Chapter 206 - An Instant (2)

["It has been a while, Miss Reinweils."]

Amelia tilted her head involuntarily at the call from the city through her crystal ball. It wasn't the lord's voice she remembered.

"... Old alchemist?"

["Ho ho, I'm honored you recognize me by my voice."]

"... How did you get access to the communications network?"

["I asked the lord. There are some things I need you to procure, so I asked to speak with you directly. Easier for both of us, wouldn't you say? And I get to hear your voice while I'm at it."]

"I see."

It wasn't hard to understand. The alchemist was even more important to Noark than its lord. If the old man asked for something, the lord had no choice but to oblige.

Amelia hurried to the point.

"So what do you need me to get?"

["Oh, nothing much. More importantly, have you been well?"]

"... You know that isn't the sort of question you should be asking me."

["You still haven't been able to let it go?"]

Amelia pressed her lips shut, avoiding an answer. The old man had known her since childhood and was one of the few people who knew her circumstances.

["Miss Reinweils, I have some idea why you accepted this mission. But it's time you let go. Surely your sister would have wanted something other than revenge—"]

"Enough," Amelia said coldly, cutting him off.

"No more of that. Just tell me what you need."

Those left behind had their own work to do. She didn't want anyone interfering with that, not even the old man.

["... Very well. Let's get down to business, then."]

The alchemist proceeded to list the supplies he needed, and Amelia wrote them down so she wouldn't forget. Most were alchemical ingredients, such as magical reagents. Nothing special, but they had become difficult to obtain in the sealed-off city of Noark.

["How long will it take to get everything?"]

"A few days should be enough."

["Really? Then could you perhaps get me the sleepflower powder a little sooner than the rest?"]

"I could send you that right now."

["Oh, do you happen to have some on hand?"]

"... You already knew that."

Sleepflower powder had a sedative effect. It wasn't particularly potent, but its ability to bypass poison tolerance meant she used it often. Not on enemies, but on herself.

"I'll put it in the two-way subspace as soon as we finish talking."

["Ho ho, then our business for today is already concluded?"]

The old man chuckled, sounding somewhat reluctant to end the conversation. Amelia was about to cut the connection when a sudden question stayed her hand.

"But... what do you need sleepflower powder for?"

Even as she asked, it felt strange. Normally, she wouldn't have asked a question like that. She rarely took the initiative to ask others questions, especially out of mere curiosity.

But...

"There are hardly any alchemical formulas that call for sleepflower powder, are there?"

Something was different today. She felt as though she was overlooking something important.

["Oh, that?"]

Before long, the old man's voice came through the crystal ball.

["The Dragonslayer, Ligar Vagos. I'll be using it to treat him. Oh, not to make medicine. I just thought it would be easier to put him to sleep beforehand."]

"... Don't tell me you've found a way to restore his memories?"

["No, nothing like that. For now, I intend to heal his damaged body. As you know, we need every bit of strength we can get."]

"I see."

Amelia let out an involuntary sigh of relief. As long as his memories didn't return, whether he recovered or not would have no repercussions for her—

["Ho ho, still, once his damaged body has recovered, I do intend to try restoring his lost memories."]

Amelia flinched and went rigid.

["The method is so extreme that his body couldn't withstand it in its current state. Well, with so few samples to go on, the success rate is only about half."]

A fifty-percent success rate. Far too low to leave things to chance.

But it wasn't a major problem. All she had to do was make sure his body didn't recover.

"I see."

With that, Amelia ended the call. Then, as promised, she placed sleepflower powder in the two-way subspace—after lacing it with a deadly poison that destroyed living tissue when ingested.

* * *

The second vine had snapped. Things had been quiet for so long that I'd let my guard down.

'What the hell has that bastard been up to?'

A vague sense of urgency washed over me. I still wasn't ready to face him. I'd grown in many ways, but all that really amounted to was going from a fourth-floor explorer to a fifth-floor explorer. And now I already had only one vine left.

'The sixth floor. I need to get to the sixth floor as soon as possible.'

Once I reached the sixth floor, I'd have a chance to absorb that Essence. My second core Essence after [Gigantification]. If I could just get it, I'd have some chance of holding my own against him—

"Mister!"

Huh?

"What have you been thinking about all this time?"

Erwin's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Was it because I'd enjoyed such a long stretch of peace? It wasn't even the last vine, just the second, but ever since it snapped, anxious imaginings had been surfacing at all hours and cluttering my mind.

"Sorry. Where were we?"

"We weren't discussing anything. I was asking what you wanted to order..."

"Oh, right."

I gave the menu a cursory glance and ordered some suitable food and beer.

"This place hasn't changed at all, though."

Erwin murmured as she watched the server walk away with our order. I didn't need to ask what she meant.

"Even though we've changed so much."

We were at a tavern called Python Puth, where we'd shared a return drink after the first expedition, the one on which I'd met Erwin. Naturally, it kept stirring up strange feelings.

The barbarian who'd struggled through all sorts of hardships on the first floor without an overnight companion had become a fairly well-known explorer in the city. Erwin hadn't gained fame, but she'd made remarkable progress for someone who had only just finished her first year. Even the changes in her equipment made that clear.

"This is the first time we've had drinks together since then, isn't it?"

"Oh, when you paid your first-year taxes?"

For reference, that had been right after we'd finished moving. So, after wondering where to meet, we'd come here. Misha would clearly have disliked it if I'd invited Erwin home. It was a shared space where three of us lived, after all; I couldn't do whatever I pleased.

"Did anything happen on this expedition?"

"... No, well, it was the same as before."

Once the drinks and food arrived, we began talking in earnest. Mostly, we caught up on how we'd been doing. Unlike the old days when she visited practically every day, we had fewer points of contact now, leaving us with little else in common to discuss.

"What's the mood like in your clan? I'm curious about that, too. Any news?"

"Who knows? Even if there is, they don't tell us..."

Erwin and her older sister had joined a clan they knew as mercenaries, and the sisters were still exploring the Labyrinth with them. They operated on the fifth floor. Since we'd hunted exclusively in Hellfire Rift, though, we'd never run into them in the Labyrinth.

"Anyway, it's driving me crazy. I told you before, didn't I? About that person who keeps pestering my sister. Lately, he's started doing it to me, too!"

"Sounds rough."

"It is. He's an officer, so I can't just put an arrow between his eyes... I'll just have to put up with it until we've gotten everything we can and leave."

The more we talked, the more I realized how much she'd changed, too. It had only been a little over a year since she'd become an explorer, but every trace of her old naivety was gone.

In a way, that was only natural. A year in the Labyrinth was more than enough time to see all sorts of things.

"Anyway, out with it. You said you had something to tell me?"

"Oh, that..."

Feeling we'd settled in enough, I got to the point. Erwin hesitated briefly before speaking.

"Do you remember? When I said I still had a lot to learn from my sister..."

"I remember."

She'd also said she'd squeeze every last bit of knowledge out of her within six months and join my team. Well, more than six months had already passed since then, but I'd never brought it up myself. We didn't have room on the team anyway, and...

"You hadn't said anything since, so I thought you'd changed your mind."

I'd assumed the whole thing had simply fizzled out. But apparently, that couldn't have been further from the truth. Erwin vehemently denied it.

"W-whoa, what are you talking about? I'd never do that! We were each other's first overnight companions!"

Strictly speaking, my first overnight companion had been Hans A. Hers had been that Hartz Young guy, or whatever his name was.

"So what are you trying to say?"

"Well... I think it'll take a little longer."

"What do you mean?"

"Y-you're all rank five, aren't you? The way I am now, there's no room for me to squeeze in... Actually, sometimes I think there's no hope anymore... N-no, I mean, now you're even l-living together in the same house..."

"What are you talking about? Stop mumbling and speak clearly."

At that, Erwin gulped down the remaining alcohol in her glass.

"I regret it. Back then... why didn't I accept when you offered? I thought I'd close the gap in no time, but it just keeps getting wider..."

This was more an outpouring of frustration than anything she'd called me here to discuss. Still, I thought I understood what she was trying to say. She wanted to join our team, but she couldn't ask me to remove someone to make room for her. Her stats and equipment weren't even better than those of our current members.

Hmm. Still, at least she hadn't changed her mind.

"Anyway. So, what I'm trying to say is..."

"Stop."

I cut her off. First, there was a misunderstanding I needed to clear up.

"I never intended to put you on my current team."

"... What?"

Silence fell for a moment. It took a little longer for confusion to appear in Erwin's eyes as she stared blankly into space.

"W-what do you mean? You didn't say anything back then, did you? I-I thought that meant yes..."

As though she'd lost her grip, her gaze darted about, unable to settle anywhere. Tsk. That wasn't what I'd meant. Before the misunderstanding could grow any worse, I stated it plainly.

"Erwin, I'm going to start a clan."

"A c-clan?!"

"Not right now, of course. It'll take a few more months. But if you're fine with that, I'd like you to join—"

"Yes!! I'll join!!"

Her answer came before I'd even finished.

"No, at least let me explain the details—"

"It's fine! I'm joining either way!"

"... If you say so. Anyway, keep this a secret. I haven't told anyone on our team yet."

"Oh, then I'm the first person you've invited...?"

Huh?

I tilted my head.

"Isn't that obvious?"

How could I have invited them when I hadn't even told them I was starting a clan? Besides, I was close enough to Misha and Aynar that I didn't even need to ask. Raven would probably decline, since she belonged to the Magic Tower. As for Mister Bear, I wasn't sure.

'He seemed to have some bad memories of clans.'

Just as I was thinking that...

"Hee hee, heeheehee!!"

Erwin began laughing strangely.

* * *

My drinking session with Erwin, which had begun in the early evening, went on longer than expected. Originally, I'd intended to hear what she'd called me out for, catch up a little, and leave, but...

"What? The clan master is bald?"

"Yes, I'm telling you! You have no idea how hard it was not to laugh when his wig came off while we were hunting."

Talking with Erwin was particularly fun today. Was it because I hadn't had a drink in so long? Why was I finding such trivial things so funny?

'Oh, the others must be waiting at home...'

The thought crossed my mind now and then, but every time it did, Erwin brought up something interesting, and I couldn't find a good moment to get up. Still, it really was time to head home now.

"Well, we should—"

"Oh, right!"

"Huh?"

"Did I tell you I absorbed a new Essence this time?"

What? She'd absorbed an Essence? I couldn't possibly leave without hearing about that.

"It has a really unusual ability. It suits me well, too."

"Stop keeping me in suspense and tell me. What did you absorb?"

I shifted in my seat and focused on Erwin again. For starters, it was a rank-five Essence. As something her veteran sister had recommended, it was an excellent fit for an elf archer like her.

'She won't need to erase this one later.'

Thinking I should work out a rough build path for Erwin once I got home, I asked her all sorts of questions about the Essence she'd acquired.

"Wow, you know what? Your eyes suddenly lit up, Mister."

Of course they had. Whatever else I was, I was a Player who'd loved this game more than anyone.

"That's an Essence everyone talks about because it's so unusual. Of course I'm curious about what it actually feels like."

"Still, I'm not sure how to explain it. I can't exactly show you here..."

Hmm, true enough. Just as I was nodding in understanding...

"Um, on that note... Mister."

Erwin trailed off and stole a glance at me. Her face was flushed, perhaps from the alcohol.

"Do you want to come upstairs for a bit, just to see my Ability before you go?"

... What should I do?