Chapter 266 - Bug (5)

The man smiled when I said it had been a while.

"To think you'd remember me."

He seemed surprised that I recognized him.

Well, it had been a brief encounter. Never mind properly introducing ourselves—we hadn't even had the presence of mind to talk face-to-face.

But...

"Memories like that aren't easily forgotten."

How could I possibly forget crawling through that dark cave on three limbs, blood streaming from my fucked-up foot?

["Patzran. Could you give me a potion?"]

["Those are for when we can't use Divine Power, you know."]

["You've got plenty anyway. I'll pay you for it once we're out."]

["Tch."]

This guy had been the swordsman on the team that saved me. At his leader's request, he'd tossed over a potion with a disgruntled look.

It had been an unusual experience. How often in life did you feel humiliation and gratitude at the same time?

"That's certainly one good thing about barbarians. Never forgetting a debt of gratitude is a warrior's ironclad rule, right?"

Interpreting my words however he pleased, he smiled in satisfaction. I didn't bother correcting him.

Well, I really had been grateful.

"Still, I'm a little surprised myself. I didn't think you'd remember me either."

"Not many people could crawl that far in the state you were in."

He looked me up and down as he spoke.

"Anyway, to think you really were that Bjorn Jandel."

He'd apparently worked out who I was from my appearance, without any need for introductions.

Well, I wasn't sure whether to call that an advantage or a disadvantage.

As I chuckled, Raven approached from behind.

"It's been a while, Mr. Patzran."

"Who... Oh, Miss Raven?"

I was just as surprised as the bewildered swordsman.

What? They knew each other?

"Yes... that's right. I heard some time ago that you joined that team."

"We're a clan now, not a team. Anyway, wow! I never imagined you and Mr. Jandel knew each other. What a coincidence!"

"Some coincidence. We don't even know each other's names yet."

At my blunt interruption, the swordsman chuckled and introduced himself.

"Malmurn Patzran."

"That's an odd pronunciation."

"We're one of the few families still insisting on central-region naming conventions. Call me Patzran. Everyone does."

"Families? Are you a noble?"

"Hardly. Maybe thousands of years ago."

I understood immediately. There were occasional cases like this: people who had been nobles or royalty of some kingdom before the world ended, only to be reduced to commoners upon entering this city.

I'd heard that, despite having no titles, they still chose heads of their houses to preserve their legitimacy.

"So, what were you doing by our boat?"

With introductions out of the way, Patzran got down to business. Since we hadn't actually done anything, I answered honestly.

"Just taking a look around the whole island."

"I see."

My reputation was one thing, but Patzran also knew Raven, so he accepted our explanation without any suspicion.

Then...

"Nervio Fertia."

He activated the magic circle engraved on the boat, dismissing the moored vessel into subspace.

It was a trivial action, but it bothered me a great deal.

"Where's the team you were with back then, anyway?"

"Exploring the island's interior."

"Looking for something, then?"

"Well, I don't think we're close enough to discuss that."

Sheesh. What had I done to make him so prickly already?

His answer drew a firm line, but I could more or less guess what was going on.

'They left the boat on the shore, then only now sent one person back to put it away...'

They must have been looking for something. Most summoning engravings had cooldowns. If they'd decided what they wanted wasn't here, they would have planned to sail away immediately.

'And dismissing the boat means they found what they were looking for.'

Then what exactly had they been after?

One possibility came to mind. After all, I'd rushed up to the sixth floor this time for that very thing.

'If that's the case, it throws a wrench in my plans...'

I smacked my lips without thinking, but kept my expression under control so my disappointment wouldn't show.

Was he doing the same thing?

"Jandel, how long are you planning to stay on this island?"

Patzran slipped the question in with an air of casual indifference.

The bastard was fishing.

"We'll probably stay here the whole time."

"The whole time? There isn't much here."

"It's our first time, you see."

"Hmm, it might still be worth visiting the next island at least... Well, never mind. That's for you to decide."

Patzran's words had been brimming with wishful thinking, but he corrected himself, perhaps realizing he was overstepping.

That's right. Who were you to decide where we went?

"Anyway, if you're staying on this island, we might run into each other a few more times. See you around, Jandel."

Patzran brought the conversation to a close.

His intentions were obvious. He wanted to hurry back, tell his companions about us, and discuss what to do.

"Wait."

At that single word, Patzran turned around, looking curious about why I'd suddenly stopped him.

I couldn't just let him leave. In fact, this had been bothering me for a while...

"It's not just Jandel. It's Baronet."

"... What?"

He tilted his head as if he'd misheard, so I repeated myself clearly.

"Bjorn, son of Jandel. Baronet."

Who did he think he was, casually acting like we were buddies?

Did he still think I was that barbarian who'd started with nothing?

* * *

"Then I'll be on my way. Ahem! B-Baronet Jandel..."

Once Patzran had hurried out of sight, Raven sighed.

"... Mr. Jandel, did you really have to do that?"

It was obvious what she meant. She thought I'd gone too far.

But I squared my shoulders proudly.

"It's not as if I demanded the utmost deference."

I hadn't made him address me as Lord Baronet Jandel, and I'd let him off with a moderately formal tone.

And she was asking if that had been necessary?

"Raven, you're the one I don't understand. Where else in the world would you find a noble this lenient?"

"Uh, I can't really argue when you put it that way... But you've never done anything like this before. What on earth happened between you two...?"

Raven seemed to think it was petty revenge, but that wasn't true. My gratitude for being saved had far outweighed anything else from the start.

But that was one thing, and this was another.

"Raven, there's a big difference between speaking casually because I told you to and doing it without my permission."

My companions and acquaintances hadn't changed the way they spoke to me after I became a noble, because I'd told them not to.

But what had Patzran done?

I was hardly one to talk as a barbarian, but he'd slipped straight into casual speech the moment he saw me.

"Sigh. So you did it to uphold your dignity as a noble? You've really become one now, haven't you?"

What was she on about now?

"Not a noble. A clan leader."

"... Pardon?"

"It means I represent all of you wherever I go now. Was I supposed to smile and let it slide out of consideration for an explorer I barely know? Just because you know him?"

"That's..."

More importantly, their team's objective seemed to overlap with ours, so we were bound to run into them again.

That was why I'd switched on Noblesse Bar bar ian Mode. I'd judged that letting them look down on us from the outset wouldn't be good in the long run.

"... I'm sorry for being sarcastic. I didn't think this through."

Raven bowed her head deeply in apology.

That was one of her good qualities. If she'd clearly made a mistake, she simply admitted it and apologized sincerely.

"That's enough. I've already forgotten it."

I let the matter go with a barbarian's good cheer, then asked something that had piqued my curiosity.

"By the way, Raven, I didn't realize this before, but do you dislike nobles?"

"No? Not at all."

Hmm, really? She'd been awfully biting for someone who didn't.

Oh, was she particularly close to that guy? Had watching me give him a hard time made her angry?

It seemed a plausible guess, so I asked her again, but she shook her head once more.

"Uh, definitely not. I've only met Mr. Patzran a few times at banquets to begin with..."

"Hmm, then why were you so angry?"

"I wasn't angry..."

"But you weren't acting like yourself, were you?"

Raven couldn't readily answer my question. It felt less like she was reluctant to tell me and more like she didn't know the reason herself.

"It just felt a little off. Even if everyone else acts that way, I suppose I hoped you wouldn't, Mr. Jandel... No, what am I saying? Ah, I don't really know either."

Raven looked confused.

I chuckled. I thought I understood what she was trying to say.

I'd feel unsettled too if Aynar suddenly changed and started throwing her authority around. Yes, a mind as pure as a rock was part of a barbarian's charm.

"Ahh, both of you, stop it, nyah! What's with this weird atmosphere, nyah!"

Perhaps disliking the awkward air, Misha jumped in, and the subject naturally changed.

"So what now, nyah? We've still got a long way to go before we've seen the whole island, nyah."

"Ah, I'm going to end our sightseeing here."

We'd already gotten a rough measure of the island's size anyway. And we'd confirmed that there were other people here.

Competitors who might have come to this island for the same reason we had.

"Then what are we going to do?"

I answered Raven's question briefly.

"Head inland."

You couldn't make it as an explorer if you backed off just because you had competition.

* * *

Parune Island.

Located closest to the Island of Beginnings, it was a fairly popular hunting ground. All its monsters were rank eight or below, but the sheer number of insect-type monsters made it highly profitable.

Yes, if you only considered the profits.

"Erwin, fire! Fire! Fire! Hurry!!"

"Y-Yes!"

"Ptoo, ptoo, ptooey!! Aaaaah! I think one got in my mouth!!"

"Miss Aynar! A magic crystal just came out of your mouth! Did you bite one to death?!"

The rank-eight insect monster Krungbi was larger than a person's face.

And then there were the swarms of bugs it summoned.

FWOOSH!

Magic crystals rained down whenever Erwin, who controlled a fire spirit, or Raven unleashed an area attack, but not a single person looked happy.

I was no exception.

'They're even more disgusting than I expected.'

I'd thought I had a fairly strong stomach, but this was hard to take.

Sticky bodily fluids covered me from head to toe. The revolting smell of bugs roasting in the flames filled the air.

Whew. I'd never wanted to learn that a smell like this existed.

"I never heard there were this many monsters here. It really must be because there aren't any people arou— Aaaah!"

"Don't talk! They'll get in your mou... Mmph!"

Even as my companions kept setting new records for the worst moment of their lives, none of them suggested turning back.

The reason was simple.

"It looks like you were right, Bjorn."

"Yes. There must be something on this island. Otherwise, people with such a good boat would never have come here."

Of course, we weren't looking to take the easy way out by tailing them to discover what it was. I already knew, for one thing, and no one in our clan was so lacking in decency that they'd agree to a plan like that anyway.

Instead, we decided to search diligently on our own, on the assumption that something was hidden on this island.

'Thanks to that, it shouldn't look strange if I find it later...'

The problem was Patzran's team. This island's hidden piece was an event that encompassed the entire island.

'Assuming there's nobody else here, that makes eleven of us in total.'

We hadn't reached the fifteen-person threshold for unlocking the highest difficulty, but eleven still made for a challenging event.

'That's probably why he tried to drive us away. Without us, they'd have a much easier time with the event.'

I was a little curious. How had he learned about this hidden piece?

Was there a Player on his team? Or was he a Player himself?

'I should get a better idea when I meet them later—'

I was walking along, turning these thoughts over, when it happened.

"Mister."

Erwin brought the group to a halt.

"Someone's fighting over there."

She pointed toward the heart of the forest. Her hearing was several times better than ours, so she couldn't have misheard.

"Mr. Patzran's team must be hunting. Hmm, if we run into them here, they might get the wrong idea and think we followed—"

"No. They're not hunting."

"What? What do you mean, they're not hunt—"

Erwin's eyes sharpened as she spoke.

"It's the sound of people fighting other people."

In other words, a PK was taking place.