Chapter 101: Chapter 101: The Last Day Off

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

One month since our battle with the armor.

We ran through 30 floors and made it to floor 951. That included 6 boss battles.

I wonder how far Demon Lord Masayoshi has climbed? Or maybe he lost? … Yeah, probably not.

There was a part of us that wanted to recklessly continue onward, but if we panic at this point, then all our efforts could be for naught.

Our water from the World Tree’s roots is depleted, and my fatigue is nearly at its limit too. Actually, is there something we can do about that particular point?

Anyway, we also returned to the ground for a moment to gather information. This will probably be our last chance to relax.

“Hnngghaaaaah! Has it been a whole month…? The sun is so bright.”

Haster stretched his back and he basked in the long-missed sunlight.

The most obvious marker of a labyrinth explorer is, due to a lack of sunlight, all of them have less of a tan in direct proportion to their abilities.

This makes a clear distinction from ordinary adventurers, enough so that magicians in particular are often mistaken as lanky youths.

“Welcome back. Glad to see you’re all okay. How far did you get this time?”

“Thanks, we managed to cover 30 floors, so we’re at floor 951 now.”

“30 floors! That’s amazing… At that rate you’ll practically have the place conquered in just another month!”

“Well, looks like it’s going to get tough from here on though.”

“And where did you hear…”

“Whoops, our source of information is a secret.”

We’ve become completely familiar with this guard… His name is Mister Yaga by the way, and Alec was lightheartedly chatting away him.

Excluding the Demon Lord and ourselves, the front lines are at floor 307.

And among them, we who blazed through to the end game are being called living legends.

“So anyway, how are “They” doing?”

“They returned here just about a week back. Said they’d gotten to floor 970 at the time.”

“They added another 10 floors then.”

We’re on pace to reach the 980th floor in another month. By then they would be… Based on estimates from the past, around floor 990?”

“We could just barely make it… This’ll be rough.”

“I’m sorry. If the World Tree’s water just worked on me…”

If my fatigue wasn’t a problem, we could have increased our pace a bit. But “Adaptability’s” detoxification effect… Wait, AHHH?!

“Damn it all…”

“Hm? What’s up?”

“The “Adaptability” gift can be disabled, can’t it?!”

“… Ah.”

Since the “Dragon’s Blood” changes a person’s body inside, “Golden Ratio’s” effect probably turns things back to normal.

But with the “World Tree’s Water”, which only takes a person’s fatigue away, it would simply turn my body “back to normal,” so “Golden Ratio” shouldn’t cause any problems with it.

In other words, at the end of adventuring for a day, if I just disable “Adaptability” and drink the water, then by the next morning I would be completely refreshed.

“I see… If we did that, then I guess we could have pushed ourselves a little more.”

“I am so sorry I didn’t realize it until now.”

In the first place I only realized the effects of the World Tree’s water just recently, so it probably wouldn’t have made a huge difference, but at this point that difference is going to make itself evident.

“Well, it’s nothing to worry too much about. We would’ve had to come back to the ground for information gathering and provisions anyway.”

“Sure… I guess?”

“Besides, we can’t do things like adjust our armor if we don’t come back here, right?”

Saying so, his gaze jumps over to Marielle.

Following his line of sight, Mister Yaga looked in the same direction—

“Bufuh! Pukhukuku…”

And desperately held back his laughter.

The blonde, curly haired hannya with pancaked breasts look certainly had impact.

“Shall I curse you…?”

“N-nah… What is this, a monster?”

“Unfortunately it’s Marielle.”

“What is unfortunate about that, Sir Haster?!”

Marielle flared up at him. It was to the point where you could see the angry pouting sound effect written there.

By the way, his and my real names have been officially announced to the guards and a portion of the guild.

If we didn’t do so, it seemed like the guild would try to prohibit us from chasing after the Demon Lord.

The former Sage of Wind.

The current Sage of Wind.

The former One-Armed Heavy Swordsman.

The former Phantom Thief, Livyatan.

The Saint of Water (eventually).

It would be no exaggeration to say our pursuit was allowed because we’ve gathered together such people.

Anyway, even the guard, Mister Yaga responded like this, so the reactions of the citizens could be easily guessed.

Miss Levy and I took this opportunity to delight in the chaos all we wanted.

… We did panic when the knights ran off saying “A monster has appeared!” though.

~*~

And then the next day.

As a test, I imbibed the “World Tree’s Water” without “Adaptability,” and as a result my fatigue vanished like it was nothing.

What was the point of all this fatigue up until now…

And so I ended up going out for some energetic activity in the afternoon.

Eh? Why in the afternoon? Well we can’t do it in the labyrinth, so Haster had been pretty backed-up.

As such, I complied with a “Well if you insist, come here?” and then… Just guess!

“And so, even though you should have returned to top condition, you’ve got bags under your eyes and you decided to come here? Are you an idiot?”

“Don’t nag me about it. More importantly Miss Remy, how are “their” movements going? I heard they’re at floor 970.”

Prepared at the guild counter was a personal use stool for me, from which I exchanged information with Miss Remy. She actually quite enjoyed seeing my face peek just a little bit out, so she objected to it until the very end, but I am bothersome.

I also had other objectives here like selling off things picked up in the labyrinth and stuff.

Miss Remy wrote things down in a notebook while appraising a heap of materials and artwork.

“Let’s see, floor 971 right now. Looks like they safely took out the guardian.”

“… I’ve always been wondering this, but how do you know their position so accurately?”

“There’s a little trick in the backpack I lent out to them. [Signal] lets me see their position.”

It’s not as if they haven’t been doing anything either, but with their longer dives into the labyrinth, the number of items they gather is proportionally larger.

As such the guild offered them a sturdy and lightweight backpack, which they are apparently carrying by golem or living mail.

They’re a very manual labor-focused group as usual.

“Isn’t that kind of dangerous?”

“I told them it’s for the safety of new entrants to the guild. So that we can send help over whenever it’s needed. Not that there’s any chance we could get to the 900th floor or higher.”

She waved her hand as she cackled.

There really aren’t any adventurers who could get past the 900th floor aside from us.

Our abilities are known throughout the guild, and even while we’ve been talking here, other adventurers have been looking on from a distance.

Seeing as we’ve gone far past the top runners in these five years, we’ve become pretty dang famous in this—

“Hey brat, stop hogging the damn counter! This isn’t some playground to hang out at!”

—Or maybe not…?

“By “brat,” do you mean me?”

“Oh, Yuuri, this guy is a rookie who just registered yesterday.”

“I see. If he’s new then it’s not unreasonable that he wouldn’t know me.”

“Say what? You tryin’ to talk big to this here future hero…”

“By the way, violence is totally prohibited inside the guild.”

You don’t plan on stopping that stale tone in your speech, do you Miss Remy?

“By the way, how was his registration test?”

“One week. Not a bad result actually.”

A third of the average time. That’s promising.

Let’s hold back so we don’t crush him.

That’s what I thought as I descended from the stool. I am a woman who knows how to hold back. Even though I used to be a man.

“What are you still babbling about!”

Upon shouting that, he made a huge swing of his fist down to me.

It seems like he’s holding back, but even so this is slow… For someone who has studied diligently in the labyrinth, this would be one of those “the fly is standing still” moments.

I am part of the rear guard, but in preparation for emergencies I am learning a distinct way of handling myself on the front lines.

[Body Reinforcement] is my trump card so we’ll leave it aside, and instead use [Telekinesis] in a newly developed way.

—Basically I just have to move myself with magic!

His fists swing through the air. In response I use [Telekinesis] and flutter away from the attacks.

“Urp, I guess using this continuously makes me sick…”

“Yuuri, vomiting is totally prohibited inside the guild?”

“I know that, okay?!”

“Your spew has kind of a squid smell—“

“Just. Shut. Up!”

I sealed Miss Remy’s continuous dirty jokes away with a few words, and then changed my dodging method.

I’m getting woozy because I’m moving myself. So I’ll just have to move him.

And so I turned all his punches aside with [Telekinesis] until he was completely worn out.

“So, want to keep going?”

“Wh-what… In the hell… Are you?”

“You really are showing promise if you can still talk after moving that much. She’s Yuuri Albine. One of the true top runners in the World Tree Labyrinth?”

“Wh-, a shrimp like this is?!”

“O.K., stay right there and let me pulverize you.”

I am well aware that I am short, but being reminded of it by other people totally pisses me off.

“Yuuri, castration is totally prohibited inside the guild?”

“I have never seen a rule like that!”

“We made some new ones. Have a look.”

She pointed to a paper stuck to the wall, and at the lower end of it…

Master Yuuri’s violence is prohibited inside the guild.

Master Yuuri’s vomiting is prohibited inside the guild.

Master Yuuri’s castration is prohibited inside the guild.

Were all added.

Come to think of it, I recall once in the past when I aimed a crushing kick at the tender spot of an indiscreet individual who came and bothered me.

I also remember spewing at the feeling of my kick crushing it.

That’s probably when those were added on. But…

“I noticed you at least added a respectable title, but… Why is it only limited to me?!”

“Because you’re the only one who would do things like this. The guy who got crushed ended up excreting all over the place, and you spewed all over the place. The cleanup was pretty awful.”

“I’m sorry, okay?!”

Even cleaning up after me was pushed on to her, so I have no excuse to give.

While we were having that exchange, the expected newbie tucked his tail between his legs and ran.

He’s refreshingly adept when he’s on the pulling away side.

“Ugh, I guess I let him get away.”

“Would you really have crushed them if he didn’t run?”

“No way. I would have let him off with one.”

“Seriously could you please stop?”

She was making small talk, but even then she’s a pro. Her hands were busily moving, and it looks like she finished calculating the acquired products.

“So about business on this end. The total for the art and materials is over 800,000 gold coins, but…”

“There’s no way I can carry that; deposit it please.”

“Suppose so, we can’t prepare such a huge sum of money here anyway. Also, I can’t really put a price on this equipment over here.”

“Can you sell it somewhere?”

“I have no doubt some dilettante will jump at it if we put it to auction. Plus some adventurers might want it enough to put up all their assets for it.”

The things she couldn’t put a value on were a long sword and spear with “Persistent” [Reinforcement] on their blades. Plus a heavy shield and armor.

I’d like to make this “Persistent” [Reinforcement] a thing some day.

In any case, at present they’re all heavy, so they’re not suited to me, Marle, or Miss Levy. Haster and Alec have better stuff. Which means we have no use for it.

We would just have to hoard it away in the basement, and in fact we already have tons of stuff hoarded down there. I wonder if those being sent off to auction is connected to the development in the economy?

“Then I’ll leave the arrangements to you. With the commission fee at 2%.”

“That low?! At least give me 10%.”

“Then 2%.”

“You didn’t increase it! At least 8%.”

For a long time after that, a fierce battle with her unfolded.

In the end she’ll be taking 6% of it.

I thought I could get away with 5%, but Miss Remy is a tough opponent.