CH 173

Episode 173 – Signs of Return

The next day arrived.

Today marked the third day since I had come to Landaust. At first, I was feeling laidback from the novel sensation of being on a journey, but after seeing the [Silver Wind Chime]’s battle yesterday, I pulled myself together. After slapping my cheeks to fire myself up, I got ready for the day and left my room.

After that, I went straight to the dining area to have breakfast. Perhaps because it was still early in the morning, Ruth was not there. The owner, Ruth’s mother, was cooking in the kitchen.

I felt bad about keeping her waiting for me so late last night, so I thanked her for last night’s dinner, telling her that it was delicious, before accepting breakfast from her. Today’s breakfast was ham and scrambled eggs on toast and a vegetable-based soup. It was a very typical breakfast menu, but it was incredibly tasty because each and every individual part of it was of high quality. Just like yesterday’s dinner, I finished the entire meal before I even knew it, so I thanked the owner one last time and left Ponpokotei.

Today’s plan was to check on the movements of the [Azure Alliance], which I had forgotten to do yesterday, and then go browse the shops of Landaust without going to the Dungeon. As I was thinking yesterday, I might be able to find some useful plants in the apothecary or tool shop or, if not plants, perhaps some useful items like Slime vials.

When I had first seen the [Azure Alliance] on the monitors, I had strayed from my original motive and had started attempting to clear the Dungeon. But at the moment, I was still not yet as strong as Ahmed, so I should find a safe and down-to-earth method of Dungeon-diving of my own. As I was thinking about today’s plans, I arrived in front of the Dungeon monitors.

The place was deserted, as if yesterday’s revelries were a complete lie. Although it was the morning, I felt like there had been more people here yesterday morning than there were now. At any rate, there being fewer people was better for me since it made it easier to see the projections.

I immediately made my way to the monitors showing the 30th to the 40th layers and started searching for the [Azure Alliance]. Well…. they were nowhere to be seen in the Safe Area on the 30th layer, so they must have already resumed with their Dungeon-clearing.

I quickly turned away from the Safe Area, looking towards the monitors showing the 31st layers and beyond… But I couldn’t find the [Azure Alliance] anywhere. I looked through each and every person being displayed in the projections, but even after searching all the way down to the 40th layer, I couldn’t find anyone from the [Azure Alliance]. In that case, there was a good chance they were coming back… Yet my mind couldn’t help but flash back to what had happened to the [Silver Wind Chime] yesterday.

Losing your life in the Dungeon meant that you’d disappear without a trace. Now that I had seen it happen, the fear of losing sight of someone just like that washed over me. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I moved in front of the monitors that showed the 20th to 30th layers.

The [Azure Alliance] would be fine. If it’s Ahmed, she’d definitely be alright.

Repeating this to myself over and over in my head like an incantation, I was then able to find the three of them on the projection showing the 26th layer.

Thank goodness…

Even though I kept telling myself that they would be alright, being able to finally confirm their figures was a huge relief to me. They were on the 26th layer… which meant they were trying to get out of the Dungeon, right?

In that case, it would only be a few more days before I would be able to meet back up with the [Azure Alliance]. Making a complete turnaround from the unspeakable anxiety I had felt earlier, I suddenly became elated at the good news. At their rate of progress, they would probably be out of the Dungeon in three days at the earliest and five days at the latest.

My current goal was to make it down to the 6th layer before the [Azure Alliance] returned from the Dungeon… But, it might be a bit tough at this rate. If I hadn’t witnessed what had happened to the [Silver Wind Chime] yesterday, I might have continued diligently trying to clear the Dungeon again today, but now I understood that being too impatient while remaining fixated on your goals would only lead to a huge mistake.

Today, as originally planned, I was going to browse the shops of Landaust while searching for useful plants and items. My goal of solo-clearing down to the 6th layer was not necessarily something that I had to do. Having obtained the information that the [Azure Alliance] was returning, I left the Dungeon monitors in a jubilant mood and made my way to the Main Street of Landaust.

I had been to the Main Street many times, but this was my first time coming here to visit the shops. The first time I had passed through here while trying to gather information about the [Azure Alliance], I had mentally marked out some of the shops that I had been interested in.

The first shop that I had had my eye on was a shop that Smash seemed like he would visit, which was called Perfect Circle General Store. According to what I had heard, it was a general store with a stylish outward appearance that sold some unusual and eccentric products. Furthermore, it seemed that the products in this shop were all marked with the Perfect Circle crest, and there were apparently even counterfeits of their items on the market. Even though I had yet to see the real products, since it was possible that people were trying to make counterfeits of their items, I had pretty high expectations for the quality of their goods.

As I walked along, recalling the information I had heard, I saw a queue being formed in front of a trendy-looking general store. This shop was most likely the Perfect Circle General Store. The store itself was about the same size as Elf’s Tears, which meant it couldn’t be considered big by any means, but the number of customers lined up in front of the store was unusual given the size of the store.

Even though it was the morning, the line was still long. I got in line excitedly, thrilled to see what the shop had to offer.