episode_0037

The next morning, I reunited with Asha at the special building’s restaurant.

“Ah, it’s been a while, Hashal!”

Asha waved her hand as she munched on the salad and well-grilled bacon that had been served for breakfast.

A slight smile appeared at the sight of his familiar appearance, just like any other time. I walked next to him and sat down.

Nigel went to order breakfast.

“It’s been a week. Was working as an adventurer fun?”

“It was fun, but my nose was in pain. The dungeon had a strong smell.”

Maybe it was because it was an underground dungeon, but the air was truly a horrible mixture of all kinds of odors.

So much so that if I ever receive a request in the future, I’ll want to choose a place like a forest or something like that rather than a dungeon.

Am I being too sensitive? Nigel and Minea were calm, so maybe that’s normal.

No, it’s probably because they don’t have a keen sense of smell like me.

I shook my head.

If you think about the things you have to do in the future, you can’t escape the dungeon in the end.

I’d like to leave everything to Damien, but I’m a bit uneasy with his skills.

Even in games, if the controls get messed up, you die, but now that it’s become a reality, it’s even worse.

In reality, there is no way to restart, unless you are more careful.

“Really? Then, would you like to make a portable purification device later?”

uh? A half-race can make something like that…?

“If you give it to me, I will be grateful.”

“Because we are friends, I will only accept 10 gold!”

…10 gold?

“…It wasn’t a gift, it was a sale?”

“I also have to eat to survive. If you subtract the cost of ingredients, there isn’t much left!”

Asha smiled brightly and made a ring with her thumb and index finger and waved it in front of her eyes.

…It’s a somewhat familiar line. Merchants who rip off people always say things like that.

Well, it is true that that price is ridiculously cheap for an item that contains half-human technology.

This is a race where even a simple long sword costs dozens of gold.

“Yes. Then make one later.”

I’m sure there won’t be a big problem other than the smell.

It’s a cruel sight. The things I did out of excitement were even crueler, so unlike the disgusting smell, I quickly got used to it.

Is this the difference between psychological rejection and physical rejection?

At least in the past, I wasn’t so squeamish that I could look at things like that and remain calm.

…When I first saw the corpses in the dungeon, I definitely felt disgusted, but after hunting two or three trolls, that feeling disappeared.

When I think about the way he fought now, he was jumping around and having fun like a crazy person.

It wasn’t like I had specifically let go of reason.

As I looked back on my actions so far, my heart suddenly felt cold.

I heard somewhere that a person’s psychology is the action of hormones, and that the mind ultimately follows the body.

Even if the soul has changed to another person, this body is ultimately Hershela’s body.

It probably means that every time I fight, my mind is deteriorating a little…but definitely.

I force my mind to calm down as it starts to get goosebumps due to rejection.

Let’s calm down. You’re thinking backwards. Rather, it is a good thing.

If I hadn’t been tainted by the extremeness and violence of the flesh, would I have been able to break through the dungeon without any trouble?

That can’t be possible.

Since he had the same physical ability as a troll, he probably should have been able to win, but he probably wouldn’t have won that overwhelmingly.

It will be the same in the future as well.

Enemies that cannot be compared to trolls will continue to appear, but you will never survive with the same spirit as before.

So let’s accept this change as an adaptation, not a change.

That I am getting used to this world.

Breakfast arrived, so I stopped thinking and focused on eating.

I really liked the combination of savory bacon, crunchy lettuce, and juicy tomatoes.

To the point where my mind, which was disturbed by concerns about self, became a little lighter.

—-

“So, nothing special happened for a week?”

“Not really? The injured students all returned after receiving treatment, and after that, most of the lectures were theory lectures, so nothing much happened. Although I didn’t attend every day.”

Well, Asha wouldn’t necessarily take classes on horseback combat or faith.

They said you wouldn’t be able to ride a horse, and the religion of the half-race was different from that of the empire.

“Yesterday must have been a lecture on Aptitude Test, how did that go? I think you said you would be going out for practice next week. Has the destination been decided?”

“No? The destination wasn’t told. Still, the lecture was about kobolds and trolls, so that’s probably where those guys come from. Are you going to go to Hashar?”

“I’m thinking about doing that, but Asha, I guess you don’t have any ideas?”

“I caught a troll a few times in my hometown. Although I didn’t use a lance at that time.”

Actually, Asha is unique in her insistence on charging with a lance, since half-humans are originally a race that fights with long-distance firepower.

If I hadn’t used a lance, it wouldn’t have been that difficult to catch.

After eating, I returned to my accommodation.

As for the lecture, I only decided to listen to the aptitude test lecture and interpersonal combat, so there seemed to be no need to go to the lecture today.

The gauntlets I ordered had arrived at my lodgings just then.

Steel gauntlets modeled after Frostbite.

Looking at the durability of the academy-made longsword, it seems like it will break after five or six uses.

Still, since it is armor, it will last longer than a sword.

Since it was a long time coming, I decided to go out.

Now that I have money, I’m going to buy some cigarettes and do some research on underground water.

…I said I would research it before, but I couldn’t start because I didn’t have time.

There’s still a lot of time left, so I don’t think there will be any problems.

—-

I stopped at a general store and bought a bunch of cigarettes. It’s worth 10 gold.

The general store owner bowed so low that his head touched his knees.

Nigel’s eyes stung a little, but he ignored it. Because I spend the money I earn however I want.

I asked Nigel if I could take a look at the underground waterway.

“Would you like to see an underground waterway? Why go there…?”

Nigel asked back suspiciously.

In fact, it would be rare to find someone who would come all the way to the capital and say such crazy things that they would bother to look at the sewers.

It’s not a place where monsters or monsters appear yet.

“I heard that the underground water pipe in the island is a huge maze-like building. Some even said it was an old relic. Since there are no such underground ruins in Ka`har, I wanted to see them at least once. Why not?”

” As for the huge underground ruins, you probably saw them in the Barony of Hebel…”

“It was just a smelly ruin. I want to see something done properly.”

I came up with a reasonable excuse.

Nigel didn’t look convinced, but he nodded as if he understood.

Thanks to Nigel’s status, entering the underground water canal was no problem.

—-

To underground water.

It is a huge underground space that has been located beneath the surface of Aix-la-Chapelle since it was still an ordinary city.

It was unknown who built it and for what purpose, but Carolus the Great, who explored the underground space, made this place the capital of his empire.

After a long period of major construction, this place finally became a huge waterway that would be responsible for the island’s life.

The underground waterway I visited was cleaner and grander than expected.

Between the countless pillars built to support the city, long and wide waterways spread out like rivers.

There were magic lights hanging from each pillar on the ceiling, which was about 4 meters high, and the floor seemed to be cleaned regularly, but not a single bug was visible.

The abundant groundwater that flows freely supplies enough water to be used by the entire island, and cleanses the contaminated water that has been discharged.

Next to the waterway, there was a maze-like road for people to pass by.

“Surprisingly, there is no smell, right?”

“I heard that the magicians at the Magic Tower have installed a large-scale purification spell.”

As Nigel said, the water flowing through the wide canal also looked quite clear and clean, perhaps thanks to the purification magic.

I didn’t really think about checking it out.

I tried to raise my senses as much as I could, but there was no sign of anything other than fish swimming in the waterway.

There wasn’t even any hair in the basement. As expected, they haven’t even sneaked into the system yet?

I wandered around for a couple of hours but didn’t get much results, so I gave up and decided to go up again.

It is said that the underground ruins continue below the waterway, but it is an off-limits area, so I couldn’t go in.

Should I wait until the entry ban becomes meaningless later?

I gave up and returned to my accommodation.

I guess I’ll have to visit again next time. Excuses once used won’t work, and it’ll be hard to get away from Nigel.

It’s a pain.

Still, it’ll still be okay.

There are two and a half months left.

=======[Underground waterway]========

“…The smell is gone.”

A quiet voice echoed beyond the wall of the deserted underground waterway.

It was a rough, unstable voice mixed with a growling breath.

“It looks like we are looking for something, has our existence been discovered? A cognitive disruption spell would be perfect.”

Someone else answered. Likewise, a growling voice.

The tone was mixed with a bit of anxiety.

“In that case, they would have mobilized all their knights and searched the waterway. There were only two people who smelled it, so that probably isn’t it.”

“…I see. Well, there isn’t much left anyway, so it’ll be okay. A message has arrived from the mainland to advance the eruption to next month.”

Two voices spoke to each other.

An empty waterway. The only ones listening to their conversation were the fish in the waterway.

“Ahead of time? why…? It’s still too early to gather all the power.”

” Didn’t the Ka`har guys bow their heads to the empire in the end? The mainland must have been in trouble too.”

The first voice paused for a moment and purred.

“Ka`har… After all, he is human in the end. Did you decide to join the same people? I heard that the princess is here too.”

“It is one of the top priority goals. They told me to capture him alive or kill him. To sever the link between the empire and Ka’har.”

“…It will be a fun hunt.”

Silence followed again.

=======================

For three days, I spent my time sparring with Nigel and chatting with Calix.

Once in the middle of the day, I went to the library and tried to find out about Aimella Median, but it didn’t yield much results.

In the case of the twelve knights, only their names were mostly known, and there were no records of their families’ descendants.

…as if it had been intentionally erased.

The next day, it was time for the anti-personnel combat lecture again.