Chapter 516: Natives (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 516: Natives (4)
The Last Great Sage, Diplan Groundel Gabrielius. The man who created the barrier that to this day still protected the city from the Witch's curse, and who opened the dimensional gate to the labyrinth to solve the kingdom's issue of resource scarcity. He was the greatest adventurer in history and the city's savior.
It was safe to say that most of the achievements recorded atop the Stone of Honor could be attributed to that one old man. He left an incredible mark on the labyrinth during its early days—so incredible, in fact, that people still called its secrets and mysteries Achievements of Gabrielius directly after the man.
[The Last Great Sage, Diplan Groundel Gabrielius, and his companions defeated all the monsters of the Crystal Cave and opened a hidden area of the labyrinth.]
Given that he was so famous that his name was the first one children learned while studying history, it was only natural that his companions were also very well known.
"...Did that one just speak our language?"
"Yes... Yes, h-he very much did..."
"No, but more importantly...you know...about Rafdonia?"
My comrades, who were listening in on my conversation with Chief Bruingrid, fell into a state of confusion. They were reacting the same way those monsters did when I first spoke the ancient language. Their expressions all seemed to scream, How is that monster talking? Honestly, I probably had the exact same look on my face.
But...
"(I am the chief of this village, Bruingrid.)"
"(It's good to see you, truly. And I suppose you are an adventurer from Rafdonia?)"
"(So, how much time has passed in the outside world?)"
As the one in charge of leading these people, I forcefully pulled myself together and tried to make sense of this.
What exactly—or who exactly—is this monster...?
To be honest, a few theories came to mind without me even needing to think about them.
"The Dragon Knight, Cornelius Bruingrid."
As soon as the name left my mouth, the village chief nodded and broke his silence. "Correct."
Damn, really? Why was he here? And why did he look like a monster?
"D-Dragon Knight Bruingrid...!"
"...I find that hard to believe."
"Maybe he's lying? That man was supposed to have lived thousands of years ago... It's ridiculous to think he'd still be alive today. And just look at him..."
My comrades frantically discussed amongst themselves, but the village chief didn't acknowledge their whispering. He just stared straight at me and repeated his earlier question. "So, could you tell me? How much time has passed outside?"
Something in Chief Bruingrid's calm voice tugged at me, urging me to answer him. However, before that, I had a question of my own.
"I'll ask you this before I answer: could I use this?" It'd be hard to trust anything he said right off the bat considering this was our first meeting, so I pulled out Misplaced Trust.
"It's been a while since I've seen that thing..."
"So, what's your answer?"
"You may use it. In fact, I would like it if you did."
Okay, so you and I are on the same page...
My trust in him actually grew at his casual acceptance, but that didn't mean I wasn't still going to activate it.
Click.
With his consent, I turned it on.
But what was this?
"I'll check if it's working properly. Could you tell me your name?"
"Cornelius Bruingrid."
I paused. The item didn't activate, and not because he told the truth. The needle on the disk simply stopped moving whenever he spoke, just like it did whenever I spoke.
"...What's going on?"
"I don't know."
While we were standing there confused, Versyl walked up and whispered in my ear, "Maybe... it's because the target is a monster?"
That was a plausible theory. Even I hadn't ever tried using this item on a monster before. If it only worked on people, then that would explain why it wasn't working now.
Or maybe he could be a similar case to me.
Just in case, I asked Versyl to cast verification magic, but that didn't work either.
"I guess we'll have to talk without it," I said, sighing.
What a waste.
"Then could you answer my question now?"
"I have one more question of my own before that."
"Go on."
"If you really are one of the Great Sage's companions, why is someone like you here looking like that?"
"Well..." The chief hesitated, then said, "I don't know either."
"...Huh?"
"It was a day like any other. I was inside the labyrinth, and when the time came, it closed as usual. However, when I opened my eyes, what greeted me wasn't the city but this place. This new, hideous appearance of mine was merely a bonus."
"...What?"
"Even then, I had no idea why I opened my eyes here, why I suddenly looked like this, where I was, or why I didn't die. I've been asking myself those questions for a long time now, but I could only ever come up with one answer: I don't know why any of this happened."
I couldn't sense any anger or despair in Chief Bruingrid's voice. Had his emotions gone completely numb over the years?
"I understand that my answer might not be all that satisfying to you, but is it enough for now?"
"For now." Now that he'd answered me, I answered his question in kind. "...Currently, it is the year New World 157."
"New World...?"
"That means it's the 157th year since the Immortal King died and a new king took his place. It's been thousands of years since the Witch's curse first covered the world."
"Thousands of years... I see."
Unexpectedly, the chief's reaction was quite muted. He was like an already-deflated balloon—there was no threat of him bursting. He didn't even seem to be leaking air.
Anyway, I guess it's my turn now?
Although we didn't set any rules, no one had ever complained about my turn-based approach before.
Let's ask this one.
There was no guarantee that he'd let me ask all the questions I wanted, so I chose my next one carefully. "Who are those monsters that look like you?"
This was the first question that popped into my head after hearing the village chief's story. If he suddenly opened his eyes to find himself here one day, who were those monsters who looked like him? Where had they come from?
Click.
With his consent, I turned it on.
But what was this?
"I'll check if it's working properly. Could you tell me your name?"
"Cornelius Bruingrid."
I paused. The item didn't activate, and not because he told the truth. The needle on the disk simply stopped moving whenever he spoke, just like it did whenever I spoke.
"...What's going on?"
"I don't know."
While we were standing there confused, Versyl walked up and whispered in my ear, "Maybe... it's because the target is a monster?"
That was a plausible theory. Even I hadn't ever tried using this item on a monster before. If it only worked on people, then that would explain why it wasn't working now.
Or maybe he could be a similar case to me.
Just in case, I asked Versyl to cast verification magic, but that didn't work either.
"I guess we'll have to talk without it," I said, sighing.
What a waste.
"Then could you answer my question now?"
"I have one more question of my own before that."
"Go on."
"If you really are one of the Great Sage's companions, why is someone like you here looking like that?"
"Well..." The chief hesitated, then said, "I don't know either."
"...Huh?"
"It was a day like any other. I was inside the labyrinth, and when the time came, it closed as usual. However, when I opened my eyes, what greeted me wasn't the city but this place. This new, hideous appearance of mine was merely a bonus."
"...What?"
"Even then, I had no idea why I opened my eyes here, why I suddenly looked like this, where I was, or why I didn't die. I've been asking myself those questions for a long time now, but I could only ever come up with one answer: I don't know why any of this happened."
I couldn't sense any anger or despair in Chief Bruingrid's voice. Had his emotions gone completely numb over the years?
"I understand that my answer might not be all that satisfying to you, but is it enough for now?"
"For now." Now that he'd answered me, I answered his question in kind. "...Currently, it is the year New World 157."
"New World...?"
"That means it's the 157th year since the Immortal King died and a new king took his place. It's been thousands of years since the Witch's curse first covered the world."
"Thousands of years... I see."
Unexpectedly, the chief's reaction was quite muted. He was like an already-deflated balloon—there was no threat of him bursting. He didn't even seem to be leaking air.
Anyway, I guess it's my turn now?
Although we didn't set any rules, no one had ever complained about my turn-based approach before.
Let's ask this one.
There was no guarantee that he'd let me ask all the questions I wanted, so I chose my next one carefully. "Who are those monsters that look like you?"
This was the first question that popped into my head after hearing the village chief's story. If he suddenly opened his eyes to find himself here one day, who were those monsters who looked like him? Where had they come from?
"They are people who were living on this island before I arrived. You could call them the natives. I couldn't tell you why, but once I woke up here, I found they immediately accepted me as one of their own."
As soon as he said that, Versyl flinched. "Mr. Yandel..." she said, her voice low, "is he perhaps their equivalent of an evil—"
"Versyl." I quickly cut her off.
"Ah..."
Yeah, there was no need to give him extra information for free when we still didn't know if we could trust him or not. Versyl shut her mouth, apparently realizing she'd slipped up, and I turned back to the village chief.
An evil spirit.
That was what Versyl had been on the verge of blurting out. There was a possibility that Bruingrid's body didn't just suddenly morph into that of a monster, but that he had instead, in essence, possessed the body of a monster that already lived here.
As for how that happened? That I couldn't answer right now. This labyrinth had far too many mysteries that needed solving.
"So?" I prompted.
"If I had to guess, I think they might be people who are in a similar situation to mine. However, unlike me, their personalities didn't remain intact. They're intelligent, but they didn't know anything at first. In fact, in the beginning, most would have seen them as no different than savage beasts."
"But now they call themselves humans."
"Yes. Unlike them, I don't get older or die. That alone was enough for them to see me as some sort of godlike being, and so I became their village chief and imparted my knowledge to them. This island is far too harsh to survive on your own. You'll see that for yourself soon enough as well."
"But why did you teach them the ancient language?"
"In this form, the ancient language is much easier to learn and much better suited to our vocal cords."
Well, I didn't know enough to argue with that. Still, naming their race "humans" felt like it was in poor taste.
"Then, could I ask you a question?"
"Sure." I passed the baton to the chief, studying his face with renewed focus. This was for a simple reason.
Let's see if he underestimates me because I'm a barbarian.
If you were going to lie, you had to put your all into not getting caught.
Cornelius Bruingrid... I had no way of knowing for sure whether this guy here really was one of the ancient heroes written about on the Stone of Honor.
"(I don't know why any of this happened.)"
I didn't know why either. He could be telling me the truth, or he could be lying. There was only one thing I was sure of.
"(Thousands of years... I see.)"
The idea that he didn't know how much time had passed outside was crap. He had already captured some other adventurers and taken them to his village, meaning he would've already known that if he had asked them.
Since he can speak Rafdonian, he probably did have a conversation with them.
However, the guy had left his village just to come meet me. Why did he do that? The information that we had could be obtained from other sources. He didn't need us to get these answers.
Now that I thought about it, the way the warriors reacted before he showed up was strange as well.
"(Monster, how can you speak our language?")
"They are people who were living on this island before I arrived. You could call them the natives. I couldn't tell you why, but once I woke up here, I found they immediately accepted me as one of their own."
As soon as he said that, Versyl flinched. "Mr. Yandel..." she said, her voice low, "is he perhaps their equivalent of an evil—"
"Versyl." I quickly cut her off.
"Ah..."
Yeah, there was no need to give him extra information for free when we still didn't know if we could trust him or not. Versyl shut her mouth, apparently realizing she'd slipped up, and I turned back to the village chief.
An evil spirit.
That was what Versyl had been on the verge of blurting out. There was a possibility that Bruingrid's body didn't just suddenly morph into that of a monster, but that he had instead, in essence, possessed the body of a monster that already lived here.
As for how that happened? That I couldn't answer right now. This labyrinth had far too many mysteries that needed solving.
"So?" I prompted.
"If I had to guess, I think they might be people who are in a similar situation to mine. However, unlike me, their personalities didn't remain intact. They're intelligent, but they didn't know anything at first. In fact, in the beginning, most would have seen them as no different than savage beasts."
"But now they call themselves humans."
"Yes. Unlike them, I don't get older or die. That alone was enough for them to see me as some sort of godlike being, and so I became their village chief and imparted my knowledge to them. This island is far too harsh to survive on your own. You'll see that for yourself soon enough as well."
"But why did you teach them the ancient language?"
"In this form, the ancient language is much easier to learn and much better suited to our vocal cords."
Well, I didn't know enough to argue with that. Still, naming their race "humans" felt like it was in poor taste.
"Then, could I ask you a question?"
"Sure." I passed the baton to the chief, studying his face with renewed focus. This was for a simple reason.
Let's see if he underestimates me because I'm a barbarian.
If you were going to lie, you had to put your all into not getting caught.
Cornelius Bruingrid... I had no way of knowing for sure whether this guy here really was one of the ancient heroes written about on the Stone of Honor.
"(I don't know why any of this happened.)"
I didn't know why either. He could be telling me the truth, or he could be lying. There was only one thing I was sure of.
"(Thousands of years... I see.)"
The idea that he didn't know how much time had passed outside was crap. He had already captured some other adventurers and taken them to his village, meaning he would've already known that if he had asked them.
Since he can speak Rafdonian, he probably did have a conversation with them.
However, the guy had left his village just to come meet me. Why did he do that? The information that we had could be obtained from other sources. He didn't need us to get these answers.
Now that I thought about it, the way the warriors reacted before he showed up was strange as well.
"(Monster, how can you speak our language?")
The monsters had come here to save the kid, yet they tried to invite me to their village the second I spoke.
Is there a clue... in the ancient language?
My train of thought only managed to get that far before it was derailed by the village chief speaking again. "Do you know of a way to get out of this place?"
"I don't."
"Then how did you get here?"
"There was a passage on the Stone of Honor that said a hidden area of the labyrinth had been opened. We were exploring the area when the entrance was discovered, so we came down from the first floor." Since we were both very curious about each other, I made sure to answer the chief's questions immediately to speed up our exchange. "Why did you kill the adventurers who found this place?"
"That was out of my hands. The village's warriors were the ones who found them. There's nothing more terrifying than a strange intruder, and it seems they felt they didn't have time to send for me and needed to make a snap decision."
"I see. It's your turn."
"What's outside this island?"
"...Do you not know?"
"The trees here don't float on water."
Really? That was new information.
"If that answered your question, could you answer mine?" the chief once again asked. "What lies beyond this ocean?"
"We don't know much either since it hasn't been long since we arrived. We started on a stone island and visited one other island about five hours away from this one."
"I see... Thank you for telling me. It's now your turn."
The ball was back in my court. I worried this next question might piss him off, but I decided to go for it anyway. "Why did you seek me out instead of just asking the adventurers you're already holding captive in your village?"
"That's because the rainy season is going to begin in three days."
"...Rainy season?" Now that I thought about it, the monster kid also said something about the rain. "What's that have to do with this?"
"We can't expend our limited resources on other things when we have a rainy season to prepare for. We were planning on having a leisurely conversation with the captives after all of our preparations were finished."
To put it simply, they didn't have the time right now. Honestly, it just sounded like an excuse to me. If anything, it made him seem shadier.
"So you're saying you used your limited time to come meet me out here when you couldn't spare a second to talk to those captured adventurers?" I asked, making my suspicions known.
The chief blinked. "You are being...quite aggressive."
"Any adventurer would react the same way."
"Certainly, but you'd do well to be a bit more polite to the person who saved your life. The only reason I came here before finishing my preparations is because I was worried you people would die a senseless death otherwise."
"What?" I asked, wondering if I'd misheard him. "Saved my life?"
The chief carried on in that same calm, even tone. "You won't believe me right now no matter what I tell you. Let us meet here again in three days and speak once more."
"In three days...?" I asked, hoping for clarification, but the chief didn't oblige.
"I get the sense you would have trouble trusting me if I invited you to the village right now."
That was true, but I didn't see how meeting three days from now would change anything...
"Try not to leave the island. Actually, try to remain as close to this area as possible. At a certain point, we'll have no choice but to close the village gates. Oh, but the doors will remain open until then, so do feel free to come in if you change your mind."
I blinked at him in confusion.
The chief didn't seem to notice. "You may keep Marupichichi with you until then."
After that, the chief called the warriors and led them off, disappearing under the tree roots. I watched him go, unable to say anything to stop him.
"He's gone..."
"Yandel, what are you going to do?"
I don't know.
What I really wanted was to throw a tantrum, but that was only for a brief moment. I quickly collected myself and revised my list of priorities.
The top priority was pretty obvious, actually.
"(Marupichichi. Tell me about rainy season.)"
First, I had the monster kid tell me everything he could about this island's rainy season. Once we had that information under our belt, we stayed near the center of the island to hunt monsters.
And so time passed—one day, two days...
Tick tock.
The hour hand moved, marking the beginning of the eagerly-awaited third day.
[00:00]
As if on cue, it began to rain.
Rumble!
However, the rain consisted entirely of...
Krrk, krrk, krrk!
Grrr...!
Graaah!
...monsters I had never seen before.
The monsters had come here to save the kid, yet they tried to invite me to their village the second I spoke.
Is there a clue... in the ancient language?
My train of thought only managed to get that far before it was derailed by the village chief speaking again. "Do you know of a way to get out of this place?"
"I don't."
"Then how did you get here?"
"There was a passage on the Stone of Honor that said a hidden area of the labyrinth had been opened. We were exploring the area when the entrance was discovered, so we came down from the first floor." Since we were both very curious about each other, I made sure to answer the chief's questions immediately to speed up our exchange. "Why did you kill the adventurers who found this place?"
"That was out of my hands. The village's warriors were the ones who found them. There's nothing more terrifying than a strange intruder, and it seems they felt they didn't have time to send for me and needed to make a snap decision."
"I see. It's your turn."
"What's outside this island?"
"...Do you not know?"
"The trees here don't float on water."
Really? That was new information.
"If that answered your question, could you answer mine?" the chief once again asked. "What lies beyond this ocean?"
"We don't know much either since it hasn't been long since we arrived. We started on a stone island and visited one other island about five hours away from this one."
"I see... Thank you for telling me. It's now your turn."
The ball was back in my court. I worried this next question might piss him off, but I decided to go for it anyway. "Why did you seek me out instead of just asking the adventurers you're already holding captive in your village?"
"That's because the rainy season is going to begin in three days."
"...Rainy season?" Now that I thought about it, the monster kid also said something about the rain. "What's that have to do with this?"
"We can't expend our limited resources on other things when we have a rainy season to prepare for. We were planning on having a leisurely conversation with the captives after all of our preparations were finished."
To put it simply, they didn't have the time right now. Honestly, it just sounded like an excuse to me. If anything, it made him seem shadier.
"So you're saying you used your limited time to come meet me out here when you couldn't spare a second to talk to those captured adventurers?" I asked, making my suspicions known.
The chief blinked. "You are being...quite aggressive."
"Any adventurer would react the same way."
"Certainly, but you'd do well to be a bit more polite to the person who saved your life. The only reason I came here before finishing my preparations is because I was worried you people would die a senseless death otherwise."
"What?" I asked, wondering if I'd misheard him. "Saved my life?"
The chief carried on in that same calm, even tone. "You won't believe me right now no matter what I tell you. Let us meet here again in three days and speak once more."
"In three days...?" I asked, hoping for clarification, but the chief didn't oblige.
"I get the sense you would have trouble trusting me if I invited you to the village right now."
That was true, but I didn't see how meeting three days from now would change anything...
"Try not to leave the island. Actually, try to remain as close to this area as possible. At a certain point, we'll have no choice but to close the village gates. Oh, but the doors will remain open until then, so do feel free to come in if you change your mind."
I blinked at him in confusion.
The chief didn't seem to notice. "You may keep Marupichichi with you until then."
After that, the chief called the warriors and led them off, disappearing under the tree roots. I watched him go, unable to say anything to stop him.
"He's gone..."
"Yandel, what are you going to do?"
I don't know.
What I really wanted was to throw a tantrum, but that was only for a brief moment. I quickly collected myself and revised my list of priorities.
The top priority was pretty obvious, actually.
"(Marupichichi. Tell me about rainy season.)"
First, I had the monster kid tell me everything he could about this island's rainy season. Once we had that information under our belt, we stayed near the center of the island to hunt monsters.
And so time passed—one day, two days...
Tick tock.
The hour hand moved, marking the beginning of the eagerly-awaited third day.
[00:00]
As if on cue, it began to rain.
Rumble!
However, the rain consisted entirely of...
Krrk, krrk, krrk!
Grrr...!
Graaah!
...monsters I had never seen before.