The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

The timer hit 0, but there wasn’t any change in the World Map.

I thought that 300 people would be transferred all at once though.

“It isn’t increasing. Does the 2nd group not get blue dots?” (Hikaru)

“No, they must need time for the point allocation. Considering this is being broadcasted to Earth, here and there must be connected in real time.” (Jeanne)

I see, so that must be one of the reasons why I couldn’t take my time choosing because of the time limit. In that case, the people who finish their point allocation quickly will be the ones to get here first. There might have been benefits from God by being the first Chosens to get here.

<<Pin pon pan! Announcement for all the isekai Chosen! From here on, the 300 from the 2nd Chosen group will be transferred to that world! If there’s anyone who gets transferred close to you, please teach them the ropes, okay?!>>

We were gazing steadily at the map, and the carefree voice resonated in my head.

It is saying the same as before, so God must want Chosen to get along with each other. Our locations being shown in the map is also for the sake of that. 

For me and Jeanne, that’s completely a pain, but being able to know where they are also makes it possible to avoid them. 

Just that it is troubling that we can’t move our house and the dungeon. 

<<As a celebration for the 2nd group transfer, every person can buy a specific item for 1 point once! That item is the Scapegoat Ring. It is a ring that can take a fatal hit for you once! It is an unprecedented 1 point cost only! This item can’t be exchanged or transferred, so please be careful.>> 

“Nice. Even if we get shot by a gun, we won’t be dying in one hit. It is also cheap.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne says after hearing the voice of God.

“Are you going to buy it?” (Hikaru)

“Of course I will. It is necessary.” (Jeanne)

It is true that taking a fatal hit for you is basically saving your life. If you can get 2 lives with this, 1 point would be way too cheap.

<<On top of that, as a reward for having safely survived until the 2nd transfer, all the 1st Chosen group will be getting 1 point! Go ahead and use it to buy the Scapegoat Ring, okay?>>

Nothing was said anymore after that. Looks like that’s all God had to say. 

Looking at the Status Board, it is true that I have gotten 1 point. 

Only 1 point but still a point. 

1 month of saving Crystals is 1 point, but you end up using Crystals for other stuff, so it is actually difficult to save them up.

We might be able to save them up slowly once we live for a longer time, but 1 point is still great. 

“Let’s buy the ring at once.” (Jeanne)

“Right.” (Hikaru)

“Eh, ring?! Why ring?! W-Wait, what’s going on? Please explain in a way that I can understand!” (Rifreya)

Rifreya had been silent the whole time until now, but it is true that she can’t hear the voice of God or see the Status Board, so it is natural that she wants an explanation.

“My bad. No one has transferred yet. It seems like it will take a bit more time.” (Hikaru)

“You say that, but uhm…what’s that about rings?” (Rifreya)

“Reya, we will explain that later, so wait… Exchange…” (Jeanne)

Jeanne stopped Rifreya with her hand and controlled the Status Board with no waste. 

“Then, I will buy it too.” (Hikaru)

I take off my Dark Night Gauntlet, choose the Scapegoat Ring from the Status Board, and tap it. 

At the same time as 1 point was consumed, a simple golden ring appeared in the ring finger of my right hand. 

I see, so that’s why it can’t be traded or transferred. It appears in a way that you can’t take off from the very beginning. 

“Tada~h. Matching rings~.” (Jeanne)

“O-Oi.” (Hikaru)

Jeanne grabbed my arm and showed hers and mine to Rifreya.

“Aaaaah! What?! What’s that?! Not fair! Cutting the line! I want one too!” (Rifreya)

“Too bad, Reya. This ring is exclusive to Chosen.” (Jeanne)

“It doesn’t look like we can take them off, so if the effect wasn’t good, this would be a cursed ring…” (Hikaru)

“I will have Hikaru buy me a cursed ring too!” (Rifreya)

“Calm down.” (Hikaru)

I somehow managed to soothe Rifreya, explained the situation, and somehow had her understand. 

Jeanne often teases Rifreya in this way because she finds it amusing, but Rifreya is the type that takes things seriously, so if possible, I would like her to stop that. 

By the way, I was made to promise her to buy a ring. 

“The 2nd group is coming. The dots are increasing.” (Jeanne)

I once again look at the map at the words of Jeanne. 

It is true that they are increasing slowly. As of now, there’s no one who has transferred to the Ringpill Continent, but…

“Ah, it increased. This one is pretty close, right? A bit north…enclosed like a circle… What was that place?” (Hikaru)

“This is…Hell. I investigated the surrounding geography to a certain degree with the map at the guild, but it is apparently a wasteland that you won’t ever get out of once you fall into it. You know about it too, right, Reya?” (Jeanne)

“Yeah, it is scary. I have not seen it myself, but my senior explorer said they have gone until the circle. There was enough distance to the bottom that it would make you dizzy, and you would definitely die if you fell from that. There’s apparently incredibly big lizards and birds, and it is a place that a normal explorer definitely wouldn’t be able to survive. Also, I have heard that a country somewhere sends criminals to that hell as a death sentence.” (Rifreya)

“It is pitiful, but this Chosen will die. Did they choose Random Transfer?” (Jeanne)

“I see…” (Hikaru)

Of course, it is not like we can go to save them.

It doesn’t really click to me what kind of place it is just from being called hell, but is it a place similar to that of the Grand Canyon? 

I was on the verge of dying once because of the Random Transfer. I would like them to survive somehow, but from what I hear here, it is an even harsher place than the one I was dropped in… It would be difficult to survive. 

It might end up differently if they choose Random Transfer again, but I wonder what they will do.

“Hmm, more are coming in. South. The place I was transferred to.” (Jeanne)

“The port city?” (Hikaru)

“That’s right. It is a small city, so they might be coming to Meltia.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne is adding the new dots to the notebook.

The 1st Chosen group are marked with ● and the 2nd Chosen group with ☆ to differentiate them. 

“Speaking of which, was this dot always here?” (Hikaru)

A blue dot that’s further northwest than us. It has been in my mind since before the 2nd Chosen group transfer. 

I think they will be crossing paths with Alex in a bit more, but they might be heading to Meltia judging from the direction. If that’s the case, they will be arriving in a few days. 

“They are from the 1st group, but it doesn’t matter who they are. The 1st group is relatively safer than the 2nd group, and there’s no reason for them to go through the trouble of coming to meet us. They must be aiming for the dungeon.” (Jeanne)

“Hope that’s the case.” (Hikaru)

The blue dots of the 2nd group increased while we were doing that.

7 dots increased south, and 6 showed up in Meltia. 

23 dots increased in the capital of Stranoa. There’s clearly many Chosen who have transferred to cities.

Of course, there were also a decent number of people that transferred to a place where there’s no settlements in their surroundings like the man/woman that transferred to the hell.

But it seems like almost all of them have transferred to safe places. 

This is most likely due to the high amount of deaths in the 1st group in a short span of time. Me coming out alive was also almost all luck. 

It is true that 300 people died in the 1st group after all.

“More people than expected have transferred to Ringpill. Now the question is how many will be coming here, and how many in total will be living in Meltia… Looking at how things are, I would say around 20.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne says with a complicated expression.

20 people will be confluencing in one city from within 300 people. Considering that the transfer covers the whole world, this is certainly a high number. 

“They really must have been able to choose where to transfer.” (Hikaru)

“They most likely couldn’t choose exactly which city to transfer to. If they could, more people would have been concentrated in Gran Alismaris. It is most likely like before: teleporting in front of a random settlement.” (Jeanne)

It is true that if you can choose which city, most people would choose the big ones. 

In other words, judging from the distribution here, it is natural to assume that they couldn’t choose. 

“By the way, what’s Gran Alismaris?” (Hikaru)

“Hm? You don’t know? It is the biggest dungeon city in the world.” (Jeanne)

“Eeeh, you didn’t know, Hikaru?!” (Rifreya)

“This exchange is so nostalgic. You already know that I lack a lot of basic knowledge, right, Rifreya?” (Hikaru)

Looks like this is knowledge that an explorer should naturally have. 

Being the biggest in the world must mean it should be bigger than Meltia. 

I see. I certainly do see why more Chosen would want to go there. It is the city with the biggest and oldest dungeon in the world where the Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Light Great Spirit-samas are gathered. It is further away than the Dark Metropolis of Milliestas, so of course I haven’t been there, but it is the place any explorer longs to go to. Right, let’s go one day!” (Rifreya)

“One day. I can’t imagine a journey that long though.” (Hikaru)

“If the Chosen are way too annoying, it might be an option. We have the Shadow Storage of Kuro, so it shouldn’t end up that dangerous of a journey.” (Jeanne)

“How far away is it on the map?” (Hikaru)

Jeanne points at one part of the map in the notebook. 

This isekai is different from Earth, but…it is crossing the equator at the southern hemisphere. Almost at the center of the Roshesill Continent. A distance that you would have to get on a ship at least 2 times, and would take several months to get to walking. 

“It would be impossible to travel there.” (Hikaru)

“Don’t say impossible so easily. It can be done. We might be able to buy a car with points in the future.” (Jeanne)

“Even if we have a car, what about the gas…” (Hikaru)

The roads are not maintained either. A mountain bike would be more realistic. 

Well, we can’t buy those with points anyways, so there’s no point in considering it though.

By the way, horses have pretty bad consumption for performance. They suit travels and don’t at the same time. We have the stamina from our Tiers, so it would be safer to move with our own legs. 

We waited for a while for blue dots to increase, and after counting that 300 had shown up, we counted them again.

“6 with just Meltia alone, huh. There’s a high chance the people that transferred to close cities will be coming here…” (Hikaru)

“Dungeons are the fastest way for us foreign people to earn money after all. If you become a guild member, you can get the bare minimum social status. Well, Kuro and I have properly discussed that we don’t want to get involved with Chosen, and the discrete ones won’t be going out of their way to make contact with us…probably…” (Jeanne)

Jeanne’s voice gets lower and lower. 

She is tough when it comes to monsters, but she isn’t that good when it comes to people.

That said, there’s nothing we can do currently. 

There’s already 6 Chosen in Meltia. That’s the only reality. 

“It is still the first day, so let’s stay in the dungeon until night and return to our house once it gets dark. Depending on the situation, we might have to get a High Efficiency Map of the Surroundings. I don’t really want to get it though.” (Jeanne)

“What exactly is a Map of the Surroundings?” (Hikaru)

“It is a map that apparently shows the surroundings of the place where you bought it at…a radius of around…a few kilometers, I think. I have only heard about it from messages, so that’s all the knowledge I have of it.” (Jeanne)

“If it is kilometers, it doesn’t sound so bad, but it costs a lot of Points.” (Hikaru)

“5 Points. This is just an assumption, but it must be quite the detailed map for that cost. According to the messages, there’s apparently almost no people who have bought that map though.” (Jeanne)

At the time when I transferred, even when I heard 5 Points, I didn’t think of it as that high of a price, but now 5 Points feel pretty expensive. 

However, if it can be used in a dungeon you see for the first time, it might be pretty invaluable. 

If we arrive at an unexplored floor of Meltia, we should consider using it as one of our options.

“If we take the High Efficiency Map of the Surroundings, it should be able to cover the whole Meltia. If we can always tell where the Chosen are, we can make sure not to meet them, and we can avoid being ambushed at our home. Our faces are known, so it might be a good idea to take it as soon as possible.” (Jeanne)

“I see… But 5 Points…” (Hikaru)

I do think we have to be careful of the 2nd group, but it is hard to gauge how much resources we should be utilizing for it. 

The ultimate means to definitely not meet with anyone would be to continue moving to places where Chosen are not there, but it is not like we are criminals, so there’s no way we can lead a lifestyle like that.

If it had been me alone…I might have taken that choice.

But I can’t drag Jeanne who has the objective to conquer the dungeon, and most of all, I can’t just go escaping alone while breaking my promise of accomplishing that objective with her. 

“What’s left is to face it when it happens. We have the High Heal Scholls, Barrier Stones, and also the Scapegoat Rings. I doubt we will be getting caught off-guard by newbies that easily. If they come at us guns blazing without caring about their surroundings, I can’t really say we can just handle it, but let’s believe there’s no one that stupid.” (Jeanne)

“Don’t say something that scary.” (Hikaru)

“Kuro, there’s a lot of different people from us out there. It might be difficult for you to understand when you have been living in a peaceful Japan though.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne says that, but the chances of there being a dangerous person mixed in the 6 that have come to Meltia must be pretty low. Rather, the chances of there being someone who is going to go through the trouble of aiming for us is pretty low. That’s how it would go, logically speaking. 

However, if there’s that faint chance of it, it is true that we should think of countermeasures. 

In the end, we killed time on the 3rd Floor by doing some light hunting, and stealthily returned to our house at night. 

Fortunately, there were no Chosen waiting for us at our house. 

We are just worrying too much. I want to believe that’s the case.