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Volume 12 Chapter 5 Part 9

To be completely honest with you, the explanation that he has given us just now was absolutely vague and horrible. If I had to compare it to anything, then it was like advising someone to go through the Ryukyu Islands if they wanted to reach Taiwan or Mainland China while heading out from Kyushu. Or like going from Hokkaido through Kuril Islands to reach the Kamchatka Penninsula, and from Kamchatka Penninsula to North America via the Aleutian Islands.

It may be a story like reaching the Australian continent via the islands of the Malay Penninsula.

In other words, it is a pretty grand story.

Still, are we going to be fine with it?

「Uh-huh. Umu. So that’s how it is, huh? 」

「I guess we will just have to go and try it. 」

Rutina said so with a look of resignation on her face.

「U ,umu. 」

「You are right. 」

Sherry, thank you for giving such a cold opinion just to stop it.

I understand now.

「…… well, whatever. 」
「This is all the guidance that I can offer you. It has been quite a while since I was last asked to bring someone to Tarikau, so I don’t need you to thank me for it, because I got myself a good memory to take with me to the afterlife. 」

I guess having him bring us here was a good thing after all, since he at the very least got the chance to see his hometown again.

Now I only wish that once he does go to the afterlife that he could take Elder Cassandra there with him as well.

「I see. Thank you very much regardless. Well, we got some Pork Bellies and White Meat from the monsters earlier, but I guess you can have them and take them back with you as a souvenir of sorts, at the very least. 」

Now, whenever someone says that they don’t need a thank you for what they done for me, my Japanese personality is going to compel me to at least hand them some kind of souvenir, because otherwise I would just end up feeling bad.

It’s going to be crude, but at least that is better than giving him nothing at all. I wish we could have given him something better or more representative, but this is all we got, so we have to go with it.

I opened up my Item Box and gave the Drop Items we got from the previous two battles to the old Adventurer.

I am not going to give him literally all of the Drop Items from earlier, and I still have plenty of them left in my Item Box, so I can spare a few to hand it off to him without problems.

I glanced towards Miria as well, but even though she saw that I handed the Pork Bellies and White Meat to the Adventurer, her expression was not dyed with despair and she did not go mad with envy.

If anything, it felt more like she wanted to shout to him that she wants him to fully enjoy this delicious food.

「You have my gratitude, and my apologies as well. I said that I did not need any reward but I ended up receiving it anyway, so allow me to give you something extra as well. To the south of Tarikau lies a certain small island. It used to belong to Tarikau’s territory in the past, but now it is a separate island that very little people know about. The Labyrinth on that island appeared after the Labyrinth of Tarikau has already manifested itself. It is probably the best Labyrinth that you can aim for around these parts. The progress of its exploration has advanced to the 46th floor, but as far as I am aware, no one was trying to subjugate it after reaching that point. If I was a little younger then I would have probably tried to challenge it myself, and if my son and grandson were outstanding Adventurers themselves, at the very least I would have taught them everything that I know. 」

「Uh-huh. 」

The Adventurer then took us from the Hawk Forest Labyrinth to yet another place.

It was a Labyrinth located in the forest that was close to the coast, and if it is this close to the sea, then that probably means that it really must be an island.

Now, if what he said is true, then he should be able to take us all the way up to the 46th floor of this Labyrinth.

「These are all the Labyrinths to which I could take you here. Well, there might be other ones that I visited once or twice in the past that still have not been subjugated, but I no longer care about them now that I have been retired as an Adventurer for a while. Well than, I guess I will be on my way now. I might not have much life left in e in my old age, but I will still be looking forward to the news of the subjugation of some of these Labyrinths. 」

After we exited the Labyrinth, the Adventurer left only these selfish words of his behind before heading back home.

He must have really misunderstood the purpose of our coming here and thought that we came here in order to subjugate the Labyrinths of Tarikau.

I wonder if he misunderstood whatever it was that Rutina told him back in Tare village, or is it really perfectly normal to think in such a way? Or is it perhaps nothing more than just an obsession of an old man who only wants to see his hometown liberated before he dies?

Well, maybe he was initially unwilling to take us to Grineer and Tarikau, so Rutina had to promise him that we will try to subjugate some of the Labyrinths in the area if he promises to take us there?

If she really did something like that, then that is kinda a big deal, I am not going to lie.

「Well, thanks to Rutina’s efforts, we were able to come to Tarikau safely. 」

「No, I did not really do that much. To some extent, I would even go and say that doing this much is what was expected of me, because if I will not be able to do at least that much for the members of the Party I belong to, then I will not be able to attend the Lord’s Assembly with my head held high. 」

Oh? It looks like Rutina did use some kinda ruse against that Adventurer after all. However, since its result was so good for us, I am not going to hold that against her.
「Alright. We got what we wanted, so for the time being, let’s go home, shall we? 」

A part of me is growing increasingly concerned that Rutina might one day develop to me quite a cunning and scary girl, so I just stated that and then hurriedly scoured away towards our home.

Well, thinking about it, she is a daughter of a noble, so that kind of shrewdness should probably be expected from her. I mean come on, if there’s one thing that I know about the aristocratic society, it is that you are definitely going to be swallowed up whole if you ever allow yourself to let you guard around other nobles for even a single moment, just like with the evil spirits of rivers and mountains dwelling in their demonic abodes.

That is precisely how shrewd and cunning the nobles can be.

In that sense, even the former Earl of Selmar, who was such a slacker when it came to the subjugation of the Labyrinths that it eventually cost him his position and social standing could be described as exceptional in that area…. Until he was outdone by the Duke of Hartz, that is.

So yeah, that alone should be enough of a testament how sacry Rutina could get if given the chance.

「Good, Vesta still seems to be outside. I will go and get her. 」

When we got back home, Roxanne said so and went to fetch Vesta.

Because Vesta is not in my Party right now, I could not detect her position or know where she was going.

「Alright, then we might as well catch ourselves a little break. Rutina, do you want me to take your equipment off for you? 」

「N-No, there’s no need to. 」

It’s okay, you do not have to hold yourself back. If you say that you want to keep it equipped forever, then I will understand.

「Sorry to have kept you waiting. 」

While I was resting at the table, Roxanne has finally returned, and Vesta was right behind her.

I placed her back in my Party, but then I noticed that she was all drenched in sweat.