Chapter 265: Bug (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 265: Bug (4)
"Sorry for taking up time." When I got back, the first thing I did was offer an apology. That was because these guys had never even met Dwalkie. I thought it was only natural to apologize considering I had consumed quest time for personal reasons. Of course, my teammates' reactions were considerate.
"There's nothing to be sorry about. What do you take us for?"
"Yeah, Raven is right. You worry about strange things. Any of us could be in the same situation as that man someday."
Uh, I don't think you should say something like that...
As I was thinking this, Raven addressed Mr. Bear on my behalf. "...Mr. Urikfried, could you please not jinx us like that?"
"Raven, you don't even believe in superstitions."
"I'm an adventurer now."
"Oh, right." Mr. Bear chuckled and the heavy atmosphere lightened.
Did she purposefully make a joke?
"What are you looking at?"
...Probably not.
At the sight of the defiant look in Raven's eyes, I chuckled and slowly got us back on track. "Now. If you've all rested up, let's go explore the island."
It was time to start exploring.
The Island of Beginnings, Laemia, was the first island you arrived at no matter which route you took, but it wasn't just for this symbolic reason that Laemia was called the Island of Beginnings. There were essential materials for exploring the sixth floor here—at least in theory.
"It's already been emptied out."
After climbing to the summit of a mountain nestled in the center of the island, we looked around in frustration. Normally there was a special tree that grew here. It was as hard as grade-three metal and was light enough to float on water.
"Well, no matter how fast this tree grows, there's no way it'll fully grow within a month."
However, when we reached the summit, the only thing we found were thousands of stumps. Well, it wasn't like there weren't any trees that were at least somewhat grown...
"Most of these can't be used."
"Still, there are some that can. Let's at least take those."
Soon we took out the axes we had prepared, picked just the trees that were big enough to be used as material, and packed them into sub-space one by one. It took about thirty minutes to get it all done.
"If all goes well, we should be able to take this much again next month."
"Yeah. If there are no people then just like this time."
Man, it would be nice if the sixth floor were reset every month too. It was disappointing in a lot of ways. From the first floor to the fifth, everything was reset when the labyrinth opened the next month, but not from the sixth floor onward. Here, time flowed separately, as shown by the way the marks carved on that huge boulder didn't get erased from month to month.
"Wow, something is written on the rock! It looks like text... what does it say?"
"Aren't you going to the holy land every day to learn how to read?"
"Haha, I gave up on that a long time ago!"
Letting out a brief sigh at Ainar's unnecessarily cheerful reply, I approached the boulder and read the words scribbled on it. Most of it was just rubbish. So-and-so was here, please make me successful, I like you, so-and-so, etcetera.
Looks like people here write graffiti too.
I chuckled and looked away. The vast sea spread out beneath our feet. There may not have been many trees on this island, but this high up, I could see an island that wasn't visible from below.
"Oh, that must be Farune Island."
Farune Island was the second island on the sixth floor, located to the north of the Island of Beginnings. It was also the place we would be going next.
"Abman, I'm just asking in case, but can you sense the location of the portal?"
"No, only the one on this island."
"I see."
When I nodded, Raven jumped in to defend Mr. Bear. "Don't be so disappointed. It's because this floor happens to be incredibly big. I heard if you get near the portal, you'll be able to sense where it is again."
What disappointment? Unlike the lower floors, there wasn't a lot a scout could do on the sixth floor anyway, especially just after entering.
"Anyway, since we got everything we need, let's go down."
Finishing my business at the summit, I headed down to the shore again with my team and moved in the direction of the island we saw on the mountain. Originally, the traditional strategy was to make a ship on the Island of Beginnings by uprooting a few more trees.
But the rule of thumb is to skip the labor with money.
I then took out the boat I brought with me from the sub-space and floated it on the water. I'd purchased it with a portion of the amount we'd contributed to our shared fund once the clan was founded. Although I had to spend most of our shared funds to get my hands on it, if it weren't for the current economic situation in the city, I never would have found it at this price. The timing was good in a lot of ways. Any trees we acquired in the future could be used to upgrade the ship or could be sold as logs to buy a better one.
"Bjorn... th-this won't sink, right?"
Why you... We even got a boat back in Gnometree and fished on it... Oh, that boat did flip over though.
"Don't worry. I tested it back in the city. It'll be fine as long as we don't move too much."
"B-but... Ack! I-It's shaking! S-Something's wrong with the boat! It's so different from last time!"
"That's because we were on a lake back then and now we're on an ocean."
Actually, the biggest problem was that this boat was twice as small as the one we were on at the time. Anyway, once her freakout was over, we got onto the boat one after another.
"Now, set sail!"
Just as we practiced on the ground in the city, we rowed hard against the waves. That was because our ship had no sails. If I'd bought one with a sail, it would have been too small for even four people, and I didn't have enough money to buy a big one. There was always something charming about being a newbie, no?
"I-I think the boat is going backward...?"
"You're mistaken! Paddle harder!"
"One, two. One, two!"
There was a bit of trial and error seeing as it was our first time paddling for real, but like adventurers who were used to forcing the impossible to become possible, we quickly got used to it.
"Oh, the island is getting closer!" It looked like the sailing was getting her hyped up because Raven reacted to every little thing, unlike her usual self. However, her excitement did not last long.
Looks like people here write graffiti too.
I chuckled and looked away. The vast sea spread out beneath our feet. There may not have been many trees on this island, but this high up, I could see an island that wasn't visible from below.
"Oh, that must be Farune Island."
Farune Island was the second island on the sixth floor, located to the north of the Island of Beginnings. It was also the place we would be going next.
"Abman, I'm just asking in case, but can you sense the location of the portal?"
"No, only the one on this island."
"I see."
When I nodded, Raven jumped in to defend Mr. Bear. "Don't be so disappointed. It's because this floor happens to be incredibly big. I heard if you get near the portal, you'll be able to sense where it is again."
What disappointment? Unlike the lower floors, there wasn't a lot a scout could do on the sixth floor anyway, especially just after entering.
"Anyway, since we got everything we need, let's go down."
Finishing my business at the summit, I headed down to the shore again with my team and moved in the direction of the island we saw on the mountain. Originally, the traditional strategy was to make a ship on the Island of Beginnings by uprooting a few more trees.
But the rule of thumb is to skip the labor with money.
I then took out the boat I brought with me from the sub-space and floated it on the water. I'd purchased it with a portion of the amount we'd contributed to our shared fund once the clan was founded. Although I had to spend most of our shared funds to get my hands on it, if it weren't for the current economic situation in the city, I never would have found it at this price. The timing was good in a lot of ways. Any trees we acquired in the future could be used to upgrade the ship or could be sold as logs to buy a better one.
"Bjorn... th-this won't sink, right?"
Why you... We even got a boat back in Gnometree and fished on it... Oh, that boat did flip over though.
"Don't worry. I tested it back in the city. It'll be fine as long as we don't move too much."
"B-but... Ack! I-It's shaking! S-Something's wrong with the boat! It's so different from last time!"
"That's because we were on a lake back then and now we're on an ocean."
Actually, the biggest problem was that this boat was twice as small as the one we were on at the time. Anyway, once her freakout was over, we got onto the boat one after another.
"Now, set sail!"
Just as we practiced on the ground in the city, we rowed hard against the waves. That was because our ship had no sails. If I'd bought one with a sail, it would have been too small for even four people, and I didn't have enough money to buy a big one. There was always something charming about being a newbie, no?
"I-I think the boat is going backward...?"
"You're mistaken! Paddle harder!"
"One, two. One, two!"
There was a bit of trial and error seeing as it was our first time paddling for real, but like adventurers who were used to forcing the impossible to become possible, we quickly got used to it.
"Oh, the island is getting closer!" It looked like the sailing was getting her hyped up because Raven reacted to every little thing, unlike her usual self. However, her excitement did not last long.
It's taking a lot longer than I thought...
It didn't look that far away from the summit but now that we were actually paddling on the boat, it felt like we were moving at a snail's crawl. Or was I the only one who felt that way? To think we would be faced with a new challenge so soon after entering the sixth floor.
"Blargh."
"B-Bjorn? What's wrong!?"
"'M-Motion sickness..."
It turned out Bjorn Yandel wasn't made for the sea.
As she watched me half-die from seasickness, Missha asked with worry, "M-Motion sickness? Doesn't that only happen in carriages?"
I wondered how she could even ask that, but that was probably just my modern point of view. The question made sense if you'd only ever lived within castle walls your whole life.
Raven only seemed to know about sea sickness in theory too. "Motion sickness refers to dizziness caused by a disparity between one's vision and their sense of balance. That means it doesn't only happen on carriages."
"Oh, I see..." Missha nodded and spoke in a tone that clearly implied she didn't understand anything that was just said. "No wonder my stomach has been feeling nauseous since earlier..."
Although Missha was doing better, barbarian-warrior-from-birth Ainar was even worse off than me. "M-Move! Blargh!" Unable to paddle at all, Ainar grabbed onto the railing and started to empty out her insides.
"Kyaaa!"
"S-Stop! Miss Ainar! You can't move like that!"
She was vomiting so fiercely that she was making the boat teeter back and forth. Truly, it was so violent that it felt like the boat could flip over at any moment.
"Bleh, blargh!"
"S-Stop!"
As the boat was too small to even stand and walk around in, there was no way for any of us to physically stop Ainar. Plus, four of the six people here couldn't swim. Excluding Erwen and Missha, no one knew how. And since we were quite far from the island, even if I used Giantization like last time, my feet wouldn't be able to touch the ground.
Wait, isn't this a really dangerous situation, then?
When it occurred to me that this couldn't be passed off as no big deal, I quickly assessed the situation and gave orders. "Raven! Knock her out with magic!"
"Ah, right! Seretara Bayreon!"
"Uh, whoop, huh...? Hnng..." Thankfully Ainar didn't have proper Mana Resistance stats yet so she lost consciousness with one shot of magic.
"U-Um, Mister... I-I think I'm going to die."
"Uh, me too. I should do that, too."
Unable to withstand the force of nature that was Ainar, our team members were incapacitated one after another.
"Still, Mr. Urikfried is surprisingly okay—"
"...Bleghhh!"
"U-uh... Mr. Yandel is all—"
Of course I wasn't.
"Grrruh!" I vomited while grabbing the guardrail as gently as possible while someone sighed behind me.
"...Why is there not a single normal person here?" Surprisingly, Raven did not get sick.
***
The concept of the sixth floor was simple: sail the vast sea and pass through various islands to head to the seventh floor. That was why a navigator was essential on this floor, a specialized team member who could steer a boat and map out seaways and had even consumed an essence to help with sailing.
It's taking a lot longer than I thought...
It didn't look that far away from the summit but now that we were actually paddling on the boat, it felt like we were moving at a snail's crawl. Or was I the only one who felt that way? To think we would be faced with a new challenge so soon after entering the sixth floor.
"Blargh."
"B-Bjorn? What's wrong!?"
"'M-Motion sickness..."
It turned out Bjorn Yandel wasn't made for the sea.
As she watched me half-die from seasickness, Missha asked with worry, "M-Motion sickness? Doesn't that only happen in carriages?"
I wondered how she could even ask that, but that was probably just my modern point of view. The question made sense if you'd only ever lived within castle walls your whole life.
Raven only seemed to know about sea sickness in theory too. "Motion sickness refers to dizziness caused by a disparity between one's vision and their sense of balance. That means it doesn't only happen on carriages."
"Oh, I see..." Missha nodded and spoke in a tone that clearly implied she didn't understand anything that was just said. "No wonder my stomach has been feeling nauseous since earlier..."
Although Missha was doing better, barbarian-warrior-from-birth Ainar was even worse off than me. "M-Move! Blargh!" Unable to paddle at all, Ainar grabbed onto the railing and started to empty out her insides.
"Kyaaa!"
"S-Stop! Miss Ainar! You can't move like that!"
She was vomiting so fiercely that she was making the boat teeter back and forth. Truly, it was so violent that it felt like the boat could flip over at any moment.
"Bleh, blargh!"
"S-Stop!"
As the boat was too small to even stand and walk around in, there was no way for any of us to physically stop Ainar. Plus, four of the six people here couldn't swim. Excluding Erwen and Missha, no one knew how. And since we were quite far from the island, even if I used Giantization like last time, my feet wouldn't be able to touch the ground.
Wait, isn't this a really dangerous situation, then?
When it occurred to me that this couldn't be passed off as no big deal, I quickly assessed the situation and gave orders. "Raven! Knock her out with magic!"
"Ah, right! Seretara Bayreon!"
"Uh, whoop, huh...? Hnng..." Thankfully Ainar didn't have proper Mana Resistance stats yet so she lost consciousness with one shot of magic.
"U-Um, Mister... I-I think I'm going to die."
"Uh, me too. I should do that, too."
Unable to withstand the force of nature that was Ainar, our team members were incapacitated one after another.
"Still, Mr. Urikfried is surprisingly okay—"
"...Bleghhh!"
"U-uh... Mr. Yandel is all—"
Of course I wasn't.
"Grrruh!" I vomited while grabbing the guardrail as gently as possible while someone sighed behind me.
"...Why is there not a single normal person here?" Surprisingly, Raven did not get sick.
***
The concept of the sixth floor was simple: sail the vast sea and pass through various islands to head to the seventh floor. That was why a navigator was essential on this floor, a specialized team member who could steer a boat and map out seaways and had even consumed an essence to help with sailing.
Well, the applicants for that position will flood in as long as we have a proper boat, so there's no need to be impatient.
Stepping off the bow, I pulled the boat to shore myself and put it in sub-space to make sure I couldn't lose it. It was a method that I could only use now while we were sailing a small boat. If we wanted to cross this damned ocean and its many calm areas and seas of ice, we'd need a big boat.
That's another reason why it's recommended you travel in a clan from the sixth floor onward.
Since boats were so expensive, adventuring on a team scale on the sixth floor couldn't be anything but a financial burden.
"Whew, land! Land!"
The sun was starting to set in the distance. Arriving at Farune Island, we had a simple meal and immediately got ready to set up camp.
"So the sunset can look like that..."
"Yeah. For the first time today, I'm glad that I became an adventurer."
Having only ever seen the sunset over the castle walls, seeing it over the mountains left a great impression on my teammates. Actually, I felt the same. Being on a sandy beach like this really made me feel like I was on an island somewhere on Earth. I'd never actually visited an island like this, though.
Why didn't I go back then...?
For the first time, I regretted the way I used to spend all my time holed up in my room, playing games. At the time, I had been living in what was undoubtedly an even greater world without any castle walls.
"Ainar, you go to sleep. We'll wake you at the end."
"C-Can I?"
"You did have the hardest time..."
"Thanks, Missha!"
Giving Ainar, who'd had a hard time with seasickness, the last turn, the rest of us decided on the watch order.
"I don't think we need to stay up in pairs. I heard only monsters below rank eight appear on this island."
"Okay. Let's take turrrns on our own and wake everyone else up if something happens."
"Um, but if we're going to do that, why didn't we just sleep on the island we were at? There were no monsters there."
"At the time we didn't know it'd take this long to arrive."
"Oh... right."
Because it was a moderately warm day, we just placed our sleeping bags on the sand and laid down, although we'd brought a tent with us because it often rained here.
"It's prrretty."
"Yeah, you're right."
As we looked up at the Milky Way stretching across the sky, we all came to a wordless agreement to stargaze tonight.
"...My wife would have liked this too."
"You make it sound like she's dead. I'm going to tell her you said that."
"...W-What are you talking about? I-I just meant I'm sad about her quitting adventuring! That's it!"
"Stop the chitchat and go to sleep. We're going to explore the island as soon as the sun rises tomorrow."
Was it because it was our first night on the sixth floor? It seemed everyone felt restless, and it took a long time for us to fall asleep.
"I want us to take a look around the coastline first before heading inland."
The next morning, waking up early, we cleaned up our campsite and trekked around the island in a full circle. Not for any big reason—I just wanted to see with my own eyes how big the difference between the game and reality was.
The island is bigger than I expected.
That was the thought I had when we were halfway around the island.
"Oh, Bjorn! There's a boat over there!"
We discovered a boat anchored on the shore. It wasn't at the level of a large sailboat, but it was still about three times the size of ours and it had everything it needed.
"With this, the calm zone and even the icy seas would be no problem. Ah, but of course, it's branded by the owner."
"Oh, does that mean we can't take it?" Ainar tilted her head innocently at Raven's explanation.
"Hey, barbarian. What are you doing in front of our boat right now?" The owner of the boat appeared from further inland. "No, wait, hold on—are you that barbarian from back then?"
I recognized that face. "Long time no see."
Well, the applicants for that position will flood in as long as we have a proper boat, so there's no need to be impatient.
Stepping off the bow, I pulled the boat to shore myself and put it in sub-space to make sure I couldn't lose it. It was a method that I could only use now while we were sailing a small boat. If we wanted to cross this damned ocean and its many calm areas and seas of ice, we'd need a big boat.
That's another reason why it's recommended you travel in a clan from the sixth floor onward.
Since boats were so expensive, adventuring on a team scale on the sixth floor couldn't be anything but a financial burden.
"Whew, land! Land!"
The sun was starting to set in the distance. Arriving at Farune Island, we had a simple meal and immediately got ready to set up camp.
"So the sunset can look like that..."
"Yeah. For the first time today, I'm glad that I became an adventurer."
Having only ever seen the sunset over the castle walls, seeing it over the mountains left a great impression on my teammates. Actually, I felt the same. Being on a sandy beach like this really made me feel like I was on an island somewhere on Earth. I'd never actually visited an island like this, though.
Why didn't I go back then...?
For the first time, I regretted the way I used to spend all my time holed up in my room, playing games. At the time, I had been living in what was undoubtedly an even greater world without any castle walls.
"Ainar, you go to sleep. We'll wake you at the end."
"C-Can I?"
"You did have the hardest time..."
"Thanks, Missha!"
Giving Ainar, who'd had a hard time with seasickness, the last turn, the rest of us decided on the watch order.
"I don't think we need to stay up in pairs. I heard only monsters below rank eight appear on this island."
"Okay. Let's take turrrns on our own and wake everyone else up if something happens."
"Um, but if we're going to do that, why didn't we just sleep on the island we were at? There were no monsters there."
"At the time we didn't know it'd take this long to arrive."
"Oh... right."
Because it was a moderately warm day, we just placed our sleeping bags on the sand and laid down, although we'd brought a tent with us because it often rained here.
"It's prrretty."
"Yeah, you're right."
As we looked up at the Milky Way stretching across the sky, we all came to a wordless agreement to stargaze tonight.
"...My wife would have liked this too."
"You make it sound like she's dead. I'm going to tell her you said that."
"...W-What are you talking about? I-I just meant I'm sad about her quitting adventuring! That's it!"
"Stop the chitchat and go to sleep. We're going to explore the island as soon as the sun rises tomorrow."
Was it because it was our first night on the sixth floor? It seemed everyone felt restless, and it took a long time for us to fall asleep.
"I want us to take a look around the coastline first before heading inland."
The next morning, waking up early, we cleaned up our campsite and trekked around the island in a full circle. Not for any big reason—I just wanted to see with my own eyes how big the difference between the game and reality was.
The island is bigger than I expected.
That was the thought I had when we were halfway around the island.
"Oh, Bjorn! There's a boat over there!"
We discovered a boat anchored on the shore. It wasn't at the level of a large sailboat, but it was still about three times the size of ours and it had everything it needed.
"With this, the calm zone and even the icy seas would be no problem. Ah, but of course, it's branded by the owner."
"Oh, does that mean we can't take it?" Ainar tilted her head innocently at Raven's explanation.
"Hey, barbarian. What are you doing in front of our boat right now?" The owner of the boat appeared from further inland. "No, wait, hold on—are you that barbarian from back then?"
I recognized that face. "Long time no see."