Act 2-5 - Strange Man

Chapter 5 : Strange Man

That man sat down with Mani and I, and then stretched his arms up in the air.

His gaze met Mani and I.

Mani seems to be troubled with his gaze but, it seems I was in the same situation as her.

「Hm? what’s the matter? I’m in a good mood and willing to tell you guys about the information that I know for free, no need to raise your vigilance.」

The man spoke to us as he waved his arm, with one hand covered with white glove.

「Ah, no… my apologies. I just… unfamiliar with your face.」

「Uhm, of course you are. In fact, this is the first time I came to this place. Normally, I’m just strolling around the kingdom. I mean, you’ll be bored to death if you just see the same things in your whole life, right?」

This great Jester was trying to tease us with a lame joke.

「I-Is that so…」

I thought that the end of a wandering adventurer without any connections was something along the lines of being killed in the demon labyrinth, or to die on the road side for failing in fundraising but…

「That matter aside, you’re talking about 《Trrapezohedron of Dark Radiance》, right? it’s that you know, THAT. Written in the thing you hold in your hand.」

「… Eh?」

The man was pointing at the bundles of paper containing information about the demon labyrinth which I bought from the information shop.

「Look, you’ll see amongst those information, the tale about a certain adventurer above 【Lv:30】 who already half crazed and being taken care of by a villager near the entrance of 《Romburgh’s Underground Ruin》, right?」

「Is it related?」

「It is. I passed by the village where the villager lived a few days ago. According to the villager, they said the adventurer became too greedy and went down to the 6th floor. In addition, that adventurer went into demon labyrinth in a party of five.」

「Party of… five.」

Something like five adventurers around 【Lv:30】 were not an easy group to gather.

Because the majority of adventurers who had reached this level were starting to think about joining the army.

Naturally, some adventurers hate the army to the bone, it wasn’t a rare thing for a party to split up due their difference in their way of thinking.

They apparently went on to the next floor since the capture of the 5th floor went fairly well for them, and they’re hungry for more excitement.

「And so, I heard that the survivor brought back a black gem’s enchanted tool from there, 《Trapezohedron of Dark Radiance》. Though the details about how he got his hand on it was wrapped in mystery since that survivor had lost his linguistic ability, since not just every adventurers can enter UG 6th floor, that enchanted tool might be an enchanted tool that was left behind on that floor a long time ago.」

… So that means the army had decided to seize it as soon as possible when they knew that the adventurer guild had kept such a dangerous item.

「I-I see…」

Even though I’m grateful for him for teaching me about this matter even though we’re not acquaintances… was there a way to confirm the truth.

I don’t think that he was simply a talkative man.

「Fufufufu… but, it’s interesting news right. There’s a rumor that everything about that enchanted tool, save for its name, can’t be seen even with 【Lv:35】’s《Imu》. If that’s the case, then it’s a genuine A tier enchanted tool. The lowest estimation for its price should be around 50 million temis. No, maybe double that. That amount of money will make anyone start drooling right?」

「F-Fifty… million temis!」

It was enough money to play around for decades.

No, it might even be enough for me to live a simple life for my entire life.

It’s value was equal to a thousand Battle Rat’s battle bones.

「But then… seeing that the entire party was almost wiped out, and the survivor became an invalid fool, maybe the 《Trapezohedron of Dark Radiance》 is more terrifying than that, right? fufufu, either way, it’s an interesting yet ironic story.」

「E-eeh…」

Though it wasn’t supposed to be a bright story… that man was laughing as if he found out it was funny from the bottom of his heart.

Though I felt that he was an eerie man ever since I first saw him, he might not be a good person.

「… If that’s the case, I guess it’s better to not visiting 《Romburgh’s Underground Ruin》 for a while.」

Since he suddenly stopped talking for a while, I blurted out the idea that crossed in my mind.

The man tilted his neck in hearing my words.

「Hm? Oh… well I don’t think so, even if valuable things appear from inside the demon labyrinth, greedy adventurers’ failing due to their greed aren’t that rare. I mean, you’re given a choice to not dive even further if you feel that it’s not safe for you, right?」

The man spoke with a rather astonished look on his face.

… Wait, did he just give me a proper reply for my nonsense rambling just now.

The man brushing up his bangs that covered his left eye lightly.

「Either that or, you are scared of me?」

The moment I caught a glimpse of his left eye from the gap of his orange hair, I felt something akin to killing intent licking all over my body.

Though I reflexively reached to grab the handle of 《Demon Eater Sword: Beelzera》 on my back, my hand stopped in midair.

「Nfufufu… maybe I’ve to excuse myself since it seems you’re not welcoming me to sit along with you. All I wanted is just to greet you seeing that you’ve such an interesting enchanted sword.」

「WHA–!」

「That girl over here is also a really skilled blacksmith.」

That man spoke as if he teased me, and left his seat with sluggish movement.

「Be careful. They said that adventurers tended to drop so many important things inside the demon labyrinth. But of course, they tend to not realize that too.」(TN : This is a hint for future act, so you can look forward to it)

After that, he turned around and left the adventurer guild’s building while waving his hand at me.

Both Mani and I didn’t move from our seat for a while after that.

「W-What was that guy… could it be that he’s an adventurer killer like Fedor?」

… Could it be that he noticed Beelzebub’s Demon core?

There were so many kinds of devil, each has different brilliance and shape, depending on the devil.

In the first place, Beelzebub’s demon core was also entirely covered with the accessories and metal that was befitting a low rank adventurer.

It should be impossible to recognize her without using 《Imu》 but… should I be more careful and only carry it when I need it?

… No, it might have the opposite effect, I might not be able to feel at ease unless I carried it with me.

だ。

In the first place, he might be trying to plant a suggestion for me to not carry around my sword when I don’t need it, doing that would’ve ended with me unable to use my sword when push comes to shove.

「Though I don’t know what’s his aim, I can’t deny the fact that he’s an eerie man. If he had a malicious intent on us, I don’t think it’s a good idea to expose himself in front of us like this but…」

… Anyhow, it seems we’ve to be more careful in the future.

I mean, I couldn’t bring myself to think that man was a proper person after all.

I didn’t see his enchanted vessel but it might be hidden under his mantle.

「Ah, come to think of it, Edda is…」

She didn’t come over to us even though I’ve been signaling with my eyes to come over since a while ago.

When I’m looking around, I saw her leaning on the wall which was closer to our table compared to her previous position.

「Oi Edda, what are you doing over there since a while ago?」

「Eh, she’s already come. I didn’t notice her at all.」

Edda stopped crossing her arms and came toward our seat.

「Could it be that our eyes didn’t meet back then?」

「… Such a thing won’t happen. You’re such self-conscious guy.」

Edda looked away, puffed her cheeks in her attempt to deceive me.

Could it be that this girl actually had no idea about the right timing to call out to us, and has been loitering around, waiting for us to call her instead of coming right over to us?

「I-I see… sorry for the strange misunderstanding.」