Chapter 18
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: No Other Real Man
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“How about we call it a day and rest here?”
Elisicia, who had descended to the 4th floor of the Great Labyrinth, spoke to all of us, including me.
For reference, we hadn't even caught a glimpse of a single monster's hair on the way down to the 4th floor.
'They said there were no monsters up to the 4th floor.'
If I'd known it would be like this, maybe it would've been fine to hide out on the 2nd floor.
“Here? On just the 4th floor?”
Rubyel asked Elisicia with a puzzled look on her face.
Elisicia nodded calmly, as if there was no rush at all.
“It's about time to rest anyway, and from the 5th floor on, we might run into monsters. So let's rest up properly here before heading out.”
The woman next to her, dressed in priestess robes with light blue hair and squinted eyes, agreed with Elisicia.
“That's a good idea. Plus, some of us are new to the Labyrinth.”
The woman in priestess robes had a voice that carried a strange power to calm anyone who heard it.
“Fine.”
Rubyel didn't seem inclined to argue, so she agreed without much fuss.
“Well, since it's the 4th floor, we can rest anywhere.”
“We might attract attention, so do it like usual.”
Like usual?
I asked Elisicia, who had said that.
“Do you usually do something special to rest?”
“Not really. But monsters might attack while we're sleeping, so Rubyel sets up a barrier.”
It seemed she meant erecting something like a barricade to block monsters.
That was definitely a good method, since it would be troublesome in many ways if monsters attacked while we were asleep.
'Come to think of it, if I tell my guard dog robot, Rover, maybe it can stand watch?'
The problem was that I hadn't seen Rover's combat capabilities yet.
The Quick Fix Doctor had recommended it confidently, so it could fight to some extent, but still.
'But it's probably not stronger than my level 6 Telekinesis.'
Level 6 Telekinesis could exert 600kg of force with one hand.
No matter how capable Rover was, it probably couldn't surpass my Telekinesis.
“This spot looks good. What do you think, Rubyel?”
“It's the 4th floor anyway. Location doesn't really matter, but... yeah, it's fine.”
I looked around after hearing Rubyel.
It was a relatively spacious area, but a dead end with three sides blocked off.
'If we block the entrance we came from, no monsters could get in.'
In that sense, the spot seemed pretty good.
“Then let's seal the entrance.”
Rubyel soon extended her hand toward the entrance.
“Rise. Barrier of the Earth.”
Rumble...!
At the same time, a brown light flashed, and a massive rock shot up from the entrance at tremendous speed, sealing it off.
'Is this magic?'
Amazed by the first magic I'd ever seen in person, Elisicia spoke up beside me.
“You look surprised. Is it your first time seeing magic?”
“Yeah, first time seeing it for real.”
I'd only ever seen magic in games or comics.
Honestly, anyone from the modern world would be the same, I thought.
'There was no magic in the world I came from.'
...Right? There really wasn't, was there?
“You'll be seeing it a lot from now on.”
Elisicia replied like that, then pulled out something like sleeping bags from thin air and placed them one by one in the wide space.
Unlike Rubyel's magic, pulling things out of thin air wasn't that surprising since I had my Gallery Inventory.
“This is the second time you've seen it, right? It's a subspace bracelet, an ancient artifact.”
For the record, the first time was when she pulled out the Cloak of Concealment.
“Subspace bracelet?”
I looked at the crude bracelet on Elisicia's wrist and asked again.
“Not the Gallery Inventory?”
“Inventory? What's that?”
“A place in the Gallery where you can store items separately.”
Elisicia blinked her large, pretty blue eyes.
“You can store items in the Gallery? Are you talking about the Exchange?”
“No. There was just a separate storage space...”
At this point, I started feeling like something was off.
My guess was that no one else besides me had an Inventory.
'Could the Inventory be part of my [Modern Item Purchase] ability?'
That seemed likely.
“That's weird. The others and I don't have anything like an Inventory.”
“Looks like it's tied to my ability to bring items from my world.”
Elisicia nodded, finding my explanation plausible.
Separately, as Elisicia had mentioned earlier, it seemed you could store items using the Exchange.
'Is that why the Exchange item limit is only three?'
It was a reasonable suspicion, but there was nothing I could do about it.
In the meantime, I could see the others casually sitting on their sleeping bags to rest. It felt so spartan.
“Hero. Do you guys just lay out sleeping bags like this?”
Plus, the sleeping bags looked worn and tattered at a glance, clearly old.
“Yes. Is there something more we need?”
“...No tent? Or a mat to put on the ground?”
I mentioned a tent to block the wind and a mat to insulate against the cold ground.
But Elisicia and the rest of the party started looking at me like I was weird.
“What? Can't sleep on a floor like this?”
Rubyel said with a pitiful gaze.
To be fair, there probably wasn't any wind blowing in a place like this Labyrinth.
'Still, a tent would be better.'
The reason I thought that was, of course, the bathroom issue.
If we did our business here with the entrance blocked, it'd unintentionally be on display for everyone.
“It's not that. There's the bathroom problem too.”
“Bathroom? Why?”
I looked at Rubyel, who asked again, and boldly replied.
“Would you like it if I watched you do your business, Rubyel?”
“Just turn your head.”
“...”
It was an answer that seemed utterly devoid of femininity.
'Am I the weird one? Is it because this is another world?'
Anyway, I imagined myself doing my business here again.
It might not be a big deal like Rubyel said, but with four stunningly beautiful women watching, no way.
'Might as well...'
I concluded it would be better to buy a tent myself and divide the space.
-Extra-Large Air Tent: 1,850 points
'Why is this so expensive?'
It was pricey, but I'd use it ongoing, and crucially, I was uncomfortable, so I decided to buy it.
“Hero. Could you move those sleeping bags on the floor?”
“Why the sleeping bags?”
“I'm going to set up a tent.”
The tent was expensive, but Elisicia said she usually earned 140,000 to 150,000 points in the Labyrinth.
Even if I took only 10,000 to 20,000 points from that, this expenditure might be negligible.
'Anyway, purchase.'
You have purchased 1 Extra-Large Air Tent.
After purchasing, I placed the tent in the wide space, bought an air pump, and inflated it.
The tent gradually took shape, and it was so large that even after the four of us entered, there would still be plenty of room left.
'I can sleep in the tent I bought before.'
As the tent neared completion, Elisicia spoke in an admiring tone.
“Wow. I've never seen a tent like this.”
Rubyel chimed in too.
“That's not a tent, it's a house. How are you gonna carry it later?”
“I'll just put it in my Inventory.”
I'd stored the previous tent whole in my Inventory, so this should be the same.
In other words, now that it was set up, I could easily take it out and store it anytime using the Inventory.
'Now that the tent's up...'
Of course, the interior was completely empty.
Thinking I should fill it, I started buying and placing a ground sheet and mat, then a bed, blankets, lantern, and so on.
Click.
Finally, when I turned on the lantern, bright light illuminated the tent's interior.
“...It's so nice, I feel kinda bad for the others.”
I ignored Elisicia's words for a moment and looked around the tent interior.
Everything was brand new, so it was very clean. That made me think I should wash up before going in.
'But how do I wash?'
Wait, how had the Hero Party been washing up until now?
“Hero. How do you usually wash?”
“We don't. We're short on water.”
Surprisingly, Elisicia said they hadn't washed at all.
“Instead, we use Aila's purification to substitute for washing.”
“Purification?”
“Yes. It's a holy spell that removes filth.”
Now that she mentioned it, Elisicia and the other three women did have relatively clean faces.
“But why do you ask about washing?”
“For hygiene, it's good to wash, so I was gonna set up a shower room.”
But if they substituted with purification, it probably wasn't necessary.
“Really? That's a great idea!”
But unexpectedly, Elisicia was very enthusiastic about the shower room.
“Even with purification?”
“Yes. No matter how much purification you get, it's not the same as washing yourself.”
At that point, I wondered how many years they must have gone without washing if they hadn't until now.
'The monsters that conquered the surface appeared 8 years ago.'
Taking the maximum, the thought that they hadn't washed for 8 years flashed through my mind.
Anyway, my exaggeration must have hit home, because the other three stared at me with wordless looks.
“Then I'll set up the shower room too.”
“Please do.”
I hadn't properly washed in days either.
I desperately wanted a shower too, so I searched for an outdoor shower room via Modern Item Purchase.
'But buying just the outdoor shower isn't enough.'
I needed water to wash with, so that meant a water tank, pump to draw the water, and more.
However, I could fill the water tank with [Resource Recharge], so that wasn't a worry.
'Isn't there a shower set that comes with everything?'
After searching a while, I found a suitable product.
'Purchase.'
I immediately bought the outdoor shower room, water tank, pump, and large-capacity battery.
Then I attached the pump machine to the hose inlet at the bottom of the water tank and connected it to the long shower hose extending from the back of the shower room.
'Almost done now.'
After connecting the pump cord to the large-capacity battery, I finally thought it was ready.
'Let's test it.'
Lastly, I used [Resource Recharge] to fill the water and battery, then entered the shower room to check.
Whoosh!
When I turned on the water in the shower room, it came out surprisingly well.
Confirming there were no issues, I placed shower supplies and explained to the waiting Elisicia.
“Hero. Move this and water comes out. And this is for washing your hair. First, wet your hair thoroughly, then press this thing a few times and liquid will...”
“Hmm.”
“Then use this shower towel to rub the thing next to it...”
“Sorry, could you explain once more?”
It seemed like these items didn't exist here, so another explanation was needed.
“Why explain again? We can just shower together.”
“...?”
At that moment, I thought I'd misheard and looked at Rubyel.
Her face was that of a pretty woman with a hint of cuteness, but her every word was straight out of a real man's mouth.