wearing a helmet. In this world, there were plenty of creatures that could shatter helmets, and if you fell and dropped your weapon, even full plate armor wouldn't save you. The narrow field of vision was the issue, so doing something that narrowed it even further was completely backwards. In that regard, the short spear and shield were incredible equipment. It was like a broken deck in a TCG game. No matter what the opponent's field looked like, you could win just by looking at your own hand and your right hand. A total beginner's broken deck. Fuck, that's so cool!
"I've been thinking about changing my weapon lately too. Even though I haven't been using a sword for very long."
When I said that, Est chuckled with amusement.
"I'm a short spear user myself, but I wouldn't really recommend it. They say weapons that don't require skill are hard to improve with."
"Is that so? For me, safety is the most important thing."
"Safety-first has different methods. You're not like me, trying to scrape by day to day. You've got ridiculous strength. You aren't planning to stay Iron-class forever, are you?"
"Your evaluation of my skills is too generous, but I roughly understand what you're trying to say."
Combat power in this world was the product of physical ability and combat technique. And the short spear and shield's nigawa style wasn't very suitable for improving combat technique. No matter how many times you fought, the main strategy was just holding up your shield, maintaining distance, and winning through attrition. In TCG terms, kids who used broken decks would quit once the ranked ladder got higher. In the world of veterans, there was a clear wall that couldn't be overcome by simply rolling a brainless broken deck.
"Those are quite wise words. There's a similar saying among the proverbs I know," Paragon said as he returned, barely having broken a sweat.
"A priest who relies on the convenience of magic cannot achieve greatness. For he is not one who creates miracles, but one who begs for them... or so it is said."
That guy seems better than someone who can't even rely on miracles. I thought this while looking at the monk who couldn't even start a campfire. Even setting aside Fireball since it was a mage's spell, if he knew even one spell that could create a spark, we wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble.