Chapter 62 - The Hut (1)

"Let's get moving."

We hurried away. After all the hell we'd gone through to kill the Canibaro within five minutes, how could we afford to rest?

"So, feeling any better now?"

"That little rest helped me feel alive again, nyah. Thanks, nyah. How long was I asleep, nyah?"

"About three hours."

A complete fucking lie. Even at the most generous estimate, it had been around an hour. But...

"I-I slept that long, nyah? No wonder, nyah..."

The technical term was a placebo. Believing that would be better for her mental and physical health.

Of course, now I was the problem.

"Bjorn, you don't look so good, nyah."

After her nap, Misha no longer fell behind as we traveled. Instead, I was the one slowing down. That was only natural. A high regeneration rate didn't make fatigue disappear.

"Why don't you sleep while I carry you on my back, nyah?"

I mean, I appreciated the offer... but she could at least say something sensible.

"No need. I can keep going."

Of course it was hard. If I stretched out and closed my eyes right now, I'd fall asleep in a second. But...

"Let's pick up the pace."

Once again, I had no choice. A dispassionate assessment of my condition told me I could only hold out for a few more hours, even if I fought tooth and nail. After that, no amount of willpower would keep my body going.

Which meant...

"Pick up the pace, nyah?"

"Yes. It's our only option."

We had to find a safe zone while I still had the stamina. They spawned at random in Witch's Forest at regular intervals and lasted eight hours. Inside, the field effect was lifted, and no monsters appeared.

In other words, we could sleep safely.

"But what if we don't find one, nyah?"

Well, then things would get worse. Still, it had been two days since we last found a safe zone. We were about due for another.

'I don't know about myself, but she seems pretty lucky...'

Just look at how we'd found the last one. She'd whined that her legs hurt, so we'd stopped for a short rest, and a safe zone had formed right beside us.

"Misha, you take the lead from now on."

"M-me, nyah?"

"Just go wherever you want. It's not as if we know where we're going anyway."

I wasn't superstitious, but I put Misha in front on the off chance it might help. We moved quickly, only killing monsters that attacked us first.

How much time had passed?

"H-huh? Bjorn! Look over there! Isn't that it, nyah?"

"... Looks like it."

Was this the law of everything going right for the lucky ones?

Amazingly, we'd found an unusual tree in less than thirty minutes. It looked like the others, but its bark gave off a faint purple glow. Proof that it was a gateway to a safe zone.

"Well done, Misha."

"Hehe! You can praise me some more, nyah!"

What was she on about now?

I ruffled her hair in a rough gesture of approval, then approached the tree. Together, Misha and I placed our hands on its bark, one over the other.

* * *

「The character enters the Witch's Hut.」

* * *

The moment we touched the tree, purple mist swirled around us. Soon, a warm, springlike breeze blew through, scattering the mist that obscured our surroundings.

WHOOOOSH!

When the mist finally cleared, the gloomy, dreary forest was nowhere to be seen. Grass covered the ground, wildflowers in full bloom. The scrawny thorn trees, once wrapped in nothing but rotten vines, were lush with leaves.

"Bjorn! Look at these, nyah! Aren't the flowers pretty, nyah?"

Yeah, sure. But we'd seen them last time...

"Stop wasting time. Let's get inside and rest."

"Hmph! A barbarian with no sense of romance. Just like you'd expect, nyah!"

Romance? That was something to look for once you could afford it. Cherishing romance while on the verge of starving to death just looked pathetic or self-deluding to everyone else.

CREEEAK.

Leaving the strangely excited Misha behind, I opened the door to the hut in the center.

A bookcase, a dining table, a carpet, a fireplace. Despite the name Witch's Hut, there was nothing particularly special inside. It was an ordinary hut, just as anyone might imagine.

'Still, Raven or Dwalki would've liked this place.'

Mages liked unusual spaces like this. With books on the shelf, they'd probably have inspected those the moment they arrived.

But I was a barbarian. An utterly exhausted one, at that.

I went straight to the bed and flopped onto it, then buried my face in the pillow and muttered.

"You sleep in the chair this time."

"O-okay, nyah! You must be exhausted, so get some proper rest, nyah."

At my physical limit, I sent Misha to the rocking chair I'd slept in last time.

CRACKLE, POP.

As I closed my eyes, I heard logs crackling in the fireplace. Misha must have settled in already, because the chair was creaking steadily too.

CREAK, CREAK.

"... Sleep well, Bjorn, nyah."

My consciousness slowly drifted away.

* * *

Was it because I was so exhausted? For the first time in a while, I had a dream.

I was at the office, like any other day, doing administrative work. When I got off work, my ex-girlfriend was there to meet me.

... She was wearing black stockings.

Anyway, we went to my place, ordered fried chicken, and ate together before each doing our own thing. I played games, and she quietly read a book in a corner. A comfortable silence settled over us.

When bedtime came, we naturally held each other and fell asleep.

That was the entire dream. The instant I realized it was all a dream, I was expelled back into reality.

A small hut we'd found while wandering Witch's Forest. An old bed inside it. A gigantic barbarian body filling that bed.

Once I woke from my sweet sleep, I'd have to drag this monstrous body around and fight actual monsters to survive—this was my reality.

'... So let's do what needs doing.'

I didn't think I'd be getting any more sleep, so I turned to check the fireplace. The fire, blazing when I'd gone to sleep, was dwindling and nearly out. That meant the hut would close soon.

I checked the clock too, to see how long I'd actually slept.

'Still, that makes almost seven hours.'

It was a little strange that my body had woken itself at just the right time, without even an alarm.

"..."

I forced my drooping eyes open and stared at the ceiling. As I slowly roused my mind, a fierce headache bloomed at the back of my head. It was as if my brain was whining that it needed more sleep.

Indulging that weakness would get me nowhere, so I sat up.

For some reason...

'When did she get up here?'

Misha was draped over me, fast asleep with her head resting on my waist. Drooling, no less. She must have been quite comfortable, her breaths coming in a steady purr.

'Was the chair uncomfortable?'

I lifted her head, rolled her roughly to the side, and got out of bed. Waking her early would help her get ready, but for now, I'd let her sleep a little longer.

CRACK, CRACK.

I stretched to loosen my stiff body, then went outside to soak up some sunlight. Honestly, it was quite refreshing.

'... Was that why Misha was so happy to see the flowers?'

Thinking of it that way, I could understand her sentiment to a degree, but I still couldn't relate. It wasn't wrong, just a matter of taste. Sunbathing at least felt like it was producing vitamin D. Flowers didn't even give me anything to trick myself with.

Less efficient as a placebo.

Anyway, time to wake her up.

"Misha, get up."

"Mmm, five more minutes..."

"Wake up. We have to leave soon."

"Then let me sleep until then, nyaah..."

What was she talking about?

She seemed too sleep-drunk to think rationally, so I grabbed her around the waist, lifted her up, and shook her up and down.

"Aagh! Aagh! O-okay, nyah! I'm up, nyah! So stooop!!"

"All right."

"You brainless barbarian bastard, nyah!!"

Should've gotten up when I told you to.

I handed the fuming Misha a canteen. She seemed to be grumbling for the sake of it, rather than genuinely angry.

"... Oh, thanks, nyah."

Once she seemed properly awake, we sat chatting quietly and chomped through bread and jerky. I didn't have much appetite right after waking up... but once we left, there'd be no time for a leisurely meal.

"If you're done, warm up a little. Only a few minutes left."

"Okay, nyah."

Misha started doing something resembling a calisthenics routine, slowly waking her body up. Was it because she was an agility build? She was incredibly flexible.

"Um, Bjorn..."

As I used the remaining time to organize the backpack, Misha spoke up, still stretching.

"What?"

"Well, about Hikurod, Dwalki, and Rotmiller, nyah..."

"Just say what's on your mind."

"What do you think happened to them, nyah? They're still alive, right, nyah?"

Hmm, so that was it after all. I'd thought it was about time she asked. People generally started thinking about other things once they were feeling physically better.

I answered without hesitation.

"I don't know either."

"Sure, but you can at least make a guess, can't you, nyah?"

She didn't want a guess. She wanted wishful thinking.

Before the conversation could drag on needlessly, I firmly cut it short.

"Whatever I predict, it won't change anything."

Whether they were dead or alive made no difference. Even if they were in trouble, what could we do, stranded in Witch's Forest?

We needed to focus on surviving first. We'd find out what happened once we made it back to the city anyway.

"So if you've finished warming up, check your equipment again."

That was all we could do right now.

POP.

The last of the fire went out.

「The Witch's Hut has closed.」

「The character moves to Witch's Forest.」

Time to leave.

* * *

「Status effect [Witch's Eye] advances to stage 6.」

「Status effect [Witch's Eye] advances to stage 7.」

「Status effect [Witch's Eye] advances to stage 8.」

「Status effect [Witch's Eye] advances to stage 9—...」

* * *

Day eleven in the Labyrinth. In other words, we were already on our eighth day stranded in Witch's Forest.

「Status effect [Witch's Eye] advances to stage 10.」

Now we truly didn't even have time to catch our breath. We had to keep walking. With [Witch's Eye] at its highest stage, my calculations said a Canibaro would appear if we stayed in one place for a mere three minutes.

'Still, the silver lining... is that things can't get any worse for now, I guess.'

Assuming no new variables cropped up, that was. Of course, a new variable could also be a positive one.

Like an Essence, an Essence, or an Essence...

'Fuck.'

As we wandered Witch's Forest, we'd had to kill plenty of monsters whether we wanted to or not. But no Essences had dropped. A real shame.

Any drop at all would raise our combat power at least a little right away... and some Essences had effects that could turn this situation completely around.

This bastard was a prime example.

"Bjorn! A Witch's Lamp over there, nyah!"

"Let's kill it quickly and move on."

Witch's Lamp, a rank-9 spirit monster. It simply looked like a will-o'-the-wisp. Its combat power was pathetic; with elemental damage, killing it was no problem. Its active skill was practically garbage too.

Anywhere outside Witch's Forest, that is.

「Witch's Lamp casts [Witch's Lantern].」

The summoning skill, [Witch's Lantern]. Amazingly, what it summoned was a Witch's Lamp.

That's right. This bastard summoned itself. Meaning that if we absorbed its Essence, we could summon a Witch's Lamp and command it.

"Drop an Essence, nyah!!"

Chanting her plea, Misha made short work of the Witch's Lamps, which had multiplied from three to six. But once again, no Essence.

Sigh. If only this bastard would drop its Essence, we could use it as a guide and get out of here right away...

'Do we have no choice but to hold out until the last day?'

Realistically, that was the most likely option. The Labyrinth's third floor closed on day fifteen. If we held out just four more days, we could return to the city.

The problem was, I couldn't confidently say we'd survive even those few days.

"Misha, how's your stamina?"

"Hmm, I'm tired, but we rested not long ago, so I'm okay, nyah."

Last evening, we'd been lucky enough to find another hut and rest for a while. Our first discovery, and our first rest, in nearly fifty hours. In other words, we'd spent all that time on the move without sleeping or even eating properly.

'And we found it late, so we only got four hours of rest.'

Finding a hut was pure luck. If we were unlucky, we might not find a single one over the remaining four days. That was why we hunted every Witch's Lamp we saw with such fervor.

Better to try everything we could—

"Bjorn."

Misha, walking in front, stopped. I broke off my thoughts and looked ahead.

"Explorers, nyah."

For the first time since we'd become stranded, we'd encountered something other than monsters.

And we couldn't yet tell...

"A barbarian and a Therianthrope? Don't tell me it's just the two of you?"

...whether this would be a positive variable or a negative one.