Ghost Plateau (1) Treasure Hunt
-Whoosh
I pulled back the blanket and stretched once. Immediately, I headed for the door.
-Thunk, thunk
-Bang!
!!
-Pop!
When I pulled the blanket, the Demon King, who had been leaning against my back, fell backward. It was lucky I dodged to the side. If I had hit that head packed with all sorts of buffs, my life would have ended right there.
“...Ouch... Why aren't you helping me...”
From the morning breeze, she showed me a slapstick comedy of the 8th year of the Republic. She patted my back with her white palm.
“Sorry. Let me check somewhere.”
I helped the Demon King up and checked her glossy black hair. There was no way, but just in case there was any injury.
...
What kind of scent is this...
Her hair, which didn't use shampoo or perfume, emitted a fragrance so good it didn't belong to this world. If I ever decide to cut it short later, maybe I can make a scent from her hair.
...She's fine.
Fortunately, no injury.
!!!
Wow.
She made the same sound. Damn. A moment ago, there was a crack on the floor of my room where she had collided. I was the fool for worrying about her head covered in dozens of buffs.
Good that I dodged.
*
...Why is she like this.
-Dedede
The Demon King had the excited face of someone riding a rocket just before launch, trembling madly. It was intense enough to make it seem like she was wearing 500 vibrating-mode smartphones all over her body.
“Haa... Let's go, let's go.”
-Click, click
-Thud, thud
Walking side by side with her, we arrived at the entrance to the 100th floor. This was the first time since a few months ago when we passed by after killing the party members with her for the purpose of killing them...
...
That's not it.
When I was drunk and playing drinking games with her before, I had gone out once.
...Forget it.
I stuffed the messy memories deep into a drawer and slammed it shut. After locking it with a padlock, I threw the key into the toilet and flushed it.
-Click.
She grabbed my hand with her trembling hand. When delivering dolls, I often left, but the journey was a different kind.
“You have to hold my hand and follow me closely? Or you'll get lost.”
“... Uh.”
Even though her voice was trembling, she looked at me like a 6-year-old younger brother...
“Don't pick up anything and eat it. You'll get stomachache.”
It seemed like she was looking at me like a dog she was raising.
...But... thinking about it.
Why did they block the way out with a barrier but not the way in? Then I wouldn't have to fight with those crazy intruders one by one.
Curious, I asked her directly.
“This barrier can only prevent going out from the direction it was used.”
“Oh.”
“So instead, they cast a warning magic.”
I understood.
While fiddling with the Paper Crane hanging around her neck, I dismantled the barrier.
...
“Haa. Then I'll open it?”
-Clank.
I pushed open the left and right sliding iron doors that intruders usually passed through like eating.
*
This tower is composed of a total of 100 floors, and you go up and down through hidden stairs scattered around each floor.
When you enter, you see nature that you could never think of as indoor. Volcanoes, deserts, crystal caves, lakes, etc. Of course, it's not as vast as outside. Still, the only place that was narrow like an indoor space was the Demon King's Castle on the 100th floor.
Anyway, in summary, I thought it would be a pretty long journey.
What is this.
The reason I understood why she had brought a huge amount of food and various tools yesterday was because she had anticipated a grand expedition comparable to a long march.
...
“This is something I made. The name is Up-and-Down Box. With this, you can go up and down quickly. It consumes a lot of mana, so you can't use it too often.”
A semi-transparent box coated with mana. There was a mana injection port at the bottom that looked like a power source.
... Isn't this just an elevator?
The clever Demon King developed an elevator. Among these primitive, wretched native people. Of course, it operates on mana, not electricity. As expected, the Demon King is not a pure wretched fool.
Why did I think last time it was quick.
Previously, after delivering the doll, she had gone in an instant. It wasn't teleportation; it seemed she had taken this.
The Demon King and I entered the Up-and-Down Box... no, the Up-and-Down Box.
“The destination is the 32nd floor. Ah, make sure to adjust the mana well so I don't make a mistake.”
The Demon King placed her hand on the crystal that looked like the power part of the elevator and said.
“...What happens if I adjust it wrong?”
“Eh? There was a case before where it fell to the 1st floor.”
“... Eh? So it doesn't hurt?”
“No. No. It doesn't hurt that badly. Just a little pain in the butt and back. It gets better after a couple of days.”
...
You damn Ssang Ssang Bar year! That's probably based on your standards.
If she had been in pain for two days, I would have been completely shattered. Sensing that it was over, I hurriedly tried to get out.
-Clank
Oh no.
The box's door closed because the Demon King's mana had already been injected.
-Shuuuuk!
The Up-and-Down Box descended as is.
Damn! Please! Please!
I believe in our Demon King!
A life-or-death thrill after a long time. It even felt a bit nostalgic.
*
Fortunately, thanks to the clever Demon King, the box stopped exactly at the 32nd floor. Thank you.
The door opened, and we entered the Ghost Plateau, which we had visited when climbing the tower before.
-Swaaaaa...
A desolate land in gray, with turquoise ore scattered around emitting faint light. The crosses and tombs stuck here and there gave an atmosphere where undead would pop out at any moment.
Of course, the low-level undead that lived here had long been exterminated by adventurers, so no one was there.
... The Demon King knew that too.
She had recalled the time when she was bitter about this place.
“Ufufuhut!”
Her lively laugh, which had no resemblance to the quiet atmosphere, rang out in this quiet place.
“What are we going to do from now on?”
She put her hand in her bag and spun around me, asking.
“Is this the game you brought?”
There was a bet where we played drinking games with the Demon King 10 times, and I promised to bring something more fun.
“Yeah! One of them!”
... What?
“No, one of them? Then there are others, right?”
“Yeah.”
....
I got caught. Thinking about it, I hadn't heard that I had to bring only one. This cunning woman. She must have delivered it in a subtle double meaning.
Cunning...
...
It couldn't be helped.
“Hmm, what could it be.”
She said it as if she was reasoning by putting her hand in the bag and fiddling with it. Honestly, I couldn't imagine.
“Endurance test?”
“Wrong!”
“Corpse play?”
“... No.”
“Summoning?”
“Die!”
... Hmm.
Her lips kept twitching, and finally, she couldn't wait and pulled out the game from the bag with a bang!
“Treasure Hunt!”
*
What she unfolded was a treasure map.
I've seen something like this somewhere...
Ah.
“Was it when we were planning the trip before, drawing while lying down?”
“Yeah! Yeah!”
The picture that looked like an ancient weapon design was the treasure map.
“Hmm... But if you play with the treasure map I made, you won't have fun. Since you know where everything is.”
“Don't worry! Don't worry! Hehe. This map isn't the one I drew. Look carefully!”
Excited, she waved the map in front of my face. Indeed, on the strange language, it was marked with crayons as treasure boxes, four-leaf clovers, and Paper Cranes that she liked. Of course, since it was the Demon King's drawing, even though she drew it for me to see, it wasn't easy to recognize.
She continued.
“This map was drawn by Deoldeori, the skeleton who lived in this Ghost Plateau before... It's a map drawn for treasure hunting when you come to play next time.”
“...”
That skeleton... probably doesn't exist now.
...
No need to say it.
“Ah. Yeah. Then what about these pictures I drew?”
“Deoldeori drew the treasure map in skeleton language. You don't know skeleton language, right? So I drew it so you could understand it too.”
...
She had been preparing for a long time.
When the Demon King talked about the skeleton, she looked a bit sad for a moment. As someone who was with her all day, I could catch that moment.
But she quickly swallowed the sadness without showing it. So I should do the same.
“Let's go quickly. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the treasure is. Right?”
“...! Yeah! Really looking forward to it!”
*
“Let's see... What is this? A snowman?”
Pointing at the pattern drawn on the map, she asked.
“Between two stone people, 10 steps... Uum... Ah! That's over there!”
Still excited, she busily walked around in this empty place. While doing so, she walked carefully, perhaps afraid of missing the steps.
... Good. It wasn't like this when I came last time.
When with the party members. Those girls who were very annoyed by the humid weather here, and when they were looking for the stairs to climb, they didn't properly look at the surrounding sculptures.
-Click! Click! Click!
-Thud, thud
“Here it is. Here! Thirty steps towards the side where the leaf-shaped plant with five leaves is bent!”
As she said, there was indeed a single leaf-shaped plant sticking out.
“... Five leaves?”
... It must have grown one more since then.
...
-Whoosh
-Tap
She was startled and tore off one leaf. She hid the torn leaf behind her back.
“?”
“Gu, towards the bent side, thirty steps!”
“... Yeah.”
-Click, click.
-Thud, thud
The Demon King walking boldly barefoot. After that, she kept moving around the desolate plain, alternating between looking at my face and the map.
*
“What is this? A picture of dirt... greeting?”
“Yeah. That's right. But... uum... what does it mean.”
... Hmm.
Ah, perhaps.
She took out the shovel used for growing cabbages from the bag. And she bowed her body as if greeting and dug at the indicated place.
“Oh, there's something.”
“Eh? Really? Where?”
A simple riddle. Bowing to dig in the dirt meant to bow. There were faint arrows and the number 30 written on the stone.
“Wow, how did you know?”
“Just by feel.”
“My friend is a genius.”
“You drew it well.”
Even though it was nice to hear, praising her drawing was too much. Maybe she thought it was mocking and wouldn't get angry...
“Thanks...”
She opened her big mouth wide and laughed brightly.
“You draw as well as me, even if not as good!”
Rather, scold me.
The Demon King slapped my arm. She just wanted me to control the strength.
*
After solving a few more riddles and arriving at the X mark on the map.
“Let's dig!”
“Yeah. Wait.”
-Pok, pok!
When digging the damp ground with the shovel, the treasure buried by Deoldeori appeared.
Candy. A yellow bag of candy. Banana flavor. Indeed, candy in this world was precious, so it could be called a treasure.
“..... Yeah?”
The Demon King, who had been blushing with excitement, stopped abruptly.
“Why?”
“...”
“.... Why?”
“... This was something I gave to Deoldeori before. Because she really liked it...”
The Demon King received the banana-flavored candy from me and said.
...
“... When I received it, she liked it so much... why didn't she eat it.”
...
Deoldeori, like me, probably wanted to see her face rejoicing at finding the treasure, so she didn't ask for the one she cherished most.
Unlike the Demon King's pretending hands and feet, her red eyes quietly gazing at the dirt-covered candy always seemed clumsy at hiding sadness.
...
Again like this...
...
No.
This time, I wouldn't just watch.
Instead of the skeleton called Deoldeori or something, let's take his place.
“Hey.”
“... Yeah?”
“Give me that candy.”
“... Eh?... Yeah.”
She peeled the bag and handed me the candy inside. I took it and gulped it down.
-Crack, crunch
It was so loud that it could be heard by her. With a face showing it was delicious.
“...”
The Demon King looking at me with a blank face.
“Um! This is really sweet. As expected, banana flavor.”
“... Yeah?”
“It's so delicious. Since it's a gift from a friend, it's even better. Thank you.”
“... Ah.”
Then, like the sun shining on this sunless plateau, her frozen eyes quickly melted.
“Treasure Hunt. It was really fun.”
The Demon King, who heard my words as I smiled and handed them over, finally let go of the empty candy bag from her hand. With that hand, she grabbed my arm and said.
“You said not to pick up anything and eat it! Hehe. You! Come here! There's still a lot left!”