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Published at 24th of December 2019 11:39:13 PM
Chapter 41
Chapter 41 – Root Hubbard
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Translator: Kell Editor: Weasalopes

Root Hubbard

Root Hubbard was located south of Pond, about a five-day trip away . Walk ten minutes from the town and you’d arrive at the entrance to the dungeon Underground City of the Ancient Gods, which was discovered five years ago . Root Hubbard itself was a town hastily-built solely for the dungeon, and as such it didn’t have any walls, only simple fences .

No card check was done on people entering or leaving the place . There were three guilds in town: the Alchemists Guild (branch), Adventurers Guild, and the Merchants Guild . They all pitched in for the money used in hiring mercenaries who maintained peace and order .

Wooden buildings lined the main road, twenty on each side . There were a few back streets, but that was it . It might as well be called a “village”, but since the buildings were actually fairly fancy, people called it a “town” .

「There’s barely any houses here . 」Hikaru said .

「You’re right . Maybe they don’t have plans to develop this place . 」

「They might get rid of the town itself once the excavation for treasures and examination of ruins are done . 」

There weren’t any dungeon masters here . Treasure chests didn’t just pop up . You couldn’t gather monster loot like there was no tomorrow . The town itself wouldn’t be developed . This place was simply not a happy hunting ground .

Once the dungeon walls were destroyed, they didn’t magically get fixed . Once a treasure was taken, there wouldn’t be another one .

Hikaru and Lavia found an inn and went to sleep early . No identity checks were done; they didn’t have a way to know who was a wanted person anyway . It was the innkeeper’s duty to make their own judgment about their guests and whether or not to let them stay .

The next morning, they headed to the Alchemists Guild’s branch . As to why it was called a “branch”, it was simply because it didn’t function as a guild at all . You couldn’t take requests . All you could do was buy items that were sold by the Alchemists Guild – items that were ordered from the nearest guild .

The place sold potions, magic catalysts, and staffs, among others . Hikaru bought two potions worth 1,200 each which was a little more expensive due to shipping costs .

「Holy Water Talisman, Venom Antidote, Cure Disease Potion…」

Unfamiliar items lined up the shelves, each costing more or less a thousand gilans . A young man approached Hikaru . He was a guild staff who seemed to think Hikaru was loaded since he dropped 2,400 gilans on the potions like it was nothing .

「The Underground City of the Ancient Gods is an undead monsters den . It would be best to use special items . The Holy Water Talisman can temporarily repel the undead . I greatly recommend buying the Venom Antidote as well as once a Poison Gust wounds you, you’ll most likely get infected . The Cure Disease Potion is for the cold air that a Ghost emits . Although some people just use pure will to shrug it off . 」

The staff didn’t mention one thing . The Poison Gust was a high-level monster that could only appear in the deeper parts of the dungeon . Only a handful of adventurers had fought one before .

「What’s this? Holy Oil… Lamp?」

A different item caught Hikaru’s attention . It looked exactly like a spirit lamp . The glass was poorly-made, however, causing air bubbles to form, resulting in a low transparency .

「Ah, this one . It’s used for when you spend a night in the dungeon . By lighting it up – well the flame itself isn’t visible, but I assure you it lights up – it creates something like a force field invisible to undead monsters in a radius of about ten paces . It’s used for long breaks, in other words, for when you sleep . 」

「I see . I want five, then . 」

「…I’m sorry, what?」

「So that’s 5,000 gilans . 」

「Forgive me if I sound rude . Monsters are more active at nighttime . A Holy Oil Lamp only lasts for about eight hours, so you might have to fight some of them . 」

「I know . 」

「The longest anyone had explored the dungeon was three days and it was a five-man party of rank C adventurers . They lost two of their members by the time they returned . 」

「I’m aware of that . I already looked it up . Anyway, I’m buying five . 」

「O-Okay…」

The staff’s expression changed to that of pity . He was probably sure that Hikaru would die inside the dungeon .

Our food will only last for five days . We’ll have drinking water thanks to the Water Spirit Magic Gem, but it’s not like it can create food .


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In reality, Hikaru was carefully considering how long they were going to stay inside .

Next they made their way to the Adventurers Guild . The place was thriving . Many adventurers were gathered in the building which was as big as the one in Pond .

「We’re a rank D party and we need at most three Healers . 」

「Recruiting people for this day only! We’re not asking for much as we’re only rank E ourselves . 」

「We’d like to join a party looking to collect magic gems . One swordsman and one archer . We’re only rank E, but we have five-character classes on our cards . 」

People were looking for party members in the guild . Once a treasure chest was opened and the loot taken, there wouldn’t be another one . But it was possible to get rare items as well . People who liked to collect works of art, medicine, weapons, books, bugs, or herbs posted requests here at the Root Hubbard Adventurers Guild . Adventurers might not find actual gold in the dungeon, but they could earn money by clearing these requests . It was the dream .

「Oh, thank heavens . There’s one left . 」

Unlike Pond, the reference room here was frequently used . On one hand, you could make bank in the dungeon, but it was extremely dangerous as well . There were books in the reference room that put together the things that adventurers learned from exploring the dungeon .

Hikaru grabbed the last book left, used Group Obfuscation on Lavia and himself, then headed to a corner so they could focus on reading . The accounts were quite peculiar as they were mostly rumors .

Year X, month X, day X; An account from XXX, a D-ranked adventurer:

He had a narrow escape from death and returned alive after an encounter with a Living Head . According to him, it was a floating head of a corpse, which matches what we know so far about the monster . It lets out a screech called a Bind Shout that strikes fear to those who hear it . “Surrounded by five Living Heads, I was prepared to die . A fire spell fired by my friends hit a bottle of alcohol, lighting up the whole place as bright as day . I then escaped from the monsters…”

It looked like the person simply wrote down what he heard, albeit incoherent .

「This is actually helpful . 」

「So a Living Head is weak against light?」

「I don’t know about that . But I guess it strictly relies on its two eyes for vision . 」

Someone who was prepared to die escaped easily . If it was a monster you could run away from, he wouldn’t have braced himself for death . That only meant they created an opening for him to escape . Reading and analyzing was a crucial skill indeed .

Lavia was also smart, so he didn’t have to explain anything . Hikaru continued reading to find out if his hunch was right .

「Wait a sec, there’s no books left! Hey, you! You’re done reading, right? Hand yours over . 」

「Ah…」

It sounded like trouble . A brawny adventurer, who looked to be more or less thirty years old, was yanking a book from a boy in his mid-teens .

「I’m still reading that! Give it back!」

「What? Wait, aren’t you the kid who always looks for party members here but completely ignored anyway? Rank E solo adventurers have no business being here . 」

「What does that have to do with me reading that book?!」

The reddish brown-haired boy tried to reach for the book, but the man was around 185 centimeters tall . He couldn’t do anything .

The other adventurers laughed . They knew about how the boy was recruiting for members and that no one gave him the time of day .

「Who would actually listen to a rank E Civilian?」

「He should just go home, to be honest . 」

Not one soul sympathized with the boy . The guild staff was at the counter, having conversations with adventurers . They didn’t bother with what was going on . Perhaps they were too busy, or trouble in the guild was simply an everyday occurrence .

「We’re exploring the dungeon tomorrow, so we’re going to read this . Understand? I’ll give it back once we’re done with it . 」

「I don’t care! I’m going to clear the dungeon too! I have a right to read it!」

「A right? No, you don’t . You gotta be strong if you want to be an… adventurer!」


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「Ugh?!」

A mere front kick from the man sent the boy flying, slamming his back on a pillar . No one batted an eye . Everyone was used to seeing brawls .

「All right . Let’s start our strategy meeting . 」

The man seemed to have lost complete interest as he returned to his friends . The boy was down on his knees, not moving . Tears streamed down his face, either from pain or frustration .

「…Good grief . 」

「Are you going to help him?」Lavia asked Hikaru as he stood up .

「I don’t care about what other people get themselves into, but we’re done reading anyway . 」

They were both fast readers . Hikaru was a bookworm back in Japan, and Lavia read novels a lot . They had the contents of the book in their mind already .

「You alive?」

「Ugh… who are you?」

Hikaru approached the boy who quickly rubbed his sleeves on his eyes to hide the fact that he was crying .

He was dressed elegantly . The fabric of his clothes looked luxurious, and his face had a tinge of softness in it . Most adventurers had this rough look on them, but he didn’t have it .

【Soul Board】Hawks F . Linden
Age: 16 Soul Rank: 14
15

【Physical Strength】
. . 【Weapon Mastery】
… . 【Sword】1
… . 【Shield】1
… . 【Armor】1

Hikaru almost dropped to the floor when he saw the boy’s Soul Board .

He’s weak! Like, awfully weak! I’m surprised he made it to rank E . Maybe that man was right . He might actually be a Civilian .

Still he had a point on Sword Weapon Mastery . He probably received proper training since he was clearly the son of a Baron, as indicated by the “F” in his name .

「You can read this . 」

「Are you sure?」

「Yeah . I’m done with it . 」Hikaru said as he handed the book over . Hawks regarded it before turning his attention back to Hikaru .

「I’m sorry, but I can’t let you into my party . 」

「What?」

Uh… party?

「You look like you just got promoted to rank E . I understand the feeling of being desperate for party members, but exploring a dungeon is not a game . You should enter one once you’ve grown and found friends you can trust . 」

「No, I uhh…」

「You should go home . Find a place where you can gain experience . 」Hawks said, before turning around and making his way to a nearby table .

「Wh-What?」

「You just got dumped, Hikaru . 」


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「Did I say I wanted to join his party?」

The other adventurers heard the conversation and the whole place erupted into laughter .

「There’s a kid who got turned down by that kid!」one exclaimed .

Hikaru’s face twitched .

 

They had a light lunch at a diner that specialized in noodles . Unlike the wheat and buckwheat noodles that Hikaru was used to eating in Japan, this place used rice flour . The smooth texture was out of this world, and the stock made from meat bones was exquisite, making for a satisfying meal .

「Lavia . How are you feeling?」

「I’m fine . 」

He wanted to use chopsticks, but there was none available, so he had to use a fork instead . As always, Lavia looked elegant as she had her meal .

「Onward we go, then . 」

「To the dungeon . 」

And so they left the diner and made their way out of town and to the dungeon . They had already bought the food and the water-producing spirit magic gem they needed . Five nights inside should be fine, although way different from a pleasant stay at an inn .

Outside the town was a wasteland, with only a few half-withered bushes growing here and there . As Hikaru looked at the narrow, hard-packed road, he wondered how many people had tread the path and how many actually made it back .

「Lavia, how do you feel about all this? And I want you to be honest with me . 」

「I’m actually a bit scared . 」

「Scared?」

「I longed to go on an adventure . But now that I’m about to go on one, I can’t stop my legs from shaking a bit . It’s weird, right?」

Hikaru didn’t think so . They were about to head into unknown territory where countless people have died and safety was not guaranteed . No one even knew what lay hidden in the deepest part of the dungeon .

They didn’t want riches . There weren’t any goods they desperately needed either . They simply wanted to go on an adventure .

「I-It’s not that I don’t trust you . I hope you don’t take it the wrong way . 」Lavia hurriedly added after seeing Hikaru looking serious .

「Let’s run away . 」

「…What?」

「If it looks like monsters might notice us, let’s bail . We might run into some monsters that my abilities have no effect on . Even if there’s treasure in front of us, we’ll run with all we’ve got . 」

「Okay… Thank you, Hikaru . 」

「I value my life . 」

「Mine too?」

「Yes . So much so that I don’t want to lose you that easily . 」

「Hehe . I’ll take that for now . 」

Lavia’s mood had completely changed . She was relaxed now .

Oh no .

Hikaru thought about what would happen after they get out of the kingdom – when she’d finally be free…

What if she goes away? What if she always wanted to leave him? I don’t think I’ll ever recover from that .

The more he knew Lavia, the more he felt attracted to her . He was painfully aware of that .

「Oh, is that the entrance right there?」

Lavia’s voice snapped him back to his senses . Up ahead stood several wooden houses . The Adventurers Guild staff and personnel from the government lived there as they managed the entrance to the dungeon .

Beyond that was a small mausoleum with a wide opening – the entrance to the Underground City of the Ancient Gods .

「What’s this? Here for an errand? Did anyone order food?」 a man wondered as he saw Hikaru and Lavia . His proper attire painted him as a government official .

「I’m an adventurer . 」Hikaru said, showing his guild card . He left the “job class” field blank, though .

「Really? Hmm, yes . It says you’re rank E, all right . Who’s the other boy?」

「My escort . I believe we can enter as long as one of us is at least rank E . 」

「Those are the rules, but unfortunately, I can’t let young people’s lives go to waste . I can’t allow you to enter . 」

「Excuse me?」

He’s going to violate regulations?

「Whoa, what’s going on here? A kid wants to enter the dungeon?」

Five adventurers came out of their cabin .

「I’m not giving them permission, so I’m asking them to leave . 」

「Sounds good . They’re just going to die right away . That’ll only increase the number of undead in there . 」one man said .

They all burst out laughing .

「………」

「H-Hikaru?」Lavia asked gingerly . Hikaru was not happy . So much so that even she felt scared .

「First that Alchemists Guild staff, that rank E kid, and now you lot… You’re all pissing me off . 」Hikaru said in a clear voice that the person in charge and the adventurers could hear him .

「What did you say? Don’t think you can get away with everything just because you’re a kid . You’re being really disrespectful right now . 」

「You’re the one who’s being disrespectful . Are you from the guild? Or a government official?」

「…The guild . What about it?」

「Regulations say rank E adventurers are allowed to enter, regardless of their company’s rank . And you’re blatantly violating said regulations . If anything, you’re the one not respecting the rules . 」

「I’m just…」

「Watch your mouth, kid . Don’t get too cocky now . 」

「Shut up, old man . You think you’re hot shit cause you put your life on the line in your job?」

A vein popped up on the adventurer’s forehead after being called an old man .

「Care to say that again?!」

「Our plan was to head back as soon as we felt what it was like to go adventuring, but I changed my mind . We’re leaving this god-forsaken kingdom anyway, so there’s no need to hold back . 」Hikaru declared . 「We’re heading to the deepest part of this dungeon . 」

Money left: 24,390 gilans (+200,000 gilans)

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