Chapter 266: Bug (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 266: Bug (5)
He laughed when I said, "Long time no see."
"I didn't think you'd remember me."
I guessed he was surprised that I recognized him. True, it had been a short encounter, after all. We hadn't had an opportunity to have a conversation one-on-one, let alone properly introduce ourselves.
"Memories like that are not easily forgotten."
But how could I forget the time I had to crawl through a dark cave on all fours while one foot was fucked up and bleeding everywhere?
"Patzran, will you hand me a potion?"
"I was keeping it handy for when I can't use divine power."
"You have a lot anyway. I will pay for it when we get out."
"Tsk."
This guy, who was the swordsman of the group that saved me, had tossed his leader a potion with a displeased look on his face. It was a novel experience. How many times in your life have you felt humiliated and grateful at the same time?
"I like this aspect of barbarians. Your iron rule is to repay a debt, isn't that right?" The guy interpreted my words to mean what he wanted them to mean, a pleased smile on his lips.
I didn't bother to correct him. Well, it was true that I was grateful. "Still, what a surprise. I didn't think you would remember me, either."
"There aren't many people who could crawl that far a distance in a state like that." The guy looked me up and down. "Anyway, to think you were that Bjorn Yandel." With no need for introductions, this guy inferred my identity just from my appearance. Hm, I didn't know if I should considered that a good thing or a bad thing.
As I chuckled, Raven approached me from behind. "Long time no see, Mr. Patzran."
"Who... Ah, Miss Raven?"
I was just as surprised as the swordsman. What, they knew each other?
"Right... yes. I did hear you joined this team."
"We're a clan now, not a team. But, anyway, wow! I had no idea you and Mr. Yandel knew each other. Is this fate?"
"What fate? We don't even know each other's names yet." When I jumped into the conversation, the swordsman laughed and revealed his name.
"Malmern Patzran."
"What a strange pronunciation."
"My house is one that still insists on a traditional naming style. Call me Patzran. That's what everyone calls me."
"House? Are you a noble?"
"Noble? Maybe thousands of years ago."
I understood what he meant immediately. There were cases like this from time to time, people from families who had once been nobility or royalty in countries before the end of the world. But after entering this city, they were degraded to mere commoners. They didn't have titles, but still sustained their own internal legitimacy by deciding on the heads of their house and the like.
"So, what were you doing in front of our boat?" Once introductions were over, Patzran got to the point.
Because I hadn't been doing anything in particular, I answered honestly. "We were just looking around the whole island."
"I see." My fame was one thing, but since he was acquainted with Raven, Patzran did not doubt our claim at all. "Nervio Pertia." He activated the magic circle engraved on the ship and reverse-summoned it into sub-space. It was a small act, but one that really bothered me.
"Where is your team from back then?"
"They are exploring the island."
"I guess that means you're looking for something?"
"Well, I don't think we're well acquainted enough to discuss that."
Geez, so defensive.
It was a firm answer that set clear boundaries, but I had a general sense of what they were doing.
They docked it on the shore, then sent just one person to put it away...
That had to be because they were looking for something. Most summoning engravings had a cooldown period, after all. If they'd determined there was nothing to look for, they would have left on the boat right away instead of waiting again.
But deactivating the summon means they found what they were looking for.
If so, what could they have been looking for? There was one thing that came to mind. I'd also run up to the sixth floor, aiming for it.
If that's the case, that derails my plans...
Even as I subconsciously licked my lips in regret, I made sure to control my expression so that my feelings didn't shine through. But it seemed the same went for my opponent.
"Yandel, how long are you guys going to stay on this island?" Patzran asked casually, his tone nonchalant.
Huh, is he trying to feel me out?
"We'll probably stay here."
"Stay? There's nothing special here."
"This is our first time up here."
"Hmm, it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to head to at least the next island..." Patzran said hopefully before suddenly shifting his tone, apparently realizing he'd gone a bit too far. "Well, no matter. I'm sure you'll figure that out yourselves."
Yeah, who are you to decide where we're going?
"Anyway, if you're going to remain on this island, we might meet again. See you later, then, Yandel." Soon, Patzran ended the conversation. It was obvious what he was thinking. He probably wanted to hurry off and inform his teammates of our presence.
"Wait," I said shortly, and Patzran turned around. He seemed curious about why I suddenly called out to him. I couldn't just let him leave like this, though. To be honest, something had been bothering me the whole conversation. "It's not just Yandel, it's Baronet."
"...What?"
He tilted his head like he might have heard me wrong, so I spoke more clearly this time. "I said it's Bjorn, son of Yandel, Baronet."
Who does he think he is, sneakily trying to act friendly? Does he think I'm still the barbarian on the ground from back then?
"Then I'll get going. Ahem! B-Baronet Yandel..."
When Patzran scurried away from our line of sight, Raven sighed. "...Mr. Yandel, did you have to do that?" It was obvious what she was talking about. She must think I was too harsh.
But I proudly straightened my shoulders. "It's not like I asked him to speak with the highest honorifics."
I didn't ask him to call me Sir Baronet Yandel. Nor did I criticize his casual speech. So what do you mean, 'did I have to do that'?
"Raven, I'm the one who doesn't understand you. What other nobleman is this generous?"
"Uh, I don't have anything to say to that... Still, you've never done anything like that before. What on earth happened between you two?" Raven seemed to regard this as some kind of personal vendetta on my part, but that was not the case. I was honestly more grateful to him than anything. But this and that were two separate things.
"Where is your team from back then?"
"They are exploring the island."
"I guess that means you're looking for something?"
"Well, I don't think we're well acquainted enough to discuss that."
Geez, so defensive.
It was a firm answer that set clear boundaries, but I had a general sense of what they were doing.
They docked it on the shore, then sent just one person to put it away...
That had to be because they were looking for something. Most summoning engravings had a cooldown period, after all. If they'd determined there was nothing to look for, they would have left on the boat right away instead of waiting again.
But deactivating the summon means they found what they were looking for.
If so, what could they have been looking for? There was one thing that came to mind. I'd also run up to the sixth floor, aiming for it.
If that's the case, that derails my plans...
Even as I subconsciously licked my lips in regret, I made sure to control my expression so that my feelings didn't shine through. But it seemed the same went for my opponent.
"Yandel, how long are you guys going to stay on this island?" Patzran asked casually, his tone nonchalant.
Huh, is he trying to feel me out?
"We'll probably stay here."
"Stay? There's nothing special here."
"This is our first time up here."
"Hmm, it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to head to at least the next island..." Patzran said hopefully before suddenly shifting his tone, apparently realizing he'd gone a bit too far. "Well, no matter. I'm sure you'll figure that out yourselves."
Yeah, who are you to decide where we're going?
"Anyway, if you're going to remain on this island, we might meet again. See you later, then, Yandel." Soon, Patzran ended the conversation. It was obvious what he was thinking. He probably wanted to hurry off and inform his teammates of our presence.
"Wait," I said shortly, and Patzran turned around. He seemed curious about why I suddenly called out to him. I couldn't just let him leave like this, though. To be honest, something had been bothering me the whole conversation. "It's not just Yandel, it's Baronet."
"...What?"
He tilted his head like he might have heard me wrong, so I spoke more clearly this time. "I said it's Bjorn, son of Yandel, Baronet."
Who does he think he is, sneakily trying to act friendly? Does he think I'm still the barbarian on the ground from back then?
"Then I'll get going. Ahem! B-Baronet Yandel..."
When Patzran scurried away from our line of sight, Raven sighed. "...Mr. Yandel, did you have to do that?" It was obvious what she was talking about. She must think I was too harsh.
But I proudly straightened my shoulders. "It's not like I asked him to speak with the highest honorifics."
I didn't ask him to call me Sir Baronet Yandel. Nor did I criticize his casual speech. So what do you mean, 'did I have to do that'?
"Raven, I'm the one who doesn't understand you. What other nobleman is this generous?"
"Uh, I don't have anything to say to that... Still, you've never done anything like that before. What on earth happened between you two?" Raven seemed to regard this as some kind of personal vendetta on my part, but that was not the case. I was honestly more grateful to him than anything. But this and that were two separate things.
"Raven, there's a big difference between speaking to me casually because I told him to and speaking casually first when I never told him he could." Even when I became a noble, my teammates and acquaintances did not change how they spoke to me. That was because I told them not to. But Patzran? It was probably hypocritical of me to point this out as a barbarian, but he spoke casually to me as soon as he saw me.
"Hah, so you're saying you did it for your pride as a nobleman? You're a total noble now."
What was this kid saying? "Not as a noble, but as a clan leader."
"...Pardon?"
"Wherever I go now, I represent you all. But should I have just laughed and moved on out of consideration of an adventurer I don't know well? Just because it's someone I know?"
"That's..."
More importantly, their team's objective appeared to overlap with ours, so we'd run into each other again in the future. That was why I turned on Barbarian Noblesse Mode—I determined that letting ourselves get looked down on from the start wasn't wise in the long run.
"Sorry for being critical. I didn't think that far ahead." Raven lowered her head and apologized. This was one of her strengths: admitting a mistake and apologizing honestly.
"That's all I need. I've already forgotten it." I waved it off with a generous heart like the barbarian I was and instead asked the question on my mind. "But Raven. Do you dislike nobles?"
"No? Not at all."
Hmm, really? Your tone was very sharp earlier. Oh, is she close friends with that man? And that's why she got angry when she saw me bullying him?
I asked her outright because I figured this was a plausible theory, but Raven shook her head again. "Uh, that's definitely not it. I've only run into Mr. Patzran a few times at banquets..."
"Hmm, then why were you so angry?"
"I wasn't angry."
"But you were definitely different than usual."
Raven had a hard time answering my question. Rather than that being because she was uncomfortable, it felt more like she didn't know the reason, either. "It just bothered me a bit. While other nobles are like that, I hoped you wouldn't be the same, I guess... No, wait. What am I saying? Ugh, I don't know, either." Raven looked confused.
I chuckled. I thought I knew what she wanted to say. Even I would feel weird if Ainar suddenly changed and started acting like an authoritative figure. Mm-hmm, a barbarian's charm was their mind, which was as simple as stone.
"Ahh, both of you, stop! What is this weird vibe?!" Not liking the awkward air, Missha interrupted and the topic naturally changed. "So, what are we going to do now? There's still a lot of the island left to explore."
"Oh, I'm thinking of ending the island tour."
This should be enough to measure the size of the island, and we'd already confirmed that there were other people here besides us—competitors who may have come to this island for the same reason.
"Then what are we going to do now?"
My answer to Raven's question was brief. "We're going inland."
You couldn't be an adventurer if you were going to back down just because of some competition.
***
Farune Island, the island located closest to the Island of Beginnings, was a popular hunting ground. The monsters were all ranked eight or lower, but it was an advantageous spot profit-wise in that insect-type monsters spawned here in large quantities. Yeah, that was if you just looked at the profits.
"Erwen, fire! Fire! Fire! Hurry!"
"O-Okay!"
"Ahhh! I think one went in my mouth!"
"Miss Ainar! A mana stone just came out of your mouth! Did you seriously just chew the monster to death?!"
Krungby was a rank-eight insect-type monster larger than a person's face that could summon swarms of bugs.
Whooosh!
Each time Erwen and Raven unleashed their wide-range area of effect abilities with magic or fire elementals, we were showered in mana stones, but no one looked happy about it. I was no different.
It's grosser than I thought.
Even though I considered myself someone with a strong stomach, this was still proving to be a challenge. Thick bodily fluids covered me completely, and the smell of bugs being roasted was repulsive. Man, I wished I didn't have to know a smell like that existed.
"I never heard there were so many monsters here. But I guess since there are no people around—Kyaaa!"
"Don't speak! It's going in your m—mm!"
Even as my clanmates were experiencing the worst moments of their lives, they didn't ask to go back. The reason for that was simple.
"Bjorn, it looks like you were right."
"Yes. There has to be something on this island. If not, those people would not have come here with such a big ship."
Of course, I wasn't a freeloader, so I didn't plan to tail them enough to figure out what that was. Not only did I already know what it was, but no one in our clan was morally bankrupt enough to agree to such a plan in the first place. So we decided to look for it on our own under the assumption that something was hidden on the island.
Thanks to that, it won't seem suspicious even if we find it later.
The problem was Patzran's team because the hidden feature here was a kind of event that targeted the entire island.
If there's no one else on the island besides us, there are a total of eleven people.
That still didn't exceed fifteen people, which was the condition for unlocking the highest difficulty level, but eleven was already difficult enough.
That's probably why he tried to send us off too. The event would be much easier to get through without us here.
That made me kind of curious. How did he know about this Easter egg? Could there be a player among his team members? Or was he a player?
I'm sure I'll get a feel for that when we meet—
While I was walking with these kinds of thoughts in mind, Erwen stopped us. "Mister, someone is fighting over there." She pointed in the direction of the center of the forest. Since this was someone with hearing several times better than ours talking, I was sure she didn't mishear.
"Looks like Mr. Patzran's team is hunting," said Raven. "Hmm, if we run into him here, I think he'll misunderstand and think we followed him—"
"No. They are not hunting." The look in Erwen's eyes was sharp.
"Sorry? What do you mean they aren't hunt—"
"I mean that's the sound of people fighting other people."
In other words, there was a Player Kill in progress.
"Raven, there's a big difference between speaking to me casually because I told him to and speaking casually first when I never told him he could." Even when I became a noble, my teammates and acquaintances did not change how they spoke to me. That was because I told them not to. But Patzran? It was probably hypocritical of me to point this out as a barbarian, but he spoke casually to me as soon as he saw me.
"Hah, so you're saying you did it for your pride as a nobleman? You're a total noble now."
What was this kid saying? "Not as a noble, but as a clan leader."
"...Pardon?"
"Wherever I go now, I represent you all. But should I have just laughed and moved on out of consideration of an adventurer I don't know well? Just because it's someone I know?"
"That's..."
More importantly, their team's objective appeared to overlap with ours, so we'd run into each other again in the future. That was why I turned on Barbarian Noblesse Mode—I determined that letting ourselves get looked down on from the start wasn't wise in the long run.
"Sorry for being critical. I didn't think that far ahead." Raven lowered her head and apologized. This was one of her strengths: admitting a mistake and apologizing honestly.
"That's all I need. I've already forgotten it." I waved it off with a generous heart like the barbarian I was and instead asked the question on my mind. "But Raven. Do you dislike nobles?"
"No? Not at all."
Hmm, really? Your tone was very sharp earlier. Oh, is she close friends with that man? And that's why she got angry when she saw me bullying him?
I asked her outright because I figured this was a plausible theory, but Raven shook her head again. "Uh, that's definitely not it. I've only run into Mr. Patzran a few times at banquets..."
"Hmm, then why were you so angry?"
"I wasn't angry."
"But you were definitely different than usual."
Raven had a hard time answering my question. Rather than that being because she was uncomfortable, it felt more like she didn't know the reason, either. "It just bothered me a bit. While other nobles are like that, I hoped you wouldn't be the same, I guess... No, wait. What am I saying? Ugh, I don't know, either." Raven looked confused.
I chuckled. I thought I knew what she wanted to say. Even I would feel weird if Ainar suddenly changed and started acting like an authoritative figure. Mm-hmm, a barbarian's charm was their mind, which was as simple as stone.
"Ahh, both of you, stop! What is this weird vibe?!" Not liking the awkward air, Missha interrupted and the topic naturally changed. "So, what are we going to do now? There's still a lot of the island left to explore."
"Oh, I'm thinking of ending the island tour."
This should be enough to measure the size of the island, and we'd already confirmed that there were other people here besides us—competitors who may have come to this island for the same reason.
"Then what are we going to do now?"
My answer to Raven's question was brief. "We're going inland."
You couldn't be an adventurer if you were going to back down just because of some competition.
***
Farune Island, the island located closest to the Island of Beginnings, was a popular hunting ground. The monsters were all ranked eight or lower, but it was an advantageous spot profit-wise in that insect-type monsters spawned here in large quantities. Yeah, that was if you just looked at the profits.
"Erwen, fire! Fire! Fire! Hurry!"
"O-Okay!"
"Ahhh! I think one went in my mouth!"
"Miss Ainar! A mana stone just came out of your mouth! Did you seriously just chew the monster to death?!"
Krungby was a rank-eight insect-type monster larger than a person's face that could summon swarms of bugs.
Whooosh!
Each time Erwen and Raven unleashed their wide-range area of effect abilities with magic or fire elementals, we were showered in mana stones, but no one looked happy about it. I was no different.
It's grosser than I thought.
Even though I considered myself someone with a strong stomach, this was still proving to be a challenge. Thick bodily fluids covered me completely, and the smell of bugs being roasted was repulsive. Man, I wished I didn't have to know a smell like that existed.
"I never heard there were so many monsters here. But I guess since there are no people around—Kyaaa!"
"Don't speak! It's going in your m—mm!"
Even as my clanmates were experiencing the worst moments of their lives, they didn't ask to go back. The reason for that was simple.
"Bjorn, it looks like you were right."
"Yes. There has to be something on this island. If not, those people would not have come here with such a big ship."
Of course, I wasn't a freeloader, so I didn't plan to tail them enough to figure out what that was. Not only did I already know what it was, but no one in our clan was morally bankrupt enough to agree to such a plan in the first place. So we decided to look for it on our own under the assumption that something was hidden on the island.
Thanks to that, it won't seem suspicious even if we find it later.
The problem was Patzran's team because the hidden feature here was a kind of event that targeted the entire island.
If there's no one else on the island besides us, there are a total of eleven people.
That still didn't exceed fifteen people, which was the condition for unlocking the highest difficulty level, but eleven was already difficult enough.
That's probably why he tried to send us off too. The event would be much easier to get through without us here.
That made me kind of curious. How did he know about this Easter egg? Could there be a player among his team members? Or was he a player?
I'm sure I'll get a feel for that when we meet—
While I was walking with these kinds of thoughts in mind, Erwen stopped us. "Mister, someone is fighting over there." She pointed in the direction of the center of the forest. Since this was someone with hearing several times better than ours talking, I was sure she didn't mishear.
"Looks like Mr. Patzran's team is hunting," said Raven. "Hmm, if we run into him here, I think he'll misunderstand and think we followed him—"
"No. They are not hunting." The look in Erwen's eyes was sharp.
"Sorry? What do you mean they aren't hunt—"
"I mean that's the sound of people fighting other people."
In other words, there was a Player Kill in progress.