103. Finals Are... Out of Service (5)
103. Finals Are... Out of Service (5)
"Yohan, Yohan! Wake up!"
At the sensation of my body being shaken, I opened my eyes and looked up. What came into view was Sif and a dense canopy of trees.
So we'd entered the Dimensional Rift.
"Are you okay? Body all in one piece?"
"I'm fine, so move."
I got up and looked around. It was very different from the Dimensional Rift in my memory. No, maybe my memory wasn't accurate. It was a memory over ten years old by now. In any case, now wasn't the time to worry about that—getting a grasp on the surroundings came first.
"Sif. Have you looked around?"
"I just woke up too, so I don't really know."
I couldn't tell if only we'd been dropped in, or if the protagonist's party had been dropped in as well.
All I knew for certain was that the situation had been reversed from the original story.
Originally, the protagonist's party was supposed to enter first and we were supposed to follow. Instead, we had entered before them, forcing me to abandon the plan of calmly tailing them. I no longer knew when they would enter the rift—or whether they'd enter at all.
"What do we do now? The plan was for us to follow them in later."
"First, we'd better set up camp."
We'd brought plenty of food for emergencies, so we could last about a week without difficulty. I pulled the shovel from my backpack. I had wondered whether I might avoid shoveling this time, but it looked as though I'd be doing it until I dropped. That Thief Cat certainly could not shovel.
"Sif. Do you know how to climb trees?"
"Climbing trees is easier than earning a single copper!"
"See that tree? Climb to the top and check the surroundings. A hill would be ideal, but if you see a decent clearing, tell me immediately."
"How much extra pay are you giving me?"
"If I leave you behind, I won't have to give you any hazard pay."
"Nya?! You're abandoning a loyal subject?"
"What kind of loyal subject tries to squeeze money out of me?"
There was such a thing as being too greedy. Perhaps my scolding worked, because Sif sighed, set down her backpack, and clung to the tree. True to her catlike nature, she climbed well. I watched her reach the top in moments, then surveyed my surroundings.
This wasn't the time to be distracted by that.
I immediately drove the shovel into the ground. An unknown monster could appear at any moment, so I needed to prepare. That preparation amounted to digging a burrow and hiding inside it, but it was better than nothing. I shoved the backpacks into the roughly three-pyeong burrow, then placed my hand against a nearby tree.
It felt similar to the trees I'd seen on the uninhabited island. The way the sun was beating down as if to sear my skin, it might have a tropical zone concept.
...I was finally beginning to understand.
At the very least, this wasn't the rift I remembered. It might have been one section of the dungeon inside that Dimensional Rift, but for now that was only a possibility. Circling the area would give me a firmer conclusion, but... first I'd have to wait for Sif.
I took my hand off the tree, entered the burrow, and quietly waited for Sif to come down. It was about thirty minutes later when Sif descended.
"What the? When did you dig a burrow?"
"The moment you went up."
"You're really fast..."
"Never mind that, what's the terrain like around here?"
"Mm, it was an island. Not a very large one... About twice the size of Dawn Hall and its surrounding grounds combined?"
...That was far too small. An island of that size should normally have had a high monster density. Dawn Hall was large for a single building, but as an island that area was tiny. It meant a ten-minute walk could take us from one end to the other.
"Any other notable features?"
"There was smoke rising in the north from here. But I never heard anything about people being inside the rift...?"
"Hard to say."
Humanoid monsters were hardly unlikely. Orcs and goblins knew how to make fire; their methods were simply straight out of the Stone Age.
"We'll need to investigate the north, then."
"Ah, and there was a cave in the middle of the island."
"A cave... I see. Was there anywhere suitable for a camp?"
"If you go just a little west from here there's a decent clearing. Should take about five minutes."
"We're heading out immediately."
We shouldered our backpacks and climbed out of the burrow. Since we'd come to an unknown space, we needed to act fast.
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"...Why did you become an Escort Knight? If you joined a construction guild, the guild master would welcome you with open arms—"
What was she getting at? I stared into Sif's glowing yellow eyes. Glinting like a cat's beneath the dark night sky, they held only my own eyes.
I tossed some firewood I'd cut from a nearby tree into the campfire and answered noncommittally.
"I can't stand places that reek of sweat."
"You could rake in money by the handful, you know?"
"I'm already making plenty of money."
If that damned True Ending had not required me to stay by Karina's side, I might have opened an architecture firm by now and spent my days building things.
Or I might have become an explorer specializing in dungeons.
Either choice would have earned me more money and given me more freedom than I'd now.
There wouldn't be any need to maintain an ambiguous relationship like this, either.
"Well, true... I'm jealous... If I had at least one money-making ability, I wouldn't be in and out of dungeons like this."
"For all that, it looks a lot like your true calling."
At my words, Sif shook her head with a complicated expression. Had she not liked what I said? An awkward silence hung between us for a moment. Sif spoke again around the time the soup in the pot I'd hung over the campfire came to a boil.
"...If I die, my little sisters will have no choice but to starve. That bastard of a parent disappeared when I was little, and my sisters are way too young. To feed two whole siblings, there was nothing but dangerous work... or else..."
Sif trailed off and stared blankly into the campfire. I thought I knew what she'd been about to say, even without her finishing. No matter what, it must have been awkward to say to me.
"Your sisters will be worried, though..."
What else could a young girl have done?
I patted Sif's shoulder as she hugged her knees, her face full of worry, and offered what comfort I could.
"Aren't you making enough to live on now? You'll make it out safely this time too, so don't worry."
"You think so...?"
Perhaps because it was just the two of us around a campfire, Sif was unusually sentimental today. That wasn't a bad thing, but seeing someone who normally talked only about money get emotional and ramble about her past couldn't help but feel strange.
"...It should be about ready to eat."
I ladled soup generously into a bowl I'd made by carving wood from a nearby tree. No matter what, the way to get your strength up was to eat a solid meal. I filled the bowl to the brim and handed it to Sif.
"Eat up."
"Thanks. I should be the one doing this sort of thing... Mm, well, I am getting paid a lot."
Sif quietly accepted the soup and ate it by the spoonful. She blew on each bite before putting it in her mouth; perhaps cat beastkin did not handle heat well. What an inconvenient racial trait. Still, the sight was rather cute. Sif was fairly attractive, after all.
It was just that the Saintess, whose looks could devour everyone else's, was usually by my side.
"Just act like your usual self. I'm on the verge of seriously considering whether you're a doppelganger right now."
"I'm, I'm a woman rich in sensitivity too, you know! A person can't always be cheerful! You gloomy human!"
"Ah, is that so?"
I gave a half-hearted reply and savored the taste of the soup I'd made. Mm, it turned out decently again today. The green soup made from edible herbs gathered nearby fortunately didn't taste bad.
"Seriously... Hah."
Then we shut our mouths and wolfed down the meal. It was because of a shared understanding that chattering any more wasn't a good idea. As a rule, the important thing in a dungeon was not to draw attention.
After finishing the meal, we tidied up immediately and pulled out the sleeping bags. Doing this reminded me of the second or third year of life on the uninhabited island. Back then, I'd made camp while constantly moving to safe spots.
"...Yohan, we can make it back, right?"
"Of course."
As if I'd die in a place like this.
Compared to the uninhabited island where a house-sized bear and a mountain-like Hydra fought territorial battles, this place was practically heaven. At least it was an environment where monsters of that caliber were unlikely to exist.
"You should get some sleep soon too."
"What about a night watch?"
"Didn't you see how many traps and alarms I set?"
If anything could get past all those traps, even Reni would not be able to stop it.
Sif seemed to recall the traps and alarms I'd laid during the day, as she nodded in agreement.
"If you set that many... Yeah, I guess."
I heard rustling sounds. Sif was apparently spreading out her sleeping bag too. With my eyes closed, I thought about what to do tomorrow. First, eat breakfast, then head north... and...
Creeeak—
"...Got one."
How much time had passed?
I woke up, using the sound of a trap activating as my alarm.
It was time to check the prey caught in the trap.