Chapter 505 – Disrupting Species (9)
──It won’t be a dangerous opponent. Let’s follow
First of all, I shot telepathy with the rune of ᚨ (Ansuz) to everyone except Beim.
I never said anything about being a princess. It would have been enough for me alone to be nervous.
And the reason I removed the cut was not for any other reason, it was because I thought this guy would show off his surprise because he doesn’t know my rune magic.
“I set up a small camp over here!”
Erze spoke energetically and took the lead.
As she said, there were a few people gathered inside the building, which looked fine. They didn’t have transformation magic applied, but at a glance, they seemed to be the princess’s escorts.
“Erge? What about those people?”
“We met by chance! Did you say that too? That person says that Nord!”
“That Nord. Please take good care of me.”
Nola bowed appropriately to them and sat down on the floor.
It was a place made by tearing down the walls of an abandoned building, but thanks to that, it was wide enough for a group of more than 10 people.
It was a meeting with strangers, but I didn’t worry too much.
The ruins of the night where monsters are obvious, and the princess and her party hiding their identities.
Which one would be dangerous would depend on the case, but in the end, it would be safer here. Trying to break up suspiciously, but on the contrary, raising suspicion is not what we want.
Herze calmly sat down and shook her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you, but maybe it’s better to eat separately, right?”
“Anyway, that would be comfortable for both of us.”
“Great. But why not have a conversation? If you have to eat without saying anything while eating, it will end up on your stomach.”
“It doesn’t matter that much. Fran, I’ll help you cook.”
We also rented a seat, built a fire, and brought out the ingredients.
Just as rich people travel comfortably in a camper on Earth, camping is easy in this world if you have the ability and money. I lit a long-lasting flame with my magic and pulled out a bunch of ingredients from the stone slab.
As fresh leafy vegetables and meat poured out of the small freezer stored in the sub-space, Hergé and his party opened their mouths as they put beef jerky in a dried and hardened soup block.
“… That’s awesome. Is that a relic?”
“Yes. I was lucky enough to find it while on an adventure.”
I said boldly. As for space-type items, there were minor copies, just like Fran’s leather armor.
We take out even the chopping board and start cooking.
The stone slab, which was made using the magic materials bought with the elder’s research funds, has a wider interior space than before.
As it was handmade through the hands of Veronica and Fran, the production cost-effectiveness would have been higher than the original, but there is no problem because it used reagents that were difficult to dispose of anyway. That’s why I put ingredients in it.
─Song song song song!
─Bubbling.
As soon as I started cooking, a pleasant fragrance bloomed.
Fran served as the main chef. I am of course material loss.
“I will help you.”
What was surprising was that Tirsi was also good at handling kitchen knives. I handed over my kitchen knife and widened my eyes.
“Five? Tyrsi, are you surprisingly good at cooking?”
“Well… Just like everyone else?”
“Heh. I’m impressed. There are a lot of people in my family who aren’t even as good as the others.”
“Sisters. I was still, but the senior hit me.”
“It’s such a fucking fact that I can’t even refute it.”
Tyrsi laughed and cut off the dry part of the leafy greens.
Maybe it’s because I have a lot of work to trim herbs or something, so I’m accustomed to it. It was a bit unexpected, but that must be her strong point.
“Miss Fran. What about the menu?”
“Since I’ve been suffering in the wagon all day, I’m thinking of dressing up. In case anyone is dissatisfied… ?”
The party shook their heads as if they were dissatisfied with Fran’s cautious question.
“… Grunt.”
Oh, it wasn’t in my family, but it was in Ergé’s party.
Those who rode in a wagon and sucked honey eat it well, but why do we, who rode camels, eat it for a while? Cancer, I know the taste of dry food. I guess I ate until I fell behind during my slavery days.
As such, the temptation of healthy food with enough spices must be very great.
Having finished a sufficient amount, I said to Erze, who swallowed with a spoon.
“Would you like a bowl? If you have any credit or detoxification potions for us, I don’t mind sharing them.”
“Really?! Want some!!”
Are you a princess? Isn’t this a transsexual version of the prince and the beggar fairy tale?
Herze, who took the meat and soup without hesitation, shared the amount equally with the party.
We scooped out the spoon first to make them feel safe.
‘I don’t do much anyway, so I’ll pick a good image.’
The chairman’s real daughter is disguising her identity as a new employee? Oh, can’t miss this.
I faithfully carry out the good impression work trained in K-drama.
I’m hiding my identity, so I won’t pretend to know later, but it was an opportunity to build up my image to the next queen in a positive direction. Wouldn’t that be great for the gains you can get from a few points of food?
“Um… !! It’s delicious!!”
Ergé rattled the tableware and gnawed at her puffy cheeks. Even compared to his other party, it was a uniquely easy-going way of eating.
“I’m glad you got it right. If you can avoid friction with food, it’s an extra business.”
“It’s not an empty word, it’s really delicious! Vegetables are scarce in this country. The lightness of this rich soup is truly the taste of home!”
It tastes like Britannia. That’s not a fucking compliment.
Anyway, thanks to the delicious rice, we were able to chat in a relatively moderate atmosphere.
It is rare for adventurers with enough money and ability to make a life-and-death decision, just as a golden spoon does not fight over a pair of bars that have been cut off one by one. Since expensive relics or safety were not at stake, we and they both had more to lose if we fought.
While the man who claimed to be her husband was wiping the soup from her cheek, Miss Hergé spoke flirtingly.
“Because the rice is delicious, even a place looks elegant. By the way, it is said that we have something to stop by here or at the nearby manor, but how did you come all the way to this place?”
“Because of some strange monster, the schedule was disrupted.”
“Oh, I think I know! Jodibug, right? We almost fell into a trap because of him. Ugh, the Great Desert is really the worst.”
“Is that so? Maybe their habitat is around here.”
“Maybe? We are here for that too.”
“Yes?”
Puha-. Herze, who drank the water without hesitation, took out something from the bag standing on the wall. It was a folded piece of paper.
“Originally, we came to this country to participate in the Pyramid Expedition. So originally, I was not here, but at the newly discovered pyramid, but I was on my way across the desert for work.”
“An exploration team?”
As it was a familiar topic, when Tircy responded, Erze opened the paper and answered.
“Yes. In words, it is an exploration team, but it is precisely divided into two types. The Belcourt Expedition Team, which is a solidarity among explorers, and our Sirius Exploration Site, which were hired by a rich employer for money.”
“Hmm… It sounds like the competition is fierce. Is coming here part of that?”
“Yes. Compared to Belcourt, the union of the explorer team, we are a bit different in color.”
“You said you were hired by a rich man.”
“Hee hee, it’s the employee’s joys and sorrows. My employer said, ‘Treasures are handed over to those who find them. We also provide back-up support if desired. So, hand over all the achievements of the pyramid exploration to me’.”
“Okay.”
Listening to the story, it seemed that Tyrsi was trying to participate in an expedition called Belcourt.
A mediation team that sets a common goal of ‘exploring the pyramid’ and prevents them from fighting each other.
And is it a way to find a team for an individual explorer? Tirshi said that he had headed for Romania with the intention of raising the ball through that expedition and aiming for a noble title.
I drank the soup out of the bowl, organized my thoughts, and asked.
“… Is your employer aiming for a title of nobility?”
“Yes. It seems that the rich are aiming for a rise in status without any connections. If you see him spending money lavishly, he must be confident.”
“The members’ motivation must have been set on a deadline from the beginning.”
“So what. In the beginning, his eyes were sold on the treasure, so he rolled hard, but as the work to pick up the treasure gradually decreased compared to the danger, he started to walk slowly. Even if you finish the raid anyway, it seems to be a sign that the achievement belongs to the employer, not to lose.”
I was in a feverish mood just by listening to it, and I sympathized with Ergé’s angry expression.
They said that entering and exiting the bathroom were different, and that was exactly what this pair was referring to. You won’t be able to stand out because you’re bound by a contract, but you probably don’t want to risk your life to explore anymore.
It’s something that humans can’t help but it’s not nice to see the bitches who change their stance on the subject of knowing everything and signing a contract.
Ergé grumbled, pursed his lips.
“As an adventurer like you, it’s annoying. Although this pyramid was full of traps, it wasn’t so full of murderous intent against intruders, was it? But the exploration got delayed as the other guys were idle.”
“Hasn’t it been quite some time since the pyramid was discovered? The exploration will come to an end soon.”
“If there is no hidden space, it will be. So we were eagerly exploring, did you find any hints like this?”
─Chew! What she unfolded was the ancient Narmer-Nile language and a sketch of a bowl.
“My party’s linguist interpreted it, it seems to be a way to get down to the lower level of the pyramid. They say you need to fill this chalice with powerful poison to open the door.”
“… Was there such a phrase in the ruins? Isn’t it a trap?”
Stunned, I asked honestly.
From the point of view of designing dungeons or ruins, game designers familiar to earthlings in the 21st century and actual dungeon creators are very different.
Perhaps the biggest difference between reality and creation is that they don’t want intruders to break through the ruins.
It’s natural to say it in words, but if you add a few spoons of reality here, it becomes a real dick-like extreme.
The dungeons that even the creators of the game made not to break are so fucking disgusting!
But is it actually a dungeon that made me fall in love while saying ‘search it haha’? It would be better for the killer to put a knife to my throat and say that if I can’t break this shit game, I’ll kill him.
Ergé burst into laughter as if he knew, of course.
“It’s so obvious that it’s unlikely, but even if it’s a trap, try it with magic or a golem instead of a human.”
– Whirik.
As she whipped her fingers, the wind gathered into a bird shape.
It was a magic that was supposed to be a spirit conversion technique that Frando had used before with the help of Veronica. In my party, my druid Papago was too much of a dick, so it was a dead recon.
That’s right. Would you like to challenge yourself to unlock traps in a safe place with something like that? It’s a classy way.
“So, we’re here to rip out the venom glands of the Jodibug queen beetles in this area! Speaking of powerful poison that can fill this Holy Grail, isn’t it a monster from the Great Desert?”
─Tak! It was Erje who hit Murpak as if this was the conclusion. I was dumbfounded and burst into laughter.
“Indeed. Then you must have brought many detoxifying potions. For some reason, he ate the dishes we gave him without hesitation.”
“Hi-Hi. It was delicious thanks thanks.”
Herze laughed as if he had been caught.
Even though the food we gave was poisonous, it would not be a very poison that could not be recovered to the potion, and then sucked the potion and thought that the chews were well caught.
Herze shook his head as he put the empty bowl on the ground.
“Of course, poisons are legally banned in Narmer-Nile. It is not circulated unless you go to the underworld, but I didn’t want to illegally buy poison that could be called extreme poison.”
“So, we waited for more than a month to get a license to distribute poisons from the royal family. Even while writing a statement of reason.”
For the first time, a man named Ergé’s husband spoke.
He was so reticent that I thought he couldn’t speak, but it seems that he is not. If he was the real Princess Elizabeth’s husband, this man would surely be a formidable high-ranking nobleman.
“But a problem arose along the way. Maybe the information leaked out, but shoplifters and robbers attacked.”
“Perhaps the other explorers are trying to steal the information we found. Belot or Sirius or whoever else.”
“Isn’t it that people who were so eager to explore suddenly left the pyramid? If it took a month, it’s worth doing a background check and figuring out what’s going on.”
Realizing the conclusion, I let out a sigh.
“At first, I thought you were asking us to help you hunt down the monster called the Queen of Jodiburg, but… Judging from the expressions on everyone’s faces, it seems like they wanted to say that even we could get caught up in the attack.”
“Yes. There’s one more building that the caravan has cleared out. However, if I say, “Go there”, You will not be 100% suspicious. They might see it as a band of bandits who set a trap.”
That’s it. If I hadn’t known the identity of that princess, I would have been suspicious all along.
Ergé said as if feeling relieved.
“Isn’t it obvious that if you explain it after being actually attacked, it will only increase your hostility and suspicion? So I wanted you to listen to our circumstances.”
“Thank you for that. I understood the situation. We will also pull a nearby wagon and move to another place.”
“Will you? That way, I think it will be comfortable without hugging each other.”
I asked the party’s opinion with a wink and nodded.
There were several possibilities that came to mind as to why the Princess of Britannia was participating in the expedition, but it was a matter that could be forgotten if we parted here. There is no reason to get involved in these circumstances.
However, we backed out within 5 minutes of making the plan.
It was because I heard footsteps approaching this building when I was about to pack up the dishes and unpack my luggage again.
─Sabak, Sabak.
-Smart.
The visitor stopped at the door and even knocked.
As the party’s representative, I turned to Erze.
“A fairly gentlemanly uninvited guest, but did those thieves have such manners?”
“… No, I didn’t.”
“Hmm. Don’t you know? Knowing it’s hard to steal, he might be thinking of negotiating with you guys.”
“They know better than we do that each other is impossible.”
“Indeed. I see.”
I put my finger on the bracelet on my left arm.
“Then, it seems that you are my guest.”
Wood deuk… !
The doorknob, which was still intact in this ghost town, was smashed to pieces. As I forcibly twisted the door open, the person inside walked in, bathed in the gloomy starlight of the city.
No Let’s correct what we said earlier.
That’s not a person undead
Kirik… Kirik… Kirik?
The undead, wrapped in bandages, stiffly looked around us like wooden dolls——the moment they found me, they inflated like a balloon.
─Puuuuuong!!!
Dark red blood and flesh hit us like a grenade.
