Chapter 20: Three Will Come (7)

After the loud explosion, the thick cloud of dust that had settled slowly began to clear.

And with it, the blurry shadow standing in its center gradually revealed itself.

Not the slightest movement could be felt from the 'Drunkard'.

Until, before long, it began to turn to dust and scatter away as if blown by the wind.

Perhaps from the relief of seeing that scene, Evie was seen slumping to the ground.

--

Level Up!

Lv. 3 → 4

--

At the same time, a notification window popped up, informing me that I had leveled up again.

I briefly pushed the notification window to the edge of my vision and immediately approached Evie.

“Can you stand?”

Holding out a hand.

“Such a show-off.”

Looking up at me, Evie raised the corner of her mouth as if in contempt.

“…Why did you do it?”

“Hmm? Do what?”

“You know what I'm talking about.”

She must be asking why I tried to become a sacrificial lamb for her.

From Evie's perspective, my dodging that blow was purely the result of incredible luck, and without it, I would have surely been killed instantly.

It wasn't a particularly wrong analysis.

That's what would have happened originally.

“Because I promised.”

“What?”

Of course, I had no intention of actually becoming a sacrificial lamb.

“I told you I'd make sure you didn't get a single scratch.”

“──Ha.”

At my nonchalant answer, Evie let out a hollow laugh with a dumbfounded expression.

Then.

“Ha, hahaha! Ahahaha!”

She burst out into a hearty laugh that seemed to shake the dungeon.

“I already got some, you idiot.”

Slapping the back of my hand instead of taking it.

Evie got up on her own.

“Idiot.”

She muttered another curse, but there was still a smile on her lips.

In the meantime, Rine, who had been standing far away, trudged over this way.

“That was an amazing shot, Rine.”

I approached Rine and held out my palm.

It was meant as a high-five, but it seemed to be a gesture that Rine didn't understand.

“…?”

Perhaps that was why she just tilted her head and stared blankly.

As the silence continued for a while and things were about to get a little awkward, Rine, as if she had realized something, suddenly raised her head and put her hand against mine.

More accurately, she clasped it.

Seeing her gently start to shake our hands with her fingers interlaced, it seemed she had taken it as a handshake like last time.

Setting aside whether this even was a handshake for now.

I followed suit and gently shook it a few times, then carefully let go and held my hand out flat again.

“This time, try hitting my palm.”

“Yes?”

“We're clapping each other's hands.”

“Just like this!”

Slap!

For a moment, a sound like a whip cracking echoed.

Evie, who had suddenly approached, had swung at my palm with all her might as if slapping me.

“…!”

A stinging pain belatedly set in.

I rubbed my reddened hand and looked back at Evie.

“Seems like there was some emotion in that?”

“You think I wouldn't have any?”

Well, you're right?

Having nothing to say in rebuttal, I just quietly turned to Rine, and she was already turning her waist just as Evie had.

As if to put her weight into her raised hand.

“Ah, no. Just lightly, okay? This is enough.”

If I hadn't high-fived her with a clap!

Before she could, she surely would have.

“But just now…”

“That was because just now was weird.”

“I put my heart into it, you're so mean.”

“Yeah, yeah, I love you too.”

“……Huh?”

After nonchalantly replying to the slyly acting Evie, I headed towards the center of the room this time.

Where the Drunkard had been standing until just a moment ago.

“There it is.”

And I picked up the object that was left there.

「Raw Low-grade Magic Stone」.

Also commonly called a 'core' when attached to non-humanoid monsters.

The identity of the 'unbeating heart' that had been its weak point.

While mob-level enemies could move sufficiently with just the magic floating in the air of this dungeon, boss-level enemies needed a medium like this to act as an engine to be able to move.

I immediately took out a sack and put the magic stone inside.

Even though it was low-grade, in this world, even this was a hard-to-get item.

Especially in a peaceful southern region like this.

So it could be sold for a decent price, or it could be 'processed'.

This time, it was the latter.

Next, I headed towards a nearby pile of bones that couldn't become a skeleton.

The bones of the 'noble' who was the main culprit for turning this tomb into a dungeon.

The clothes, which must have been brilliant at first, had become almost rags after a long time, but it wasn't hard to recognize them as they were clearly different from the other skeletons.

There were two rewards that could be obtained from this one.

First, the jewels that were hanging all over him, which, although covered in cobwebs and dust, had not lost their luster—treated as a single money-making item in the game—and.

“…What's that? A key?”

A single, worn-out bronze key.

“Is there a treasure chest here too? I didn't see one.”

“Well, even if we don't use it here, it might come in handy somewhere, right?”

It was a quest item that had no immediate use but would have a purpose later on.

“In any case, it's the key that greedy noble carried with him even in death.”

The skeletons of the guards next to him had nothing worth taking, so I just passed them by, and next was the necromancer's turn.

This one also hadn't woken up at all, so the skeleton was in good condition, and thanks to that, I could easily find what I was looking for.

--

「Medium's Ring」 (Rare)

Effect - Allows the wearer to use the skill 「Spirit Talk」.

--

A rare-grade artifact that allows one to use 「Spirit Talk」, a magic to converse with the spirits of the dead, even without having learned it.

The good thing about this ring was that it allowed you to use this magic even if you hadn't specialized as a necromancer, or even if you weren't a mage class.

Furthermore, 「Spirit Talk」 was such a useful spell that it was worth specializing a mage character as a necromancer just for this one spell, and it was practically an essential spell for smooth game progression.

So instead of putting this ring in the sack, I dusted it off a bit and put it on my finger right away.

“What's that you're just gobbling up by yourself without saying anything?”

“Ah, this? It's a ring that lets you talk to ghosts who haven't passed on.”

“……”

For a moment, Evie's face hardened with the same expression she had when she learned the identity of the gold coins from inside the Mimic's stomach (?).

“Do you want it? You can have it if you want.”

“I-I don't need that crap! Just throw it away, shit! Why are you picking up and eating such garbage!?”

Even if Evie hadn't reacted like that, I was planning on wearing this ring anyway.

Because conversing with spirits was, fundamentally, a 'conversation'.

It was better for a character with high Charisma to be in charge.

Furthermore, the ones you could talk to were not all spirits of the dead, but specifically the so-called restless souls who had not yet gone to the netherworld, or rather, could not go and remained in this world.

And naturally, there was usually a story behind why they couldn't pass on.

Something extremely unfair had happened, or they had a strong attachment to something in this world.

In other words, they had 'information'.

Just because they were dead spirits didn't mean they all spoke only the truth, and not all of them spoke in the first place.

So there was a need to extract that information, whether through [Persuasion] or [Intimidation] or whatever.

Well, it's not like I'll have any use for it here, where there are only soulless undead.

“Rine, have you ever seen a ghost?”

“I… don't think so.”

“I'll let you see one soon.”

“I will look forward to it.”

“No, just throw it away!”

Leaving Evie's vehement protest (?) behind, I walked towards the door at the end of the room.

In the middle of the room beyond that door was a large stone coffin.

As you could tell from its size, it was the coffin where the Drunkard had originally lain.

The coffin lid was, of course, already open.

Because the corpse that should have been lying inside was also gone.

Instead, only a long horn and a stone slab were left.

Of the two, it seemed the horn was what caught Evie's eye first.

“This is… a horn?”

“It's a cup.”

“A cup? This?”

To be precise, a drinking cup made by drilling a hole in a horn.

--

「Drunkard's Horn」 (Unique)

Effect - STR stat +1 when equipped, gain 'Exhilaration' buff when consuming alcohol.

+1 to all rolls for each 'Drunk' debuff (max +4)

--

In this game (actually, where isn't it like this), drinking alcohol makes you 'Drunk'.

Your movement slows down, your accuracy drops… it's a debuff that's not helpful at all, just like in real life.

Therefore, except for the martial artist who learned 「Drunken Fist」, there was no reason to drink it, so it was treated as an item for immersive role-playing, but if you had that horn, it was a different story.

As long as you were drunk, it helped with all checks, making it an item that could be used strategically.

The 'Drunk' debuff could be stacked up to four times, so theoretically, you could get up to +4.

Setting aside the fact that stacking 4 meant you were completely wasted to the point of amnesia and couldn't even walk properly.

Thus, while it was not very useful in combat situations because the penalties to movement speed and accuracy were so critical, in non-combat situations where you didn't have to worry about those two, it meant you could selectively benefit from the 'Exhilaration' buff's additional dice value.

You could just sober up later.

“With that horn, even alcohol has a reason to be drunk.”

“What are you talking about? You need a reason to drink?”

“At least leave a reason to explain to your liver why things turned out this way.”

Besides, the +1 to the Strength stat was also a good option in the early game when every single stat point was precious.

This was the reason why the 「Drunkard's Horn」 was evaluated as a very good item to get in the early game, even if it wasn't essential.

Well, it wasn't as if I came here for that horn, though.

“Then this one is…”

--

Evelyn

[History] Failure

--

“…What is this?”

It was the stone slab.

The real reason I came to this dungeon.

“A drawing… maybe? What on earth is drawn on the stone?”

“Let me see.”

--

[History] Failure

--

'…As expected, it's like this.'

I know what this stone slab is.

An unidentifiable pattern is carved into the stone slab.

And, I also definitely 'knew' what was written here.

Is it text?

Or, is it a picture?

Whatever it is, it seems to be a pattern not commonly seen these days.

But once it was judged that I couldn't decipher it, just like with the 「Mimic」, I couldn't access that knowledge.

As if a thick fog had rolled in.

I remembered that this stone slab was used as an important 'quest item', but I just couldn't recall the content.

Well, but it didn't matter.

“Rine.”

“Yes?”

[History] was an Intelligence-based check.

“Do you happen to know what this is?”

And Rine's current Intelligence was 16.

--

Eastwood

[History] Success

--

“…I believe it is ancient Elvish.”

So if there was anyone among us who could identify this difficult script, it was only Rine.

“Ancient Elvish?”

“It is known as the language used in the 'Age of Gods'… a long time ago when the gods lived on this land with humans.”

“Then, could you perhaps read what it says?”

At my question, Rine, who had been staring intently at the stone slab with a slight frown, soon shook her head from side to side.

“Reading it… seems difficult.”

I suppose so.

Because Rine's memories hadn't all returned yet.

In other words.

“…How on earth do you know something like that?”

In a situation where she couldn't even remember her own name, she had recognized ancient Elvish at a glance, an ancient language whose users were now so few in this world that it had become almost a legend.

“What are you?”

Therefore, it was only natural for Evie to have such a question.

As expected.

“…!”

Suddenly, Rine let out a short groan and put a hand to her head.

“Wh-What? What's wrong?”

Evie also seemed a bit flustered at the sudden change in Rine, who had been like a stone statue all this time.

“H-Hey. Are you okay…?”

She even seemed to be watching her cautiously, as if wondering if it was because of her question.

You are concerned about Eastwood's reaction.

Is she suddenly suffering from a headache?

In the first place, the content of this stone slab was impossible for anyone to decipher in this place.

Because it wasn't an item meant to be deciphered here.

In other words.

--

[Perception] Success

--

No, it doesn't just look like an ordinary headache.

The reason I showed Rine this stone slab was for something else.

“You remembered something, didn't you?”

That girl has definitely remembered something.

“……”

After a moment of silence, Rine nodded, affirming my words.

“For some reason… I got a feeling of familiarity.”

“With ancient Elvish, you mean?”

Rine nodded again.

At that moment.

--

Eastwood

'Fragment of Memory' Acquired

--

A window like this popped up in front of me.

--

Memory Fragments remaining until next Awakening (1/12)

--

By collecting the fragments of memory, I could unlock Rine's new abilities.

To be precise, I should say she would regain her lost abilities.

And finding this stone slab with ancient Elvish written on it and showing it to Rine was one of the triggers to obtain that fragment.

“A language used in the Age of Gods, is familiar…?”

Evie, who had approached from the side, suddenly looked back at me and whispered.

“…Hey. What on earth did you find?”

What did I find?

I found an archmage who lived in the Age of Gods.

Since I couldn't say that honestly, I just shrugged my shoulders instead.

“We've got everything, so let's get going.”

With this, all the objectives for coming to this dungeon were achieved.

“So what are you going to do with that?”

“Sell it.”

“Sell it?”

As I said before, although I couldn't remember the content of the stone slab, I clearly remembered where I had to use it.

“I know people who would be interested.”

“Who?”

“The powerful.”

“…What?”

Now, it was time to go meet the higher-ups who rule Stout.