Chapter 167 - Great Demon Realm (2)

The instant the red Essence floated into the air, the eyes of the explorers across from us sharpened. A moment ago, all they had wanted was to hurry back and rest.

It was like looking in a mirror. Our expressions probably weren't much different.

"..."

A heavy silence settled over us, briefly. As explorers accustomed to making quick decisions about this sort of thing, neither side needed long.

Their hammer-wielding warrior spoke first.

"An Essence dropped from the monster we killed, huh?"

"Um, Mr. Nelbo..."

"Stay out of this, mage. I'll handle things here."

Right, so this bastard was their leader. Apparently, he'd already decided what stance to take: claim ownership of the Essence.

I smirked. Honestly, I hadn't expected anything better. These assholes couldn't even wait a few minutes before rudely butting into our fight.

I gave a terse command.

"Prepare for combat."

It was directed more at the other party than my own team. A declaration that if they insisted on making a ridiculous claim, there would be blood.

"Um, Mr. Jandel..."

Raven sounded concerned. Much like the other mage who had tried to address the hammer warrior with, "Um, Mr. Nelbo..."

Mages really did seem averse to this sort of thing. Was it because they had all clearly grown up well-off?

"Don't panic. Five more humanoid monsters have appeared, that's all."

I summed up the situation in a single sentence.

Had that made the other side realize I was the leader? The hammer warrior fixed his gaze on me and said something loaded with meaning.

"You're that guy from before...?"

"You know me?"

Instead of answering, he raised his helmet's visor.

The problem was, I still had no idea who he was. Had I met him before? Surely I wouldn't have forgotten eyebrows that unnervingly thick.

"...?"

When I gave him a baffled look, he took off his entire helmet in apparent frustration.

His pale scalp gleamed beneath the magical orb of light floating overhead.

Only then did I remember.

"... Baldy!"

He was the guy I'd met when I went to negotiate with the district manager. He'd tried to farm merit score by arresting me.

Who'd have thought he'd disguise himself with a helmet?

"Pfft!"

For some reason, all his teammates burst out laughing at once. His bare head flushed red, apparently in humiliation.

"... Do you want to die, savage?"

Baldy put his helmet back on.

"You'd better watch your mouth from now on. There's no district manager here to protect you."

What was he on about now? He'd never say that if he knew what my relationship with that district manager bastard was like.

Well, it didn't matter.

"You're the one who should quit while you're ahead and fuck off. Unless you want to lose your head as well."

"So, you want to do this?"

I took a step forward, and Baldy matched it, refusing to back down. The distance closed, the Essence between us. The air grew heavy, a chill settling over us that even the rift's heat couldn't dispel.

CREEAK.

Ahead of me, Baldy's archer drew his bow.

CLICK.

Behind me, I heard Mister Bear load his crossbow.

It was quiet enough to hear each other breathe.

"..."

We were like a taut thread. The instant it snapped, bloodshed would follow. Both Baldy and I knew that.

And yet...

"Baldy, back down now, and I'll at least give you the magic crystal."

"You savages really can't count. We're the ones who killed the monster. Naturally, both the magic crystal and the Essence are ours."

Neither of us backed down.

We were explorer teams who had reached the fifth floor—the top thirty percent. We knew that even if we got the Essence, losing a single teammate in the process would leave us worse off.

And yet we tightened our grips on our weapons and drew closer instead.

Cold sweat ran down my back.

'Greedy bald bastard.'

By convention, it rightfully belonged to us. He had probably intended to honor that convention at first. He would have handed over a single magic crystal without a fuss. His interference in our fight had likely been nothing more than a desire to hurry back and rest.

The problem was that an Essence had dropped.

'... Do we really have no choice but to fight?'

I began putting aside my softheartedness and preparing for the worst. This was a game of chicken. Whoever backed down first lost. If everyone insisted on winning, disaster was the only possible outcome.

"Baldy, this is your final warning."

I wasn't a fan of just running my fucking mouth, but this time I made one more attempt to talk.

"Oh, I'm so scared I might piss myself."

His answer was a refusal. That settled my resolve. If he wanted this so badly, I would have to see it through to the end. Without at least that much determination, you couldn't survive the merciless world of explorers.

'In that case, I'd better absorb the Essence first.'

Originally, I'd planned to bottle the Ifrit's Essence in a test tube and sell it. It wasn't a particularly good fit for me, Misha, or Aynar.

But I took another step.

Absorbing an Essence was always beneficial. Better I take it than give it to that bastard. Removing Essences still didn't cost me much, so I could use it until I'd gotten my money's worth and then discard it.

And once I'd absorbed it...

'I'll fight by shoving them off the edge. I won't be able to recover their equipment, but winning comes first right now.'

Good. I'd more or less gotten my thoughts in order. Now it was time to act.

I was subtly moving my foot, gauging the angle, when—

"Both of you, stop!"

"Yes, Mr. Jandel. Put your weapon down for now."

Suddenly, the mages from both sides stepped in, and the situation took a new turn.

"Mage? Didn't I tell you to stay out of this?"

"Mr. Nelbo, stop talking like that. It doesn't make you look impressive."

"..."

"Answer me."

"..."

"If you keep this up, I won't be joining you in the Labyrinth again."

"... I'll stop."

A single word from the mage, who looked like a young boy, had Baldy tucking his tail between his legs. So that was why the prickly, all-powerful mage had stayed quiet until now. He'd simply been playing along with the act.

I made no attempt to hide my disgust.

'Bald and a posturing douchebag...'

Now I didn't even want to talk to him.

Anyway, once Baldy lowered his weapon and stepped back, the tension eased.

"That emblem on your robe. You're from the Altemion School, correct?"

"Yes. And you're from the Warthon School, as I thought?"

"Heh, that's right."

I knew the Warthon School too. Partly because it was fairly large, but what made it particularly memorable was its unusual commitment to going all in on water magic.

"I'm Efraine Vellor."

"Allua Raven."

The mages exchanged names first. Then, unlike us explorers who had immediately drawn our weapons, they took a little time for preliminaries.

"Is Master Altemion doing well? I saw him at an academic conference a year ago..."

"Oh, my teacher is the same as always. How about Master Warthon? Still pursuing that research?"

"Haha, of course. It's our cherished ambition, after all."

The conversation practically screamed, 'We're all friends here!' It was like watching high society at work. Everyone knew everyone through one or two connections, so they probably wanted to avoid complicating matters.

"So, what do you intend to do now?"

Raven finally got to the point.

"You realize it's unreasonable to demand the Essence from a monster we were hunting, don't you?"

"Hmm, I wouldn't call it entirely unreasonable. Convention is only convention, after all. Our involvement is indisputable. The committee would likely recognize this as a private dispute between explorers."

Unlike us, who had been ready to fight like beasts, the mages were working toward a solution through dialogue.

"Convention may only be convention, but people don't look kindly on those who break it. And going all the way to the committee over a single Essence? Surely it would be more reasonable for you to give it up."

"Well..."

The other mage trailed off. Our mage had won the argument.

"Yes, you're right. So we'll simply give it up. Frankly, I never liked this idea to begin with."

So things could be resolved like this too.

'Am I really just destined to be a barbarian?'

I lowered my mace. Today hadn't been its day, but a time would certainly come when it proved useful.

That was the kind of place the Labyrinth was.

* * *

"M-Mr. Vellor?"

"Are you going to keep being pathetic about this?"

"Well, our line of work has its own way of doing things..."

Baldy looked at him as if pleading for him to reconsider, but the mage's authority remained unshaken.

"Then I misjudged you, Mr. Nelbo. This isn't about defending our rights. It's plain greed, isn't it?"

"..."

"I believe I've shown you plenty of respect as our leader. But how does this make us any different from plunderers?"

Faced with the mage's perfectly reasonable words, Baldy could only squirm in silence.

I didn't feel particularly satisfied. I'd been secretly curious about how it would feel to smash that shiny head.

"Mr. Jandel, what are we doing with the Essence?"

While Baldy was getting scolded by his mage, we discussed what to do with the Essence.

"Ahem!"

Aynar gave me a look that said, 'Look over here,' but my decision hadn't changed.

"We'll bottle it in a test tube and sell it in the city."

"Sounds good. Nice and simple."

I'd get Aynar a better Essence later.

'We don't have the money for her to absorb one right now anyway.'

Normally, a teammate who took an Essence paid about half its selling price. Misha and I could let her owe us our shares, but... there was no telling whether Mister Bear and Raven would agree to that.

"Cheer up, Aynar, nyah. Selling that one thing will buy tens of thousands of cotton candies, nyah. Okay, nyah?"

"T-Tens of thousands?!"

Aynar staggered at the staggering number, then perked up. Apparently, that option sounded pretty good too.

'... Except she'll have to repay the money I lent her first.'

Anyway, once we'd decided what to do, Raven bottled the Ifrit's Essence in a test tube, and we stepped aside to clear a path.

All they had to do now was pass us and leave, but...

"What's your name?"

Baldy stopped in front of me to ask.

What? Was he going to tell me to watch my back at night?

When I glanced down at him, he continued as if to ward off any misunderstanding.

"No, I mean... we've crossed paths now, haven't we? We could at least know each other's names."

Crossed paths, my ass. Still, I gave him my name.

"Bjorn, son of Jandel."

"Bjorn, son of Jandel?"

Baldy tilted his head as though the name sounded familiar. Then he introduced himself too.

"Meltason Nelbo."

Right, so he wasn't Hans Nelbo. That put me somewhat at ease.

"Then get going."

Shaking hands and making up now would have been ridiculous, so I ended the conversation. Baldy walked off with a bitter smile. His companions followed, passing us one at a time: shield-bearer, swordsman, mage, then archer.

"..."

As the archer passed me, he looked up and flinched. The reason was simple. I was glaring the fuck out of him.

["Ugh, I'm dead tired. Why don't we just kill it?"]

If it weren't for this bastard, none of this bullshit would have happened in the first place. In some ways, he was even more annoying than Baldy—

"Hans! What are you doing? Hurry up!"

The archer averted his eyes and scurried off.

I froze like a stone statue.

"..."

... There had been a Hans.

* * *

Dawn broke on day twenty-one. That meant it had already been four days since we entered the fifth floor. In that time, we had kept descending the paths and hunting monsters.

Along the way, Aynar had reached Level 4 too.

'... So she's reached Level 4 in just three trips into the Labyrinth?'

In some ways, her growth was even faster than mine. I wished someone would carry me like that too.

Anyway, though we'd found ourselves in a few awkward situations fighting monsters, the expedition itself had gone smoothly. I'd been worried something might happen because of Hans.

'Maybe it ended with the Essence dropping...'

Wishful thinking. But examining the details, it was reasonably plausible. We'd fortunately gotten through it, but we'd nearly ended up in a five-on-five fight to the permadeath.

In other words, there was every possibility that the Essence drop had been the full extent of the Hans effect...

Wait, what the hell was I thinking?

'Those fucking bastards.'

I didn't believe in jinxes. Really, I hadn't—not until I met Hans.

"Mr. Jandel, can't you stop doing that now?"

We had paused while I updated the map when Raven cautiously addressed me.

"Stop what?"

"... I know you're trying hard, but you won't be able to find your way back with that anyway, will you?"

Spoken like a mage who valued results over effort.

"..."

I couldn't argue. I honestly wasn't confident I could use this to return to where we'd started. The Great Demon Realm's paths were that complicated. They didn't merely branch in multiple directions; some broke off entirely, requiring ropes to cross.

But...

"I'll improve if I keep at it. I'll be better next time we come."

I was Team Apple Naraq's navigator. I'd wanted to live as a barbarian warrior, but harsh reality had led me down this path. So I needed practice in this area too. Surely Rotmiller hadn't been that good from the beginning.

"Oh, well, I can't argue with that... But isn't it exhausting?"

"Well, it's a hassle. But parts of it are pretty fun."

I meant that. It wasn't just some excuse I'd tossed out. This counted as part of my capabilities too, so it felt like I was progressing. As the saying went, preparedness prevented trouble. If I ever got stranded again, like in the Witch's Forest, the ability I honed now would help me.

'More importantly, being the navigator makes it natural for me to lead the team wherever I want.'

"So, are we just going to keep heading down today too?"

"What other choice do we have?"

The Orc Habitat, Witch's Forest, Steel Stone Valley, and so on. Just as the third floor consisted of various fields, the fifth floor also had named fields. Amid these narrow, labyrinthine paths, broad, disc-shaped areas appeared, like the starting points. Some places were entered through caves in the cliffs too.

So far, we'd discovered three such fields.

All three were already occupied, though.

'There seem to be far more clans controlling hunting grounds here than in the game.'

As someone who had only just reached the fifth floor, I found this incredibly irritating. Our growth was being slowed not because we couldn't kill the monsters, but because of other people.

'Fucking realistic game.'

To hunt monsters that appeared only in those fields, you had to pay the clan that had claimed the spot. And apparently, even paying only got you a one-time hunt for EXP. Had capturing human nature in a game simply been too much to ask?

They were pulling the ladder up behind them several times more ruthlessly than in the game.

But let them kick that ladder away all they liked. Did they think that would stop me from climbing higher?

I'd spent ten years obsessing over a single game, learning every exploit and hidden feature. The fifth floor in particular had stalled my progress for over a year, so I knew practically every last corner of it.

'... We've come far enough down that it should be showing up soon.'

There were more than enough ways to get stronger.