25
My Villains Chapter 25
7. Sewer (3)
While I was lost in thought about equipment, Ellen suddenly spoke up.
"How about we just search around the stairs?"
Huh? Why stairs all of a sudden?
Ah, right. We were debating whether to explore further or not.
"Just around the stairs?"
"Yes."
Ellen said that while rummaging through her sling bag and pulled out something like a flattened piece of oiled paper.
"Give me the map."
"Huh? Oh, here."
She took the 2nd floor map and covered it with the oiled paper, then started marking the locations of stairs with a charcoal pencil.
Then she pointed at the marked spots with her white finger and said, "Now, these are the stair locations on the 3rd floor, right? If we just check around the stairs when we go down, we can dramatically improve the completeness of the map."
"Hmm. We'll have to go to the 3rd floor anyway, so why don't we scout the terrain and prepare in advance?"
"Exactly."
Oh, this...
This is a method often used in Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup (abbreviated as DCSS or Stone Soup), an enduring masterpiece in the roguelike genre that offers endless gameplay experiences through dozens of races and gods, and ever-changing dungeon layouts, and is even free to play.
I like it.
Ellen blew off the charcoal dust, folded the oiled paper and put it in her pocket, then added, "And there might be ratmen or something like that further down. Then we could make some money too."
"Alright. Let's just check around the stairs then. But we'll take our time and look carefully, not rush."
"Of course."
So we decided to explore around the stairs on the 3rd floor.
There were 4 staircases leading from the 2nd basement to the 3rd. It wasn't surprising, as there were also 4 staircases from the 1st to the 2nd basement.
The only difference was that while the 1st to 2nd floor stairs were positioned in the cardinal directions, the 2nd to 3rd floor stairs were rotated about 45 degrees clockwise.
Exploring just around the stairs meant we had to cross the 2nd floor several times, making our route longer, but it turned out to be a good choice. We were able to find and take out two wandering zombie groups along the way.
After dealing with them, Ellen pouted while examining the sewer where the stonebow had ricocheted.
"Ugh, these annoying zombies. We just wasted a stonebow for nothing."
As she muttered with a regretful expression, I shrugged and comforted her.
"We still have plenty left, right? And if we run out, we can always buy more at the workshop."
"If you're that careless, you'll go broke in no time."
...What are you talking about, you're the real broke one.
She spent most of the money from selling the cat's eye silver ring to buy a stonebow worth six silver coins.
She probably has... Maybe one silver coin left now? No, even less than that.
Right, youth is meant to be poor. Let's not say anything.
Unaware that I was secretly mocking her, Ellen seemed quite satisfied when I kept my mouth shut.
"So let's just avoid zombies like these from now on. It's just a waste of time and energy."
"We can't do that. We might need to run away from the 3rd floor at some point. It's essential to clear our escape route."
At my firm refusal, Ellen closed her mouth with a sullen expression.
I understood why she was complaining, but from my perspective, aside from securing an escape route, even this small experience was welcome.
The reason I was concerned about experience points was that I had been stuck at level 11 since leveling up after killing the pirates on the ship.
Even in a mere game's hardcore mode, if you neglect experience farming, scenario progression slows down and the risk of death skyrockets.
How much more so in this reality? It was obvious that survival probability in this damned world would be directly proportional to level. So I had to pay attention.
But here's where a really annoying problem arose: I couldn't accurately gauge my current experience level. In my dreams, I only saw the character sheet, with no information about required experience, inventory, or equipment details.
Sigh, beyond hardcore to real mode, huh?
Well, being able to allocate stats and skills is already something. It's just that the information is a bit controlled, right?
And I could roughly estimate the required experience. With years of Dark World experience under my belt, I should be able to do at least this much.
First, recalling the experience point table for leveling up...
Was it 4500 experience needed for level 11? No, no, it's 3600.
There was no way to know my exact experience when I arrived at South Harbor. Let's just assume it was 0.
I don't remember the experience of the naked pirates well. It's probably similar to a common bandit. Let's say 15.
Iron Mask, that is, the warrior with the iron mask, is worth 50 experience.
So the experience gained at the dock would be... Just under 1000
Zombie experience is 7, and corpse beetles are... About 5? Then the experience gained today is roughly 410.
No, since I'm partied with the stonebow stand, cut that by 40%, so about 250.
Ah, the reason I predict being in a party with Ellen is because of the dream.
There was an E tab showing Ellen's sheet next to the C tab showing my character sheet.
I can't say for certain it's a party... Connected, maybe? Anyway, it seemed to be that kind of state.
In any case, if I estimate like that, my current experience is about 1,250.
This is why I try to take out zombies and corpse beetles whenever possible.
Dark World was originally difficult to level up in, but facing it in reality made it even tougher.
Game characters can fight all day without getting tired or backing down with just a few mouse clicks and keystrokes, but I can't do that.
So I need to farm experience by sweeping up as many mobs as possible when it's safe and I have the leisure.
If I repeat the hunting I've done so far about ten times, I'll level up.
...The thought of rolling around with corpse beetles for quite a while longer makes me sigh involuntarily.
The 3rd basement was not much different from the 2nd floor, as we expected.
The dark corridor stretched out long on both sides with a waterway in the center. It was also the same that there was a hub where the path split into four when you passed through the corridor.
The monsters inhabiting the hub were the same too. Zombies and corpse beetles. I'm already sick of them.
When are the ratmen going to show up? I'm tired of these unprofitable creatures.
Of course, being tired is one thing, and experience is another. So I ruthlessly killed every last one of them.
Can I slightly increase my survival probability by getting a little nauseated? Then I'll roll in a pile of shit if I have to, what choice do I have?
Ellen and I first went down the stairs located at the 7 o'clock position. There was no particular reason for choosing the 7 o'clock direction, it was just the closest.
After going down the stairs and moving along the straight corridor, we cleared only the first hub we encountered and then came back up.
We proceeded to explore the stairs at 5 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions in the same manner, and Ellen's map of the 3rd floor gradually took shape.
It was around the time we were heading towards the last stairs at the 11 o'clock position.
I noticed Ellen's leather shoes starting to drag and asked her:
"Are you tired?"
"...Mind your own business."
Although she replied grumpily, there were a couple of sweat drops hanging from her chin.
Well, it must be tiring. The DCSS-style exploration, or rather, scouting just around the stairs of the 3rd floor, was more exhausting than we thought.
Dealing with enemies wasn't really the issue. But constantly walking caused fatigue to accumulate endlessly. The sewer was a vast structure, as large as South Harbor itself, which made it even more tiring.
Of course, the sewer was a facility with well-cut flagstones laid out. It was naturally designed for easy movement, as it was originally built to manage waterways.
However, having been neglected for many years, there were many things to trip over on the floor, and frequent blockages or collapsed points forced us to take long detours. Moreover, the constant appearance of monsters left no room to relax.
Even I was starting to feel my legs getting stiff.
Ellen, who was small in stature, was carrying a backpack larger than her torso. It would be stranger if she wasn't feeling fatigued.
"Want me to carry your backpack?"
"...I said I'm fine."
Really, such stubbornness.
Her bag contained all sorts of miscellaneous items: bandages, oil bottles and empty bottles, 4 sulfur torches, rope, antidote, hemostatic agent, ointment, dry rations, leather canteen, glass bottles for collecting samples, and so on...
On top of that, she was also carrying a sling bag with her personal items like stones and an hourglass.
If you add up all that weight, wouldn't it be at least 15 kilos?
Then what am I carrying, you ask?
Let's see... First, I'm armed.
And I have a bag slung over my shoulder, containing a whetstone, flint and steel, antidote, hemostatic agent, and a bit of dry rations.
Ah, and I also have a half-empty leather canteen at my waist.
Considering my superhuman strength of 23, it's practically the same as carrying no load at all.
...Now that I put it this way, I feel a bit guilty, but there were reasons for this distribution.
If an enemy suddenly appears nearby, I need to react immediately and fight. I can't entrust close combat to a weak stonebow stand, can I?
And the truly surprising fact is - the one who proposed this unfair load distribution wasn't me, but Ellen.
Honestly, it was a bit unexpected, but I was very pleased to feel her strong will not to become a burden.
But- seeing her struggling makes me feel sorry for her. We've been at this for 9 hours already, even with breaks in between.
"Give it here. We're almost at the end, I'll carry it for you."
"...I said I'm fine."
"Hey, are you worried I might make fun of you? It's okay, just give it to me. I promise I won't tease you."
At my assurance, Ellen's blue eyes wavered for a moment, but she soon clamped her mouth shut. Then she shook her head vigorously.
"No, I don't need it. Are you deaf?"
...Alright, I can see from your eyes that you still have some energy left.
As we were chatting (?) amiably, we finally arrived at the stairs in the 11 o'clock direction.
If we go down here and search just the first hub, our task for today will be done.
As we went down the stairs, illuminating the way with the bull's eye lantern, I noticed something strange when we reached the 3rd floor.
"Huh? Hey, look at that."
"...Is that water?"
As Ellen muttered, it was indeed water. The area around the stairs was splashing with water, as if the central waterway had overflowed.
"What's going on?"
"Either the downstream is blocked, or the upstream has burst. Or maybe both."
As I listened to her muttering, I fell into thought.
Was there such a place in the upper layer of the sewer, that is, in the ancient empire's sewer?
As far as I remembered, the ancient empire's sewer was just a boringly long structure with a regular layout.
The unexpected environment naturally raised our tension.
The instincts that had become relaxed while dealing with corpse beetles and zombies until now sharpened acutely.
"...What do you want to do?"
At Ellen's question, I fell into thought.
It's just a bit of overflow, maybe we don't need to be too tense?
We've earned quite a bit of experience, but haven't made any money. Shouldn't we try to gain something?
And this is still just the 3rd underground floor. The most we'd encounter would be ratmen. Moreover, we've secured our escape route right behind us.
After a moment of deliberation, I made a decision.
"Let's just check up to the hub and then go back."
At my words, Ellen put down her heavy backpack on top of the stairs. It would be better to travel light since we'd be coming right back here anyway.
After confirming that she had restrung her stonebow, we moved along the corridor.
We walked splashing for about 5 minutes to reach the hub, but... Damn it, it was a waste of time.
"Ah, how annoying." The hub just had water splashing up to our ankles, nothing else.
As I muttered in disappointment, Ellen frowned and muttered, "...Something's not right."
"What is?"
"Look. There's too much of nothing. No corpses, no trash."
"Hmm?"
As she said, there was nothing particularly noticeable in this hub. If I had to pick something, maybe the collapsed wall in one corner and the soil that had flowed out from there?
But even that was a common sight in the sewer.
Wait a minute, but that...
Something caught my eye in the middle of the soil. As I carefully approached to examine it...
What is this?
"Ellen, look at this."
"What is it?"
As I gently scattered the soil, there were fist-sized spheres clustered together.
The white spheres, which I couldn't tell if they were covered in dirt or had brown spots, were slightly elongated as if pressed from the side.
"...Eggs."
Ellen, who had come to my side, examined the spotted eggs for a moment.
Then, her face turning pale, she said:
"... Phoenix, we need to run away.”