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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 3 Chapter 6.1

“TRANSLATOR:Foxsunes/EDITOR TheNix”

  ｢Yeah, you can’t run away from this

Four of us went down the spiral staircase that started from the back of the mirror carefully. Lamps placed at an equal distance were dimly lighting up the stairs so we could barely see around us. After we were done going down the spiral staircase, we saw a straight path in front of us. 

  ｢It is deeper than I had assumed.｣

We were on the third floor at the beginning, by counting the number of stairs we went down it can be assumed that we are currently on the seventh or eight basement floor. The straight path in front of us was made of concrete and it seemed like a normal underground passage. 

We went in with President Yuiga in the front, we didn’t walk much but we could already see the path diverging. 

  ｢Seems like this is where the path parts.｣

  ｢Isshin-sama, what is this?｣

Ibara-senpai pointed at the wall between the two paths that had separated with a gentle curve, it had something like graffiti on it. 

I looked at it carefully. It seemed like something was written on the wall, ummm this is…

  ｢Doesn’t this say, “Ikusaba Hiiyo was here.” Senpai?｣

｢Yeah, Ikusaba-san probably wrote that.｣

President Yuiga frowned. 

  ｢Eh, does this mean that president Yuiga has already cleared the ruin?｣

Ibara-senpai was baffled.

  ｢No, we can’t assume that.｣

  ｢W..what do you mean, Yama?｣

｢It would be meaningless to leave something like this behind if he has already cleared it. It would be simpler to clear the ruin, get the Nanana collection, and escape the ruin, but he took time to leave something like this, I think the reason behind this is just to let the people like us know that he was here. So, what can be his motives behind this?｣

  ｢It’s most likely to make people think that this ruin has already been cleared just like what Yuu thought. This graffiti can make people think that someone else was in this ruin before them. Challengers would think about the risk of it being cleared already. It is quite effective for a bluff……Seems  like something Ikusaba-san would do.｣

President Yuiga had solved the mystery. 

  ｢You are pretty good at this Jyuugo. You know deceptive strategies like this.｣

Shut up, supersleuth. She was patting on my shoulder with a happy grin. 

Tensai looked at president Yuiga. 

  ｢Yuiga-dono, if I remember it right this ruin’s door couldn’t be opened from inside.｣

  ｢Yeah, it’s same as usual. Challengers can get out only when they get the treasure. Unless you leave your friends outside to open the door for you, just like how we did.｣

  ｢Then how did Ikusaba Hiiyo who had left this on the wall leave the ruin?｣

President Yuiga gasped at what she pointed out. 

  ｢Your have valid point.｣

  ｢We can think of three possibilities.First, Ikusaba Hiiyo has already cleared this ruin and has gotten out of it.  Second, he is still inside this ruin and is in the process of clearing it. Third, he has companions like us so, he got out with their help and now is currently taking a break from the ruin.｣

  ｢It can be the second or third, I don’t think it’s the first since the ruin is in a good shape.｣

  ｢That isn’t always the case, Jyuugo. It’s true that we had been stuck in a ruin that had collapsed (Tensai looked at president Yuiga and he looked away) but there are ruins that have been left unharmed.｣

  ｢…..Yeah, that makes sense. The ruin from before which was a european style building is left unharmed too. The only difference is that it doesn’t have traps anymore. Our school’s ruin is also the same type of ruin. ｣

  ｢Yuiga-dono, can you explain a bit more about that?｣

President Yuiga nodded at Tensai’s request and started talking. 

  ｢Basically, ruins are reusable. If you take out treasure from the treasure box and put something else inside it then the ruin will be reset and things will get back to its original state. But not all ruins are like that. If a ruin collapses or breaks due to its own trap then that’s the end of it, it can’t be used again.｣

True, the ruin in our school has been reused for the club entry test but the rising building ruin has no walls or floor so it can’t be used again. 

  ｢Is there a criteria for the things that can be put inside a treasure box.｣

  ｢I can’t tell you for sure since the only ruin that we have tried things with is the ruin in our school but it seems like anything is fine as long as it weighs enough.｣

Seems like the resetting of a ruin is pretty half-assed. Come to think of it, I remember weight stones for pickles being used during the entry test. In the European style building we were able to replace the treasure with a plushie. 

I wonder how things work. It seems like all the treasure boxes are the same, so I’ll check it out when I get time. 

  ｢So among the possibilities shorty suggested, which one is the correct one?｣

Ibara-senpai was annoyed with our conversation and she glared at Tensai. 

  ｢Hm, let’s see. In current situation we can’t be sure about any of them.｣

Tensai answered like it was nothing and the moment she answered it Ibara-senpai jumped at Tensai. 

  ｢Then don’t talk about this complicated crap!｣

  ｢S..stop messing with my hair Ibara-dono! The only thing we can be certain about is that Ikuasaba Hiiyo has entered this ruin but the ruin hasn’t collapsed and that the possibility of tricks and traps working is high since Ikusaba Hiiyo had assaulted Yoshino Saki on Sunday of last week. So it would be reasonable to think that he wasn’t able to clear this ruin then and it isn’t likely that he was able to clear the ruin in few days since!｣

Tensai complained while being pinned down by Ibara-senpai from behind who was rubbing Tensai’s hair violently. 

  ｢To sum it up, this isn’t going to change what we were going to do, Yuu. We are going to clear this ruin before Ikusaba-san in order to outsmart him.｣

Time to start over things now that we know the situation we are in. 

So, there are two paths in front of us, should we go left or right?

  ｢What should we do, president Yuiga? Hm? Is there something wrong?｣

I saw president Yuiga squatting near the wall when I looked back. 

  ｢…..No, it’s nothing.｣

President Yuiga smiled and stood up. 

  ｢So, how do you plan on moving ahead Yuiga-dono?｣

Tensai asked while fixing the messy hair with her hand. 

President Yuiga started speaking his mind. 

  ｢If the words on the metallic mirror are correct then even if the paths part they would lead to the same goal at the end. So choosing one path and going together seems reasonable but there must be a reason behind the path getting separated. I assume that the difficulty level of the ruin changes according to the path we chose.｣

I think so too. 

  ｢I think so too, Yuiga-dono.｣

  ｢So, I think we should part ways and go on separately.｣

  ｢I see.｣

*Stare*

  ｢Yama-kun, I’ll let you know first that I don’t intend on competing with you this time so you don’t need to worry about it.｣

  ｢Wha, for real?｣

  ｢…..So, you were thinking that I would do something like that.｣

President Yuiga smiled bitterly.

  ｢To be honest yeah.｣

Since president Yuiga has been continuously betraying me till now. 

  ｢This ruin is something that even Ikusaba-san is having a tough time with. I want to cooperate with you all and clear it. I want to Part ways for that same reason. Like I said before, these paths represent differences in the difficulty level. But it isn’t a bad thing since it gives us a chance to choose a difficulty level. If we find a route difficult to clear then we can move back and choose a different path.So, it would be better if we split, that way we can clear it more efficiently. Don’t you think so?｣

I see, so that’s why he said that. 

  ｢This ruin is something that even Ikusaba-san is having a tough time with. I want to cooperate with you all and clear it, hmmm seems like you have a high opinion about Ikusaba Hiiyo.｣

Tensai inquired. 

  ｢Well, yeah.｣

President Yuiga smiled bitterly. 

  ｢It’s irritating but I need to evaluate people in good light when they have produced good result. Leaving aside the personality, I can’t help but respect Ikusaba-san when it comes to Nanana’s collection.｣

I thought it was a mature thing to say since I couldn’t have a good opinion about Ikusaba-san due to him being involved in stuff related to Nanana-chan and Yun-chan.