Chapter 66.1: The Trapped Adventurer III – (1) (2/2)

I was pretty much at my limit. My regeneration point had also become zero because I had exhausted my stamina.

『Team member Souya, “that” is an emergency measure in case of injury or emergencies, and it’s dangerous to use it lightly』

「It’s just this once. We’re on a roll right now. I don’t want to halt our momentum」

『Yukikaze will put forward a proposal to Medimu-sama』

「Ah, hey!」

Yukikaze sent a communication to the party without permission.

『Please excuse the sudden communication. Yukikaze is the wide-area combat program・Advanced-Izora・Yukikaze-Modified that supports the party. Please call me Yukikaze. Yukikaze has a report for everyone. Team member Souya is completely exhausted, so Yukikaze is requesting a break』

「Hey」

Ignoring orders and acting without permission……

They were very human from the start, but lately, they've been overstepping their bounds. The limits set on their ability to learn had been released due to the damage to the failsafe. They’re constantly performing modifications on themselves. I’ve nothing but worries about what they'll eventually become. If this was the modern world, they would be sent straight to the manufacturer's support department.

「Onii-chan, are you okay? You don’t look so good」

I was being worried about by my sister, who had come up to me.

「I’m fine. I can still go on」

『Hey, Souya. There’s a watering place nearby. We’ll take a break there』

「………………Alright」

A communication came in from Otou-san. It appeared that he was being considerate of me, which vexed me. The route to the watering place was displayed on the map on the LCD.

「Onii-chan, this is convenient, isn’t it?」

My sister was fiddling with her glasses.

「But it's too convenient and it feels like it would dull my senses」

She has a point. But without this support, I would be the bottom of the barrel as an adventurer.

While staying on guard, I rejoined the party with my sister.

「Good work, dear」

「Oh, err………」

I ended up responding awkwardly to Rana's voice. She lowered her eyes. It was an uncomfortable atmosphere.

「Hey, let's go. Souya and Princess Ea, get behind Shuna」

「Okay~」

「Understood」

I positioned myself according to Otou-san’s order.

We started moving in a group. Frey tried to start a conversation about random topics with Rana, but she was ignored.

「I’ll give you this~」

「Oh, thank you」

I received a berry from Gashuraku-san. I put it in my mouth without thinking.

Sour.

It was incredibly sour. It was probably as sour as about 100 lemons. The stimulation was too strong, so I washed it down with the water from my water bottle.

「I also want one」

「Here you go~」

「Sour!」

My sister also had the same reaction.

Oh, that eased my fatigue a little. Is that a lump of citric acid? Is it something like the Umeboshi[2] of the alternate world?

「Don’t you have any more?」

「Nope~」

My sister pestered him for more.

The location of the displayed watering place was a little off the specified shortest route.

It had been four hours since we started exploring the dungeon.

Two and a half floors in just 4 hours. At this rate, even if we took a break, by my reckoning, we would be able to go back by night-time.

A day trip through the dungeon.

This is something that cannot be done without an outstanding adventurer and comprehensive maps.

It's so easy that I’m afraid for our next adventure. If there is a next adventure, that is.

「Hmm, it sure is in a strange place」

Said Otou-san as he signaled for the party to stop. Moss was growing on the surrounding walls and floor, which was a sign that a water source was close.

I looked ahead of us with Otou-san. At the end of the passageway, was a bright and open space.

There was a fountain in the center of the space.

Clear water flowed through the shallow waterways on the ground, and green spread out all around like a carpet. Lighting that used Shogaku stones had been installed on the walls.

The fountain was crumbling and covered with ivy, but it had the look of the Rococo style[3] of architecture. Only the remnants of civilizations like this, or perhaps I should say, this entire space was clearly out-of-place. Moreover, it was likely a waste of time to think about things like what kind of mechanism was used to draw the water here.

「That guy is going to be trouble」

There was a frog-head beside the fountain.

Most of the monsters in the dungeon avoided light, but this frog-head had lost both of its eyes.

What was even more problematic, was the colony of Chochos in its hand.

Chochos have a habit of attacking sources of light. Their ecology is still somewhat unknown, but they become meek when placed in a dark room, and when exposed to light, they become thin and wilted, and then turn ferocious.

The Chochos that the frog-head beside the fountain had in its hand were all withered and had turned ferocious. They were on edge, grouchy, and grinding their teeth.

「What should we do, Otou-san?」

I couldn’t think of anything other than to stay clear of them.

「Hmm, we can rest on the next floor as well, but other adventurers will troubled if it stays here. It has to be killed」

It's the sense of responsibility of a senior adventurer.

「So, do you have some sort of plan?」

「If I'm eaten, take the chance to go to the next floor. Abandon me」

In other words, his plan is to do it by himself.

Then I’ll take a good look. At what a senior adventurer is.

[1] This is a term that I’ve only seen in Japanese mmorpgs as it’s not really considered a big deal to gamers of other countries and I believe there’s no corresponding term for this outside of Japan. It’s when a player who is too weak to kill ends up “aggro”ing a bunch of monsters, causing them to gather in numbers, and causing a spike in the difficulty of killing them. I mean, that’s just a great farming opportunity to me, but the Japanese frown on such things that cause trouble for others. This happened in Danmachi where they went one step further and did the even worse act of purposely passing on the horde to others. It’s a fairly common plot device nowadays.

[2] Umeboshi are pickled ume fruits, which are very common in Japan. They’re commonly known as preserved or salted Japanese plums, but they’re actually more closely related to apricots. They’re extremely sour due to their high critic acid content, and were notorious for their ability to eat through the aluminum lunchboxes commonly used in the 1960s because of their salt and organic acid content. It’s often eaten with rice or used as a filling for riceballs.

[3] Rocco is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colors, sculpted molding, and frescoes to create surprise and the illusion of motion and drama. The exteriors of Rococo buildings are often simple, while the interiors are entirely dominated by their ornament. The style is highly theatrical, designed to impress and awe at first sight.

Haven’t split a chapter in a while, but at one point, I was nearly 3k words in when I looked at the scroll bar and saw that I’m only halfway through… Thus, I apologize, but to get a release out in a timely manner, I’m splitting this chapter…

“None of the monsters here could be killed instantly with one or two arrows” → kills a snake with two arrows. “The ones who remained would act unpredictably” → proceeds to explain exactly how they’ll act… It’s rare, but once in a while, even this author makes me facepalm.

Long dungeon crawling sequence, huh? Still much more of it to go. And, Otou-san’s solo battle coming up, don’t miss it!