Chapter 267: Fire
「What are you doing? 」
「I’m free, so I’m looking for pillbugs. 」
「… 」
Khan scowled at me when he saw me turning over stones during my night watch duty. He wordlessly approached me, before grabbing me by the waist and carrying me away.
「Behave yourself. You’re my Master, as troublesome as it is. 」
He lowered me down beside the campfire, before sitting down beside me.
「But it’s not like you’re really troubled, right? I don’t want to play that Master game, and it’ll be fine if you just keep mum about the contract, right? 」
So what’s troublesome there, huh?
「I’m troubled. 」
「About what? 」
The Changelings on my island are relatively free, you know?
「I can’t thank you honestly. 」
「… 」
Khan said extremely unwillingly.
「Hey, it’s a situation where I have to help you, so I just went with the flow and lent you a hand. Besides, I went to the desert to go sightseeing in the first place. 」
「… It’s not a place you go sightseeing, though. 」
He sourly gritted his teeth this time.
Hey, isn’t that one too many variations of expressions on that particular mood, don’t you think?
「What’s up? 」
Retze’s awake now.
「You could’ve slept more. 」
「I specialized in work like this as an adventurer, after all. I can’t calm down and it’s also partly because of habit. 」
Retze sat down beside me, on the opposite side as Khan, before he said that.
「Right, you do take a lot of porter and investigation support jobs, come to think of it. But really, I think you can apply to be a Gold rank. 」
「Nah, impossible, I’d die. 」
Retze took out a lump of bread from his bag and sliced it thinly, like snacks.
He heated his knife over the campfire and sliced the cheese over the bread. The melted cheese dipped on top of the bread, and a delicious aroma wafted, stimulating my hungry belly.
「Here you go. 」
「Thanks. 」
As I munch on my share, the thin, dry crust of the bread crumbled, going perfectly well with the slightly salty cheese. It was a simple meal, but very tasty.
「So, what’s this talk about sightseeing, huh? 」
Retze handed a slice of bread with cheese to Khan too.
「Oh, one of my hobbies is exploring ruins from time to time, and we’re talking about how I also went to Khan’s desert for a jaunt. 」
I received some treasure, but that temple-like ambience made it extra special. I tried displaying part of it on the shelves in the tower on the island, but it completely looked like a shop selling goodies. Hmm, should I just leave them all piled up on the floor?
「Yeah, you also went to the Fire Temple of the West, now that I think about it. Oy, a lot of devious monsters lurk in ancient places, so be careful. 」
「Some monsters can also speak, so be careful. 」
Hmm, alright, lemme brew some tea. Ah, I think it’s also time for me to prepare breakfast.
「Eh, you already encountered them, huh. 」
Retze seemed astounded.
「Give me your cup. Khan, do you mind if it’s bitter? I also have some sugar. 」
I made some drip bag imitations by sealing coffee powder in paper, but it’s only a few pieces.
I wanna enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee from beans, but it’d be too much luggage so I gave up on it.
For Retze and I, it’s sugarless black coffee, but I added plenty of sugar in Khan’s cup. I did notice this when I went to Es, but they prefer drinks and desserts that are overly sweet. Is it a local trait?
「I’m gonna be addicted with this, huh. 」
Retze’s smiling now. He’s completely into coffee. Butler’s brewed tea is also delicious, but I’m also team coffee.
「Do you know any good ruins? 」
I tried asking them.
「Folks normally don’t know any, you know. And even if I do, it’s usually just a place that had become part of the Labyrinth, or places frequented by folks hunting treasures. 」
Retze said as he was about to sip his coffee.
I see, so no one goes to the ruins for sightseeing, huh. It’s fine if the place became a part of the Labyrinth, but if it’s a place teeming with people then I wanna go with everyone.
「There’s a city of water called Touareg in the heart of the desert. It’s the land where they have legends about the White Giants — I’m not sure if they’re recommended as ruins, or maybe it’s more accurate to say that I’m not sure if they have ruins in the first place. 」
Khan said.
「If it’s a city that existed during Khan’s reign, then it should be ruins in our time, huh. It feels a bit complicated. 」
「I wanted to show you the beautiful cities before they were swallowed in the sand. 」
「Mm, I wanted to see them. 」
I wanted to see what kind of king Khan was, and what sort of cities he reigned over.
Alright, time to prepare breakfast. What should I make? Mm, alright, let’s start preparing the bread for now.
While I did the preparations while humming, I heard Retze talking to Khan.
「He got the strength and the knowledge to do his thing, that’s why he’s so easy going like this. Well, his personality doesn’t make him seem all too powerful, though. 」
Retze was telling Khan to cut me some slack, it seemed.
「Well, I’m not sure what to do with a guy who rests dough inside somebody else’s clothes, though. 」Retze’s gaze changed to that of a half-lidded judgemental stare when I flipped Khan’s cloak.
「It’s the perfect temperature. And humidity too. 」
There were ten parties, total of 31 people, who went below 20th level. Among them, only 1 party applied to go below 25th level.
We already sent 4 parties back to Glasses. If one group was staying on 25th level and below, then that meant there were still 5 parties from 20th floor, where we’re currently at, to the 24th floor. And since it seemed no one else was here on the 20th floor, we’re starting the search from 21st floor.
Not counting my firepit, we got Dinosso’s dragon and Dean’s stinky fetish lizard so we’re doing good so far in terms of fire, but if there were no fire spirits around, it’d be hard to light a fire, not to mention keeping it burning.
Glasses had been staying in the dark because of that reason, apparently. I realized it late, no, actually, I didn’t realize it until Dinosso told me. The embers died down after we left him, apparently.
The adventurers who were moving forward from here are either carefully maintaining the fire, or they were possessed with black spirits that were fine even when in darkness. If it was the former, then they were a bunch of idiots who didn’t realize it despite having the means to do so, or were just too stupid to make the decision to go back.
Well, there’s also the possibility that they have someone possessed by a fire spirit without being aware of it just like Dean, but adventurers can be quite obstinate.
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I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
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