Chapter 53

Reunion in the Ruins

I have recently got another “eye” looking at my back .

Is it so different than just me looking behind me?

It’s just the same caution towards the thing that might happen behind my back .

Back in the Disposal Ruins, my nerves were intensely sensitive to what’s happening behind me .

[Pii, pii, pii!]

“I’ll make sure that we’re completely safe!”

It’s as if Pigimaru was saying something like that .

The protrusion peeking out from the side of my neck is repeatedly flashing green .

It seems to be a signal that there’s no abnormality at all .

Thanks to Pigimaru, I can concentrate on the front and to my sides .

The raid in the ruins is going well .

I was secretly given the map of Mills Ruins by the officer that I had met earlier .

It seems that this was originally bought with money .

Thanks to this, it has become easier for me to navigate through the floors that had already been mapped out before .

It seems that I would face no particular trouble until I get to that new floor .

He also gave me a pen and some ink together with the map .

When I have finally entered the new floor, I would just have to fill in the blank area .

If I could map out the new floor well enough, the map could be sold .

I should be grateful to that officer .

The monsters that I had encountered were no obstacles either .

It’s just the first monster that I had encountered were different from the rest .

It’s just that... there is a wide difference between monsters here and those monsters from the Disposal Ruins .

To put it shortly, they’re weak .

I could even defeat some of them with just the dagger in my hand .

It seems that I still received some benefits from my status correction .

All the monsters that I’m fighting now have golden eyes .

Are those golden eyes just found on the monsters in the ruins?

Now that we’re talking about monsters, I’ve encountered two types of monsters in this ruins .

Monsters that would never move from the floor they were on .

And monsters that would ascend the ruins .

Of course, not all of the monsters that we’re climbing up the ruins were just weak monsters .

There were also some strong monsters that climb up .

If we were to put it differently, there would be a great difference if the monster was unable to move up the stairs or not .

However, the Mills Ruins are different .

Now that I think about it, there were some strong monsters that had resided in the upper floors of the Disposal Ruins .

Therefore, the exploration can’t proceed if such a strong monster stays in the upper floors .

That’s why, those strong monsters would usually be destroyed by well-known mercenaries .

There seems to be some cases where they were only recruited to defeat those monsters that resided in the upper floors .

Exploring through the ruins is troublesome, but they can still do a trip for a day if it’s just for a battle .

This is how some mercenaries earn their money .

Besides, weak monsters would usually have a strong ability to reproduce .

In addition, these weak monsters may have been ignored when the mercenaries were exploring .

Because the materials that you could get from them were dirt-cheap .

As a result, the weak monsters that were in the upper floors have been increasing .

However, these are just what the people on the Marquis’ side thinks .

I don’t know how far from the truth they were .

I avoided contact with the other mercenaries as much as possible .

I sill don’t know how the magic system of this world works yet .

It would be troublesome if they see my abnormal state skills and annoyingly pursue what they think would be rare magic .

I also have Pigimaru with me .

If Pigimaru would be found by them, it will be really troublesome .

[Well then—]

I descend down a set of stairs .

[This should be the 6th floor, huh...]

The newly discovered floor was said to be the 15th floor .

I still have a long way to go, so I continued walking further .

[............ . . ]

This is no good .

I can’t help but compare this place to the Disposal Ruins .

Is it because I feel that the difficulty level of this place is too low?

I feel like the only troublesome thing I found was the progress of descending through this place .

No— it’s not that i’ts a bad thing but...

I just can’t make sense of this place .

I can’t understand at what level this ruins is .

[Shhiggyyaaahhhh!]

A monster has attacked .

[]

[ogguueee—eehh...?]

[]

I picked up the poisoned monster and left it somewhere hidden .

This is to avoid contact with the other mercenaries .

I chewed on some dried meat as I look after the poisoned monster .

I also drank some water from my canteen .

[Fuuu... . ]

[Guugiiieeee—]

The poisoned monster finally died .

The monsters back in the Disposal Ruins .

The Soul Eater .

The four-person group, White Walker .

I immediately understood that those four-person group were strong immediately after I had met them .

They were strong enough that I have to act just to make them drop their guard .

However, I can’t feel any sense of crisis from the monsters in here .

[Hmmm?]

The presence of people .

I lean back against a wall .

I strained my ears at their direction...

...and tried to listen in their conversation .

[—Huh? Aren’t you that guy who tried to make a ruckus in the plaza before?]

[The cause of that ruckus was isn’t me . It’s that rude woman’s fault . ]

I peek a little and watched over them .

One of them was the man who have tried to make trouble with Mist in the plaza .

If I remember it right, he called himself Monk before .

I listen in to the low voice of the large man he’s talking to .

[And? Do you need something from us?]

[In fact, I have something to tell you . ]

He’s talking to a duo of a baldy and a beardy .

Those duo looked at each other .

The baldy grinned and turned towards the slender macho .

[You’ve seen what happened earlier, right? You— your strength isn’t normal, huh? Those three Ghoul Wolves were done by you without even a scratch on you . I didn’t notice it at that time when you’re making a ruckus in the plaza, are you some powerful warrior from somewhere?]

[That’s obvious . I’m the “Flash”, Monk Dorogetti!]

The beardy looked at him like he’s appraising him .

[I think I’ve heard of that name before . That name’s unheard of in Urza, but you’re fairly famous around Bakuos . I don’t think the others who gathered here would know you, especially since you’re in a rural city just like this . ]

...............

Those people that had gathered in a “rural city just like this”, you’re one of them, you know?

[Heee? You’ve heard of me, huh? Funnn... you two were just as I expected . You’re different compared to those ignorant mercenaries . ]

[Of course . Those people could only see things from their side . Don’t group those idiots together with us . So? What do you want to talk to us about?]

[Yeah . Actually, I have a request for you two after seeing that you both were such a talented people . I’ve prepared sufficient remuneration for this request . ]

[Well, we’re going to be paid so we would be interested . So, what are we going to do?]

Kishishi~!

Monk widely smiled that you could even see all of his teeth .

[I want that woman who had insulted me earlier in that plaza to regret that she was born in this world . ]