This chapter brings back memories that are 50% fun and 50% horrifying.
Oh~ I forgot an author"s note on the last chapter but he got a lot of comments about magic items that are often mentioned so gave details on those. The ones adventurers often find are split into: Magic Weapons (1 in every couple of years. At least 2,000,0000,000 Z), Magic Armor (one in every couple of years, including shields. At least 2,000,000,000 Z), Magic Items (2-3 per three years. A variety of types and prices), Magic Tools (10 per year or so, includes clocks, lighters, cheese bowls. Anywhere from several tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of Z).
Also, a lot of the magic tools and items being found are pretty vague in use, things like {Magic Lanterns} or {Refrigerators}, {Freezers} that eat up excessive amounts of magic stones so only high end n.o.bles use them, so the prices vary heavily. The cheese bowl is like the type where once per day it automatically refills with cheese type of item.
Once Again to the Fairy Village 2
Year 7444, Month 4, Day 30
After that several groups of adventurers entered the teleport room on the 1st floor and took short breaks, or started teleporting to the 2nd floor. It"s a big help that I was able to doze off for even two hours.
Since I was using the alarm clock {Cantrip} I was able to wake up just before midnight. After confirming with the clock magic tool that the date had changed past midnight, I slowly stood up from the wall I was sitting against and approached the teleport crystal.
I grab on the crystal rod, and chant the teleport incantation.
"Rigoruku"
I teleported to the 2nd floor. I check the symbol on the pedestal of the teleport crystal and search the wall.
Number 84. It"s no good...
The one I"m aiming for is number "356" that I wrote the last time I visited Karl. Since nothing other than that is my objective for now there"s no meaning. I should quickly return.
"Rinteren"
I returned to the teleport room on the 1st floor again.
There"s various things said about the rules in regards to where you appear in the room but no one has been able to come to a satisfying conclusion. It"s said you just return to a randomly open area in the room. Since it"s about 30m in every day direction, a reasonable large s.p.a.ce it"s almost never completely packed.
Even if we were to test a situation like that, it"s said that you would just be returned to a bit outside of the pa.s.sages on the side.
I return to the center of the room and after grabbing the crystal rod I chant the incantation.
"Homika"
I teleported to the 2nd floor.
Number 26. It"s no good huh?
Well I already knew it wouldn"t be so simple so I made preparations for it to take some time before coming.
In the worst case all of today, I intend to test it out for an entire 24 hours.
"Fokubo"
..............
Year 7444, Month 5, Day 1
I wonder how many times I"ve teleported?
I think I"ve done it at least 20 times.
It takes a reasonable amount of time to search for the number every time I teleport. I think about two hours have pa.s.sed.
It"s good that the symbol on the pedestal pointing to the wall is nearby so it doesn"t take much time to search like if it were down the hall.
"k.u.murika"
This, place has a good feel to it. I check the pedestal and investigate the wall.
..It"s no good huh?
"Kano beze"
I returned the 1st floor again. I walk towards the center of the room.
"Hey, you. You"ve been pretty restless for a while now. Even if you don"t get as neurotic about it as that the 2nd floor isn"t that much different compared to the 1st floor."
The one remaining party of adventurers called out to me like that.
They"re a group that I saw enter the room from a glance after I had repeated teleporting a number of times.
Their ages are about the same as me, or a bit above that.
If I remember correctly they"re a party of just non-humans that came to Baldukk a short while after we did and the leader is the second or third son of a high ranking n.o.ble from Kanbitt.
They should have only just finally been able to make it to the 2nd floor.
I can"t say much about other people but they"re newcomers of 1.5 years or so. A considerably skilled group.
"Hey, Joni, ignore him. He"s exploring alone. It"s kindness to let him choose the course he wants to as many times as he pleases."
"Yeah, and things about other people don"t matter at all right?"
"Tan belu"
I teleported to the 2nd floor...This place is different as well. I don"t think the humidity was this high. Just in case I check the symbol on the pedestal but after all it was pointing further into the hall.
"Matozo"
I returned to the 1st floor again.
"Hey, you! Even though someone is talking, what"s up with that!?"
The Tiger-man named Joni who just called out to me stood up. How annoying~
"You talking to me?"
I face Joni and say.
"That"s only obvious! There"s only us and you in here!"
"I see, it"s not like I"m causing any sort of trouble for you. Just ignore me."
I said that and started walking towards the crystal rod again. It"s a waste of time.
"Hey now, don"t f.u.c.k with me! Show me your face! Covering it with something like that!"
He started running at me.
"Joni! Come back! Stop already!"
Someone in Joni"s party said that but Joni continued running at me ignoring the voice.
It can"t be helped so once he got near me I turned around and said.
"I said to ignore me right?"
Since I turned around with good timing Joni was a bit overawed it seems but,
"Ah~!? If I just keep watching for a while now you"ve been going back and forth from the 1st and 2nd floors, you"re annoying~! There"s no way I could relax and get some rest!"
And tried threatening me.
"It seems like your allies are calm and resting though?"
I said that and pointed at Joni"s party taking a break against the wall with my sword. They"re just watching amazed while saying things like "Idiots really can"t be helped. We can"t deal with him~"
"..Gu. They"re unrelated. I"m getting irritated over it. Make up your mind whether you"re going or not going~!"
He said while his tiger ears are twitching from the ends of his crude leather hat.
"Yeah, I"m sorry about that. But, I have my own objective over here. So I"ll be continuing for a while longer. Can"t you be patient with it?"
I haven"t raised my voice much but since the room is close to empty if no one is talking you can still hear decently and a voice was raised from Joni"s party.
"Joni! Stop that already! Are you not going to listen to what I"m saying!?"
The one who raised their voice was the Tiger-man who seems to be a bit older than Joni.
"You too, I"m sorry we got in your way. Feel free to go."
That man continued to say that. This guy is probably the leader. I bowed my head lightly towards him and walked towards the crystal rod again before grabbing it.
"Bro~ but you know.."
"Sehotogu"
I teleported to the 2nd floor.
I went on guard at the same time as I teleported in.
There was a group of gnolls gathered together about 5m from the teleport crystal rod.
I swing my sword and use magic and it didn"t even take a minute to wipe out the group of 12 gnolls.
I wipe the blood on my sword on the dirty leather of the gnoll and finally created a bit of water to carefully wipe it out before putting it in the scabbard and checking the symbol on the pedestal.
..So this place is wrong too.
"Wakermosshu"
Joni returned to the place where his party was and was sitting down. I glanced once in their direction then walked towards the center of the room.
"Che."
I heard an obvious click of the tongue echo out but it"s not like he"s directly picking a fight with me so it doesn"t matter at all.
.............
I continued teleporting another bunch of times but I can"t get to the place I"m aiming. It"s still not the time to get impatient. There"s no choice but to take it easy as I go.
While I was continuing to teleport Joni"s party finished their break it seems.
They all suddenly had their equipment on and were carrying their bags.
Since I noticed that, I looked for a good time and without going to the crystal rod I just stood waiting.
Of course since they"ve already finished preparations to depart they"ll teleport soon as well. With this the annoying one will disappear.
They must have noticed I was waiting, the leader who stopped Joni raised one of his hands to me.
I guess it"s thanking me for letting them go first.
I lightly nodded my head and saw them teleport off.
I return to the teleport crystal again and while waiting for the incantation to float up I teleported to the 2nd floor for the several dozenth time.
..It"s no good again. I sighed after finding the number "216" on the wall.
I return to the 1st floor and repeated teleporting to the 2nd floor.
It was around the third time I teleported to the 2nd floor after that.
I had to go on guard after teleporting again.
There was a group happily gathering the magic stones and equipment from the group of gnolls I killed several tens of times earlier next to the teleport spot.
It"s Joni and the others.
It"s true that the magic stones of gnolls are delicious but something like 100,000 Z is like change to me at this point so nothing to bother over. And today time is far more important. I don"t have any intention of getting in their way. It"s true I think those are gnolls I killed but to them they"re a free bonus.
There"s no choice than to wait here for the tens of seconds it takes for the incantation to return to the 1st floor to float up again.
Obviously they went on guard after noticing that I had suddenly teleported nearby but since they saw I wasn"t doing anything in particular they must have noticed I was about to return right away.
They all returned to their own work.
"What is it? Do you have some kind of complaint?"
Joni said towards me while cutting open the chest of a gnoll.
Why does this guy keep trying to pick fights with me every time?
"Not particularly.."
I said that and looked at the crystal rod. It should be about time.
"Hey, you, stop acting so important! I"ll f.u.c.king kill you!"
"Joni! Stop that already! Even Rokis-san already said it right!"
The Laios-sis is scolding him bit,
"Candy, you~ shut up. Hey, say something, you afraid huh?"
And, Joni is picking a fight with me again.
Ah~ it"s seriously a waste of time dealing with you.
Halfway out of interest I tried identifying Joni.
It"s because I thought I wanted to see the faces of his parents after checking his family name.
There"s no way I could do that but, it was just reflexively.
Joni.Ridden, level 6.
He"s two years older than me huh?
Ho~ The fourth son of Sub-Baron Ridden huh?
Never heard of them before.
I wonder if this guy is from Kanbitt as well?
The leader is Mittorig.Rokis, level 9. 23 years old.
The second son of Marquis Rokis huh?
Come to think of it Kanbitt Kingdom is the same as Korakut Kingdom and they were founded by adventurers was it?
Though he"s the second son, even the son of a Marquis becomes an adventurer?
Otherwise maybe it"s a part of their countries culture that anyone below the second son can"t get a promotion without becoming adventurers.
If it"s like that then it would feel pretty bad. Though it would have been convenient if I had been born there.
"Ah? Stop s.p.a.cing out looking in a...Ah, yo..you ar..Eh?"
It seems Joni realized my ident.i.ty after peeking in from below my hood and seeing my face.
His grim expression changed and it seems like the color of face got a bit worse.
I glanced towards the crystal rod and the incantation to return to the 1st floor was floating up.
"Is it fine if I return now?"
Since it seems like my face was seen, it can"t be helped.
I looked straight back at Joni who was looking at my face in the hood from below.
"Ah, yes..please do.."
I casually grabbed on to the crystal rod while chanting the incantation to return.
"Defugosu"
I returned to the 1st floor.
Well, I was the one wandering back and forth in front of them countless times while they were resting.
It can"t be helped if they think it was a bit annoying.
And they"re probably still at the level where they don"t know the teleport room is a safe area. Since they haven"t properly slept, it"s not surprising their nerves are on end. There"s no point in getting angry over something on that level every time, and I have more important things right now. However, it"s not good that they realized the leader of the {Slaughterers} was doing something strange.
It"s possible they might start to think that there"s some kind of secret on the 2nd floor. It"s true though.
..............
I continued to teleport another couple dozen times.
I"m starting to feel pretty hungry.
Maybe I"ll take a short break and eat something.
I sat down against the wall and started eating the sandwiches I bought yesterday while drinking some tea.
Since I haven"t properly slept either I"m a bit tired, but hey, this age is durable. Even if I don"t sleep at all for two days or so I"m sure I can keep going. I was able to doze off for two hours or so last night, so I can still keep going.
I wash my face with some cold water to disperse the sleep, grabbed the teleport crystal again, and teleported.
..................
...............
.........
.....
I"m absolutely sure I"ve teleported over 100 times already.
Just doing some rough math and the amount of time it takes to teleport once, check the symbol on the pedestal, find the number on the wall is about 2-5 minutes. Since I can sometimes figure out that it"s not my destination without even having to check the symbol, it takes an average of 3 minutes for one trip.
That comes out to teleporting 20 times an hour.
The time right now is about 10 in the morning.
That would mean it"s possible for me to have teleported 200 times.
If I were to go off of probability theory then it"s likely I should be able to make it to my objective of "356" by 10 pm at night or so.
"Kazuroku"
I teleported to the 2nd floor.
I check the symbol, and the direction it"s pointing on the wal.."356"..Umu. It seems I was safely able to make it.
Next up I think it was the switches at the bottom of the pitfalls right?
Which direction did I go from the start last time?
I thought I would be able to remember but both directions are a vaguely curved cave with no real characteristics.
But, it should be a loop from this point.
No matter which direction I proceed it comes out to a Y shaped split path and beyond that is the room with the {Snake Generator}.
In any case I need to check the bottom of the pitfalls.
Just like usual I use wind magic to blow the dirt away and head towards the pitfall.
I tilt my head in front of the pitfall I found and looked at the bottom of it.
It"s about 3m in height and has a depth of about 5m, the width covers the entire cave from wall to wall.
Last time I used earth magic to create dirt and buried it but it should have been a matter of coincidence that I was able to press the switch.
I focus my eyes and try to find something like a switch at the bottom of this pitfall.
..There it is.
I discovered something like that in the corner of the pitfall. It"s a square rock about 1 cm in every direction.
There"s several other rocks rolling around but that neatly square rock is unnatural.
Even if I use Identify it just comes up as a rock but if it"s just using the same type of rock as others in the dungeon then it"s not understandable.
Since it seems to be smaller than other rocks from a glance it doesn"t look like you could push it but it doesn"t seem mistaken that the secret lies in the {Floating Disk}. It might be there"s more to it and that"s just the only part sticking out.
Come to think of it Karl said there was an order you had to press them as well.
There might be other switches as well.
I started looking around the bottom of the pitfall again but I couldn"t find it.
Then, in that case the switches would be in the other two pitfalls I guess.
There"s one on each side of the Y shape split from the teleport destination and then there should be one more a bit past the Y shape area on one side.
At the very least I think I need to look at the pitfall on the other side first.
After all last time I came up the Y shaped split from the left side.
This would be the right side I think.
I returned and went down the opposite side and after checking the pitfall there and there was a similar square rock.
Most likely that"s the first switch?
..I bury this pitfall and then bury the one on the opposite side, and then finally bury the pitfall past the Y shape split and that"s the right answer I guess?
Doesn"t that mean that, the chances at first are 50% for the correct answer, and then the next time is in some meanings 50% as well. Does the door appear with such a high probability?
I put my hands on the side of the pitfall and observed it closely once again.
No clue..Other than the square switch, I can"t find anything particularly strange at the bottom of the pitfall.
Hmn, what should I do?
The first time we came we should have come up around from the Y shaped area on the right. In other words, that was definitely the wrong answer. Even then I don"t think anything strange happened.
So it shouldn"t be anything that would kill me.
Then, I guess I should bury it with dirt and sink the {Floating Disk}, the moment I thought that I noticed it.
Huh? Isn"t the correct answer to sink the {Floating Disk} and push that switch with it? If I"m certainly Ralpha was pushing it were feet as well. But, wasn"t this a pitfall in the first place? It"s fine that the {Disk} sinks when you place a certain amount of weight on it. However, I"ve been making dirt on it up until now but the speed it sunk in was slowly. Pitfalls, aren"t they supposed to be intended to do damage by putting a lid on them that breaks all at once causing damage from the fall? They increase the damage by putting spears or stakes at the bottom like on the 3rd floor and 4th floor is what I thought. On the 5th and 6th floor it"s almost always a sharp ma.s.s of needles.
If they were hoping to cause damage from the fall then this {Floating Disk} doesn"t have any meaning.
It"s not that there"s none at all but even if I were to jump on it I can"t imagining it suddenly sinking all at once. Even when I put a large amount of dirt in the middle it slowly sunk down. The amount was about three uses of level 5 earth magic, it"s about the amount of one use of level 6. Though if it was just to sink the {Disk} one use of level 4 should be plenty.
Yeah, for the time being I"ll try putting the amount of one use of level 4 in the middle.
I use earth magic and void magic and put a 1m cube of dirt or so in the middle.
The {Disk} slowly started to sink.
After taking about 20 seconds it reached the bottom.
After observing to see if anything changed and, I found it.
It was nothing at all.
On the front wall of the bottom of the pitfall (?) a small lever appeared.
The portion that came out was around 3 cm or so I guess?
In order to observe it better I jumped down on the dirt I created and it seems there"s a similar lever on the opposite side of the wall as well.
Ah, I got it. You need to push these levers down?
Not to mention probably from this side as well.
Because, last time I came I didn"t put dirt in the middle like this time but I filled it with dirt and then after the {Disk} sunk down, we started to cross over the dirt from this side walking over it like a bridge.
I went all out and tried pulling the lever on the side I came from down. Next I tried pulling the lever on the front side down. I made some dirt and crawled out of the hole before returning to the Y split.
Last time I don"t think I buried the opposite side.
If I remember correctly I just checked that the hole had become like a ring shape and then continued ahead. I should probably do that again this time.
I continue down the Y shape split and found a hole. Just the same way I sink the {Disk} and look for levers.
..It"s there.
This time there"s two of them about 1m over on this side and one of them on the opposite.
The problem is what order to pull the two on this side down.
Hmn, how did I create the dirt last time again?
I"m sure that I ended up pushing the two on this side down first..Since I had the bayonet in my right hand and was using magic with my left hand. I feel like I would have ended up burying the left side first.
Then in that case I guess it"s to the right from where I"m facing?
If I come this far and make a mistake and, I somehow feel like I"ll end up having to start over from the 1st floor..in worst case I might even have to wait another four months.
I can"t afford to make a mistake here but thinking about it won"t change anything.
There"s no hints at all, so I guess there"s no choice than to go all out and pull down the right side.
I pulled down the right side, then pulled down the left side. And pulled down the one on the opposite side, and after making more dirt I crawled out.
Ahead of here is the room with four {Snake Generators} which no normal adventurer would be able to make it past. Just like last time, I used {Acid Cloud} after a decent amount of snakes came out and then used {Anti-Magic Field} to retreat. After waiting an appropriate amount of time to continue and burning away the half-melted snakes with {Flame Thrower} I continued forward.
The door is..thank G.o.d. It"s there.
I take off my gloves, touch the door, and took a step into the fairy village.