Chapter 294 - Newbie (2)

They had probably been somewhat wary of us, too. They had no information on how strong the newcomers were. That must have been why they had come swarming over in a group of more than ten.

How very thoughtful of them.

“Take it off.”

“...?”

“Before it gets blood on it.”

As my words rang through the alley, the man looked as though he couldn't understand what I meant. But perhaps the situation soon sank in.

“...”

Every one of them, including him, clamped his mouth shut.

It was common in the animal kingdom. When prey ran, a predator chased, assuming it was weaker. But when the prey turned aggressive instead, instinct told the predator that something was wrong.

Experience taught them to recognize danger.

The men who had been slowly closing in eased backward, putting distance between us and guarding against a surprise attack.

It didn't matter much to me.

The alley ended in a wall. It was so narrow that I barely had room to use [Gigantification], but...

‘All the better.’

There was nothing in my way overhead.

‘Leap.’

I sailed over their heads in one bound and landed on the other side.

Okay, that blocked their escape.

“... Kill this one first!”

Flustered, they charged me. With their retreat suddenly cut off, they seemed to have decided to break through me first, but...

WHOOSH!

These bastards were good at dodging.

“Don't block it! Dodge!”

“None of you are getting hit by something that slow, right?”

The three men in front of me slipped past my mace like slippery eels and swung their weapons. My Physical Resistance let me shrug off most of their attacks, but a few skill-enhanced blows managed to pierce my thick hide.

SHUNK!

Hey, that stung.

If I'd activated [Gigantification], I wouldn't have shed a drop of blood. Still, defense wasn't the only way to protect myself.

‘Transcendence.’

I raised my mace overhead and entered the command in my mind. Naturally, I already knew which skill to target with [Transcendence].

‘Swing.’

The combo was effective against large groups thanks to the added “Triples attack range” property.

WHOOOOSH!

As I brought my mace crashing down, it lengthened and grew like the Monkey King's staff. Its reach was far smaller than when paired with [Gigantification], but...

“Th-that's insane...!”

“Dodge!”

Where were they going to dodge to? In an alley this narrow?

CRAAASH!

They hastily backed away, but the three at the front couldn't get out of range.

Ah, that felt good.

I stepped forward, past the trio who had been reduced to ground meat, and the others retreated.

They really had a knack for finding the deadliest place to go.

“The woman! Grab the woman!”

Apparently planning to take a hostage, they rushed Amelia, reaching for her and swinging their weapons.

Of course, they didn't stand a chance of touching her.

THUD! THUD! BOOM!

Amelia dispatched two of them in an instant with punches and kicks, then drew the dagger at her thigh and slashed at another man's throat. He did raise his wrist to block with his steel bracer, but...

SLASH!

Did he really think that would work against a woman who could use Aura?

THUMP. THUD.

His cleanly severed hand and head fell almost simultaneously and rolled across the ground.

And...

“A-Aura...?”

That was where the fight ended.

The instant Amelia used Aura, every one of them simply put down his weapon. Having realized with every fiber of their being that they were hopelessly outmatched, they decided to stake their lives on our mercy.

Far too late for that, though.

“P-please spare us. We'll give you everything we have...”

“What are we doing with them?”

“Killing them, obviously.”

Amelia answered my question without a moment's hesitation. The men prostrated on the ground hurriedly grabbed their weapons and fought back, but...

“Die!”

Come on. Did they really think that would work? From what I could tell, they were only rank six on average.

THUD! CRUNCH!

SLASH!

Amelia and I swiftly finished off the survivors like a two-person plunderer party that had spent years working together.

All told, it took around five minutes.

‘Having a strong damage dealer really is reassuring.’

I'd never felt this secure on any team before. Was there some way I could get her on my team later?

Even as I entertained that thought, my hands kept moving, swiftly looting the bodies.

That was when it happened.

“Urgh...”

As I removed the laitanium breastplate I'd had my eye on from the start, its wearer flinched and trembled.

What? He'd only been unconscious?

THWACK!

I knocked him flat with a blow to the back of the head, then asked Amelia,

“Why did you only knock this one out?”

“... Didn't you say you didn't want blood on it?”

Oh...

“Th-thanks?”

“...”

“Ahem.”

There was a brief awkward moment, but a few minutes later, we were more or less done looting.

Somehow, looting had taken longer than the fight. Still, the return on our labor was higher than ever.

‘This would fetch seventy million Stones on the surface.’

My heart swelled as I looked over the spoils before cramming them into the Expanded Backpack.

All this from just a few minutes of fighting?

‘Who knew there was such a ridiculously lucrative farming spot hidden underground?’

Maybe Noark was a nice place to live after all.

* * *

CLICK.

After putting on the laitanium breastplate, I equipped the matching greaves and assorted other pieces the man had been wearing. They fit just as perfectly as the breastplate.

Of course. Barbarian or not, a warrior ought to have a proper set of armor.

“Let's get moving.”

“Ah, right.”

Uncomfortable with the nearby residents' gazes peering through curtained windows, I hurried out of the alley and onto the main street.

Then I followed Amelia, taking in the sights at my leisure. It was a perfectly reasonable decision: looking blatantly like a newcomer might bring another chance to farm loot.

Well, that had been the idea...

“Is anyone following us?”

“No.”

We had been walking for quite a while, yet no one was taking the bait.

“Still no one?”

“... No.”

What on earth was going on?

When I cautiously expressed my disappointment, Amelia sighed as though wondering what was wrong with me.

“Noark is small. Rumors spread quickly.”

Oh, so because none of the men who had followed us had come back, nobody else was going to rush in as carelessly as they had.

“... Urgh.”

I clutched my chest and sank down with a pained expression. Startled, Amelia crouched beside me.

“Are you hurt? You clearly had no external injuries earlier. Poison?”

As Amelia hurried to give me an antidote, I whispered,

“Don't worry. I'm pretending to be hurt.”

“... What?”

“Maybe they'll come after us again if I do this.”

“Barbarian, you really are...”

Something like disgust was creeping into Amelia's eyes, so I quickly stood up.

Tsk. She'd enjoyed looting them herself, and now she was making me feel awkward about it.

“Just hurry up and follow me. Any later and we might have to sleep outside tonight.”

“All right.”

Anyway, we headed to the city center and found lodgings nearby. And yes, we took one room, not two.

Apparently, anyone who targeted us despite the rumors would have the strength to back it up.

“At least there are several beds.”

“All lodgings in Noark are like this. It's nothing to be surprised about.”

“Hm?”

“Nobody in this city comes to sleep in a place like this alone.”

From what she told me, unless people had started a family and bought a home, it was normal for them to live with their companions.

That made a certain amount of sense. Staying in a group would be the safest way to live in a place like this.

“Jandel, wash up first. I'll sort the spoils in the meantime.”

“Sure. I'll be quick.”

I washed up, then Amelia took her turn in the bathroom. Afterward, we sat down for a brief talk.

“What are we doing with the loot?”

“Keeping it for now rather than selling it. It'll fetch three times as much if we sell it on the surface later.”

“That's a bigger difference than I expected.”

“Of course it is. Supply vastly exceeds demand.”

Well, that made sense. Plunderers farmed more equipment than magic crystals.

“But I think you mentioned merchants who travel between the surface and underground before. Can't we just sell it to them?”

“You seem to have misunderstood. When I said three times as much, I meant the price we'd get selling it to those merchants.”

“... I see.”

“So if there's anything you need, use it instead of thinking about selling it. That's the kind of place this city is.”

Anyway, that settled the question of what to do with the loot. We moved on to the main subject.

“So what are we doing now?”

We had successfully entered Noark as planned. We had two objectives here:

1. Steal the Stone Fragment of Records in the lord's possession and return to our own time.

2. Fulfill Amelia's wish.

I hadn't said it aloud, but the second would be difficult to achieve. Fulfilling her wish would require changing the past.

‘Judging by how her expression froze back then, she seems to realize that herself, at least to some extent...’

So what choice would Amelia make?

“Why are you asking?”

“I thought you might have changed your mind.”

At my nonchalant reply, Amelia spoke without the slightest hesitation.

“What a strange thing to say. The plan hasn't changed.”

Right. So you weren't giving up.

* * *

Even the underground city of Noark had day and night. It simply had no dawn or dusk.

When it was time to be active, the gems embedded in the ceiling shone brightly. When night came, they switched to minimum output.

And in that sense...

“It's daytime.”

After spending the night, we went out onto the street as soon as it brightened beyond the window.

That alone drove home how unfamiliar this city was. After all, seeing every building's doors open and people pour out the instant day arrived wasn't exactly an everyday sight.

“Stop staring and come here. If we're late, we'll have a long wait.”

“Ah, all right.”

I followed Amelia to the lord's castle in the center of Noark. Unlike when I'd seen it from a distance yesterday, its massive gates stood wide open, admitting throngs of people.

“Why is everyone going in there?”

“Most jobs are in the lord's castle. Those who don't enter the Labyrinth do the work they're assigned there and live on the wages.”

What was this, a communist state?

Well, surviving in a place like this probably explained why everyone from Noark was so tenacious.

[Labyrinth Administration]

Soon, we reached our destination and entered the building. The interior resembled the Explorer Guild. In fact, its functions weren't all that different either.

“I'll see you in a bit.”

“Yeah, sure.”

To save time, we each found a short line to join.

Entering the Labyrinth from Noark involved more steps than I'd expected. For starters, newcomers who had just arrived in the city had to register separately. And from the look of things, you also had to pay an admission fee every single time you entered the Labyrinth...

‘How is this place even worse than Raphdonia?’

It was downright absurd, considering that Noark had begun with the Ormi Revolutionary Front, which had called for the overthrow of the royal family.

‘And when is this line going to move? If they're going to do this, they could at least introduce numbered tickets like Raphdonia. What's the point of gathering everyone here and making them stand in line?’

I'd spent over thirty minutes waiting, inwardly grumbling about the slow service and outdated system, when...

“Hey, big guy! Filling out registration forms, huh? Must be new here.”

A group of five explorers swaggered toward me. One placed a hand on my shoulder as though we were friends.

“We're kind of busy. Mind letting us go first? Huh? We're on the same side now, aren't we? We ought to help each other out.”

For a moment, I couldn't process what was happening.

‘What's this?’

Were people trying to force more free loot on me?