Chapter 81: A father’s visage

May 28th, 2023

Beta Reader: My_Own_Worst_NPC

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Lately I’ve been having a hard time concentrating, as if my head is in the clouds.

“Oi, Shirou!”

I was pouring rum into a glass, but I didn’t notice that it was spilling out until Cecily reminded me about it. The alcohol overflowing from the shot glass made a wet mess of its surroundings.

“Uwah! Sorry, my bad.”

I hurriedly wiped it up and gently held out the glass that I had poured the rum into.

“What’s wrong, is something on your mind lately?”

“Well, actually…”

The truth is, lately my mind has been occupied with the Staff of La Messeine, or to be precise, the magic armor Eminence Rock. It’s not like I’ve been in a hurry to return the staff to the Empire, rather, I was dying to check out the capabilities of the said armor.

It was becoming a point of obsession, almost as if I was being possessed by a demonic sword. [1]

No, no, I don’t want to be a manslayer. I only wanted to equip myself with the Eminence Rock and try unleashing its full power.

“…actually, I was thinking of going to Western Island for awhile.”

There’s no one living on Western Island, so even if I go all out there won’t be any eyewitnesses. Also, I was thinking of checking in with the golems that I’d left over there and see how they’re doing, so going there is like killing two birds with one stone.

“Western Island, huh? Certainly there’s no monsters there, but how about I escort you?”

“But Cecily, you’re busy with dungeon exploring, right?”

“Well, our schedule has been hard lately, so I was thinking of taking a break anyway.”

That’s right, ever since Sierra left the island, Cecily’s team strength had significantly dropped. Even so, they seemed to be working hard and doing their best on the newly discovered fifth floor, and even managed to acquire a large number of magic stones and items. I even heard that Miina’s and Rouge’s skills have improved greatly.

Also, as usual, Miina is very good at finding items. Moreover, she has a high probability of picking up things that are useful in battle.

For example, just the other day, she found 6 Explosive Orbs, which are magic tools that contain explosive magic just like the one Cecily uses, and they look like hand grenades. She even boasted that she had killed a large monster with these explosive balls today.

And the Stone of Absolute Hit that she picked up had also been modified into an Arrow of Absolute Precision by attaching it to an arrow of her own making. Thanks to this, her arrows are now able to hit the enemy’s vital points in an interesting way.

Their party’s winning strategy now is to put the monsters at a distance by using magical items and barrier magic, and then use Cecily’s Explosion magic to defeat them.

“I think Rouge and Miina would be happy if you brought them along too.”

“Uh-huh…”

What should I do? Forget Rouge or Miina, I haven’t even told Cecily about the Staff of La Messeine. They are three of the most trusted people that I have on this island, and yet I’m afraid that revealing it to them would cause them problems someday.

“Good evening!”

My musings were halted by the arrival of the six warrior ladies, so I was unable to give Cecily my reply. [2]

Tonight, we’re about to hold their farewell party here at Shirou’s Restaurant. The ladies had been handed the award for finding the Staff of La Messeine by Count Vebbles for the sum of 380 million lehmens, with Master Elza overseeing the handover. They have decided to retire as adventurers, and I can easily imagine that it’s not a job that anyone wants to keep working forever since it’s so fraught with death.

It seems they’ve been having many discussions about it, before finally deciding to give up the dungeon exploration profession. They’re scheduled to return to the mainland on a ship that will depart tomorrow.

“We’ve been waiting for your arrival. Please have a seat at your usual table.”

Tonight I will be serving 16 different dishes which have been prepared by using ingredients from the mountains and the sea, and they are inviting Master Elza and other people who have been in good relations with them. Cecily, Rouge and Miina are among those who are invited.

…

The banquet went smoothly, everyone drank, ate, and said goodbye to the six ladies.

I will miss them very much; these six ladies who have opened my eyes to the attractiveness of muscular women. All of them are also cheerful and have upbeat personalities, which made me enjoy talking to them. I vowed to see them off at the pier tomorrow morning.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Days passed after the six ladies had left the island, but I still haven’t gone to Western Island. I still spend my days as usual, worrying about the Staff of La Messeine and its Eminence Rock spell every day.

Every night, after it was late and behind closed doors, I was always playing by changing my appearance with the spell. I would always make a pose in front of the mirror while imagining how it would feel to shoot a convergent magic beam with full power.

…

But one night, I finally couldn’t take it anymore, and while having the Eminence Rock spell equipped, I activated my Invisibility Ring and ran through the forest at night. I’m running toward the top of the mountain that is in the middle of the island.

The forest was pitch black, but with my magic armor on, I could see what was going on around me as if I was wearing night vision goggles.

I jumped from tree to tree, and in the blink of an eye, I was on the slope of the mountain. Normally, I would have been out of breath and unable to move, but I was able to run up the slope without any problems.

I reached the top of the mountain in less than five minutes and took a moment to look around and catch my breath.

It was a perfect 360-degree view of the island and the ocean surrounding it. Most of the island was pitch black, with only a few lights visible in the commercial district and near the dungeon entrance.

Feeling refreshed by the night breeze and completely satisfied that I have finally been able to experiment on the spell, I returned to the cave and slowly fell into slumber. After that, as if the possession had fallen away, I finally stopped worrying about the Staff of La Messeine and contented to just keep it hidden under the bed.

And thus, my usual peaceful days returned.

Or so I thought.

♢

The woman was wandering aimlessly within the dungeon.

She had already forgotten why she is here, and was just spending her days clinging to life.

The woman used to be called White Maggot, but she didn’t even remember that name anymore. As for her real name, it has been forgotten ages ago.

She spent her days hunting monsters and adventurers, as a source of food.

“Hiiie!!”

As soon as the adventurer, whose friends had been killed, turned her back and ran away, the white maggot instinctively threw a knife at her back. She could not help it; anything that shows its back to her and ran away, will be killed by her. It was an impulse that welled up from deep within her.

…

She laid out the six dead bodies, set them naked, and examined them carefully. She examined them to see which one looked the best. Eventually, she cut out the most tender looking one, roasted it with magic, and ate it.

She has been living like this for many months.

After her stomach was full, she examined the belongings of the adventurers. If there was anything that looked sharper than the sword or knife that she has on hand, she would trade it in.

Also, there was usually food in the adventurers’ luggage. Sometimes there was even salt and sweets, which were not available in the dungeon.

With no purpose other than merely to keep on living, the white maggot continued to wander around the dungeon.

It’s ironic that she has the innate abilities that made it possible to survive alone within the dungeon. If only she had lived her entire life as an adventurer instead of a criminal, she would have been revered like a hero due to her abilities.

She’s so capable, in fact, that one day, she managed to almost reach the door towards the Sixth Floor alone.

…

As with any floor, the entrance toward the next floor was separated by a large room, which had a powerful monster as a floor boss, guarding it.

And this one, too, is no exception.

After someone defeats the floor boss, usually they’ll get a giant magic stone and a hidden treasure protected by the monsters, but to her, neither the floor boss nor the hidden treasure was of interest.

Her interest is only in keeping alive and spent most of her days in hunting her prey.

If it was her usual self, she wouldn’t have taken the risk of getting injured herself to challenge a powerful boss monster.

However, she saw a relief drawn on a giant door leading to the floor boss.

The boss monster that protects the floor is usually drawn on the door.

And on the door, it was drawn that 1000 strong demons were waiting inside.

However, what drew her interest was not the drawing of the demons.

It was the visage of a beautiful young man.

The visage of a naked, collared, young man, chained by the demons.

And thus, from the bottom of her heart, she thought.

I want it.

Actually, the floor boss is not a monster that can be hunted alone.

The true identity of the demons was called Thousand Ogres, and they were terrifying opponents that would multiply one after another if they weren’t defeated at once.

 It was a fearsome opponent that would require a certain amount of strategy and strength.

But the woman could not make a sound judgment.

Since she saw something in the young man drawing that somehow rejuvenated her dying heart.

The drawing of the young man reminds her of her father, even though she only remembered faintly of him.

And then, she readied up her blade and pushed on the door…

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1 I might be wrong since I couldn’t find reference in Wiki, but I think in Japan there’s a legend that ancient Japanese sword might enrapture people to try its full capabilities, and the wielder will be tempted to try it on people. Hence why it’s called demonic sword.

2 IIRC these ladies has been mentioned since before the white maggot chapters and has been mentioned frequently after. I hope they will have their own story told in the LN/Manga version.