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Chapter 22: Beach Cavern

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「I’m really sorry, I’ve made you see an unsightly spectacle」

When I was leaving Lydia’s house, she bowed her head in apology.

From the second floor of the (Arms/flowers shop) her father’s voice could be heard.

「Quickly come back inside–」

「I understand already! Father should just clean up and go to sleep already–! 」

What a good relationship they have.

And to think that just a little while ago they were grappling each other and having an argument.

「Well, I suppose we should head off. What should we do to get there? 」

「Is it better if we teleport?」

「Nn〜 But you don’t know where it is, right? Besides we will stand out too much if we use teleport. Let’s just walk」

We went in accordance with Lydia’s proposal.

The 「Secret Place」Lydia was talking about, seems to be on the other side of the cave at the beach.

It was a place you wouldn’t be able to find with a single glance, the kind where you had to creep in from between a small space enclosed by rocks.

Lydia said that she used to play around here a lot when she was a child, but, now that she’s all grown up will she be able to squeeze in?

If her height was compared to mine, there would be a considerable difference.

If we are seen walking side by side, it would look like an adult and a child walking together.

Well in reality this was a fact.

「I wasn’t able to attend the merchant’s examination, last year or the year before that, but well, it should be fine!」

「………..Will it really be fine? 」

A touch of anxiety was creeping into me as we walked to the sandy beach, and I realized that the amount of people nearby was slowly increasing in numbers.

In their arms and hands were a bunch of weapons/arms.

They were definitely adventurers.

They were hanging around the front of the beach cavern.

They were lying in wait for the large amount of nippers that were supposed to appear.

Were they worried that the other parties would come to steal their prey? The guys here seemed to be a little bit tense.

「Zeph-kun over here」

Lydia whispered to me as she pulled me into a hidden grassy place, and just like that we were walking along a different path from the main road.

When we went up the slope, we arrive on top of the beach cavern.

The sea breeze which passed by felt really pleasant on my skin.

Were they scrambling to take each other’s prey down there? I could definitely see the adventurers fighting/arguing with each other.

「How foolish……」

「Over here」

I looked down on those that lacked the necessary information, and I was soaking in the conceit of having an advantage when…….

Lydia called out to me, so I followed her.

「We will enter from this hole」

「…….This is quite narrow」

What existed here was truly a small crevice.

If it was me or Mill it was likely we could enter, however, for someone like Lydia, wouldn’t it be really difficult?

「Yeah, I guess it was a good decision to leave my wagon behind」

I don’t think that’s the issue here…

「Well anyways, let’s get going」

As she said such things, she was able to easily slip into the crack.

Inside the darkness, I was getting left behind by Lydia.

「It’s a little bit dark…….」

「Shall I make some light appear?」

「Wait」

I was just about to let out my ability “Red Ball” when Lydia stopped me half way.

「If you make a light using fire magic, it will be too bright. We will attract unnecessary attention from the monsters」

She fiddled with her goggles that was on her head, and when she did, light actually appeared out of it.

Although it had a limited range, it was a considerably strong light.

Was it a mechanism that stored some sort of magical energy which could be converted into light, I wonder?

I suppose merchants often made inventions which people can’t understand well.

More like since a while ago, I haven’t been able to contribute anything………

When I’m with Lydia it seems that my rhythm is all out of balance.

It feels as if I can’t get any brilliant ideas.

As expected, is it because of our difference in height? (TL: Not sure how he came to this conclusion haha)

We relied on the light as we advanced.

Although it was not easy to walk in the puddle of water and the rocks that were lying around, if it was just to this extent there should be no problems.

Lydia was also dealing with her own problems.

In this narrow passage, we were both walking at the same speed.

Initially I was actually worried about the fact that Lydia may not be able to fit into these narrow spaces, but it seemed that my fears were unfounded.

Whilst I was thinking such things, we finally got out of that narrow space and ended up in a much wider cavern system.

「Is this the place?」

「No, not yet. Come inside here」

Lydia pointed her fingers ahead towards the destination, and a small hole to the extent that only a small child could barely enter, appeared.

「Hmm, I suppose this is going to be a bit tight………..Zeph-kun do you mind going first and seeing ahead? It should be a straight path」

Path……..

In my vocabulary this small hole is nowhere near as big as a “path”.

「………I guess that’s fine but, you said that I should go first, does that mean that Lydia will also follow in after? 」

「Yes of course. I already said that I would be your guide, so I intend to keep to my promise and guide you all the way」

She proudly declared as she stuck out her chest.

No matter how I think about this, it’s impossible for her to fit in this tiny hole.

In a chest-like meaning that is. (TL: her chests are huge after all~)

「I understand. I will go ahead, however, you don’t need to force yourself alright? 」

「Zeph-kun you took the words right out of my mouth」

No, that is definitely the words I’m supposed to say.

“Ahhaha”, Lydia was laughing out loud, to be honest it was not a laughing matter.

If you were to get stuck in this kind of place, you would most definitely die.

「Lydia」

「Hmm?」

Lydia turned to face me and I chanted time square.

And then

「Sleep Code!」

It was a magic that could cast an abnormal effect on others, Sleep Code

It was a magic that could only be cast in a short distance, furthermore the prerequisite for activation was that you needed to be able to make eye contact with the other party, it was a very effective magic that was able to immediately place the other party into a sleep like state.

The effects are brutal, however even just closing your eyes during the incantation would greatly lower its effects, and because there was a need for a chant it was an easily counter-able type of magic that would be useless if someone expected it to be casted.

It’s quite effective towards the various demons, however, it was difficult to cast on multiple enemies and the range wasn’t that big so it’s a regrettable thing.

However, if I combine this magic with Time Square, the practicality of the spell increases by several levels.

In the time that is suspended by Time Square, using a magical ability within this time will negate the chanting period and the magic is invoked as soon as Time Square ends.

If I use this, even if the spell required a chant to cast, I am able to disregard this disadvantage and it is possible to seamlessly invoke the spell as if it had no chant time.

However, the down side to Time Square was that it could not be used in conjunction with spells that required an extensive/long chant.

With a thud, Lydia crumbles to the floor.

I carried her and laid her down on the side of a big boulder.

She was letting out small breaths as she was sleeping.

It would seem that Sleep Code has properly taken effect.

Although I don’t really see any monsters nearby, but just in case I decided to hide her.

「Black Coat」

Clothing made out of air was hiding Lydia’s figure, it made her body look transparent.

Black Coat was a magic that hid the object with a layer of air, it assimilated the figure of the object or person into the background, and made it very hard for someone to discover something amiss without looking closely.

After putting on this magic, moving in the coat is really difficult, that’s because unless one moves really slowly, it easily peels off, and you need to master the skill in order to be able to move effectively.

However, if you were to just lie still, it would be impossible for someone to discover you.

「Then, I shall go ahead first」

As I said this to Lydia I slipped into the tiny hole.

When I thrust my head in, my back, arms and foot all hit the rock wall.

Even for someone like me who had a small build, it was really hard to pass by.

It might be really doubtful whether Lydia could even enter up to her shoulders.

Although I may have been rash, I feel relieved to have left her behind.

Well, as long as I brought back the Poseidon’s tears, I’m sure she won’t have any complaints, right?

………….If I find lots of it, I will be sure to pocket/pilfer some for myself though…

I was laughing (Kukuku) as I proceeded to slip past the narrow hole, and on the other side a large cavern space even bigger than the one we were previously in appeared.

On the opposite side, I could see a little bit of the sea.

I suppose the nippers were carried into this space as it was connected with the sea?

In this wide space, even now there were several groups of Nippers lying about.

Let’s get warmed up by hunting a few of these!

Nippers were monsters that were composed from the blue magical system.

In terms of Magic there are certain types of affinities that are compatible and incompatible with each other, for example red is weak to blue, or green and sky has similar lineage so it won’t be effective to attack a green elemental monster with sky magic.

Soul magic was the only exception, it was a magic that was ineffective against all the other types of magic, However if it was used against the same soul type monster, than it would actually show increased effectiveness.

This is after all, one of the indisputable logic’s of this world, if I kept rambling on about these things there would be no end to it, so I will leave it at this for now.

Coming back to the point, using sky magic and green magic against the blue type Nipper monsters is actually the most effective, if going by the book.

「Well then, What should I do?」

Whilst scratching my head, I walked towards the Nippers.

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