Chapter 113: Reunion (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 113: Reunion (1)
First, we gathered up the trio's equipment in one place. Then I gave Kharon the first pick. "If you need anything, take it."
"I'm not that shameless."
"Don't refuse. You took one of them down."
"If you say so..." It seemed there was in fact something he wanted because Kharon did end up taking some of the loot for himself—a good quality leather bag and a few bottles of potion.
"That and a two-handed hammer? That's it?"
"The rest is too small for my body, anyway." That was true. Soon, Kharon smiled brightly, holding an axe in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other. "I can kill anything that's hard to kill with an axe with this!" Although the way he spoke was unrefined, what he was saying was rather reasonable. Blunt weapons were more effective against monsters like Stone Golems.
Yes. Dual-wielding is a must for barbarians.
The sight of Kharon looking more like a proper barbarian pleased me, so I handed over a few more pieces of equipment. "Even if you don't need it, keep it and sell it."
"But—!"
No buts. Seriously, why were all barbarians so nice? If he were a human, he would have had a greedy look in his eyes instead. "Don't forget that the stronger you become, the safer it'll be for the young warriors."
"...Okay. I will definitely sell these items and turn them into equipment that will help me."
My reason for forcibly handing over the equipment while instilling a sense of responsibility in him was simple. If I took this stuff for myself, I would get an additional two hundred thousand stones, but in the long run, this would benefit me more.
"Become stronger, Kharon, son of Tarson."
"I will. For the sake of my people, if nothing else."
Of the six races, the barbarians were the weakest in terms of influence. Each individual had a good amount of potential, but most of them died off in the beginning. Of course, the winds of change wouldn't start blowing just because one person had changed, but what if the number gradually increased, starting with this one? And what if it led to a virtuous cycle of more and more young warriors surviving to become top adventurers?
Then the amount of influence barbarians have will gradually grow.
Like it or not, I was a barbarian. The more influence my kin had, the more I could enjoy the trickle-down effect. Just look at wizards. Without the huge community of the Magic Tower, would they all be so arrogant?
"Then let's go. If someone sees us here, there'll be trouble."
In that spirit, I escorted Kharon to the first floor and gave him whatever tidbits of advice I could think of. Like, when looking for a team, choose one with at least one member of a different race. Be warier of friendly people, but at the same time don't make it too obvious and show your weaknesses.
"Now I think I know what you meant by 'conceal an axe behind your innocence!'" Could it be from the great example I had set with the trio today? Kharon understood exactly what I meant. "I think it would be a good idea to intentionally find human night companions and pretend to be asleep. If they have any ulterior motives, that will definitely reveal them!"
Ah... uh... um... That isn't something I told him to do...
"...That's a good strategy too."
It seemed that getting treated as a monster and betrayed by his team today had been quite the shock for him. He was absorbing all of my advice like a sponge.
***
Around the start of the fifth day, at 11:49 p.m., the two of us returned to the Land of the Dead after taking Kharon down to the first floor. Then we sped up a little and focused on our search, since we had deviated from our plans and lost almost an entire day. On the tenth day, the second floor would close. Unless we intended to finish this quest on the second floor, we had to move a little faster, especially since we had work to do before going up to the third floor.
"Hmm? We're going to fight a Death Knight? Is that possible? I hearrrd it's hard to even find them..."
The rank-six monster Death Knight was a piece of shit that on very rare occasions spawned in the Land of the Dead on the second floor. I'd had to cycle through several characters before I figured out the conditions for finding this guy.
"Don't worry. Tracking one down won't be a big problem."
It seemed she was getting used to conversations like this because Missha didn't even bother asking where I got that information and just expressed a different concern. "Um, but even so, I don't know if the two of us can take it."
It was not a strange concern to have. We'd run into rank-six monsters from time to time on the fourth floor, but currently, we were just two people instead of a full team.
Since she's only hunted rank-eight monsters, she won't have a sense of how strong she is now.
Missha had had a history of being active on the fourth floor with two essences before meeting me. Although her stats were on the lower side, she had made up for what she lacked with her martial arts skills, which she had acquired through hard work. But since then, she'd made a contract with a Soul Beast, and even gotten two essences. One of them even belonged to a guardian.
And if you add the combo compatibility of her essences to that... It's safe to say that she's now several times stronger than she used to be.
I looked at the cold, hard facts from a gamer's point of view. With our strength combined, the hunt could end up being successful. However, there was no need to explain this in detail, since barbarians had just the right way to communicate concepts like these. "Missha, trust me."
"If you say that... It's not like I can say no."
"That's it, then."
With Missha's consent, we continued searching the surrounding area. We expanded the search radius by taking out all the rank-eight monsters we saw—Death Fiends, Chimera Wolves, Ghoul Lords, etcetera.
"Let's stop here for today and set up camp."
The fifth day ended without success. The next day, the sixth, was the same. With a little over an hour left before the start of day seven, I let out a long sigh.
I didn't think we'd be unsuccessful after over two days.
When a labyrinth opened, a tombstone was created at a random location in the Land of the Dead. At the beginning of the seventh day, it summoned the Death Knight. In other words, if you found the tombstone, you could easily encounter the Death Knight by waiting in front of it.
Of course my life is like this.
Although we'd half-heartedly hunted and searched the entire place for two days, we couldn't find even a hint of a tombstone. This was unexpected. No matter how big the second floor was, all we had to do was search the rank-eight zone. I had determined that two days should be enough.
Dang, should we give up on the Death Knight?
As I was licking my lips, not wanting the past two days to have been a waste, Missha ran up to me. "Don't be so dishearrrtened. How can a book be right all of the time? A big tombstone in the Land of the Dead? I've never heard of such a thing before now."
***
Around the start of the fifth day, at 11:49 p.m., the two of us returned to the Land of the Dead after taking Kharon down to the first floor. Then we sped up a little and focused on our search, since we had deviated from our plans and lost almost an entire day. On the tenth day, the second floor would close. Unless we intended to finish this quest on the second floor, we had to move a little faster, especially since we had work to do before going up to the third floor.
"Hmm? We're going to fight a Death Knight? Is that possible? I hearrrd it's hard to even find them..."
The rank-six monster Death Knight was a piece of shit that on very rare occasions spawned in the Land of the Dead on the second floor. I'd had to cycle through several characters before I figured out the conditions for finding this guy.
"Don't worry. Tracking one down won't be a big problem."
It seemed she was getting used to conversations like this because Missha didn't even bother asking where I got that information and just expressed a different concern. "Um, but even so, I don't know if the two of us can take it."
It was not a strange concern to have. We'd run into rank-six monsters from time to time on the fourth floor, but currently, we were just two people instead of a full team.
Since she's only hunted rank-eight monsters, she won't have a sense of how strong she is now.
Missha had had a history of being active on the fourth floor with two essences before meeting me. Although her stats were on the lower side, she had made up for what she lacked with her martial arts skills, which she had acquired through hard work. But since then, she'd made a contract with a Soul Beast, and even gotten two essences. One of them even belonged to a guardian.
And if you add the combo compatibility of her essences to that... It's safe to say that she's now several times stronger than she used to be.
I looked at the cold, hard facts from a gamer's point of view. With our strength combined, the hunt could end up being successful. However, there was no need to explain this in detail, since barbarians had just the right way to communicate concepts like these. "Missha, trust me."
"If you say that... It's not like I can say no."
"That's it, then."
With Missha's consent, we continued searching the surrounding area. We expanded the search radius by taking out all the rank-eight monsters we saw—Death Fiends, Chimera Wolves, Ghoul Lords, etcetera.
"Let's stop here for today and set up camp."
The fifth day ended without success. The next day, the sixth, was the same. With a little over an hour left before the start of day seven, I let out a long sigh.
I didn't think we'd be unsuccessful after over two days.
When a labyrinth opened, a tombstone was created at a random location in the Land of the Dead. At the beginning of the seventh day, it summoned the Death Knight. In other words, if you found the tombstone, you could easily encounter the Death Knight by waiting in front of it.
Of course my life is like this.
Although we'd half-heartedly hunted and searched the entire place for two days, we couldn't find even a hint of a tombstone. This was unexpected. No matter how big the second floor was, all we had to do was search the rank-eight zone. I had determined that two days should be enough.
Dang, should we give up on the Death Knight?
As I was licking my lips, not wanting the past two days to have been a waste, Missha ran up to me. "Don't be so dishearrrtened. How can a book be right all of the time? A big tombstone in the Land of the Dead? I've never heard of such a thing before now."
Umm, this is supposed to be comforting, right?
"So stop locking yourself up in the library every day and come hang out with me from time to time."
"...Why is that the moral of the story?"
"Th-that's—! Hikurod said the same thing too. It's more helpful to have some conversations with the other adventurers at a bar than rrread a few books!"
Now that I was thinking about it, it seemed that the dwarf was a bad influence on Missha. But I couldn't really argue with her. In fact, most adventurers felt the same. They preferred to socialize and acquire information at a bar rather than by reading a book. There were some people out there who claimed that drinking and playing were extensions of work, which said it all.
"...Why arrren't you saying anything?"
"I just don't have anything to say."
"Why don't you have anything to say?"
"Stop talking about this, and let's move on for now." I didn't want to waste time engaging in a pointless argument, so I resumed our journey.
How long had it been since? I checked my watch and brushed off any lingering disappointment. It was one minute to midnight. The seventh day would start soon. And as soon as the Death Knight was summoned, it started wandering around, so the fact of the matter was that this quest was already a bust.
It's the experience I was after, anyway...
Leaving my regrets behind, I took out my compass.
"Oh, are we finally going to the third floorrr?"
"Yes."
Instead of wandering around aimlessly looking for a tombstone, we turned north. And at that moment—
"Huh? Bjorn?"
"Did you feel it too?"
"Yeah, a chill ran down my spine."
The air around us shifted. It was hard to describe, but the moment it changed, my body registered it before my mind did. That was how obvious a change it was.
Could it be?
One possibility came to mind, and I borrowed a knife from Missha and slit the back of my hand.
Drip.
When I pressed the blade in and dragged it down my skin, acid blood flowed from the open seam.
"Ah! What are you doing?! You're damaging the blade!"
Ignoring Missha's complaints, I watched the wound and counted the time.
One, two, three, four, five, six...
As the number increased, a smile spread across my lips. The wound, which should have healed within seconds, was still not healing.
[You have been exposed to Grudge. Healing and regeneration effects significantly decrease.]
That meant the long-awaited Death Knight was near us, and very close.
No wonder we couldn't find it anywhere. It really was nearby.
Even though I felt kind of depressed about that, my spirits were bolstered because of a piece of information that I realized soon after.
Grudge has already been triggered...
The curse-type aura Grudge was an active skill, one that turned on or off depending on the will of the monster or character who had acquired the essence. Simply put, there was no reason to use it outside of combat—the circumstances for activating it were very clear. Less than one minute after being summoned, the Death Knight leapt into battle as soon as it opened its eyes. It was not impossible that an adventurer who had been passing by at the exact right time could be caught up in combat with it, but...
Umm, this is supposed to be comforting, right?
"So stop locking yourself up in the library every day and come hang out with me from time to time."
"...Why is that the moral of the story?"
"Th-that's—! Hikurod said the same thing too. It's more helpful to have some conversations with the other adventurers at a bar than rrread a few books!"
Now that I was thinking about it, it seemed that the dwarf was a bad influence on Missha. But I couldn't really argue with her. In fact, most adventurers felt the same. They preferred to socialize and acquire information at a bar rather than by reading a book. There were some people out there who claimed that drinking and playing were extensions of work, which said it all.
"...Why arrren't you saying anything?"
"I just don't have anything to say."
"Why don't you have anything to say?"
"Stop talking about this, and let's move on for now." I didn't want to waste time engaging in a pointless argument, so I resumed our journey.
How long had it been since? I checked my watch and brushed off any lingering disappointment. It was one minute to midnight. The seventh day would start soon. And as soon as the Death Knight was summoned, it started wandering around, so the fact of the matter was that this quest was already a bust.
It's the experience I was after, anyway...
Leaving my regrets behind, I took out my compass.
"Oh, are we finally going to the third floorrr?"
"Yes."
Instead of wandering around aimlessly looking for a tombstone, we turned north. And at that moment—
"Huh? Bjorn?"
"Did you feel it too?"
"Yeah, a chill ran down my spine."
The air around us shifted. It was hard to describe, but the moment it changed, my body registered it before my mind did. That was how obvious a change it was.
Could it be?
One possibility came to mind, and I borrowed a knife from Missha and slit the back of my hand.
Drip.
When I pressed the blade in and dragged it down my skin, acid blood flowed from the open seam.
"Ah! What are you doing?! You're damaging the blade!"
Ignoring Missha's complaints, I watched the wound and counted the time.
One, two, three, four, five, six...
As the number increased, a smile spread across my lips. The wound, which should have healed within seconds, was still not healing.
[You have been exposed to Grudge. Healing and regeneration effects significantly decrease.]
That meant the long-awaited Death Knight was near us, and very close.
No wonder we couldn't find it anywhere. It really was nearby.
Even though I felt kind of depressed about that, my spirits were bolstered because of a piece of information that I realized soon after.
Grudge has already been triggered...
The curse-type aura Grudge was an active skill, one that turned on or off depending on the will of the monster or character who had acquired the essence. Simply put, there was no reason to use it outside of combat—the circumstances for activating it were very clear. Less than one minute after being summoned, the Death Knight leapt into battle as soon as it opened its eyes. It was not impossible that an adventurer who had been passing by at the exact right time could be caught up in combat with it, but...
That's unlikely.
It would be much more reasonable to assume that, rather than such an incredible coincidence happening, some unknown person had been waiting in front of the tombstone.
Could it be a player?
That was my first thought. However, I couldn't rule out other possibilities. The large Dzarwi clan knew how to summon an Orc Hero. It was possible that information on Death Knights wasn't that high-level.
Well, I'll know for sure when I get there.
I decided to reserve judgment for now and moved quickly with Missha. It was dark all around, but it wasn't difficult to find the right direction.
Bam!
Judging from the sound of it, the fight seemed to be quite explosive. Missha was able to come to a conclusion from this information alone and grabbed my wrist. "Bjorn, do you think it's a Death Knight? And someone is already fighting it?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Wait a minute, stop! What are you going to do over therrre?"
What do you think? Throw a punch and take the experience points.
"What? If you do that, you might be attacked!" Missha was startled when I translated my future plans into words from this world. It was a legitimate concern on her part. Although not as horrible as plundering, the act of intruding or stealing prey during battle was considered extremely immoral among adventurers.
"It's okay. I have no intention of claiming the right to an essence or mana stone, so I'll just pretend I thought whoever it is was in danger."
"Mmm, still..."
"Don't worry. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility for everything—"
"You idiot! Does it sound like I want you to take rrresponsibility? Ugh, how did I end up involved with someone like you? Whatever, let's go! I don't even know anymore!"
Um, that's a little unfair. It's not like I'm doing this just for myself... Anyway, I guess since we're not looting, this much is within reason.
Noting that additional information down in my head, I sped up a bit. Maybe ten seconds passed when—
"Kyaaagh!"
I saw four adventurers past the Death Knight, who was wielding a sword and had its back toward us.
"Huh?"
Apparently, they saw us too. Therefore, without giving them time to stop me, I hit the Death Knight with my mace.
Whack!
Okay, that will get me experience points.
Just like I'd been waiting for, I shouted out the lines I had prepared. "Don't worry! I will save you guys!"
This was why barbarians were cheat characters.
"Behelaaah!"
I didn't know about humans, but who would ever think this was intentional?
The Death Knight took the heavy blow and stumbled.
"Kyaaak?!" Apparently, the monster was also bewildered by my sudden interruption. Not as much as the wide-eyed team of four, though.
"What are you doing!?" The human warrior who was closest to me shouted, belatedly realizing what was happening.
Next was the elven archer in the back row. "Why are you helping? If you don't back down, I'll attack you too." Her voice was soft, but still very sharp.
I pretended to be confused and cried out, "I-I was just trying to help!"
"Who asked for help?"
"Huh? You didn't? I thought I heard you..."
"Never mind, just step back if you don't want to get caught up in this and get hurt!"
"A-All right!" Even as we spoke, I deflected the Death Knight's attacks several times with my shield before retreating to where Missha was standing.
"Damn it, what the hell is this all of a sudden!?" Despite his complaints, the human warrior still skillfully took over the aggro and the battle smoothly resumed.
I dropped my clumsy barbarian act and spoke so that only Missha could hear. "How was that? I don't think there's anything to be concerned about." I wanted to reassure Missha, who was worried that she would be seen as a rude adventurer.
However, the reaction I got in return was a little unexpected. "You are really..." My acting seemed to have left an impression on her because she couldn't finish her sentence. "Hah... neverrr mind. What can I possibly say here? Other people need to know that you're like this."
"What do you mean? I only show all this to you."
"Hmm? S-Still. I mean—what?"
The chitchat ended there and I watched the ensuing battle. How many opportunities would we get to watch another team hunt?
It's not a full team, but the balance is good.
The human warrior could skillfully tank alone.
"I'm going to take another shot, so back up!" The damage dealer line was made up of a wizard and an elven archer who used fire magic.
I think this is my first time seeing a summoner in this world.
There was even a human man in a support position who dealt damage or gave buffs using monsters he called through his summoning ability.
"Bjorn, that man... doesn't he look familiarrr?"
At Missha's sudden comment, I looked at the summoner again, a small figure of about five-two. It was difficult to see his face because of the hood, but still, I felt a strange sense of déjà vû.
What is this? Where have I seen him? There's no way I wouldn't remember a summoner...
The moment I was trying to figure out why his face was so familiar... "E-Everyone get out of the way! The attack I was talking about i-is coming!" The summoner stammered and called out instructions. Thanks to that, my blurry memories grew clearer. Soon, I glanced at the face of the elf near the man once again and came to a conclusion.
Ah, that son of a bitch from back then.
It had to be him.
That's unlikely.
It would be much more reasonable to assume that, rather than such an incredible coincidence happening, some unknown person had been waiting in front of the tombstone.
Could it be a player?
That was my first thought. However, I couldn't rule out other possibilities. The large Dzarwi clan knew how to summon an Orc Hero. It was possible that information on Death Knights wasn't that high-level.
Well, I'll know for sure when I get there.
I decided to reserve judgment for now and moved quickly with Missha. It was dark all around, but it wasn't difficult to find the right direction.
Bam!
Judging from the sound of it, the fight seemed to be quite explosive. Missha was able to come to a conclusion from this information alone and grabbed my wrist. "Bjorn, do you think it's a Death Knight? And someone is already fighting it?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Wait a minute, stop! What are you going to do over therrre?"
What do you think? Throw a punch and take the experience points.
"What? If you do that, you might be attacked!" Missha was startled when I translated my future plans into words from this world. It was a legitimate concern on her part. Although not as horrible as plundering, the act of intruding or stealing prey during battle was considered extremely immoral among adventurers.
"It's okay. I have no intention of claiming the right to an essence or mana stone, so I'll just pretend I thought whoever it is was in danger."
"Mmm, still..."
"Don't worry. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility for everything—"
"You idiot! Does it sound like I want you to take rrresponsibility? Ugh, how did I end up involved with someone like you? Whatever, let's go! I don't even know anymore!"
Um, that's a little unfair. It's not like I'm doing this just for myself... Anyway, I guess since we're not looting, this much is within reason.
Noting that additional information down in my head, I sped up a bit. Maybe ten seconds passed when—
"Kyaaagh!"
I saw four adventurers past the Death Knight, who was wielding a sword and had its back toward us.
"Huh?"
Apparently, they saw us too. Therefore, without giving them time to stop me, I hit the Death Knight with my mace.
Whack!
Okay, that will get me experience points.
Just like I'd been waiting for, I shouted out the lines I had prepared. "Don't worry! I will save you guys!"
This was why barbarians were cheat characters.
"Behelaaah!"
I didn't know about humans, but who would ever think this was intentional?
The Death Knight took the heavy blow and stumbled.
"Kyaaak?!" Apparently, the monster was also bewildered by my sudden interruption. Not as much as the wide-eyed team of four, though.
"What are you doing!?" The human warrior who was closest to me shouted, belatedly realizing what was happening.
Next was the elven archer in the back row. "Why are you helping? If you don't back down, I'll attack you too." Her voice was soft, but still very sharp.
I pretended to be confused and cried out, "I-I was just trying to help!"
"Who asked for help?"
"Huh? You didn't? I thought I heard you..."
"Never mind, just step back if you don't want to get caught up in this and get hurt!"
"A-All right!" Even as we spoke, I deflected the Death Knight's attacks several times with my shield before retreating to where Missha was standing.
"Damn it, what the hell is this all of a sudden!?" Despite his complaints, the human warrior still skillfully took over the aggro and the battle smoothly resumed.
I dropped my clumsy barbarian act and spoke so that only Missha could hear. "How was that? I don't think there's anything to be concerned about." I wanted to reassure Missha, who was worried that she would be seen as a rude adventurer.
However, the reaction I got in return was a little unexpected. "You are really..." My acting seemed to have left an impression on her because she couldn't finish her sentence. "Hah... neverrr mind. What can I possibly say here? Other people need to know that you're like this."
"What do you mean? I only show all this to you."
"Hmm? S-Still. I mean—what?"
The chitchat ended there and I watched the ensuing battle. How many opportunities would we get to watch another team hunt?
It's not a full team, but the balance is good.
The human warrior could skillfully tank alone.
"I'm going to take another shot, so back up!" The damage dealer line was made up of a wizard and an elven archer who used fire magic.
I think this is my first time seeing a summoner in this world.
There was even a human man in a support position who dealt damage or gave buffs using monsters he called through his summoning ability.
"Bjorn, that man... doesn't he look familiarrr?"
At Missha's sudden comment, I looked at the summoner again, a small figure of about five-two. It was difficult to see his face because of the hood, but still, I felt a strange sense of déjà vû.
What is this? Where have I seen him? There's no way I wouldn't remember a summoner...
The moment I was trying to figure out why his face was so familiar... "E-Everyone get out of the way! The attack I was talking about i-is coming!" The summoner stammered and called out instructions. Thanks to that, my blurry memories grew clearer. Soon, I glanced at the face of the elf near the man once again and came to a conclusion.
Ah, that son of a bitch from back then.
It had to be him.