Chapter 314: Inheritance (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 314: Inheritance (3)
Rank-six adventurer Droff Itoms was like any other run-of-the-mill adventurer in the labyrinth. Not affiliated with a large clan, his current team was intermediated by the Adventurers' Guild. If there was anything a bit odd about him, it was that he was taking over for his previous team leader who had died recently. But that didn't change the fact that he was ordinary.
Their team was active on the fourth floor. His teammates were of mediocre talent and their attitudes and mentality were no different from most others. They normally worked hard to collect mana stones, but like any other adventurer, they did not hesitate to get their hands dirty if the right opportunity arose, which was why Droff and his team were currently in a dilemma.
"Oh, you guys are so kind!"
Running into this barbarian was pure coincidence. As they were passing through the field of reeds on their way to the Witch's Forest, they discovered him crying for help. Apparently, he got separated from his team, trying to drink in secret during their break.
What kind of blockheaded bastard...?
It was almost unbelievable at first, but the man didn't seem to be faking it. After all, he was a barbarian. Something completely illogical like this was more than possible for someone like him. More importantly, their race did not lie often, nor did they do it well.
Then that means he really is lost...
"Droff, what are you going to do?"
"You're not going to just send him away, right? I think the ring that guy is wearing is a sub-space."
"He said he left his weapon behind too. If we're going to do this, let's do it fast. His teammates might come looking."
Everyone's eyes gleamed with greed. This was only natural, because a sub-space ring sold for pretty much the same price it was bought at. It wasn't like it came with an expiration date, nor was it like other equipment that could only be worn by someone of the same size as the original owner. The standard asking price was several million stones.
His armor looks like it's good quality too...
"What are all of you standing around talking for? You said you'd help me find my teammates!"
"Jackson, you go over there and calm that barbarian bastard down."
"That's easy. Hey, barbarian! Are you hungry? Have some beef jerky!"
"Oh! Beef jerky! But... do you not have alcohol?"
"Haha, here it is. If you're bored, let's drink together."
Droff assigned one of his team members to the barbarian and exchanged glances with the rest. As their eyes met, everyone nodded silently to indicate their agreement with the plan. Unanimity was achieved in an instant.
"Ugh, I'm so tired from running all day... You guys have something to discuss, right? Can I nap while you do that?"
"Haha, do as you like."
As if on cue, the barbarian announced he was tired and lay on the ground, and soon the sound of snoring could be heard.
Honk! Hooonk!
At the sight, Droff let go of the last of his guilt. This was the guy's own fault. Who could resist when he was pretty much begging to be mugged? Droff exchanged hand signals with his teammates and they slowly crept up to the barbarian.
Now.
Weapons were fired from all directions at once. But... what the hell?
Khak!
The tip of his sword was obstructed by something hard. His blade bounced off like he'd just tried to stab some kind of barrier, and the noise it made was also strange. Unlike the sound he usually heard when he slashed through flesh and leather, a sound not unlike scraping a stone wall rang out.
"...W-What the—?"
While everyone was busy scrambling, the barbarian jerked up without a single drop of blood on him, raised a fist, and then shouted like he'd been waiting for this: "We have a problem!"
***
"Ha... I didn't think that would actually work." After their first plunderer hunt succeeded, Felic Barker huffed a laugh. He had been hesitant while he was playing along with it, but after seeing the results, he had to admit it paid off.
"Captain, there was no loot in the bags, but they have a substantial amount of equipment."
"I'm sure. Looks like this ain't their first rodeo."
This was the unfair thing about this world. Rather than hunting monsters to undergo organic growth, stabbing fellow adventurers in the back got you much further ahead. Though if you did it wrong, you could end up getting a little too ahead of yourself and dying before your time.
"Now, what do you think? About my strategy," I asked, straightening my shoulders with pride.
Felic nodded charitably. "It's not bad. No, to be honest, this is innovative." He was greatly impressed and went on to praise me for a long while. "To start, having someone like you act as the herder and infiltrate the teams already cinches it. Who can react to both an ambush from the inside and an attack from the outside?"
As a matter of fact, during the battle just now, every member of that team had their fronts turned to me. As soon as the clan members hiding in Reed Forest attacked, they all fell like dominoes. The entire battle took around ten seconds.
"Anyway, the barbarian race is truly amazing! People are bound to be suspicious of a child in the labyrinth, but nothing like that happened this time!"
Was that meant to be a compliment? The question popped into my head, but I just tossed it away. It wasn't like I was a real barbarian, so I could just take it as high praise.
Anyway, that should be enough to prove how great this method is...
It was now time to move on to the next stage of my plan. There was one sole reason why I shared this strategy with them. "I'm glad you like it! Then will you guys use my method too?" I would likely have to work with these guys for the next while, but I didn't want to loot good, innocent adventurers. And being a bystander while they got murdered didn't sit right with me, either. That was why I was trying to persuade these guys to hunt plunderers instead.
"I wish we could, but..." At my question, Felic expressed his concerns. "Unfortunately, this method has a fatal flaw."
"What is it?"
"You are the only barbarian here. It is a good strategy, but it's not efficient for all of us to flock together every time—"
"Don't worry. I already have a solution for that. Hey, you, and you there." I grinned and called forth the men I'd scouted out in advance from Teams One and Two, ordering them to take off their clothes.
"Um, why are we getting undressed...?"
What do you mean why? I'm trying to check your muscles. Okay, there's quite a bit of water weight to them but they should be big enough.
Slide.
When I took a step forward, the two undressed men stepped back, covering their upper bodies with their arms. What, did I imply I was going to do something bad?
The tip of his sword was obstructed by something hard. His blade bounced off like he'd just tried to stab some kind of barrier, and the noise it made was also strange. Unlike the sound he usually heard when he slashed through flesh and leather, a sound not unlike scraping a stone wall rang out.
"...W-What the—?"
While everyone was busy scrambling, the barbarian jerked up without a single drop of blood on him, raised a fist, and then shouted like he'd been waiting for this: "We have a problem!"
***
"Ha... I didn't think that would actually work." After their first plunderer hunt succeeded, Felic Barker huffed a laugh. He had been hesitant while he was playing along with it, but after seeing the results, he had to admit it paid off.
"Captain, there was no loot in the bags, but they have a substantial amount of equipment."
"I'm sure. Looks like this ain't their first rodeo."
This was the unfair thing about this world. Rather than hunting monsters to undergo organic growth, stabbing fellow adventurers in the back got you much further ahead. Though if you did it wrong, you could end up getting a little too ahead of yourself and dying before your time.
"Now, what do you think? About my strategy," I asked, straightening my shoulders with pride.
Felic nodded charitably. "It's not bad. No, to be honest, this is innovative." He was greatly impressed and went on to praise me for a long while. "To start, having someone like you act as the herder and infiltrate the teams already cinches it. Who can react to both an ambush from the inside and an attack from the outside?"
As a matter of fact, during the battle just now, every member of that team had their fronts turned to me. As soon as the clan members hiding in Reed Forest attacked, they all fell like dominoes. The entire battle took around ten seconds.
"Anyway, the barbarian race is truly amazing! People are bound to be suspicious of a child in the labyrinth, but nothing like that happened this time!"
Was that meant to be a compliment? The question popped into my head, but I just tossed it away. It wasn't like I was a real barbarian, so I could just take it as high praise.
Anyway, that should be enough to prove how great this method is...
It was now time to move on to the next stage of my plan. There was one sole reason why I shared this strategy with them. "I'm glad you like it! Then will you guys use my method too?" I would likely have to work with these guys for the next while, but I didn't want to loot good, innocent adventurers. And being a bystander while they got murdered didn't sit right with me, either. That was why I was trying to persuade these guys to hunt plunderers instead.
"I wish we could, but..." At my question, Felic expressed his concerns. "Unfortunately, this method has a fatal flaw."
"What is it?"
"You are the only barbarian here. It is a good strategy, but it's not efficient for all of us to flock together every time—"
"Don't worry. I already have a solution for that. Hey, you, and you there." I grinned and called forth the men I'd scouted out in advance from Teams One and Two, ordering them to take off their clothes.
"Um, why are we getting undressed...?"
What do you mean why? I'm trying to check your muscles. Okay, there's quite a bit of water weight to them but they should be big enough.
Slide.
When I took a step forward, the two undressed men stepped back, covering their upper bodies with their arms. What, did I imply I was going to do something bad?
"Um, if you could tell us what you're going to do..."
"I am going to turn you both into warriors."
I took out the items I brought with me. Did they finally realize what I was trying to do? The two men's eyes went wide, and they shouted, "That's—!"
"No way!"
It was a brush and dye.
The surrealist painter Salvador Dali once said, "I am not strange. I am just not normal." The impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh once said, "I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." Pablo Picasso once said something as well: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." I wondered if there too would come a day when I could leave such famous words as theirs behind.
I had no way of knowing for sure right now, but I spoke anyway. "Stay still! Unless you want to die!"
The two of them kept squirming. Ugh, how ticklish could it be? The lines kept ending up crooked.
Brush, brush.
The more external distractions there were, the more I focused. Using four common colors—red, green, blue, and black—I channeled the wisdom of my predecessors in my heart and focused them on my brushstrokes, expressing them in a form of art that the ordinary person could not hope to understand. Rather than paper, human skin served as my canvas.
Brush, brush.
The ordinary people surrounding me kept muttering.
"Looks like some kind of graffiti."
"So crooked..."
Tsk, how barbaric. They don't even know what modern art is.
"Ahem!" When I coughed to show my displeasure, they shut up.
Whew, that's much better. I should have done that ages ago.
I continued my work in silence. It didn't take long. It was fun at first, but the more it dragged on, the more boring it became.
"All finished! You can stand up now." When I haphazardly wrapped things up and patted the two guys on the back, they timidly stood up.
Jeez, you're killing the creator's muse.
"Why are you covering the tattoos with your arms?" I removed their arms, which were covering their upper bodies out of shame so that my art was on full display. I was quite satisfied, although they weren't nearly as good as the tattoos on my body.
"...It's less obvious than I thought." The clan leader, who had been looking at me like something was wrong with me earlier, seemed surprised by the finished product. In the dark labyrinth, minor inaccuracies weren't that noticeable. But as the artist, I couldn't help but notice the flaws in my creation.
"Why are you looking down at the ground?" I demanded. "Are you ashamed?"
Look at those meek expressions and attitudes. No one will buy that they're barbarians if they act like that.
"Come here. I will turn you into real warriors."
I asked the clan leader for his understanding and started correcting them. It wasn't too hard. It took about thirty minutes.
"B-Behelahhh!"
"Louder!"
"Behel-ahhh!"
"Good. And what do you say when you run?"
"I'm lost! Help me!"
"Snore!"
Honk! Hooonk!
"Sit!"
Slump.
Okay, now you're a bit like barbarians.
***
In the middle of the night, the crescent moon high in the sky, Erwen Fornacci di Tersia knocked on the door of a house.
Knock, knock.
The door opened about a minute later with a creak. The elf man who opened the door froze when he saw Erwen's face. Her grim expression told him exactly why she came to visit him at this time of night. "...You've made a decision."
"Yes." Her short answer showed not even the slightest hesitation, which made the man sigh sadly. It wasn't that he couldn't sympathize with how this child felt.
"The process of gaining the power of a pureblood is much more terrible than you imagine, and it's also not something you can achieve just because you want it."
"I know."
"Please, why don't you reconsider one last time?" the man asked, unable to watch this happen. He could already clearly see the path this child would end up walking in the future.
But Erwen's resolve remained unchanged. "Sorry, but I've already made my decision. Please help me. Help me become a pureblood." Erwen raised her lowered head. Her amber eyes, which were once always bright, now contained only a thirst for power.
The man's chest felt tight. He had seen people with eyes like hers reach their end far too many times. However, he could not dare refuse Erwen's request. "All right. I will help you." Regardless of how powerful he became or whether his clan called him a hero or not, he would still always be a villain to the di Tersia sisters.
"Thank you. I'll be going now." Erwen turned around and began to slowly walk away.
As he watched her, the man found himself stopping her. "Wait."
"...Is there something you want to say?"
"If... yes, if..."
If there were a way to bring that man back to life, what would you do?
The man wanted to ask this question but couldn't bring himself to continue. "Nothing. I just had a foolish thought. It's late, you should go home. I will relay word of your decision to the council of elders."
"Yes." Erwen, who had stopped for a moment to tilt her head, turned back around to leave. This time, the man did not stop her.
No, he couldn't stop her.
Not only had that man, the one who knew about the Stone of Revival, been absent from the gathering this month, but the person the stone would be used to save had already been decided.
"Um, if you could tell us what you're going to do..."
"I am going to turn you both into warriors."
I took out the items I brought with me. Did they finally realize what I was trying to do? The two men's eyes went wide, and they shouted, "That's—!"
"No way!"
It was a brush and dye.
The surrealist painter Salvador Dali once said, "I am not strange. I am just not normal." The impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh once said, "I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." Pablo Picasso once said something as well: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." I wondered if there too would come a day when I could leave such famous words as theirs behind.
I had no way of knowing for sure right now, but I spoke anyway. "Stay still! Unless you want to die!"
The two of them kept squirming. Ugh, how ticklish could it be? The lines kept ending up crooked.
Brush, brush.
The more external distractions there were, the more I focused. Using four common colors—red, green, blue, and black—I channeled the wisdom of my predecessors in my heart and focused them on my brushstrokes, expressing them in a form of art that the ordinary person could not hope to understand. Rather than paper, human skin served as my canvas.
Brush, brush.
The ordinary people surrounding me kept muttering.
"Looks like some kind of graffiti."
"So crooked..."
Tsk, how barbaric. They don't even know what modern art is.
"Ahem!" When I coughed to show my displeasure, they shut up.
Whew, that's much better. I should have done that ages ago.
I continued my work in silence. It didn't take long. It was fun at first, but the more it dragged on, the more boring it became.
"All finished! You can stand up now." When I haphazardly wrapped things up and patted the two guys on the back, they timidly stood up.
Jeez, you're killing the creator's muse.
"Why are you covering the tattoos with your arms?" I removed their arms, which were covering their upper bodies out of shame so that my art was on full display. I was quite satisfied, although they weren't nearly as good as the tattoos on my body.
"...It's less obvious than I thought." The clan leader, who had been looking at me like something was wrong with me earlier, seemed surprised by the finished product. In the dark labyrinth, minor inaccuracies weren't that noticeable. But as the artist, I couldn't help but notice the flaws in my creation.
"Why are you looking down at the ground?" I demanded. "Are you ashamed?"
Look at those meek expressions and attitudes. No one will buy that they're barbarians if they act like that.
"Come here. I will turn you into real warriors."
I asked the clan leader for his understanding and started correcting them. It wasn't too hard. It took about thirty minutes.
"B-Behelahhh!"
"Louder!"
"Behel-ahhh!"
"Good. And what do you say when you run?"
"I'm lost! Help me!"
"Snore!"
Honk! Hooonk!
"Sit!"
Slump.
Okay, now you're a bit like barbarians.
***
In the middle of the night, the crescent moon high in the sky, Erwen Fornacci di Tersia knocked on the door of a house.
Knock, knock.
The door opened about a minute later with a creak. The elf man who opened the door froze when he saw Erwen's face. Her grim expression told him exactly why she came to visit him at this time of night. "...You've made a decision."
"Yes." Her short answer showed not even the slightest hesitation, which made the man sigh sadly. It wasn't that he couldn't sympathize with how this child felt.
"The process of gaining the power of a pureblood is much more terrible than you imagine, and it's also not something you can achieve just because you want it."
"I know."
"Please, why don't you reconsider one last time?" the man asked, unable to watch this happen. He could already clearly see the path this child would end up walking in the future.
But Erwen's resolve remained unchanged. "Sorry, but I've already made my decision. Please help me. Help me become a pureblood." Erwen raised her lowered head. Her amber eyes, which were once always bright, now contained only a thirst for power.
The man's chest felt tight. He had seen people with eyes like hers reach their end far too many times. However, he could not dare refuse Erwen's request. "All right. I will help you." Regardless of how powerful he became or whether his clan called him a hero or not, he would still always be a villain to the di Tersia sisters.
"Thank you. I'll be going now." Erwen turned around and began to slowly walk away.
As he watched her, the man found himself stopping her. "Wait."
"...Is there something you want to say?"
"If... yes, if..."
If there were a way to bring that man back to life, what would you do?
The man wanted to ask this question but couldn't bring himself to continue. "Nothing. I just had a foolish thought. It's late, you should go home. I will relay word of your decision to the council of elders."
"Yes." Erwen, who had stopped for a moment to tilt her head, turned back around to leave. This time, the man did not stop her.
No, he couldn't stop her.
Not only had that man, the one who knew about the Stone of Revival, been absent from the gathering this month, but the person the stone would be used to save had already been decided.