Chapter 5: Misfortunes Continue
I waited for the sun to rise before heading to the place where I buried those guys.
“Yo, Gil, how’s it going?”
“You better be prepared for what’s coming.”
“You’re the one who should be prepared. The fact that you’re yelling from there means you couldn’t get out. If I don’t let you out, you’ll be stuck in that hole until you die.”
With that, I moved on to the next one.
“Good morning, Yodo. How are you feeling? You were acting all high and mighty at the Guild, weren’t you?”
Suddenly, a Fireball came flying my way.
“Yodo, do you really think you can get out of that hole? If you kill me, you’ll definitely starve to death.”
“Shut up and let me out, you little brat!”
I ignored the foolish bravado.
“Naiya, how’s your mood? I bet you never thought the guy you were tormenting would end up being able to use magic.”
“Hey, Kaito, I’m sorry! I’ll apologize, so please let me out!”
“You really are an idiot. You think saying ‘I’m sorry’ is enough after you stole all the medicinal herbs I gathered and beat me up?”
If apologies were enough, we wouldn’t need the police! Oh wait, there are no police in this world. (Oops, my bad.)
“I’ll repay you for everything you’ve done to me, so take your time dying!” I said, reducing the air hole and leaving the scene. I maximized my presence detection to scout the surroundings, ready to retreat if any beasts showed up.
On the fifth day, when I checked on them, I found Yodo in the worst condition, repeatedly apologizing. The other two were in similar situations but still had a bit of energy left.
On the eighth day, Yodo, crying, begged me to help him, saying he would do anything. I made him surrender all his equipment and clothes except for his underwear before releasing him. He cried that he couldn’t go back, but I told him to choose between being attacked by beasts or returning to the city in just his underwear.
Of the remaining two, Naiya ended up stripped down to his underwear just like Yodo. Before I expelled him, I showed Gil Naiya’s embarrassing state and then tossed him out. On the tenth day, Gil finally realized the seriousness of my intentions and apologized, but when I told him to hand over all his equipment, he tried to attack me out of the blue, so I left him be. On the thirteenth day, he apologized again, but I told him he needed to surrender his gear first, so I ignored him. Finally, on the fourteenth day, Gil handed over all his equipment, and I released him, leaving him completely naked.
Gil stumbled away, but I doubted he would make it to the city. Why? Because there was a group of Goblins nearby. I stood in a position where the Goblins would encounter Gil first and threw stones at them. After a couple of throws, I could see the Goblins approaching, but the first one they would meet was the naked Gil. May he rest in peace.
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Days later, Yodo encountered some Adventurers before reaching the city. When he begged for help, the Adventurers, harboring their own grudges, cut him to pieces and killed him. They reported seeing Yodo’s body covered in cuts but refused to retrieve it, instead celebrating with drinks in the Guild’s dining hall.
Naiya’s fate was even more tragic. The Adventurers who found him tied his hands behind his back and bound his feet, leaving him in the forest. No one ever saw him again.
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After dealing with those three, I returned to my original campsite the next day. I hadn’t been playing around for thirteen days; I had been gathering medicinal herbs and working on enhancing my mana.
My Spatial Storage had expanded to a diameter of 2 meters, and I could now shoot about 65 Stone Arrows at a distance of 40 meters. With Transfer Magic, I could jump a maximum of 150 meters three times, 50 meters nine times, and 10 meters 45 times. Now that I was using Transfer Magic to enter and exit, there was no entrance or exit to the Dome.
However, if I were to escape, I wanted to jump several times that distance easily and without worrying about the number of jumps. If I jumped 50 meters five times in actual combat, my mana would be halved, making it unreliable for both fighting and fleeing. It was impossible to jump the maximum distance in an unfamiliar place, and I couldn’t jump to unknown locations.
If I needed to escape instantly, I preferred to go up, as there would likely be no obstacles in the air. If I were unlucky, I might bump into a bird, but I had no desire to test the outcome. First, I would jump up to survey the surroundings before moving on to the next jump. That would be two jumps; even if I reached the sky, I wouldn’t have much time before falling back to the ground, so I wanted to rise at least 100 meters. With my current maximum of three jumps at 150 meters, I didn’t feel confident I could escape in an emergency. I needed more mana!
Returning to my comfortable Dome for a rest, I had plenty of food, and I had gathered enough firewood while dealing with Yodo and the others. Since there was a limit to my storage capacity, I couldn’t hoard indiscriminately, but firewood was a low priority, so having a decent amount was good enough.
I had put a lot of effort into this place, making it a comfortable space that felt like home. The underground bedroom was designed like a capsule hotel, and I had built a small fireplace and firewood storage in the six-tatami mat living room. There was a lookout spot among the exposed rocks above, with a bed there for when my mana ran low.
Thus began my days of practicing Stone Arrows and jumping with Transfer Magic again. When my mana ran low, I would check the time and then use it all at once, leading to a quick collapse. Man, I fell asleep so quickly! I would wake up after about five hours, but sometimes I slept for around ten hours. I kept telling myself it was because I was young and could sleep as much as I wanted.
Soon, the day would come for me to visit the lord’s mansion, so I decided to head toward the city. My Spatial Storage could now hold a ball just over 2.4 meters in diameter. I could jump 180 meters five times, and if it was 60 meters, I could jump 15 times. At 20 meters, I could easily jump 45 times, but counting was a hassle; at 5 to 10 meters, I could jump 50 times without even halving my mana.
Now, when I encountered Goblins, I would jump behind them and stab them with a dirt spear to take them down. Thanks to that, I could venture deeper into the forest to gather medicinal herbs. What was even better was that as my mana increased, it seemed my presence detection ability improved too, so I no longer had to fear beasts as much. Of course, if I fought, I would definitely lose and die, but now I had the time to escape or dig a hole in the ground to hide.
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I slowly woke up, and as the sun rose higher, I set off toward Egdra. While walking along the road to the City of Egdra, I heard a commotion behind me. When I turned around, a gang of reckless riders was charging toward me, whips cracking.
I hurriedly jumped to the side of the road, but just a few meters away, one of the wheels detached from the carriage and came barreling toward me. I thought, “Is this an action movie?” as I desperately dove off the road, and the overturned carriage crashed down with a loud Doon-Garigari-Garishin right next to me.
There are fools in every world, but what would they do if someone got hurt? I wanted to ask if they had unlimited accident insurance. Grumbling, I stood up to find the overturned carriage nearby, but I couldn’t see the driver. It seemed the horses had also disappeared when the yoke rope came loose during the flip.
They must have been thrown out; the thought of not wearing a seatbelt crossed my mind, a remnant of my common sense from Japan.
This unpleasant feeling…
Here we go again! I hurriedly built a fort to take cover. Just as one trouble passed, another arose—a pack of Black Wolves! Had they come to attack me after I fled? I couldn’t just sit back and relax in my fort, so I peered out and shot Stone Arrows at the wolves.
They yelped with a Kyan and fled, but I hadn’t taken any down yet, so they were still wandering around.
Since my arrows were too small, I switched to a Stone Lance, 1.5 meters long and 5 centimeters thick, and shot again. The same Gyan scream echoed, but this time they fell over, twitching, so it was effective. I continued to shoot at the surrounding wolves until I had taken down nine of them, at which point they finally fled.
After confirming the area was safe, I exited the fort. Now, where was the driver? Since the carriage had fallen to the right, he should have been thrown out that way. I found him in the bushes in front of the fallen carriage, but his neck was twisted at an odd angle, and his head was caved in.
Without a helmet or seatbelt, well… may he rest in peace.
As I approached the carriage, I heard the sound of hooves. Six knights in matching armor and attire appeared.
“What are you doing, boy? Step back!”
“Stop! Don’t you realize you’ve been saved?”
A bearded man tried to restrain the furious man with bloodshot eyes.
“You all check on the young lady’s safety!”
Dismounting from my horse, I surveyed the fallen wolves around me and nodded. A sense of foreboding washed over me, but there was no way I could run away, so I chose to remain silent.
“The young lady is safe. However, the maids have sustained injuries,” one of the knights reported.
“How far is it from here to the city?” I asked.
“From here, it’s about a two-hour walk,” he replied.
I ordered the two knights to head toward the city and instructed them to bring back a carriage and additional guards. Since we had no potions left, I emphasized that they should prioritize bringing back the potions first. Looking around, I noticed that everyone had sustained considerable injuries, but it seemed they had exhausted their supply of potions.
“I’m sorry, but could you help us guard the carriage here?”
It was a situation where I couldn’t refuse, so I simply nodded in agreement.