Week 2.5 (1)
Week 2.5 (1)
"—So, that means there's only one way, right?"
"Hic, that's right. Our territory isn't exactly flush with cash... hehe."
The butler, still sprawled out on the office sofa chugging straight liquor, replied.
A quick glance showed it was Jin today.
...Not because I drained all the whiskey yesterday, I hope?
I couldn't help but eye her a bit nervously.
That said, surprisingly, she hadn't said much about me raiding her collection yesterday.
I'd braced myself for some complaints, but aside from a few grumbles like, 'How could you take it without a word? I actually cherished that stuff,' nothing much happened.
Her straightforward reaction actually made me feel a twinge of guilt when I hadn't before.
"If we need people, we'll have no choice but to go find them ourselves... Though, I doubt anyone's in their right mind if they're coming here on their own..."
The butler said.
That was her answer to my comment that 'we need a healer.'
As shown in the last expedition against the 1st Layer Floor Boss, a party without its own recovery methods is always inherently unstable.
And now that the game has become reality, any accidents from that instability don't just end as 'accidents.' That made it even more urgent.
But... yeah, she's right.
It might not be the kind of thing a Lord should say, but from the mercenaries' perspective, our territory is basically a penal colony right now.
With the grim rumors that not a single mercenary sent here has returned with all their limbs intact—and it's not even baseless rumors; it probably really happened—and given how remote the location is...
If we want more than the periodic mercenaries they toss our way, we'll have to go street-casting in the city ourselves.
Even that, the butler added, was a long shot.
For me, who'd only experienced Tombstone as a game, the fact that it was even possible was just astonishing.
We can pick our own mercenaries? Holy shit, Tombstone.
And even more appealing was the chance to leave this damn territory and see the outside world.
"Just so there's no misunderstanding like last time, I can't go with you. It can't happen that both you and I leave the manor empty... hic."
"...So, I have to go alone?"
The butler added that. Thinking about it, yeah, that was a problem too.
It wasn't just that I didn't know the way—though that was an issue—the bigger problem was how fragmented my knowledge of this world was.
Bluntly put, all I knew was Tombstone, and everything Tombstone covered happened within this cursed territory.
Thus, I was completely ignorant about the outside world. No way I could go alone.
When I voiced that concern, the butler answered simply.
"Hic, you don't think mercenaries are just sitting around waiting to be thrown into a stew, do you...?"
Ah. Got it. For some reason, I'd assumed mercenaries had to stay cooped up in here.
But thinking about it, this place wasn't actually a real prison.
On the surface, the mercenaries were just in the middle of a commission, so stepping out briefly wouldn't be an issue.
"Alright, I'll go talk it over at the Barracks first."
"Go ahead. But don't get your hopes up..."
The butler replied indifferently.
Then she tilted the bottle of straight liquor in her hand again.
Valerie would drop dead if she drank like that.
What the hell kind of creature is a butler, anyway?
No more to say, I left the office and threw on my robe.
First stop: the Barracks.
Before pushing into the 2nd Layer, we absolutely needed to assemble the expedition team to at least four people, ideally including a healer.
—And so, a little later.
When I got to the mercenaries' Barracks, the first to open the door was Kali.
Fortunately, I'd heard she'd succeeded in mixing her meds that morning.
"Ah, good morning, Kali-ssi. You're feeling better now, right?"
"Good morning, Master. Yeah, at least for the time being."
Kali greeted me casually. It was touching.
It was great that the plants gathered from the 1st Layer worked, but even more so that she'd mustered the focus to make the Nerve Sedative despite her mania flaring up once.
Even with all the ingredients ready, if she hadn't been in her right mind to mix them, it would've been pointless.
"So, what's up today?"
"Ah, well— are the other two inside?"
"Yeah, both still sleeping. They seemed totally wiped out, so I didn't wake them..."
At that point, I couldn't exactly look her in the eye guilt-free.
Valerie had gotten blackout drunk off Ray, and Ray had passed out exhausted after screwing till dawn.
In the end, Ray had headed back that morning.
She probably ran into Valerie, who'd returned to the Barracks first at dawn.
Whatever happened on their end must've been messy too, so it made sense she'd gotten up and left early.
"Anyway, come on in."
Kali stepped aside after a moment of thought.
Following her in, I spotted Valerie staggering out from the opposite door, purely by coincidence.
"Hello, Valerie-ssi. Did you sleep okay last night?"
"Last night? Ugh, don't even ask. My stomach's still— urk."
Valerie's dry-heaving face looked rough... Probably hadn't fully recovered from yesterday's internal damage.
"Valerie-ssi, the meds haven't kicked in yet?"
But Kali said it with a puzzled look.
Huh, did she prescribe something?
I alternated glances between them, confused, until Valerie chuckled and flopped onto the sofa.
"Ehehe, I was gonna play up the drama a bit. Way to spoil it, Doc."
"Mm, sorry. —Master, actually, I made Valerie-ssi a hangover cure."
"What."
No way, that's possible too? I blinked in surprise this time.
Hangover cures themselves weren't shocking—they were a dime a dozen back on Earth.
But making one in this world? That was the impressive part.
Pleased by my reaction, Valerie smirked.
"That shit works like a charm? Even after going all out yesterday, one dose and my gut settled right down."
"Good thing. The Labyrinth plants are more effective than I thought. The Nerve Sedative came out pretty pure too."
Kali nodded coolly.
I was admiring it absentmindedly when I remembered I hadn't just come to check on them.
Settling onto the sofa, I paused a beat before getting to the point with the two.
"Actually, I came to ask a favor. Got a problem that needs some help."
"What is it?"
Valerie asked back.
The deathbed act from earlier was pure theater—her color looked great, no trace of yesterday's disaster.
"Well, I need one or two people to act as escorts and guides..."
"Escorts? Master, where you headed?"
Kali's eyes went wide as she leaned in.
"Uh... scouting, I guess? The goal is to head to the city and recruit some mercenaries."
No sooner had I finished than Valerie snorted.
"Hey, Master. You know the rep your territory has? This place is basically exile central. Good luck with that."
"The butler said the same, but isn't it better than just sitting here twiddling our thumbs?"
"Yeah, fair. Can't do the next expedition till we're fully recovered anyway."
Surprisingly agreeable, Valerie muttered indifferently.
She seemed on board with making use of the downtime.
"So, 'city' means... Ark City, right?"
She ventured.
I nodded.
Final Defensive Line, 「Ark City」—Ark.
A core setting in this world that popped up constantly in Tombstone's lore, from mercenaries' backstories to all sorts of fluff.
You couldn't interact with it directly in-game, but it got mentioned so often in lore that the idea it'd be the backdrop for Tombstone 2 was practically canon. Ark City had massive presence.
"You three are all from Grand Roundtable guilds, so you came from Ark City, right?"
"Well, me and Ray, yeah."
"Yeah, I was based in Ark City for a bit."
The mercenaries' headwaters: the Grand Roundtable's 12 guilds.
The Aurantius Guild, which these three belonged to or had belonged to, was one of them.
Just being from Aurantius marked them as solid pros in the biz.
You couldn't hack it as a mercenary on the Final Defensive Line, in Ark, without real skill.
"So, I was hoping you could help with guiding and protection—"
"...Master?"
Just then, a door opened behind us.
I whipped around mid-sentence, and out came Ray in simple clothes.
Yesterday's memories flashed sharply through my head.
Whoa, fuck. The curse replayed automatically in my mind. Pure awe, of course.
I still couldn't believe what went down last night.
Ray paused, locking eyes with me for a sec, then strolled casually over to the table where we were gathered like nothing happened.
"What're you talking about?"
She asked coolly. Was this woman not even embarrassed?
...But getting shy in front of a crowd like this would be the real embarrassment.
I was desperately managing my expression, after all.
Acting unfazed, I picked up smoothly.
"Planning a trip to the city, so I need one or two for guiding and escort."
"City meaning Ark?"
I nodded at Ray's question, and she shot back sharply.
"Sorry, can't. Going back to Ark now would be trouble. Not yet, at least."
Gah. Her flat-out refusal crushed my secret hope she'd tag along.
Feeling deflated, I glanced away, and now Kali scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Mm... sorry, Master. I'm kinda an exile right now."
Oh, right. Come to think of it, Kali had been trussed up like trash and dumped here from the start.
Asking someone like that to head back to Ark was pretty tone-deaf, whatever her deal was.
Uh... but then...?
"...What. So it's me?"
Valerie said, sounding reluctant.
All three of us—me included—turned to her.
Unable to take the stares, she groaned.
"Fuck, perfect timing. Hey, knight boy. You— tch, whatever."
She started to snap at Ray but trailed off, clicking her tongue in self-resigned understanding.
What? What is it? Tell me.
Of course, I didn't say it out loud. Not a moron.
"Damn, if I hadn't taken the Doc's meds, I'd at least be glued to the toilet still."
Now she was grumbling openly.
She really hated the idea.
Mercenaries' contracts were Labyrinth clears, and since this was part of that, she couldn't exactly throw a tantrum and bail.
In other words, 'This is work extension, got it?'
I knew how bullshit that felt, so I felt a bit bad.
"Well... works out, I guess."
She muttered under her breath, then stretched with a yawn and asked.
"So, when we heading out? Let's knock it out quick."
"The sooner the better for me, if your condition's good, Valerie-ssi—"
"If I'm good, I'll rest in the Barracks after the job's done."
"Ah, yeah..."
She hopped up with a grin and stuck out her hand to me.
"Alright then, since it's like this, leave it to me, Master-nim. I'll make it the comfiest ride ever."