Chapter 32: TouristsDay 28

  “Thanks for breakfast. Before we head out, I want to take a moment to check in with all of you.”

  “…”

  “I mean, like, how do you feel about our pace?”

  They all just look at each other till Marcus reports, “Seems fine, Boss. Could go faster if needed or stay like this. It’s all good.”

  Alina adds, “I haven’t done as much healing as I thought I might, though I guess that’s a good thing.”

  “Yes, healing will probably become more important ter so now it’s just to gain experience. How is the fighting part going?”

  “Um, I don’t really feel like I’m doing all that much. Well, it’s not like I’m ready to handle the front-line. Maybe I could try using a sword.”

  “Sounds like a good match for your speed. Theo, could you give her a few pointers?”

  “Sure thing, Boss. We have a couple of light swords to use for practice.”

  “Yes, we should schedule time for this sort of thing. In fact, in you’re ready, how about today?”

  Theo nods and Alina says, “If that’s OK.”

  “Yes. Marcus can join or do other stuff and I want to do some tourism. Um, check the surrounding cities. No byrinths or dangerous pces. I just want to look around for general knowledge.”

  Marcus responds, “Yes, I’ll join you, Boss.”

  Of course I meant that Marcus could join them. Meh, it’s fine, I’ll pay for the extra bag.

  “Alright, Marcus. Let’s get ready to go. I’ll wear armor rather than fancy clothes. We can put your shield in my inventory.”

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  I buy a couple extra wax pads along the way and we go to the adventurers guild.

  “Good morning, Sir, how can I help you?”

  “Good morning, I would like to buy a rge-scale map of as rge an area as possible.” [1]

  “Terrain maps are strictly reguted, Sir. Do you have a letter of introduction?”

  “I meant something more like a symbolic map of the adventurers guilds of the empire — even broader if possible.”

  “Oh, we certainly have that avaible. Are you a member of our guild?”

  “No, not yet.” (Technically true.)

  “Well, it’s alright as long as you don’t tell anyone.”

  “Thank you, that’s very kind.”

  The cost of 2000 Nars feels rather reasonable for its importance. It appears to be painted vellum and rolls up to a manageable size. The whole thing is remarkably simir to a subway map. The guild employee takes time to enthusiastically expin the markings which show the more dependable and popur connections. Actually, it’s completely obvious, but I politely listen and nod at appropriate intervals.

  Sure, I’d rather have a scale map showing the vilges away from the main routes, but this is much better than just jumping from guild to guild at random, trying to piece it together ter.

  We concentrated on the pces Marcus wasn’t familiar with. Of course, we wouldn’t stop at every guild, even if we could. Just being able to find a few spots which no one could predict will be more than enough.

  The first two jumps were just to gain a bit of distance. The third stop brought us to a pleasantly small guild building. The friendly guild receptionist was more than happy to tell me about the town and surroundings. At first, Marcus kept a wary eye on our surroundings, but no one appeared to be the least bit threatening so we eventually rexed.

  We spent about 15 to 20 minutes at each location. All of these pces were sleepy compared to Curatar and most were even smaller and calmer than Vale. When possible, I asked basic questions about any byrinths, geography and groups of people in the area while Marcus tracked arranged a ride to our next stop. I scribbled down notes for the more interesting pces, which eventually just became a series of pluses and minuses. We made a few detours to minimize waiting times and managed to visit 12 locations in a broad area.

  If all else fails, I could compile a tourist guide. Combined with restaurant and hotel reviews, it might be selble. Well, let’s put that on the back burner for now.

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  We got home to find Theo and Alina resting in the front yard.

  “So, Alina, how did it go?”

  “I’m still better with a spear, of course, but it was a lot of fun. Thanks for the opportunity.”

  “Sure, what’s good for you is good for the party.”

  Theo reports, “Alina has fantastic reflexes and a good eye. For now, we’re concentrating on the skills needed to fight in the byrinth since dueling takes much more practice.”

  “That reminds me, I should ask you for some help with dueling.”

  “That special sword of yours has devastating power, which leads to the vulnerability of over-reliance. I would be happy to help with some defensive maneuvers. Would you like to start now?”

  “Not too tired?”

  “Nah, Alina did all the work. I’m ready.”

  “OK, I have a copper longsword in here.”

  It turns out that I’m not bad at this — nowhere near Theo’s skill but not embarrassing. Years of pying sports with and against people certainly helped. I’m accustomed to anticipating my opponent’s moves and using misdirection for my own. Of course, I’m weak on the basic sword forms, but that could actually be helpful against a formally-trained noble… should that ever be necessary.

  While Theo and I continued to spar, Alina and Marcus prepared an early dinner.

  “It’s good to do something different sometimes and this was certainly useful. Since it isn’t too te, I’d like to go to a byrinth. Any objections?”

  Yes, I realize how silly that question sounds. I hope they know that I really mean it. I took us to Nordselm’s seventh floor where we fought against spiders and the leftovers. We made it through what felt like half of the floor before going home. I set up the baths to round out the day.

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  Day 29

  One of the problems with my fake identity as a pseudo-noble from a distant nd is that I should probably know more than just the names of a few towns. I should be better educated than a peasant. Asking for the name of this country would be a bit like asking the name of the pnet — something only an alien would do.

  Yesterday’s trip helped me learn a bit more about my surroundings. After all this time of hearing people calling this pce an empire, that map showed me that it’s actually called ‘The Empire’. With a name like that, their rival might be ‘The Kingdom’. Well, it wouldn’t be strange if this pnet is called ‘The World’ and that it revolves around ‘The Sun’. I’ll just keep those self-revealing questions to myself.

  None of the towns we visited were near a city like Curatar. The proximity to the capital — obviously named ‘The Imperial Capital’ — and a famous byrinth in the center of the city seems to make this pce uniquely convenient for spelunking. Of course, if we really need to escape, we’d probably need to leave the empire and I haven’t explored far enough yet. Thankfully, the map covers the entire area and even a little outside it.

  Living north of the elves would probably be too harsh to support cities — fine in an emergency but inconvenient long-term. The eastern border is very far away and leads to a city-state that doesn’t allow free-travel. I’ll ask Marcus and Theo to tell me about the south. One advantage of that direction would be the retive ease of blending in. Apparently, a lot of people down there look like us so we wouldn’t stick out like we did in Vale. Alina fits in pretty much anywhere.

  I don’t know much about the west yet. With only minimal geographical features, it’s mainly bnk with a few spots crossed-off, which I assume to be abandoned or belong to a different country. Looks like a rge body of water at the edge of the map. The west could be another pce to hide with the possibility of better weather than the arctic.

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  Somehow, I find myself at the table with a spoon in my hand and an empty bowl. How did I eat in this zombie-state? I barely even remember coming downstairs. The others are probably so used to seeing me like this that it’s basically normal.

  “Thanks for breakfast.”

  Alina says in a teasing tone, “Welcome back, David.”

  “Sorry, I was lost in thought. What’s known about the region west of here.”

  “At least in the north-west, some of it was Elven Territory. I don’t know what happened, since it was a very long time ago. I think there’s just water south of that area.”

  “Hm, good to know. I’ll look into it ter. Yesterday’s exploration was informative. I didn’t see anywhere better than where we live now, though several pces seem good enough if we need to relocate. Anyway, we should go back to Nordselm.”

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  I warped us to Nordselm’s seventh floor to finish off the spiders. After the unsurprising boss fight, we went for a quick check on the vilge.

  Raining, of course. Instead of everyone staying indoors, there were signs of other people in the area. Sneaking up a bit closer, I could see an armored party on the other side of the vilge: an Adventurer and several Knights. No signs of conflict, so maybe the count has finally started caring about this byrinth and vilge. If so, we can find another sad byrinth or just stick with the normal ones for a while. Vale is still retively empty even in the morning.

  Well, no need to interrupt or attract unnecessary attention. Instead, I took us home to dry off and have a snack.

  “Alina, did you recognize any of those knights?”

  “Couldn’t see their faces in the rain. They were probably just passing through anyway.”

  “Huh? Don’t you think they were here to manage the byrinth?”

  “I doubt it. Since there wasn’t even a tent set up for a command center, it’s more likely to be a security patrol.”

  “Yeah, good point. In Harba, the knights brought dozens of people. Well, at least they seem to be doing something. Anyway, we should go to Curatar. When we finished the 11th floor st time, it was the end of the first tier. With the 12th floor, we’ll be up against a different set of monsters. These are said to be more challenging than before. Well, that’s generally true though now we should expect a jump in difficulty.”

  “Do you think we’ll be OK?”

  “Yes, absolutely. If it gets bad, I’ll just open a warp and we’ll jump through to safety.”

  After my pep talk amounting to ‘well, we might not die’, I took us Curatar’s 12th floor. The HUD calls the new monster a ‘Sarracenia’, but it just looks like another lollipop pnt.

  When we get close, the damn thing spits a ball of goo at us. “Yuck, what the hell was that?!”

  Marcus responds, “I’ve heard of these things. I think that stuff will burn you.”

  “OK, get back everyone, I’ll put up a wall.”

  They quickly pulled back as I threw up a firewall with the left edge against the byrinth wall, making a choke point on the right.

  “Good. Let’s get them as they try to pass. Theo and Alina, stand along their route while Marcus blocks back here so they can’t get behind you.”

  Perhaps a bit of an overreaction, but the strategy worked well. Since it’s a new monster, Theo showed me the drop. It was a root so I switched to alchemist and created nourishment pills — HP recovery.

  “Marcus, anything else known about these things?”

  “They said that they’re hard to hit and I think they might be poisonous too.”

  “Crap. Well, we’ll take the shortest route through this floor, but not rush. I’ll try to take most with magic so you guys should keep further back than usual. Alina, I expect that you can dodge better without that spear. Want me to put it away?”

  She nodded and I swapped her spear for a short sword and shield. I hit nearly everything with storm spells, where fire seemed to be the most effective. Wind is often more practical since it doesn’t obscure what’s going on, but fire looks like I’m doing more. I replenished my mana on the occasional slug but mainly on the goats.

  It was getting time to head home so I was gd when we managed to reach the boss room. With the slower pace and me spamming magic, they still had plenty of energy so we decided to finish the floor. Inside, we got a bit of a surprise when two monsters materialized, a normal Sarracenia and the boss variant called Nepenthes. I quickly threw up a firewall between them and then — um, now what? That was a lot more reflex than pnning.

  We moved over to one side so the monsters were pretty much lined up, I dropped the wall and fired off fireball after fireball at one and then the other. A bit clumsy, but still OK. Theo picked up the drops, we left the room and immediately warped home.

  Once we’d calmed down and started eating, I said, “Well, I guess they weren’t that bad after the initial surprise.”

  “I don’t know, Boss. Seems like those pnts would be hard to beat without a Mage.”

  “Yeah. At the very least, using magic is cleaner — those things were gross. Even without getting hit, I want to take a bath.”

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  [1] In the LN, maps are only used for Curatar’s Labyrinth and the pce that makes sexy stockings.