Manuke FPS

As expected of the A and B-ranked adventurer’s of Sasanqua. The Gatekeeper battle ended without any major hiccups, despite there being some close calls. The monster’s strength and the armor’s defensive power was great intel for future solo-fights. The only thing left was for the Labyrinth Conquest was to defeat the Dungeon Master, but I didn’t plan on pursuing that. We would return to the Spring where the Knight Order from Barga, the final party of this conquest, would be.

I managed to keep the General guild staff and the Rafflesia members stay silent about my mapping, but if we were to go to the Dungeon Master alongside the Knight Order, I would be revealing more information than just that. Remi-san had no influence over other organizations so I would have to make them keep the secret on my own. I watched the Gatekeeper’s body sink into the labyrinth’s floor while thinking. His war hammer wasn’t wrapped in the mist and remained behind.

“Seems like weapons* are left behind.”

[*T/N: 生体武具, translated as “bio-arms” in an earlier chapter. I still don’t understand what they are (“living things’ weapons”? “bio-arms”?), so I’ll just use “weapon” from now on.]

“Nya-“

Frau-san and Mitche-san were also next to me as we watched the ogre’s body disappear. Ruu-san and Lali-san were checking on Miranda-san. Though the last attack had missed, she was the party’s tanker and had already taken multiple hits before that – there was no way she hadn’t gotten injured.

“The weapons are used as proofs of the conquer. Schwarz, take it if you want.”

Mitche-san went to collect the war hammer. Glancing at her, I refused Frau-san’s offer. Becoming a C-ranked adventurer meant I could receive nomination missions, I’d be qualified to enter labyrinths*, earn more money and live a comfortable life. But the promotion exam and the nomination missions were so troublesome I just wanted to avoid them. Besides, I wanted to conquer monsters in the wild, but my knowledge was still lacking. To acquire more knowledge, rather than studying, fighting in labyrinths would definitely be more fun.

[T/N: on his own]

Thanks to Lali-san’s magic healing, Marinda-san’s health was restored. We lingered in the room for a while and watch the white stone gate leading to the labyrinth’s Master once more before we headed back to the Spring. As we expected, there were people who wearing knight armors everywhere in the Spring. What we didn’t expect was rather than 1 party with 6 people, there were 3 parties with 18 people.

“Oh, Lapitilica-sama! You’re back!”

One of the knights busily working within the crowd called out. He was noticeably larger than the others, and even though his full plate mail looked similar to other knights, it was more detailed in it’s design. He was old, with his white hair swept back and his white beard neatly trimmed.

“Vice Leader Caymon! Did you come for the Labyrinth Conquest?”

The Knight Order’s official name was the West Barga Knight Order of Kurtmelga Kingdom. The leader of this dispatched group was Viscount Butler Caymon, Vice Leader of the Barga Knights. I introduced myself as a D-ranked adventurer who accompanied the Sasanqua group as a cartographer. Leaving the detailed explanation to Frau-san, I went back down to where the Guild Staff was. I received the map Will had made today and exited the Spring to draw my map.

On the way back, I had reminded the girls once more not to disclose anything related to my skills or my mapping ability. I also let them know I wouldn’t be accompanying them to fight against the Dungeon Master tomorrow. They easily accepted the non-disclosure request, but were quite reluctant to acknowledge the fact that I wouldn’t be going with them to fight the Dungeon Master.

For caution’s sake, I didn’t use the small room yesterday, but instead went further out to a hidden corridor. There, I summoned the Dorchester and drew up the map inside. It took about 1 hour to map today’s area. From the driver’s seat, I checked for monsters in front. I didn’t hear anything, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

I put the Dorchester back into the garage and walked back to the Spring. When I got back, there were only 12 knights in the Spring. They couldn’t plan to continue with the conquer through the night, could they?

“Schwarz is back, nya-“

“I’m back.”

Mitche-san and Ruu-san noticed me immediately. The others, Frau-san, Marinda-san, and Lali-san were at the knights’ side. They were sitting at a round wooden table together with Caymon, the vice-leader, and sipping tea… They even brought such a table here…

“There are less knights than before. Did they go into the labyrinth?”

“They went to sweep the area around the Spring.”

Ruu-san answered. She was pouring soup from the pot that was heated on the fire into a wooden bowl for me. Taking the bowl from Ruu-san, our dinner today was… Vegetables, thinly sliced meat and… Was that rice?

My hands shook when I held the bowl… It was such a surprise attack… It had been a month since I came to this world. During all the meals I had eaten at the White Flower Pavilion of the Labyrinth in Barga, rice hadn’t appeared even once. I had thought about asking for it, but I was afraid that they would tell me it didn’t exist or they didn’t know about it. So I hadn’t asked. I had thought rice didn’t exist in this world and I would never be able to eat it again, but it wasn’t something I had paid attention to in my day to day life. Now it suddenly appeared before my eyes like that…

“What’s wrong nya? You don’t know rice nya?”

“N-No… J-Just that it’s been a long time since I saw it…”

[PF: apparently all isekai MCs are obsessed with rice]

[T/N: Rice is an irreplaceable component in the daily meals of many Asian countries, including Japan. A typical meal always = rice + some side dish. Rice also appears extensively in a number of snacks and desserts. So, suddenly being unable to eat such a staple of your diet like these MCs… It won’t affect day-to-day, but it surely will feel like something is amiss.]

“Rice is expensive, nya. It’s not something you can have whenever you ask, nya. The knights brought it here today, nya.”

“Rice is expensive? Is it something luxurious?”

“It’s brought here from the East of Orlando through transporting magic circles. The fee is high, so naturally it’s expensive.”

“Is that so… I see…”

The soup was similar to congee. It was a bit oversalted.

After dinner, I got together with the Guild staff and Johan-san, the Knight Order’s scout. I handed them the map to this area as well as the map that lead to the Dungeon Master. We also discussed things such as the appearance rate of monsters and the expected versus actual arrival time. Then Viscount Caymon came to our group.

“Johan, do you have an idea for our course tomorrow?”

“Yes. According to Schwarz-dono’s* map and his information, I believe we’ll arrive in 3 to 4 hours.”

[*T/N: A honorific used by inferiors for their superiors.]

“Can I see the map?”

“Yes, here it is.”

The Viscount looked at my map. In the next instant, his eyes moved to me.

“Schwarz-kun, you said that you’re a D-rank? I wonder when you plan to move up to C-Rank.”

“With all due respect, I have no other talent aside from cartography. I’m just scraping by shutting myself in labyrinths. I am saving guild points to take the advancement exam, but that’s still a ways off.”

“Is that so? In that case, why don’t you join our Knight Order? You can have a better life than being an explorer. “

“I can’t use swords or magic. I believe I am not qualified to carry out a knight’s duty.”

“Is that so… If you change your mind, come to our headquarters in Barga.”

“I will, thank you.”

The Viscount left Johan-san with some instructions before heading back to the Knights’ camp. The exchange earlier… To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it went well or not. It seemed like with just one glance at the map, he deemed my mapping ability useful and wanted to secure it, but was it just a light-hearted invitation or did he just reveal his hand…? If I joined the Order, I would work as a cartographer for real. This was probably another path, but for now, I still hadn’t changed my life’s goal here.

Wolf Fang’s Labyrinth would be the first. I will conquer it myself.