Chapter 72 - Ghost Busters (1)

I stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling and thought. The last thing I had seen before losing consciousness was this city's characteristically gloomy sky...

'This must be a makeshift medical tent. There must have been plenty of other injured people besides me.'

Sure enough, when I looked to the side, I saw beds packed tightly together. Taking stock of the situation came as naturally as breathing.

Silence hung over the tent. Most of the beds showed signs of use but were empty now. Which meant...

'Looks like quite a bit of time has passed.'

That settled what I needed to do: first, find out how much time had passed.

I was about to ease myself upright, slowly enough not to startle my muscles, when I felt an odd weight on my stomach. The moment I realized what it was, I let out a helpless chuckle.

'So that's where she went...'

Misha was asleep with her head resting on my stomach, complete with her distinctive purring snores. It was sweet that she had apparently stayed by my side to nurse me, though I had to wonder what good that did if she was like this.

'Well, she must have been tired too.'

Elisa, the priest of Carui. Our ordeal stranded in Witch's Forest. The chase with Riakis, Lord of Chaos.

Considering everything we had been through, I could understand. But...

"Misha, wake up."

Right now, getting answers came first, so I shook her awake without hesitation.

"Hm? Mmm... B-Bjorn! You're awake, nyah! How do you feel? Are you all right, nyah?"

"As you can see, I'm fine."

My shattered left ankle moved just fine, and my torn-off arm had been restored to its original state. Which brought me to my first question.

"You didn't use a Top-tier potion, did you?"

"No, a priest came and healed you, nyah."

"What about the treatment fee?"

"D-Don't worry. The G-Guild provided disaster relief funds, so it wasn't much, nyah..."

No, putting it like that only made me worry.

"So how much was it?"

"... Three hundred thousand Stones, nyah."

"I see."

Whew. Still a lot cheaper than a Top-tier potion. I had been worried when she mentioned a priest, but the Guild's subsidy must have been fairly generous.

"Why the long face? You did well."

"But you like money, don't you, nyah...?"

Well, sure, that was true. Just what kind of person did she think I was?

"Even so, money couldn't possibly be more important than my body."

This wasn't just a matter of restoring some mangled flesh. It certainly wasn't a matter of reattaching a severed limb, either. They had restored an arm torn off bone and all—an arm I had left behind in the Labyrinth.

'Natural regeneration definitely wouldn't have cut it.'

I put any lingering regrets firmly aside. When Raven and I had tested the limits of my regeneration before, hadn't it taken an enormous amount of time just to regrow a severed finger?

Anyway, on to my second question.

"So how long has it been since we left the Labyrinth?"

"About six hours, nyah."

Hmm. No wonder it was still light outside the tent. It wasn't because an entire day had passed.

"The backpack?"

"It's fine. Everything inside too, nyah!"

"The magic crystals?"

"I exchanged them all for money, including yours, nyah."

"Did anyone come to see me while I was unconscious?"

"Oh, Hikurod and the others stopped by, nyah!"

"... That dwarf?"

When I tilted my head, Misha slowly explained what had happened. In short, she had reunited with Hikurod's group about five hours ago, when they had come here just in case...

"I'm glad all three of them are all right. Where did they go?"

"They said knowing we were alive was enough, and they were tired, so they went off to sleep, nyah."

"I see."

I didn't feel hurt. I would have done the same in their place. Staying here wouldn't have made me wake up any sooner, after all. We could catch up in two days, when we were scheduled to meet.

"Then what else do I need to do before leaving?"

"Just gather your things and go. I took care of all the annoying stuff already, nyah."

"I see."

I started to pull back the blanket and get up, but Misha hurriedly stopped me.

"Wait, don't get up, nyah!"

"...?"

"P-Put these on first, nyah..."

No further explanation was necessary.

"Oh..."

While Misha turned her back and looked away, I put on the new clothes neatly folded on the table. To think she had even bought me clothes in advance. For someone who usually seemed so scatterbrained, she had a thoughtful side.

"Do they fit, nyah?"

"They fit well."

To be honest, they were rather too small... But finding clothes in my size in this city was difficult to begin with.

Anyway, the sun was setting by the time we left the tent.

"Misha, where are you staying?"

"District Eight, nyah."

"Then we can walk together."

Since we were headed in the same direction, we walked back toward our lodgings together. It struck me anew how much our appearance contrasted with our surroundings: people strolling the streets in clean everyday clothes rather than heavy, rigid metal armor.

"Bjorn, what are you staring at, nyah? Come on, I'm dead tired, nyah."

After about thirty minutes of walking along the clean streets, we reached my inn. Apparently, Misha's was another ten minutes away.

"It's closer than I thought."

"It really is. Why didn't we realize before, nyah?"

"Anyway, get going. You must be tired too. Thanks for today."

"W-Wait, nyah!"

I was about to head inside after that quick goodbye when Misha grabbed my wrist.

"Is there something else I need to know right away?"

"No, it's not that, nyah..."

Then what was it?

I gave her a look urging her to get to the point. She chuckled and let go of my wrist.

"Never mind. You'd just scold me for saying the same thing over and over anyway, nyah."

"The same thing?"

"I'll get going, then. See you tomorrow, nyah!"

Before I could ask what she meant, Misha ran off.

"Tomorrow?"

Weren't we all meeting the day after tomorrow?

Her parting words puzzled me a little, but I couldn't be bothered to think about them, so I headed into the inn. After a quick wash, I had a simple meal on the ground floor.

As always, it only sank in once I lay down in bed.

'I made it back alive again.'

I made it back alive.

Fuck.

* * *

Noon the next day.

I woke to knocking at the door. Normally, I would have ignored it and gone back to sleep, but whoever it was just wouldn't give up.

"... Misha?"

"I knew you'd be asleep, nyah."

"Why are you here? We weren't supposed to meet until tomorrow night."

Misha chuckled at my grumbling question and opened a bundle on the table. I looked to see what it was: food.

"Come sit down. Sleeping like that without eating is bad for you, nyah."

Uh, that sort of thing didn't apply to barbarians.

When I stared at her incredulously, she finally grabbed my arm and pulled me over.

"Stop arguing and come here, nyah. You can go back to sleep after you eat, can't you, nyah?"

Skipping a meal or two wasn't going to hurt me, but she had gone to the trouble, so I obediently did as she said. The menu was sautéed vegetables with eggs and roasted meat.

"How is it, nyah?"

"... It's good. Don't tell me you made this yourself?"

"Of course. Where would they sell something like this, nyah?"

She could have just said yes. Anyway, I really hadn't expected her to be a good cook.

"I started cooking for myself to save a little money, but it turned out to be fun, so I still do it, nyah."

"Hmm, but didn't you say you were staying at an inn?"

"Oh, I am, but I ended up making friends with the cook. If I ask to use the kitchen for a bit, they let me, nyah."

"I see."

"You should try it sometime too, Bjorn. It saves more money than you'd think, nyah."

She wanted me to cook?

She really would say anything to a barbarian. Or did she just not know much about barbarians?

"Cooking is a disgrace to a warrior."

"I-Is it, nyah?"

When I nodded firmly, Misha looked as though she understood, then cautiously offered a suggestion.

"If that's the case, I could cook for you, nyah..."

What was she on about now?

"No need. Why go that far? It's easier to just buy food."

"I-I suppose so, nyah."

"By the way, how did you find out my room number? I don't think I told you that much."

"Oh, that? I asked the innkeeper where the barbarian was, and they just told me, nyah."

"... I see."

We chatted as I ate, and before long, the plate was empty.

"What now? Are you going back to sleep, nyah?"

I thought for a moment before answering.

"Since I'm up, I think I'll make a quick trip to the commercial district."

I had originally planned to sleep straight through until tomorrow night, but I doubted I could fall asleep again even if I lay down. It was a kind of compulsion. Unless I was about to collapse from exhaustion, I couldn't allow myself to rest with things still left to do.

"Actually, this works out. Misha, you're coming too."

"Huh? Me too? I was going to head back and sleep some more, nyah..."

Misha trailed off, looking flustered. Experience told me I needed to be firm at times like this.

"You're the one who woke me up. Take responsibility."

"Aww, all right. I needed to drop off my equipment anyway, nyah..."

Not so fast. She wasn't getting away.

* * *

First, we sold off all the equipment we had acquired. Since we had already paid the Djarwi Clan two million Stones' worth of equipment for protection, the haul wasn't as lucrative as I had hoped.

'I'll have to split the proceeds from Hans's group's gear five ways separately...'

Still, selling the three religious nuts' equipment and assorted consumables brought in quite a bit of money. One of them having owned an Expanded Backpack made a big difference.

Of course, I had plenty of expenses to match.

"... Five hundred thousand Stones for repairs?"

"It's raitinium equipment. If it were just bent or warped, that would be one thing, but with corrosion this severe, there's no helping it."

Even so. Five hundred thousand Stones to repair equipment worth four million altogether?

Was he taking me for a sucker because I was a barbarian—

"Bjorn, don't be unreasonable. He's not saying anything wrong, nyah..."

It hurt, but if Misha, an explorer in her fifth year, was saying that, this must have been the going rate. So I simply paid up.

'... Just how much gold am I losing?'

For an efficiency-obsessed gamer, gold loss was even scarier than muscle loss. I carefully went through the expenses one by one.

'I left my mace in the Labyrinth along with an arm, used a high-grade potion along the way, paid three hundred thousand Stones for treatment, and five hundred thousand for repairs...'

The more I thought about it, the more my stomach hurt. If only I hadn't handed over two million Stones' worth of equipment for protection, I could have laughed off this much...

"Bjorn, don't be so upset. If it's money, I'll work hard to earn plenty from now on, nyah..."

Right. Think positive. Wasn't she the second-biggest gain from this expedition?

Oh, the biggest was the Orc Hero's Essence, of course.

'I got plenty of consumables like potions too, so I've effectively saved a lot on future expenses...'

"Bjorn, what are you doing? Aren't you coming in, nyah?"

I put an end to my musings and followed Misha into the inn. Not hers or mine, but an inn in the commercial district of Commelby.

"I never imagined the carriages at the platform would stop running."

"That's why I told you we needed to hurry, nyah."

"I know, so stop nagging."

At the counter, I asked for two rooms and earned a smack on the back from Misha.

"Are you crazy, nyah? Do you know how much they charge a night? Just get one, nyah."

"... Just one?"

Wasn't this usually supposed to go the other way around...?

"Do you think this is Lavigion, nyah? Plenty of places here charge over ten thousand Stones a night, nyah!"

"I see. One room should be enough."

Now I understood why I deserved that smack. We had come here because it looked relatively cheap, and it was still nine thousand Stones a night? Prices in the city center were insane. Last time, an entire month's food had cost me a little under twenty thousand Stones.

'So there was a reason she kept telling me to hurry...'

Still, the room itself was worth the price. Unlike my cramped little room back at the inn, this one had a separate living room, bedroom, and bathroom. There were windows, of course, and even a small terrace off the living room. A faint floral fragrance scented the room.

"Bjorn, look! Soap from the Artian Workshop, nyah! They actually let you use this for free, nyah!!"

Misha, who had initially chided me for wasting money, spotted something and promptly disappeared into the bathroom. When she emerged, she looked thoroughly satisfied.

"Bjorn, let's really work hard and earn lots from now on, nyah."

I wondered what all the fuss was about, but once I lay down on the spacious bed, I had no choice but to agree.

"Yeah... let's earn lots."

Ah, this was how soft a bed should be.

'When will I be able to sleep in a bed like this every night...?'

Once again, I felt just how far I still had to go.

A city where savagery and civilization coexisted. Just how many more plunderers and monsters would I have to kill to live a little more like a human being here?

SNORE!

Before I could ponder it any further, my eyes drifted shut.

* * *

At that hour, when most people were asleep, a tavern full of people reluctant to let the day end was as lively as ever—perhaps even livelier than usual.

"Have you heard the news?"

"About the Floor lord on the third floor?"

"Yes. I hear that thing killed over thirty members of the Djarwi Clan."

"What's thirty compared to the total? The Guild will announce it tomorrow, but they say hundreds died."

"So they still haven't caught whoever summoned the Floor lord?"

It was drinking conversation guaranteed to pique any explorer's interest. But beyond the news everyone knew, another story was quietly spreading among the gossipmongers.

"Oh, did you hear this? I heard it from one of the survivors... Apparently, one man played an especially big part in so many of the Djarwi Clan making it out alive."

"One man? You mean Deputy Commander McGlane, the Iron Lion?"

"No. From what I heard, he was a third-floor explorer who happened to be there."

"Hmm. Was there anyone on the third floor capable of that? What's his name?"

"Well, you see..."

Bjorn, son of Jandel. A barbarian who had reached the third floor in a mere three months.

Accounts of the incredible valor he had displayed while rescuing countless people from danger spread, sometimes word for word, sometimes with a touch of exaggeration. Yet every telling invariably ended the same way.

"The mage who told me this story didn't hesitate to say this about that barbarian."

"Say what?"

"Though he is still young and has yet to match that hero's great deeds, he is clearly following in his footsteps. And so, borrowing the name of that bravest and greatest of heroes..."

An epithet. Another name, earned only by explorers who possessed both skill and renown.

"He is more than worthy of being called Little Valcan."

That epithet, at least, was never left out, and it could be heard everywhere.

* * *

「The character's Fame has increased by +1.」

「The character's Fame has increased by +1.」

「The character's Fame has increased by +1.」

「The character's Fame has increased by +1...」

「...」

「...」

「Warning: The probability of the character encountering a special event is increasing.」