5-14. Joining (1/2)

5-14. Joining

Satou's here. I want riddle to be called mystery.

With this brutal adventure life, I'm saying goodbye to carefree sightseeing trip, Satou.

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Zen, Zen, Zen huh, I was overwhelmed by his drive, and made to dance according to his plan. He was probably satisfied, but it was a real nuisance to get involved.

Still, even though I've murdered someone because of the course of the event, I don't feel any remorse. It's not just because of my high MND but probably also because his outer appearance was that of a skeleton and he looked happy in the end.

I pull myself together. First, let's check on Arisa and the girls' situation. It seems that Liza is a bit hurt but everyone is safe. They're not in the camping ground but already near Seryuu city.

Somehow they thought that, ”When it's morning”, meant that they should get to the worker's guild before morning. I meant to say, ”Depart when it's morning”, but it was difficult to complete it.

I could tell them my safety if we have cellphones, but it can't be helped if it doesn't exist. Let's look for something with the same function when we got to the royal capital and labyrinth city.

Now then, it'd be difficult to traverse through 5 mountains when it's this dark. Putting aside my physical strength, my mental state is weary. I want to rest at least until dawn.

Should I take a rest until dawn here?

I've thought of heartless things, when I think about it, I remember that I shouldn't leave Arisa and the girls alone. If they, slaves they are, come back alone then wouldn't they be treated as escaped slaves?

The knight Soun who guards the front gate is a big hearted person, but I'm not sure if that applies to slaves and demi-humans too.

My health is already fully recovered, and my stamina is still at 90% anyway. I hate to think like an athlete, but let's psyche myself up.

Of course I'll also take Mia, who I'm carrying on my shoulder, and No.7 (homonculus) along. If I leave them here, they'd fall preys to wolves then there'd be no point in me saving them from the maze.

I wrap Mia and No.7 each in thick sheets. By chance, Mia now looks like at the time when she was first handed to me by the red-helmet.

>[Packing Skill Acquired]

I put Mia on top of No.7, and carry both of them on my arms. They call this, bridal carry. If I have common physical strength I'd be down in just a few minutes, but the me now could carry them for many hours without problem. When I try to walk, Mia almost slips out so I wrap one more mantle on the two to stabilize them.

I push my way through the mountain road while carrying the two.

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I haven't even run through the mountain road for a few minutes before, like usual,

>[Off-Road Skill Acquired]

I've been thoughtlessly using them up until now, but seeing those purple lights, I feel like I'd get involved with troubles. I've decided to carefully examine each of my skills and use half of my points to strengthen myself after I've reunited with Arisa and the girls.

I'm passing over a place that looks like the ruins of rat-man village after 10 minutes of running. Was this the village where Mia met the red-helmet again?

I'm interested, but I have to keep going through the mountain now.

I can somehow identify good thickets to jump from, I wonder if this is thanks to off-road skill. I can't tell it as clearly as the trap-discovery skill could to traps, is this because the difference in natural and man-made things?

Probably thanks to the off-road skill added with sprint skill, I'm even considerably faster than a horse-drawn wagon. Moreover, combined with 3D-maneuver skill, I'm passing through the mountain almost in a straight line. I feel like some kind of ninja from a manga.

After crossing two mountains, dead trees begin to decrease and greeneries are becoming rich.

At such time, I see interesting place with shinning lily of the valley-like flowers and flickering mushrooms on the middle of the way. I want to look closer but time is precious now, so I give up. Since it's regrettable, I put a marker on the map for the place.

Mia and the woman sometimes get tangled with branches that stick out but I destroy it by flicking coins with my hand.

I run through the mountain relying on the moonlight. It feels like the moon in this world is awfully bright.

After the fourth mountain, a Giant Boar jumps on me. I've noticed it on the radar, but since it suddenly jumps here, I just kick it away.

I've been avoiding small animals who jump my way so far, but as expected, it's impossible to do so with a bear-sized giant boar.

Its head which got hit directly went with a splat, I averted my eyes. Without looking at its scattered head, I put it into the storage before it falls onto the ground as a souvenir for Liza. Since I've seen Liza dismantling it several times already, I may have become accustomed it. Even though I'm boasting now, I'm confident that I'd have abandoned it if it was not dark.

And then we finally get to the highway. From here, it's 80 kilometers away to Seryuu city in straight line. There's one and half hour until dawn.

I run pass the hilly areas in straight line. The grounds are scooped out but no one would mind it anyway, probably.

◇

I'm thinking while running. The thing with Arisa and Zen, I feel I have a luck (Hard Luck) that gets me tend to be involved with humans who have been given power by the gods. I can't think that they're all existences with good will.

Does the gods in this world enjoy themselves by giving people trial?

Or, are they like mythological gods from Northern Europe and Greece where they have human-like trait with both evil and good?

No, there's also possibility of devils pretending to be gods like in the bible.

There's no answer with just just guessing. Later in our journey, let's look for more information about gods if I see a big temple or library.

Then I could compare the informations I got to Arisa's own.

Still, seeing this trend, there are other reincarnated people out there right? And even with them around, this world's culture and civilization didn't collapse huh.

Maybe the people who were chosen were like me, who actively does not intend to spread modern-world knowledge.

People who love conspiracy theory probably would say that the reincarnated person who's spreading modern-world knowledge would be removed by some kind of power.

Now then, the magician Zen said that he became No-Life King after he was executed by a noble.

What I'm worried about when I heard that story is my unique skill [Indestructible]. They sounds too similar. I'm afraid that I'd also become No-Life King or Demon Lord if my HP becomes zero.