Chapter 7: Bandit King’s Treasure
Chapter 7: Bandit King’s Treasure
We made camp for the first time after leaving Rosenthal.
We had dinner early today, so I decided to use my time to send the customary offering to Demiurge.
As always, I offered him several bottles of sake and a premium kantsuma set.
＜Thanks for doing this so often~.＞
“No, no, the pleasure’s mine.”
Well, this is something like insurance to me.
＜Providing enough for both those gods and me must be a lot of work. Sorry about all this, really.＞
“It’s fine. I only make offerings to Ninrir and the others once a month now so I have much more leeway there, and since your preferences are so defined, it doesn’t take much time to choose for you.” Demiurge basically let me pick what I thought was good, so I could just rely on the store rankings and not spend too much time on things.
＜I’m glad to hear you say so, but I feel I haven’t rewarded you enough. ............Right! Didn’t you all just leave Rosenthal?＞
“Yes, that’s right...?”
＜I see... Then I have something that might be perfect. It’s a rule among us gods to not interfere too much with matters down there, but this should be okay.＞
Hm? What’s that mean?
＜There’s a mountain nearby, right?＞
Mountain? Oh, yeah I can see one to the left of the road.
＜Go there.＞
“Huh? Is there something in the mountain?”
＜Well, you’ll just have to find out, won’tya? I bet your Fenrir’ll notice first. Alright then. Bye now.＞
“Ah!! Lord Demiurge!!” I tried to call him many times after that, to no avail.
“Go to the mountain? What’s even there?”
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“That’s what he said.” I brought up what Demiurge told me during breakfast.
By the way, Fel and the others were scarfing down a hearty ginger-fried pork rice bowl first thing in the morning.
There was no way I could emulate that, so I settled for rice balls, one with finely chopped bonito flakes and one with mustard greens. I also bought instant miso soup with my skill.
《So a god has instructed us to go to that mountain? Interesting... More.》 With Fel’s fifth demand for more, I presented him with an extra-large helping of ginger-fried pork over rice.
“Here. I have no idea what’s over there, but since a god said to go, we have to go, right?”
《But you know, the mountains are where those things live. Gimme more too.》
Dora-chan’s eating a lot this morning.
I put Dora-chan’s third serving in front of him.
“You know about those mountains?”
《Well, yeah. It was a long time ago, but I visited them by accident. Man, that was awful.》 Dora-chan talked while shoving mouthfuls of rice bowl down his gullet.
《Masterrr, Sui wants more toooo!》
Next is Sui, huh?
I served Sui its fifth helping, just like Fel.
“Awful?”
《Yeah. I’d never lose against those things one-on-one, but they’re so numerous. And persistent too. So persistent. I was chased around for so long last time. That made me mad, though, so I used Ice magic at full power to blow them away.》
Umm, is it just me or is he saying a lot of ominous things? Like that ‘they’re really numerous’ and ‘so persistent.’ What could Dora-chan even be referring to? And he said things like ‘full power’ and ‘Ice magic.’ Wouldn’t it be really dangerous if Dora-chan used magic at full power?
《So when over half of them became skewers on my ice, they finally learned the meaning of fear and stopped chasing me!》
............Dora-chan...
《Oh? So you have had a confrontation with them too, Dora?》
《You have too, Fel?》
《Indeed. Dora is correct, they are numerous and devious. They are not especially strong, but with their numbers they were quite a pain to deal with.》
《Yep yep. There’re so many of ’em and they’re so persistent and cunning! They tried to use their numbers to throw stones from every direction.》
Whaaat? Whatever they are, they could throw rocks?
《But I am not alone this time. Dora and Sui are here. I want to visit a hard dungeon, but we cannot very well ignore a divine order. Heheheh, it will be fun to pay them back on the way to the mountain.》
《Oh! I’m all for that! They caused me a lot of trouble too. Let’s fuck ’em up!》
Fel, you’re lookin’ kinda evil there. And you, Dora-chan, you already skewered more than half of them with ice. Doesn’t that make you even? In the first place...
“What the hell have you two been talking about this entire time?”
《Black baboons.》
《Yep. A monster called a black baboon.》
Black baboon? Baboon... So, like a monkey monster?
《Monster? Are we fighting?》
《Indeed. We are. Of course, victory is assured.》
《Hahhaahh! Of course!》
《Yayyy! Sui will beat looots and lots!》 All three of them looked positively ready to murder.
But uhh...why am I getting a bad feeling about this?
“It’s not like we have the option not to go... I mean, Demiurge told me to do this myself...”
Hmmm...
《Okay. We have finished breakfast, so let us go now.》
《Yeah! Let’s go!》
《Looots and loooots!》
“Wai-! W-W-Wait a second! Why are you trying to run off so suddenly?! We haven’t even cleaned up.”
《Mrrr... Hurry it up.》
“I will, but it won’t be as fast as you want.”
《What? This is a divine order, you realize? We must act upon it immediately.》
《Exactly. Let’s hurry up and go! I’m gonna teach ’em what for!》
《Masterrr, let’s hurry to the mountain!》
No good. They’re totally in battle mode. I won’t be able to stop them. Agghhh, fine. I guess let’s just go.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
We’d arrived at the foot of the mountain that Demiurge said we should go to, where a large forest dominated the landscape. According to Fel, it was called Mt. Berit.
《This is the black baboon’s territory. We will proceed carefully.》
《You got it!》
《Sui will beat ’em up!》
“W-Will I be fine......? I have nothing but worries...”
《My word, why are you so cowardly all the time? You have the Perfect Defense skill, there should be no reason to be that worried.》
“You might say that, but everything you guys said is so worrying. Like how there’s so many of them, or that they throw stones and chase you around... I might have the Perfect Defense skill, but that doesn’t mean getting mobbed isn’t scary as hell.”
《Well, it won’t come to that. That’s why we’re here. Right, Fel?》
《Indeed. We will sweep them off the face of this world.》
《Sui will protect you, Master, so don’t worry!》
They’re so confident... Well, I know just how strong they are, but for some reason I’ve got a real bad feeling...
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“Woah! Waaaagghh!” We were currently in the middle of being doggedly chased.
Those black baboons were no joke.
The second we stepped foot into the forest that was their territory, they appeared.
They were baboon monsters with black fur that stood almost two meters tall.
From the ground or from among the thick tree branches, before we knew it, they came from everywhere in this untouched forest and tightly surrounded us.
On top of that, as they appeared, they were already screaming and baring their teeth in an attempt to be intimidating. I was seriously on the verge of wetting myself.
But my familiars were all calm, like they’d already sensed them before they showed themselves.
Fel even said, 《So you finally show yourselves,》 before immediately and with no prior warning swinging his front paw to unleash a Rending Claws attack.
That single strike sliced a lot of black baboons to ribbons, along with entire trees.
It managed to create a hole in their net, allowing us to escape.
That led to where we were now, and of course I was riding on Fel’s back like usual...
“Waagh! Waaaaaaaggghhh!!” I was desperately clinging to Fel, who was running at ferocious speeds while weaving between trees. I couldn’t help but scream.
The baboons, who had lost some of their comrades, screamed as they chased us. Not only that, but Fel and Dora-chan were right. They were throwing an awful lot of rocks at us. Thanks to Fel’s barrier, none of them hit, but the sounds of the rocks continuously thudding off of it was terrifying.
《F-Fel! How long do we have to run for?!》 I sent through telepathy while desperately clutching at Fel’s nape.
《It depends on how many pursuers Dora and Sui manage to stop. Once we lower their numbers a bit, we can counterattack.》 Dora-chan was using his flight ability to rain Ice magic upon the black baboons from above the trees and lessen their numbers.
And Sui was on my back and shoulders as I clung to Fel, skillfully rapid-firing Acid Bullets like a machine gun.
《Hah?! What depends?! They’re already more than half gone! But it’s not over yet! I’m gonna teach them just who they’re messing with, I’ll teach them until they’re sick!》
《Sui’s gonna get more and more tooo!》
《Hehaha! That is the spirit, you two! There is a clearing ahead. We will take care of the rest of them there all at once!》
《Yeah!!》
《Okay!》
《Nonono! We don’t actually have to deal with all of them! Why can’t we just lose them or something?!》
Agghh! Why is this trio so belligerent! Ah, is this because of the War God Vahagn’s blessing?! I could vaguely remember Vahagn saying something like that.
Wait, but Sui shouldn’t have Vahagn’s blessing...?
《Okay, we are speeding up!》
《What?! W-Wait a second!!》 Fel suddenly sped up.
“Waaaaaaaaaaagghh!” The wind pressure was so strong I couldn’t open my eyes, but even so, I could feel the black baboons behind us keeping up.
“Woa! Woaa!” “Gyaah! Gyah!” “Woo! Woooo!” Countless noisy cries entered my ears.
《H-Hey, Fel, you said you were going to get all of them in the clearing ahead, but is there really a clearing in a forest this thick?!》
《There is.》
《R-Really?》
《You are such a worrier. Just shut up and see.》
You say that, but...
Fel put on even more speed.
“W-Woooooaaaaaaggghhhh!” I shut my eyes and clung to Fel for a few minutes.
《Okay. We are here.》 Fel said after skidding to a stop. We were now in a huge unnatural clearing, with not a single standing tree in the middle of an incredibly thick forest.
The clearing was as big as two soccer fields.
We were pretty much right in the middle, and the black baboons had started flooding in.
“Woo! Wooo!” “Gyahh! Gyah!” “Woo! Woa! Wooo!” The threatening voices of the black baboons reverberated through the clearing, causing all the birds nesting in the surrounding trees to take off.
《Oh? Their numbers have been lessened quite a bit.》
《Well, yeah.》 Dora-chan, who rejoined us at some point, answered.
《Sui worked hard!》 Sui had also gotten off my back at one point and was bouncing up and down on the ground.
《Okay. I will take care of the finale.》 Fel said, and at the same time, a tornado appeared in the center of the horde of black baboons.
Then...
“Woah............” With nothing to hold onto, the black baboons got sucked up by the tornado.
Of course, the tornado, most likely Fel’s Wind magic, wasn’t just a regular tornado. There were blades of wind hidden everywhere inside it.
The tornado was thus something like a giant blender, mercilessly turning the black baboons into mincemeat.
“That’s a pretty nasty piece of magic, Fel.”
《Hmph. These things are just too numerous. This will simply bring them back into balance.》
《Wahhh~! The red is spinning round and round! Masterrr, look look!》
“Urp... I’m looking, Sui. ...It’s a tornado that’s stained red with blood............” In front of us, a red tornado was spinning, spraying blood everywhere.
《It should be just about over.》 Fel said as the tornado dissipated.
At the same time, pulped black baboon meat chunks dropped to the ground with wet thuds.
“............”
《Okay, let us proceed.》
《Yeah.》
《It’s already over?》
“Nonono, wait a second.”
《What is it? Black baboon meat is terrible, there is no point in retrieving it. They have no magic stones either, and their pelts are not that useful either so there should be no point in picking them up.》
“No, that’s not what I meant. Well, it kind of is. But more importantly, like, look at this grisly scene you made. I mean, isn’t there something, like... more you should be feeling?”
《I have no idea what you are babbling on about. In the first place, their fates were sealed as soon as they decided to attack us, the strong. That is all it is. Also, why is this different? The things we did in dungeons before are pretty much the same.》
“When you put it that way, you may be right, but...” Unlike in dungeons, where the bodies disappeared and just left drops, this just seemed more real.
《That’s how it is. Their corpses will either feed other monsters or return to the ground.》 Fel and Dora-chan both felt nothing seeing what they wrought.
I guess in the end, it’s the law of the jungle... Not that I wasn’t already aware, though. I’m so glad that all three of them are on my side. Still, that blood-red tornado... I feel like I’ll be seeing that in my dreams...
“By the way, it’s amazing that you knew this clearing existed in this huge thick forest.”
《Mm? Well... When I was here before...》
“Huh? Before...?” I looked around the clearing. “Whaaaaaat...?”
What the hell did you do, Fel?
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
We managed to pass through the forest that served as the black baboon’s territory, and now stood before a towering mountain.
《Hm?》 Fel made a noise and stared at a point near the peak of the mountain.
“What?”
《There seems to be a steep cliff just before the peak.》
“Yeah, looks like it.”
《There is magic placed on that area, something like an illusion.》
“Illusion? Which means there’s something there?”
《Most likely.》
《If that’s the case, why don’t I just pop up there and check?》 Dora-chan suggested after hearing the conversation between Fel and me.
True, Dora-chan can fly so he can just go up and check...
“If there’s an illusion placed on it, that means someone did that on purpose, right? Won’t it be dangerous?”
《It should not be a problem for Dora.》
《Yeah. I’m not that weak.》
“I know Dora-chan isn’t weak, but he’ll be going alone, won’t he? We’ve all been acting together this whole time, too. Anything could happen up there. Of course I’m worried.”
《I’m telling you I’ll be fine. Even if something happens, it’s not like I’ll die right away.》
《Exactly. Dora is strong enough for me to respect him as such. He will not fall to just anything.》
“If both of you are that certain, then I guess it’s fine, but...”
《I’ll be back right away, just wait here. Right then, time to do some work.》
“Ah! Dora-chan, wait!” Dora-chan paid me no heed and zipped off towards the mountain peak.
“He didn’t have to rush off right away... Will he be okay...?”
《You need not worry. Dora is strong.》
I know that. I’m just worried because he’ll be all alone in a place where anything can happen.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“Hey, is he really gonna be okay?” It had already been two hours since Dora-chan flew up to check things out. At this point, it was only natural that I started to worry. I couldn’t sit still.
《Stop fidgeting, calm down. How many times have I told you that you need not worry about Dora?》 I was pacing around restlessly, and Fel was looking at me with exasperation.
“You say that, but look how long it’s been since Dora-chan left! Something happened, didn’t it?”
《Wait, look there. He has returned.》 Fel pointed towards the air with his snout, and I could see something coming for us at high speed. It wooshed through the air and came to a sudden stop in front of me.
《Sorry I took so long.》
“Dora-chan! I was so worried since you weren’t coming back!”
《I already said sorry.》
《Hmph. And that is why I have been telling you not to worry.》
“You know, anyone would start worrying after such a long time.”
《What happened?》
Ah, Sui woke up. Even though it’d been sleeping so soundly after the fight with the black baboons...
《Sui is awake. Perfect. I found something neat up there.》
《Neat?》
《Yeah. What I found was...》 According to Dora-chan, the cliff before the peak that Fel pointed out was in fact shrouded in an illusion and only looked like a regular cliff at first glance. But since Fel had identified the trickery in play, Dora-chan continued to carefully explore it, and eventually found a cave-like hole around the middle of the cliff.
《Since I wasn’t sure that was the main thing being hidden by the illusion, I decided to search inside first. Then...》 Dora-chan found some human corpses skewered by spears. There were three bodies, and whatever happened apparently happened long ago since they were desiccated skeletons at this point. They wore leather armor and had swords, much like a common adventurer seen in any Adventurer’s guild.
Other than that, Dora-chan also found what seemed to be monster bones that had been crushed into powder.
Given the three factors of ‘cave,’ ‘adventurer,’ and, ‘monster,’ the first thing I thought of was a dungeon.
It seemed Dora-chan thought the same thing, but as he proceeded further, not a single monster appeared.
Thinking it was weird, Dora-chan stopped hovering and touched down. The instant he did...
《There was a huge roar and everything over my head was covered in fire.》
“The second you landed?”
《Sounds like a trap. You were saved by being so small, Dora.》
《Tch! Shut up!》
“Still, does the fact that there’s traps mean that it really is a dungeon?” From what Dora-chan said, there wouldn’t be any monsters, but since there were traps, I still felt that it being a dungeon was the biggest possibility.
《Are we going to a dungeon?》
《No, Sui, it’s not a dungeon. I went quite a ways inside, so I’m sure of that. It felt like that trap was something man-made, rather than a dungeon trap.》
“Man-made?”
《Yeah. Like, the fire I talked about smelled of oil. A dungeon wouldn’t bother with oil.》
Now that he mentions it, that’s true.
Thanks to Fel and the others being there, I was never hurt by traps anyway so I’d forgotten that dungeons had similar traps.
But when I thought back I never once smelled oil.
《Dungeon traps are fundamentally built within the dungeon. So if something uses fire, they would not bother with oil, and would use a fire magic stone instead.》 Fel was right, dungeons had monsters in them so even without oil, it would be easier to use a fire magic stone anyway.
“Which means the trap is man-made, like Dora-chan said. But why? Is there something in the cave they want to go that far to protect?”
《Like a treasure or something?》
“No, no, it’s not necessarily a treasure, right? If they’re going to hide it in a place like that, then it might be some sort of dark thing with a history that can’t be brought out into the world.”
《No, that does not seem likely. We received a divine order to come here. If this thing should remain hidden, then we would not have been told about it.》
“Ah! You’re right. We were told to come to this mountain. Then what could it be?”
《I believe Dora’s theory of a treasure would be the most plausible, but............ Ahah!》 Fel raised his voice like he’d thought of something.
“Do you know something, Fel?”
《I remember now.》
“What?”
《Hm... Around 300 years ago, there was a bandit who styled himself the bandit king.》
“Bandit king?” According to Fel, the human who called himself the bandit king and his crew made this place their stronghold even while going all over the continent and stealing things along the way. They’d attack any carriage that seemed like it had money, from merchant caravans to nobles. And as soon as they succeeded in hitting their target and getting what they wanted, they’d leave.
Thanks to that, it was quite hard to figure out where they were at any given time. Back then, entire countries and their Adventurer’s guilds apparently had their hands full with this bandit king.
Fel only knew that the bandit king made his base here because he was Fel. No one else had any way of figuring that out.
“You could have just told them this was their base.”
《I had no responsibility to do so. Why would I?》
“Well, true...”
《At any rate, this forest was black baboon territory even then, and they still managed to come and go freely. They probably obtained some sort of magic item to allow it.》 If this place was already black baboon territory back then, of course they’d never be found.
No one would expect them to settle down in such a dangerous area.
《That bandit king was the very picture of greed. Apparently, even when he was on the verge of dying from old age, he was still clinging to his treasures, saying he would give them to no one before disappearing.》
Wow. Sounds like a monster. It’s not like you can bring your treasures to the afterlife.
《After that, decades passed before the bandit king’s descendants leaked the rumor that his base was somewhere in this area. From there, people started to speculate that the bandit king’s treasure was somewhere here too. Many adventurers came looking for that treasure, it seems. Almost all of them fell to the black baboons, though.》
“So that’s why no one’s said that they found the bandit king’s treasure.”
《Indeed.》
“So you think that the cave that Dora-chan found has the bandit king’s treasure in it?”
《Well, yes.》
............Sounds plausible. I mean, the entire reason why Demiurge told me to come here was as thanks for the offerings, too.
With that in mind, I could only imagine this would benefit me.
“The bandit king’s treasure, huh...?”
Sounds fun.
《Hehahahaha! I hear what you’re saying! That sounds great! As of yet unfound treasure? Sui, it isn’t a dungeon but this is gonna be fun!》
《Fun? Sui wants to do it too!》
《So let’s hurry up and go!》
《Indeed.》
《Let’s go!》
“Nonono, hold your horses. I know you’re all excited to go, but we only have an hour of daylight left. There’s no way we can climb a mountain in the dark, right? We’re doing it tomorrow. Tomorrow.”
《Mrr, there is no other choice, I suppose.》
《Well, I’m hungry too, so I’m okay with doing it tomorrow...》
《Sui is also hungry, we can do it tomorrow.》 With that, it was decided that we’d climb the mountain tomorrow.
I was totally on board with doing this since the bandit king’s treasure interested me too, but before that...
“How are we even going to climb this mountain?”
This one looks impossible to scale unless you’re a pro mountain climber...
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
《Okay. Time for food.》
《I’m hungry!》
《Sui is hungryyy!》
“Yeah, yeah, I know already. ...Brrr, so cold.” As one might expect from the foot of a mountain, the billowing wind was chilly and pierced my body.
I was thinking of just making do with what I had premade, but in this cold weather I wanted something to warm me up.
And for something that was simple but warming, it had to be hot pot.
Yeah, let’s do hot pot for tonight.
With that decided, I opened up my Online Supermarket. As I was looking through the soup choices...
“Tomato hot pot? I’ve tried it before, and I remember it being pretty good. Yeah, an exotic flavor like this is nice every once in a while. This is the kind I tried before, right?” I was looking at a tomato hot-pot soup from a brand famous for ketchup and tomato juice.
When I had it before, the deep flavor and sweetness of ripe tomato went perfectly with the soup’s contents like vegetables and meat.
I also looked at a soup from a famous yakiniku brand. The description for this one said that it used ripe tomatoes and basil for a well-rounded and mild soup.
“This one looks good too. Maybe I should get both and compare them?” With that idea, I bought both.
For the contents, I decided on cabbage, onions, carrots, broccoli, shimeji mushrooms, sausages, and cockatrice meat.
Cut the cockatrice meat into bite-sized pieces, the cabbage into rough chunks, the onions into wedges, and the carrots into 5mm discs. Separate the broccoli into smaller pieces and untangle the shimeji mushrooms after removing the foot. As for the sausages, cut them into slices diagonally.
After that, add the tomato soup to the clay pot and bring it to a boil. Once the pot is nice and bubbling, put in the cockatrice meat, sausages, and carrots in that order. When those ingredients have been cooked somewhat, throw in the rest of the vegetables and continue to simmer the whole pot until everything’s been boiled well. Once that’s done, sprinkle some cheese on top to finish it.
The bubbling tomato soup would turn the melting cheese into a gooey and delicious cover.
*Gulp*......
“It looks really good.”
《Hey, is it done yet?》
《Hurry up so we can eat it.》
《It looks goooood!》 My familiars were peeking over my shoulder, lured in by the smell.
Fel and Dora-chan were even drooling.
“Hey come on, you two’re drooling. Wait, stop that! It’ll get in the pot!” I said, and both of them hurriedly wiped off their drool.
Then...
《W-We are not drooling. Not at all.》
《Y-Yeah!》 They said.
Umm, you clearly were...
《Masterrr, Sui is hungry. Let’s eat already.》
“Ahh, sure, sure. Just wait a second.” Hurried along by Sui, I placed two pots in front of each of them.
《Are these both the same?》
“No. They’re both tomato hot-pot, but this one has a soup with an herb called basil in it.”
《They look quite appetizing.》
《Smells great too!》
《Indeed. It is unpleasant how many vegetables there are, but it still smells nice. For now, I will try it.》
“Sure, eat up. The vegetables are delicious too, you know? Ah, they’re hot so be careful.” Fel and Dora-chan used wind magic to cool down the food, while Sui ignored the heat completely and just started eating.
《Wooww~, this is delicious!》 It seemed like Sui really liked the food.
《Mnrr, hurry and cool down!》
《It’s times like these that I get really jealous of Sui, who doesn’t care about heat.》 The two of them muttered. Before long, their food was finally cool enough, and Fel and Dora-chan started eating.
《Yes... Yes, this will do.》
“Will do”? When you’re scarfing it down like that?
《Ohh~! This is great. This cheese thing is amazing with this red soup!》 Dora-chan moaned in pleasure while tasting the combination of melty cheese and tomato soup.
Well, of course. There’s no way tomato and cheese wouldn’t fit. I should eat too.
I started with the one that used the soup I had eaten before, from the brand that was famous for ketchup and tomato juice.
Yeah, I remember this taste.
There was a deep flavor behind the sweetness, and it was good.
Setting aside all the extraneous stuff, the soup and the melted cheese wrapped around these vegetables with some cockatrice meat is really delicious. Lemme just get some soup by itself......
“Ahh~, that hits the spot.” It was good, I had no complaints.
Next, I tried the hot pot with the soup from the famous yakiniku brand.
“Yeah, I can taste the basil.” The basil taste made this one lean more into adult taste buds.
In my opinion, kids would like the other soup, which had a universal appeal.
But that didn’t change the fact that this was tomato soup, so the combination of soup and fillings covered in melted cheese was delicious.
“Hmm, they’re both good. As I thought, you can’t go wrong with the tomato and cheese combo. Wait, then...” I took out some simple bread made with whole wheat flour that I bought from Rosenthal’s orphanage.
Just dip this in the tomato soup...
“Yep, just as good as I thought it’d be. Bread soaked in tomato soup is soooo good.”
《Mn? Is that good? I want some too.》
《Me too!》
《Sui too!》 Their senses were sharp, and they caught me trying out the bread, so they all requested their own.
“Sure thing. Ah, but there’s still the finisher, so control yourselves. I’ve got two different types this time.”
《Ohh, I am looking forward to that.》
《Finisher? You mean that thing we do at the end? That’s pretty good too.》
《Sui is looking forward to it~!》
After that, my familiars all had several more bowls before we could finally start the finisher. I’d prepared both rice and pasta for this stage.
“Put rice in this soup and simmer it for a bit...” For the soup from the famous tomato juice brand, I put in cold rice to make a faux risotto.
“And put pasta in this soup before cooking it a little...” For the soup from the famous yakiniku brand, I put in some very al dente pasta and finished cooking it in the soup for a soup pasta.
The finisher risotto and pasta, which had the flavors of the soup with cockatrice meat and vegetables soaked into it, was very well received by my familiars.
Fel and Sui had me reverse my choice and put pasta in the famous tomato juice brand and rice in the famous yakiniku sauce brand and enjoyed that instead.
Once we were full and warmed up by the soup, I quickly used Earth magic to make my box-shaped little house, spread my futon inside, and went to sleep early in preparation for tomorrow.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
With breakfast finished, we were just about to set off up the mountain, but...
“How are we supposed to climb this?” The rough rock face was at such a steep angle it was almost vertical. I had no confidence that I could climb it, especially with no experience.
《Hmph, this is easy. Just ride on my back, as you always do.》
“Well, if that’s all I need to do...” Fel was very confident, so I just climbed on his back like usual.
Of course, Sui was in my bag.
《Then I’ll go on ahead.》 Dora-chan said before flying off towards the cave.
《We are going too.》 Fel said before jumping mightily.
“Huh? W-Wait a second...... GYAHHHHH! IS THIS WHAT YOU MEANT BY CLIMBIIIINNNGGG?!” Fel was, as always, Fel.
He didn’t even seem to care about how steep the slope was, he simply ran up the wall like it was flat.
............... ............ ......
“I... I thought I was gonna die...” Fel finally stopped when we were right in front of the wall where the cave was.
《My word, you just would not stop shouting in my ear. You are way too noisy.》
“IT’S NOT LIKE I WANTED TO SHOUT!”
《Hmph, how pathetic.》
Well soorrryyy for being ‘pathetic.’ What’s scary is scary, okay? It was like a rollercoaster that did nothing but climb at full speed. I made it a point to never, ever, ever get on roller coasters, so I’d actually like an apology almost.
“Well, it’s great that we managed to get this far, but no matter how you slice it, it’ll be impossible to go any farther.” While the slope leading up here was steep, the wall in front of us was pretty much actually vertical.
The impression it gave off up close was wildly different from how it looked from a distance. It was intimidating.
《Heeyyy, what the hell’re you guys doooinggg?! It’s right heeerreee! Come up alreaaddyyy!》 Dora-chan came in through telepathy. He looked like a small grain from this distance.
《Indeed. We are coming to you now.》
“H-H-H-H-Hey! Going?! That’s impossible! Let’s just give up!” While I was interested in the bandit king’s treasure, I felt that there was no choice but to give up in the face of this impassable obstacle.
《What nonsense are you spouting? Look at all the footholds, this is easy.》
............Wha? Footholds? On this sheer wall?
“Hey, uhhh... Are you going blind, Fel? Where are these mythical footholds you speak of, on this smooth and sheer rock wall?”
《Mrr, look at how many there are. Do you have holes in your head instead of eyes?》
“Really now... where?” I facetiously pretended like I was interested and made a show of looking closer, but I still couldn’t see anything. Nothing that looked like it could be used as a foothold.
《*Sigh* Whatever. Just get on.》
“Whaaat?”
《Shut up and get on!》 Fel prodded me with his nose and forced me to get on his back.
When I did, Fel jumped up with light movements, almost like a bunny.
“Huh?” He cleared ten meters with his jump before placing his paws on a small bump in the wall that would in no way be considered a foothold to anyone else and easily jumped up again.
“＃＄〇＆♪×￥▲◎!!!” I was so surprised I couldn’t even form words. All that left my mouth was unintelligible screaming.
Fel showed no signs of minding me and simply kept jumping.
《You’re finally here.》 Dora-chan was waiting for us when we finally got into the entrance of the cave.
《Sorry to keep you waiting.》
《Hey, what’s got him so scared?》 Dora-chan asked after seeing me, slumped near lifelessly on Fel’s back.
《He just has no guts.》
“Urrghh...” ‘That’s just unreasonable, Fel. Don’t you dare put us on the same pedestal! I’m normal!’ is what I wanted to say.
But I couldn’t muster the energy to at the moment.
《Hey, hurry and get off.》 Fel said, shaking his body.
I couldn’t muster the strength to hang on, so I fell to the ground with a splat.
Owww... You could have been nicer about that.
“Urrghhh~...”
Agghh, nope. Can’t move. I can’t get up.
《Heeeyyy. Come on, get it together.》
《Are we there?》
............You know, I am supposed to be your master here. I seriously think that the way you all treat me sometimes is just awful. It’d be nice if at least Sui would worry about me instead of getting all excited about the cave.
《Hey, why are you still on the floor like that? Get up already.》
“Urgh...” You can yell at me all you want but I can’t get up. Actually, you can help. Get your damn foot off me.
《Hey.》 *Skoosh*
“Urghh... Fff...ace... Get off............”
《Crap. He’s not getting up. Looks like we’re stuck here until he revives.》
《Good grief, this human......》
《Masterrr, you okay?》
I’m not. Not at all, my dear Sui.
In the end, it took quite a while for me to be able to get back up.
“Whew. We can finally move on.”
《Finally. Hey, thanks to you we wasted so much time that I am hungry again.》
《Me too.》
《Sui is also hungry!》
“You think it’s my fault?! No way...”
《Mm? Did you say something? Hurry and cook. I want food.》
You’re the one at fault, Fel. It’s all because you had to climb in such a ridiculous and life-threatening way!
“Grrrrrr......” Fel you idiot! Is what I wanted to say, but I was a coward and he was a legendary beast.
After that exchange, I was pestered into making food. I used some spicy vegetable stir fry that I’d premade to construct rice bowls.
“Here, a spicy vegetable stir fry rice bowl.”
《Oh, looks good!》
《Yayyyy!》
《Hey, why is there less meat in my share?》
“............Looks normal to me.”
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After we filled up it was time to explore the cave. Fel took the lead as we moved forwards. The deeper we went, the darker it got.
“Wait a second.”
《What is it?》
“Well, unlike in a dungeon, it’s pretty dark in here so I’m going to turn on the lights.” I took out a flashlight I bought from my Online Supermarket from my Item Box and switched it on.
“Woah!” The first thing my flashlight shined on was a skeleton. “That surprised me! Are these the skeletons Dora-chan talked about?”
《Yeah.》 There were three skeletons in leather armor and robes that had been weathered to bits.
Beside the skeletons was a spear that had rusted with the passage of time as well.
“Stuck with a spear, huh? These are some seriously vicious traps.” It’d be impossible to dodge a trap that throws out multiple spears at once unless you’ve got really great reflexes.
《Why not just defend against the spears?》
《Yeah. Or you could dodge them.》
“The both of you say that like it’s simple, but not everybody’s like you two.” I looked at the bones and considered that I might be next, and I shivered.
“Oh yeah, there’s supposed to be traps from now on, right? Will I be okay?” It wouldn’t be funny if I fell into a trap and died.
《Do you not have your perfect defense skill?》
“Well yeah, but didn’t you tell me something before, Fel? That it only defends against those with malicious intent? That’s why it worked in the dungeon, but... This isn’t a dungeon, right?”
《Well, that is true. But I believe a trap set by humans should be the same...》
“You believe? My life is on the life here, you realize? If I die because of this, I’m definitely coming back to haunt you!”
《Mrr, then I will apply a barrier on you. As well as Dora and Sui.》
《Oh, thanks.》
《Thanks uncle Fel!》
“Great, with this I’m safe. Thanks, Fel.”
《Right. It should not break under any trap a human could devise, so rest assured. Still, though, I wish you would be just a little braver.》
Oh shut up. I’m just on the careful side.
《We are proceeding.》
“Okay.” With Fel in the lead, we continued further into the cave.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Clang clang clang clang clang!
Countless marble-sized rocks smacked off of Fel’s barriers, raising up a huge clamor.
《Again? Man, that bandit king or whatever really doesn’t want to let go of his treasure, does he? Not even dungeons have this many traps.》 Dora-chan said, exasperated.
Ever since we entered the cave, it’d just been one trap after another. Spears would be launched from the walls, huge gouts of fire would appear, or even gigantic razor-sharp blades like guillotines would fall from the ceiling... At any rate, there was a huge number of traps of all kinds. On top of that, each one would result in instant death.
“This would have been seriously dangerous without Fel’s barrier...” While I did have Perfect Defense, Fel said he only ‘believed’ it would be fine, after all.
Believed! He ‘believed’!
And if I wanted to test that out I’d die instantly.
As if I could do something as scary as that.
That’s just how brutal these traps were.
《True... If it was me, Fel, or Sui, we probably could’ve just stuck it out and made do, but you’d probably be dead.》 Dora-chan replied after overhearing what I muttered to myself.
But...
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say that I’d probably be dead so casually like that.”
《Hahaha, my bad.》
《It was a good move on my part to use these barriers. They are not unavoidable, but dealing with this many traps is a pain.》 Fel also looked fed up with the sheer number of traps we were seeing.
《Looks like Sui’s the only one having fun.》
“Yeah.”
《Sui is a truly brave slime.》 From the top, that was Dora-chan, me, and Fel.
All of us were looking back at Sui, who was bringing up the rear, bouncing along merrily.
《What’s wrong, everybody? Let’s hurry up and gooo! I wonder what the next one will be like?》 Sui might have felt like all these brutal traps were nothing more than amusement park attractions.
It was even jumping into traps by itself out of interest.
When Sui purposely jumped into a trap that had something that looked like acid falling from the ceiling, I was naturally terrified for it. Though, Sui just absorbed all the acidic liquid into itself like it was nothing.
It even turned back to us, who were all surprised, and said, 《This place is fun!》
Even though I knew quite well that Sui was not normal and a special individual, but even so, we’d raised it to be very strong.
“Well, it is Sui...”
《Yeah.》
《Indeed.》 Somehow, we still didn’t question it because it was Sui.
“Still, are we seriously not at this bandit whatever’s treasure?” In my estimation, we were quite a ways into this cave by now.
《There seems to be something like a room a little ways ahead. That must be it.》
《So we can finally take a gander at the bandit king’s treasure...》
*Click*
The ground under my foot made a sound...
Something rattled as the floor gave way.
“Huh? Waaaaaaghhh!”
《Mm?》 Right before I fell, Fel grabbed on to my collar and pulled me up.
I slumped to the floor.
“Th-That was close...”
《My barriers can do nothing about a pitfall.》 Even if it could protect from attacks, it couldn’t prevent a person from falling.
《Hey now. Be careful, will ya?》
“You can only say that because you can fly, Dora-chan. Even if I’m ‘careful,’ there’s no way to avoid this, okay?! ...Wait, huh? Where’s Sui?”
《Ah! Maybe it fell?》
《Indeed. I can sense Sui at the bottom of the hole.》
“Whaaaat?! Sui fell?! SUIIIIIIII!!!” My eyes almost popped out of my head before I turned around and stared into the hole, calling for Sui.
“It’s too dark, I can’t see. Is Sui okay?!?”
《What a racket you make... I can feel Sui with no difficulty. It is fine.》
《How could you think Sui would die from this? Geez.》
“You say that, but...”
《Masterrr!》
“Sui?!” While I was busy being worried, Sui came jumping out of the hole while sticking to the wall after each hop.
Finally, it plopped down in front of me.
《That was fun!》
“Huh?”
According to Sui, 《Ummm, it was fun because it went whooosh and Sui fell!》
It should have taken quite a bit of damage from the fall, but when I asked if it was okay Sui just said, 《Sui is fine!》
《I told you it would be fine, right?》
《Yeah. There’s no way anything would happen to Sui from just that.》
Ghh! You know, you two say that, but Sui’s not even a year old! It’s so young, of course I’ll worry about it.
《Let us hurry forward.》 It seemed that Fel was completely done with the sheer number of traps we’d been seeing, and he wanted it to be over already.
After that, we made our way through several more traps before finally arriving at the treasure room.
《There is a large space past this wall. That should be where the treasure is.》
“So the treasure room is back there? But what about the wall?”
《Hmph, just destroy it.》 Fel confidently said, walking forward.
*Clunk!*
“Huh? That sound... another trap?!” To our right, what looked like a simple rock wall suddenly opened up, and a huge boulder came rolling out at us.
“Seriously?! The last one had to be this?!” Just how spiteful is this bandit king?!
《Hmph! How impertinent!》 *Slash*
Fel’s Rending Claws easily decimated the boulder.
“Whew~, that gave me a scare. You saved us, Fel.”
《It is a matter of course.》
’Zat so?
《There is the treasure room.》 The Rending Claws Fel used not only destroyed the boulder, but also opened up the wall to the treasure room.
We all entered.
《Ohh~! There’s so much shiny gold!》
《So shiiinyyy!》 The room was overflowing with gold coins, rings, necklaces, crowns, tiaras, gems, and precious jewelry.
It was all piled up like a mountain.
And, like a king surrounded by treasure, there was a luxurious chair with a skeleton sitting in it placed at the center of it all.
“So that’s the bandit king... You can’t even bring your treasure with you to the next life, so I’d think that being surrounded by treasure like this would just be meaningless...”
《That just goes to show how steeped in greed he was.》
“Well, let’s get to gathering up the treasure. Help me out.” I handed Fel the magic bag and had all of them help me retrieve the riches before us.
《Yahhooo!》 Dora-chan dove into a mountain of gold coins.
《Yayyy!》 Imitating Dora-chan, Sui also dove in too.
“Hey, stop playing. I told you two to help.”
《Dora is a dragon. He is probably being distracted by all the shiny objects.》
“Ah, so it really is like that.”
《I’m not a maniac for this stuff like those huge dragons, but yeah, I don’t hate the shinies.》
“Hmmm~? Then you can keep something you like out of all of this. I wonder if one of these necklaces would fit on you?” I proffered him a necklace with a mithril chain and large diamonds.
This should fit on Dora-chan’s neck.
《Hmm, it’s not bad, but no, I’m fine. It’ll just get in the way.》
“I see. Then whatever. Just help picking it all up. I’ll be going for whatever’s over there.” I took the opposite side of the room from my familiars and started work.
“There’s some weird stuff mixed in. Is this stuff here magic tools?” There was a board with a magic circle on it, some strange box, and something that looked like a magic bag.
There was a lot of other stuff too, so I decided to just shove it all in my Item Box for now.
“What?! Why is this language here?!” I had a tablet in my hand that I was just about to throw into my Item Box.
It was inscribed with words from a language that shouldn’t exist in this world.
