Chapter 23 - (Chapter 77): Waiting There
Year 7442, Month 6, Day 4
After ending lunch with Zulu, I thought about going for an after meal walk, but before that I felt like getting some tea. Since I still haven"t done my daily training for today rather than a walk I"ll take a short break. After that it should be fine if I do some running. Since my throat is dry I"ll have some bean tea. I"m already used to bean tea, or rather I actually like it quite a bit.
After walking for a few minutes I entered a random restaurant and ordered some bean tea and tea-cakes, after paying the 13 Z in Dai Shizu and Shizu coins I lean back in the chair and stretch my legs out. I sip away at my bean tea that"s hot enough to give off steam and throw two or three roasted beans into my mouth crunching away at them. The scent of the roasted beans spreads through my mouth. The roasted beans have just the right amount of salt so while I was thinking I would come to this place for tea again I sip away at my bean tea.
I wonder if it"s this crowded here even though it"s past noon because of the reputation of this bean tea? It"s a good thing I was able to get a seat. The conflict between goblins. Scavenger Crawler. The various items we found. If I just look at the results then I"m completely satisfied. However, what about the facts? Even though I felt like we walked around quite a bit according to what I"ve heard that"s only a small portion of the dungeons 1st floor it seems. I wonder how many % of the 1st floor we were able to explore?
If it was only a few % then in order to explore enough of the 1st floor to make it to the 2nd floor then we would have to enter every day for a month I guess? If the place we end up being teleported to ends up overlapping then it"s probably best to think it would take even longer. In the first place, even though we were only in the dungeon for a few hours it wore away at our nerves that much. Isn"t it a bit unreasonable to try and challenge the dungeon every day without rest? If we don"t rest for at least two days a week to relax our nerves a bit then we might end up making a fatal mistake. Since there"s 6 days in a week for the time being I guess we should do 2 days of work and 1 day off. If we"re going to go to the 3rd or 4th floors after this then I"m sure we"ll have to camp in the dungeon as well, if it comes to that then I"m sure it"ll be difficult we don"t have several days for rest after we return.
What was it again? Remember, those five parties that are called the top teams, it seems that they even have tons of members of over 10 years but they still haven"t broken through the 5th floor. The only ones I"ve seen are the {Verdure Brotherhood} but the age of the elf that seemed to be the leader of that party was 39. His level was stupidly high at 19 as well. Just thinking in terms of abilities and I can earn experience three times more efficiently, and my growth per level up is three times as well. Therefore what it took them 10 years to do I should be able to catch up with in around 1 year. Although, it would require another 7 of me for that sake.
No, even if there was another 7 of me it still would probably be impossible to catch up to them in a year. There"s a conclusive difference in experience between them and I. I can"t imagine that the number of times I enter the 1st floor would become 1/9th of them. I"m sure there"s a lot of things you can only learn through experience like the location of traps of which is the correct path as well. I wonder if it would be a good idea to buy a map after all. Since it"s only about 1 gold coin I guess I should go all out and buy one. It might fine to buy one with just the earnings from today. If we at least kn
ow the locations of traps and we don"t have to be on guard as much as that then it would be a cheap purchase. However, I"m sure there"s no such thing as a perfect map. I guess even if that was the case we couldn"t relax.
It might be thought that if you have the money, you should just buy it but just for the map of the 1st floor that has traps added is 800,000 Z. It"s 800,000 yen. I can"t buy it so easily. In Bakuddo it"s an amount which a family of 6-7 people can live for a year and still have change. If it"s a family of serfs then I don"t even know how many families could live on it. Including the equipment I just paid an amount that can buy a war horse for Zulu. And the earnings from the dungeon this time have too much of a bonus feel to them. I"m sure there"s no way we could earn this amount every time. If that was the case then just putting some effort into it on the 1st floor I could earn plenty of money in 5 - 6 years. Since there"s no traps on the 1st floor that will kill you instantly if you could safely earn money then who would go to the 2nd floor and beyond? It would even be a waste to even just buy slaves.
I"m thinking about things like that while sipping bean tea.
"..ra..not at all..and..long sword.."
"..ke..su..but..they are.."
"..and..other..and..joking..there."
"..unusual..girl..that..idiot..waha."
I can hear the talking voices of customers from all over the store. I finish drinking up my bean tea that"s started to get lukewarm and go to stand from my seat and go training.
"....Semayousuke is waiting there."
The voice I heard from two tables behind me kept me from standing completely up. Semayousuke? What"s that? It sounds like something I"ve heard from somewhere? No, something I"m used to hearing? I secretly turned and looked around. It seems that the group of adventurers behind me is talking so I can"t hear very well. At the table behind that there"s two men sitting and talking about something. One is a human man and the other is a Bunny-man man. However, the hair of the Bunny-man man is black and his facial features look j.a.panese. The human man looks to be in his late teens but the Bunny-man man seems to be around the same age as me. On Orth we look even younger than our age but that"s the face of a j.a.panese in his mid teens.
【Beilett.Deredonola/18/3/7434 Beilett.Deredonola/11/1/7434】
【Male/14/2/7428 · Rabbit-People Race · Gandol Family Owned Slave】
【Status:Normal】
【Age: 14 Years Old】
【Level: 4】
【HP: 68(68) MP: 7(7)】
【Strength: 10】
【Speed: 15】
【Dexterity: 9】
【Endurance: 8】
【Special Ability: Small Magic】
【Special Ability: Super Hearing】
【Unique Ability: Highly Efficient Digestive System (Lv. Max)】
【Experience: 13425(18000)】
As expected he was a reincarnated person. I wonder if Semayousuke was his original name? I have no way of knowing the kanji for it but I guess that"s the reason why I feel like I"ve heard it somewhere before. They"re still talking about something. In order to not be suspected I moved to the opposite seat of the table I was at and continued using Identify.
【Unique Ability: Highly Efficient Digestive System; A digestive system with an extremely high ability. If it"s an organic material that isn"t toxic then roughly no matter what it is it can absorb the nutrients from it with almost the maximum efficiency. Consequently of that the amount of excretions also decreases. By using this ability after eating a meal it breaks down organic matter in the digestive system other than the user them self. And absorbs it. Therefore, it should be kept in mind that this ability is not always at work. Furthermore, this ability has a level for no reason other than convenience.】
How...Amazing..Or is it? No, it"s amazing but. I can accept that to go on living there"s no greater Unique Ability than this. If I remember correctly, I"ve heard that the amount of nutrients the human digestive system and absorb from food is about 1/3 to 1/4. If you were to use some extreme logic then I guess it would mean you can stay healthy while only eating 1/3 the amount of food. No, if you take into consideration absorbing the more difficult nutrients then it might be even more efficient. However..Hey? How about it? Even though he"s a Bunny-man if he eats a normal meal then just a tiny small piece of round p.o.o.p comes falling out? It might be different though.
I try straining my ears in order to hear their conversation. Since there"s some distance and a loud group between us I can"t hear it well. What I was barely able to hear is they were trying to tell someone, "This evening", "the most of the Northwestern ridge", "come", "Semayousuke is waiting there". I can guess several things from these words.
First off it"s only obvious but there should be another person who can understand the details. And that other person should be someone related to either Semayousuke or Dereonola. Since they"re saying Semayousuke then there"s a possibility the other person is a reincarnated person but I can"t tell that much. Also, it"s unknown if it"s pointing that this guy himself is Semayousuke. However, at the very least the possibility is high that person who this message is for knows the person called Semayousuke. It"s also possible that Semayousuke is a name on Orth but somehow it seems unsuitable for Orth, no, it"s safe to say it"s not a name from the Kingdom of Rombert.
In that case, there"s at least three people that this conversation involves. I don"t know how many it could include at a maximum.
The first one is obviously him, Dereonola.
The second one is Semayousuke. It"s possible this is also Dereonola. There"s probably a high chance of that being the case.
The third one is the man that Dereonola is asking to relay the message. It"s unknown if he"s just a messenger boy or someone related.
The fourth one is the person who this message is intended for. This one"s the problem. I can"t identify if it"s one person or several people. However, the probability that someone in that group knows Semayousuke is high.
The fifth one is if I think that Dereonola himself is a messenger for someone else. In that case it"s complex as well. In that case there"s no guarantee that there weren"t other messengers before Dereonola and it"s highly possible that the message would have changed going through countless messengers. I think it"s fine to exclude this?
The next thing I can guess is their conversation or rather the details of the message. It seems to be a message to meet up. The time is "This evening". The location is "the most of the Northwestern ridges", the most what? Going off of the words in Orth the next word after this should be an adjective. Incidentally, the p.r.o.nunciation of "the most of the Northwestern ridges" and "the first of the Northwestern ridges" are the same. Since the meaning is the same either one is fine. Hmn, going off the flow of the previous conversation then normally it would be the "most high" or "most low". It"s not as if I can"t think of things other than that but if it"s to meet up then it would be strange for it to be too complex.
After that is "come", "Semayousuke is waiting there" so going off of that it would mean that Semayousuke is going there and waiting for someone before night.
After thinking that far the man that was given the message from Derenola received something like money and stood up from his seat. What should I do? There"s definitely the reincarnated person that is Derenola involved in this case. I wonder if I should take some sort of action right now? But, even if he"s a slave would he talk to a man he doesn"t know, no, I"m unknown but still a j.a.panese so maybe he will listen? However, since he wants to meet not in the town but going to the point of meeting on a ridge outside of the town at night (probably). There might be something they don"t want anyone else to hear.
If I talk to him here then he might realize that his message was heard and it"s possible he could pull back. It"s in slightly bad taste but if it involves reincarnated people then I want to quickly circle around them and it should be convenient to get a grasp on the content of their discussion. After adjusting his position as he stands up Dereonola left the store and I left after that to go to the inn where Ralpha and the others are staying. If they aren"t there it can"t be helped. If I can"t find them at the type of place Zenom and her would go then I"ll have to go myself. It"s probably still only about 2 pm.
............
When I went to the inn just as expected Zulu was there but Zenom and Ralpha were not. When I handed them their bonus of silver coins today they said they were going to buy some daily necessities. I say to Zulu,
"Sorry but there"s no rest for today. Search for Zenom and Ralpha. If you can"t find them within an hour then meet up with me at the exit to the Northwestern ridge. Don"t mistake it. Since we"re going to the Northwestern ridge then the exit should be the one straight North of the town. Main road #1. You should search the clothing stores. I"ll try checking the daily goods stores. If you find them bring the two of them with you there. If they ask the reason then say it"s related to Ralpha and I. Also, just in case take your sword with you."
After giving him those instructions I ran off to the #5 main road where there"s a lot of stores dealing in daily goods. Zulu is heading towards the #8 main road where there"s a lot of clothing shops.
Soon after I arrived at the #5 road I was able to find Zenom. He"s just as he was dressed when we split up earlier looking into a store that deals in delicacies. Is he looking for snacks that go with alcohol? Even though you"re a dwarf you"re not that strong with alcohol right? Ah, I guess it"s not a matter of strong or weak, even though he"s weak he must like alcohol.
"What"s wrong? In that much of a hurry."
"Zenom..It seems you still haven"t had any alcohol. Sorry but the afternoon break is off. Just a bit..Ah, it"s fine if I say it to Zenom I guess. I found a reincarnated person. I need some help."
"Ho~"
Zenom"s expression changed. I guess he remembered what I said about hunting reincarnated people the other day.
"Where"s Ralpha?"
"If it"s Ralpha then she said she was going to buy some shoes with the bonus from today. What did she say it was again? That"s right, she said it was some rubber shoes."
You can"t buy those with just 100,000 Z. Rather you might be able to barely buy some sandals. It wouldn"t be strange even if you can"t buy them though.
"I see, then she should be at a clothing store, then I"ve already had Zulu head that way. I"ve already decided the place to meet so let"s go there first."
"Is it fine after I buy this?"
What"s that? It looks like the smoked leg of an octopus. Looks delicious.
"It"s fine, buy as much as you like. I"m going to buy some too."
I wonder if it was good or bad that among all of the stores dealing in daily goods there was only one that deals in delicacies? In any case, I bought one bag of smoked octopus legs for 800 Z. I put one into my mouth along with Zenom and chew it like gum and it was quite good. I want some hot sake.
After walking to the meeting place and Zulu and Ralpha were already waiting for us. It seems that the two of them ran there. Sorry about that. I confirm to make sure that Ralpha properly has her axe with her.
"Why do the two of you have octopus legs in your mouths?"
In the good weather of early summer, Ralpha who ran to get here said to us who slowly walked here in a displeased tone.
"Isn"t it fine, here I"ll give you one. Try eating it. It"s surprisingly good. Zulu how about you?"
After saying that I gave one to each of them and they went quiet. It"s delicious right?
"And so. I"ll talk about the plan from here on. Everyone, listen closely."
I look at everyone"s face while saying. Since everyone has an octopus leg sticking out of their mouth it"s a considerably stupid looking picture but it can"t be helped.
"This evening on a ridge in the Northwest someone is meeting up with someone else. It"s necessary to listen in on the details of what they"re talking about at that time. It"s a slightly roundabout way of putting it but..I only know the name of one side. One of them is supposedly Semayousuke."
I looked at Ralpha while saying it.
"Semayousuke..A man huh. After all, um.."
As expected it seems that Ralpha quickly realized it. She"s glancing at Zulu and holding herself back.
"Yeah, probably. And, this is also a probably but I think that Semayousuke is a male Bunny-man. After that, I also think the place they"re meeting is probably either the highest or lowest ridge in the Northwest. It"s probably, maybe but I could only hear the most of a ridge on the Northwest."
After saying that I took another look at everyone"s face with an octopus leg growing out of them. I continue my words.
"I don"t know how many people they"re meeting up with. It might be just one or it might be multiple but it"s unknown. That"s why we should split up into two groups. Zenom and I. Ralpha and Zulu. Just in case taking into consideration the reach of our weapons I split the teams up like this. Also it"s necessary for Ralpha and I to split up. It"s fine Ralpha knows the reason."
"The language problem."
I"m sure Ralpha knew immediately since she replied in j.a.panese. It helps that we can keep things short. Also, just in case, while Zenom would be better on Ralpha"s side in terms of combat ability but I thought Zulu would be better as an exhaustible shield. If she can figure out that far them I wouldn"t have anything more to say but it"s probably impossible. It"s fine as long as Zulu realizes this. I think Zulu probably understands.
"That"s right. Among us there"s a language that only Ralpha and I understand. It"s highly possible that they"ll use that language to have a conversation. That"s why Ralpha and I are in different groups. Also, no matter what they talk about or what happens don"t attack them from out side. Don"t show yourselves either. Don"t let them realize you"re listening. I don"t know how much power they have hidden away. Is that clear? No matter what don"t attack from our side. If they find you then think about running away first. Combat is really the final option."
"I understand, Zulu I"m counting on you as well."
"I understand. No matter what I won"t attack from our side as well."
I"m sure they"re responding seriously but it"s completely lacking in tension while they chew the octopus legs.
"Also about the time but I don"t have any information other than this evening. Since they were saying this evening then I think it"s probably while the sun is still out but in reality I don"t even know of it"s before or after sunset. Prepare yourselves for somewhat of a wait. Ralpha and Zulu should hide in a place near the highest ridge you think would work for meeting up. It"s probably a good idea to cover yourselves with leaves to hide. Zenom and I will go to the lower ridge. If you manage to remain hidden until they finish their business then we meet up. The next instruction will be after we meet up. Is that fine?"
After concluding things with that we all went up the hill towards the ridges.
On the way up the hill Ralpha asked me for another octopus leg so I gave her the bag.
.............
This is probably the lowest ridge. The highest ridge in the Northwestern area is 1.5 Km or so away from the road. I wonder Zulu and Ralpha have already arrived? It"s too far and since the outer area of the ridge is covered in a 5 m or so forest, I wonder if it"s around there? Though all I can do is guess their location since I can"t see them.
There were several rocks there that seemed perfect for meeting up. After Zenom and I discussed we decided to hide about 3 m behind the rocks. Since it doesn"t seem like anyone will pa.s.s by for the time being so I went a bit further into the forest and gathered some dead leaves to hide under before waiting. It might be good to sleep in shifts while keeping watch as well.
We tried sitting down on the rock as well and pretending to be Semayousuke. I think with this we probably won"t be found so easily. Bunny-man have superior hearing capability but as long as they"re not using their special skill then it"s just a bit better than a humans so as long as we don"t move around excessively then it shouldn"t be a problem.
Even when Zenom sits on the rock and talks to himself I can hear it well. When I did it Zenom said he could hear it good as well. Yeah. It"s the ideal position to hide. Then, let"s sleep in shifts. I"ll sleep first.
............
I was woken up when it was close to sunset. The sun has completely started to set in the west, the western part of the town of Baldukk which is in the shadow of the ridge is probably dark already. Since the area we"re hiding is on the outer areas of the town between ridges it"s still bright over here.
After taking his place Zenom starts to doze off. It"s not easy just watching a road secretly which no~ one walks by. I guess I"ll organize the information while laying down. First, they"re meeting on a ridge in the North. This is fine. After that is the most, the location of the most is unknown. I"m guessing that it"s in terms of height but if it were the place with the most excellent view or the most comfortable rock to sit on then it"s not impossible but that feels so momentarily and as a place to meet up it seems too vague. It would be different if the people meeting up are extremely close and have gone there countless times though.
That"s why I think it"s more likely to be height which is unchanging. After that is the problem of which one but I thought it would be easier to come to one at a lower height than higher so I think this one should be more likely but after thinking more carefully about it there"s eight roads that continue to ridges from the town. I chose the closest path to arrive at a ridge in the Northwest but it"s not decided they would take this path to get there. It wouldn"t be strange for them to go up a different road then walk along the path from one ridge to the next. Obviously about 1% of the reason I decided not to watch the path up the hill was for that reason. The other 99% is because I wanted to hear the content of their conversation, if possible I want to gather information from that conversation that let"s me make some reincarnated j.a.panese into my subordinates, or at least that"s my ideal goal.
Well, either way is fine but I want a reincarnated subordinate. No matter what can be said even though Ralpha went to a low-level school in j.a.panese she still has plenty of education and the level of basics she knows aren"t even a comparison with the people of Orth. In addition to that the three times faster growth rate is too huge.
The sky is starting to get dark soon. The sun setting in the west slowly falls below sea level. I think the sun will have set in another 30 minutes or so.
I"m bored.
..........
Around the time the sun had halfway set I saw Ralpha and Zulu running along the hill over here. It seems that they"re in a hurry. I wake up Zenom and stand up. I tell Zenom, "it seems that something happened on their end" and after rubbing his tired eyes he suddenly opens his eyes and stands up. As expected it seems he was worried about his daughter.
"That"s Ralpha and Zulu running along the path over there right? Let"s go."
After I say that even though there"s still a couple hundred meters away Zenom runs off. It seems that they"re in a hurry but it doesn"t feel like they"re being chased by something. However, judging by how they look something definitely happened. It seems that their end was the correct choice. I take off running after Zenom as well. I quickly caught up and pa.s.sed him.
"Al, we saw it! We heard it! It"s no good if we don"t hurry."
"Calm down, what in the world happened?"
"That"s why I said hurry up and come with us!"
The conversation is going nowhere. I look to Zulu but,
"Master, just as Ralpha says we should probably hurry. It should be fine to talk while on the way."
Eh? You too? By the way, it seems that you"re calling Ralpha without honorifics. Is it because she"s not your master?
"Putting it simply and there was a meeting between two Bunny-man people. One of them was a woman. The woman seemed to have come in a hurry running to the place to meet."
"Yeah, and?"
"The woman was yelling You-chan. The man had come earlier and was calmly waiting. When the woman yelled he was a bit surprised it seems."
"I see."
"The majority of their conversation was in j.a.panese. However the woman kept talking at a really fast pace going on and on so it was hard to call it a conversation. It seems like the woman knew the man. She said that the man"s face had changed a bit. Also, the name of the woman is Asuka. She said it herself. Since the woman seemed tired after coming running it seems the man calmly gave her something to drink. I thought it was water or something but it seems to have been poison. A short while after drinking it the woman fell over."
"Eh?"
"It"s fine so come already! After the woman fell over he used Status Open on her."
"Huh?"
"After that the man was laughing while saying "as expected she couldn"t use magic" and carried the woman into the forest outside of the town!"
"Why would he do that?"
"Like I would know!"
I don"t get what she"s saying. Zulu added to it.
"I couldn"t tell what they were talking about but it seems that the woman wanted to meet the man and it seems she was considerably excited and happy about meeting him. The man was calm other than the first time the woman yelled in a loud voice. However, I"m sure he intended to kidnap the woman from the start. It seems that the poison he was skillfully able to get her to drink worked, that was the first time the man started laughing."
"Kidnap?"
"Yes, that"s right. I"m sure he deceived the woman and called her out in order to get her to drink the poison."
I don"t get it. Did he have some sort of grudge against her? Or some other objective..other than resentment what is there? specifically going for another j.a.panese..hunting reincarnated people!? However, even if that"s the case there"s too much doesn"t add up.
"That doesn"t matter so let"s hurry already! We might end up not making it in time!"
"What won"t we make it in time for?"
"Huh? What other reason could there be for a man to serve poison to a woman and kidnap her! What else is there other than raping her or selling her!? Didn"t you want to save her from that!?"
Since I didn"t know the other party was a woman I didn"t think of that at all. But, it"s strange. How was I not able to follow Ralpha"s train of thought? Is my head worse than hers? Or else was I trying not to think about things like rape? What kind of virgin brat am is that?
"I understand. I guess that"s true. The woman was talking in "j.a.panese" as well right!? She"s definitely a reincarnated person right!?"
"Of-the-course!"*
You, how old are you? Are you just lying about being a high-school girl?
There"s no other choice than to follow after Ralpha and Zulu"s lead for now. It doesn"t particularly concern me if a woman gets raped or sold but if you were to say it doesn"t matter to me in a place I don"t know about it then that"s also true. But, after all it would make it harder for me to sleep peacefully. And since I"ve already found out I can"t just pretend to look the other way. Even more so if it"s someone who"s face I know from our previous world. I guess he intended to make use of that to satisfy his desires. Does that b.a.s.t.a.r.d still think of himself as a man of j.a.pan! Those sorts of things you"re supposed to do with consent.
I"ve started to get irritated at Ralpha and Zenom"s speed. I guess this is the difference between the values of Speed and Endurance. It seems that Zulu still has room to spare.
"Ralpha, Zulu and I will go ahead first. You come along with Zenom afterwards. Make sure to be as quiet as possible!"
After I say that I hit Zulu"s back and raised the speed I was running.
"Zulu! Run as fast as you can to as far as you know where they were!"
If I hadn"t continued running I wonder if I would have been able to overtake Zulu?
A Laios that"s taken off at full is like a marathon runner nearing the finish line.
..At this speed shouldn"t we be able to cover 1Km in about three minutes?