Chapter 78
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Crow Merchant Rumors
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Chwik-chwik-chwik-chwik
A crow merchant lives in the underground ruins.
The exploration teams encountered here shared their experiences with each other.
It was a story about a crow that set out goods and did business in some quiet corner.
"What? A crow selling stuff?"
Of course, it was hard to believe.
How could a crow sell goods?
Even people who knew crows were smart birds had to tilt their heads in doubt.
To begin with, the presence of crows in underground ruins was suspicious.
For them to have fallen in just like the humans because the ground flipped over? Crows were birds from the start.
They could have easily flown away to avoid falling, yet a crow was here.
And carrying a bunch of goods, no less.
Extremely suspicious.
The idea of a crow selling items was unbelievable enough, but if it was true, it meant that crow had prepared those goods knowing this would happen.
That was even harder to believe.
"I'm telling you, it's real. You see this jerky? I bought it from that crow for three fairy tales. What do you think?"
One adventurer confidently held out a piece of jerky.
The woman staring at him made a pathetic expression.
"...Isn't this the jerky they handed out as rations? Ugh, even with your nonsense, this...!"
"Huh? Wait... you're right? Why did that crow have this?"
"There you go again. You're just trying to fool me!"
It was clearly an attempt to deceive her.
Not only was a crow selling things ridiculous, but stealing rations and jacking up the price?
It didn't make any sense logically.
"Where's a crow like that?"
But as she encountered other adventurers and exploration teams, she gradually became convinced.
Testimonies kept coming about buying not just jerky, but hard-to-get items from that crow.
"...For real? A crow selling stuff?"
There were even adventurers she'd never met before.
Were they colluding to trick her?
No way.
It meant there really was a crow selling goods in these underground ruins.
"No way in the world. What kind of crow is that? I'd sooner believe a lizard grows into a dragon. ...Anyway, that's true? Ahem, but everyone just traded with it?"
The items the adventurers had didn't look cheap.
They'd paid money for them—no, several times the price?
"...Why not just steal them?"
It was pure curiosity.
But the adventurers who heard her gasped in shock.
"Once you see that guy, you'll realize you misspoke. It's not a normal crow, I tell you. At first, I thought it was some gargoyle. Huge size. And it twists its neck around sometimes."
"Twists around? What does that even mean? Tsk, still, it's just one crow. We could take it, right?"
"What? Steal its stuff or subdue it? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"
The man glanced at the exploration team around him.
Including himself, there were five in total.
They were all past the novice stage.
Even five of them might struggle.
"Even if all five of us rushed it, I wouldn't guarantee victory. ...We'd win, of course. It's a bird, after all. But it's not alone."
"Not alone? Does the crow have an owner?"
"Not exactly an owner... companions? It had a kiwi bird on its shoulder and a ghost."
"Huh? Ghost aside, a kiwi bird?"
A ghost could be dangerous due to its nature.
But a kiwi bird? It looked harmless no matter how you sliced it.
"That one might be the most dangerous... Its butt looked plump, so I tried poking it... and a horrific sound..."
One adventurer shuddered.
A horrific sound.
What kind of sound?
She wondered.
They'd been talking about the crow for a while when they all suddenly lowered their voices.
Rumble rumble.
A sound of a huge number of creatures moving came from somewhere.
"No way, another rat pack?"
Rats.
These ruins were crawling with them.
Enormous, filthy-looking rats with glowing red eyes racing off somewhere.
Hunting them gave easy meat, but they didn't look appetizing.
They seemed certain to cause illness if eaten, so they'd been tossed aside without a second glance.
Rats weren't a big threat.
That many might be risky, but rats didn't actively attack humans.
They passed by as if they had more important business than dealing with people.
"W-Wait... this is...!"
But this time was different.
Rumble rumble.
The rats ignored the humans, same as always.
But the end of that procession was different.
Amid the giant rats, a beast with brown fur exuded ferocious energy.
"Grroooar."
A bear.
A bear with red eyes appeared.
"Everyone, maintain formation!"
They were adventurers used to monsters, but bears tore through such monsters.
Not that huge, but its ferocity was no less than any bear they knew.
The red-eyed bear charged at the group of adventurers.
Boom!
Five adventurers clashed with one bear.
"Haaah!"
Of course, an ordinary human can't beat a bear.
"I once beat a bear barehanded at twenty-five! Leave this to me!"
But what about a trained human?
A human honed in mana and swordsmanship could beat a bear.
A burly man swung his mace and charged the bear.
"Chwik-chwik-chwik-chwik."
Boom!
As the bear swung its forepaw, the man flew far away.
A trained human can beat a bear.
But the bear before them was a trained bear.
"...Liar! How can a bear move like that?!"
It wasn't just a wild swing.
It feigned a mindless charge to lure an attack.
Then dodged the horizontal mace swing effortlessly, twisted its waist, and swiped with its paw.
Yes.
Their opponent was a trained bear.
A martial artist, you could call it.
"Y-You okay?"
"Ugh... cough... barely... whew..."
Fortunately, he hadn't lost his life.
"Chwik-chwik-chwik-chwik."
The martial bear approached slowly, making horrific noises.
Small in size, but no less dangerous.
The adventurers fought with all they had.
Boom!
"Grab it! Hold it down!"
Clang!
"Yes! No matter how tough a bear, against human strategy... Gah!"
With five attacking at once, they held up better than expected.
They rotated to wear down the bear's stamina, pulling back for rests when it got dangerous.
A way to break the seemingly invincible bear was starting to appear.
Until one adventurer screamed.
"Gaaaaah!"
The adventurer swinging his sword beside him suddenly screamed.
"W-What?! What's wrong?"
Did the bear get him?
No, he'd been on the front line taking or deflecting all attacks, so he shouldn't have been hit.
Yet he screamed, tears streaming down.
"Ugh... m-my... b-body..."
His body felt strange.
That was what he meant to say.
The other adventurers were horrified at the sight.
His eyes had turned red.
Like the rats that passed first.
Like the bear fighting them.
"Ugh... this... weird..."
Thud.
The man bowed his head.
As if all strength had left him, enough to worry his neck might snap.
"A-Are you... alrigh—"
Splat.
He snapped his head up.
Red eyes flashing murderously, drool spilling from his mouth.
And at the same time, he attacked the adventurer who'd worried for him.
"Kyaaah!"
The Plague Witch.
Her plague could control others.
Just like the countless rats here.
Rats are diligent.
They traverse the vast ruins tirelessly.
For what?
To spread the plague.
The plague carried by the rats and exhaled by the bear had finally taken effect.
Now one adventurer had become her puppet.
He would infect all his comrades, then head to where the Plague Witch called.
"No... way..."
The female adventurer despaired.
Her comrades turned into madmen one by one.
Even with five, they couldn't fell the bear.
That bear was stronger than all five combined.
With fewer numbers, how could she handle it?
Her journey ended here.
If not for the black object flying in now.
Screeech!
It was like a black thunderbolt wall.
Not from above, but a black lightning bolt shot sideways struck the bear's nape dead-on.
The bear's carelessness.
Speed too fast to follow with the eyes.
And an extremely hard, sharp object.
These three factors combined for an unbelievable result.
"Chwiik... whiiine..."
The massive bear collapsed.
In a single blow.
The adventurer doubted her eyes.
What being could fell that mighty bear in one strike?
Shocked by the savior's arrival and glad the bear was down, but no time to dwell.
The enemies weren't just the bear.
The comrades with red eyes attacking her were enemies now too.
As she moved to respond, she witnessed something astonishing.
"Fuuu..."
The adventurers collapsed.
Completely stripped of that deadly aura from before.
She whipped her head around.
Did things resolve just because the bear fell?
No, that wasn't it.
The one who felled the bear must have taken some measure.
She tried to spot the savior, but panicked.
No savior where one should be.
"Caw, cawk..."
A crow's cry rang out.
A fairly large crow circled unsteadily before leaning against her calf.
Two green feathers were clamped in its black beak.
Then she understood.
This crow was her savior.
It had cured the adventurers' strange symptoms.
And it was now casually trying to pull off her stockings.
"W-Wait...! Why this...! Let go! I-I'll take it off myself!"