NBAA Vol. 8 Chapter 5 Part 6
“So, did you find any clues about your father, Mina?”
“No… I talked to some older adventurers I met along the way, but in the end, no one knew…”
“Hey, does this look familiar?”
“Eh?”
Reito activated his space magic and handed over the spear he’d bought at the resting spot on the fourth floor.
Mina was confused when she saw the spear that looked exactly like the one she had lost.
“Th-This… there’s no doubt about it, it’s the spear my father used!”
“I thought so…”
“Where did you find it?”
Mina clung to Reito.
But Reito pulled her away to calm her down, and handed her a blanket he’d taken out of the space magic to warm her wet body.
“Just put this on for now. You’ll catch a cold like that.”
“Oh, yeah…but more importantly, where did you get this spear?”
“I bought it from a street vendor on the fourth floor. She doesn’t remember where she found it though…”
“I recognise that spear.”
“Eh…?”
Suddenly, Honemin interrupted the conversation by writing. Mina, not knowing the situation, panicked, but Honemin looked down at the spear and put her hand on her chin as if remembering something.
“I remember now. This is Galea’s spiral spear, isn’t it?”
“Y-Yes! Do you know my father?”
“We were friends. When we first met, he tried to blow my head off with the spear and thought of killing me.”
“Bufu!”
Reito laughed as he imagined Honemin getting angry after her skull was blown off, but Honemin and Mina glared at him and returned to the topic.
“Was my father here?”
“Well, I mean, he was here, but we worked together for a little while. He was a pretty interesting guy, so I remember him.”
“Do you know what happened to my father?”
“Well… I think he asked me about the path to the fifth floor. So I gave him the teleportation stone and told him about the secret passage that leads to this floor.”
“What?”
Mina was surprised by Honemin’s words. Reito and the others were also surprised that her father had contact with Honemin. However, according to her story, they seemed to have split up along the way, so it was unclear whether Galea really made it to the fifth floor.
“I accompanied him to the entrance of the secret passage, but I don’t know what happened after that. But I haven’t seen Galea since that day.”
“You mean… you sent him to such a dangerous place?”
“I explained it to him properly too. I told him to be careful because it’s a very dangerous place, and I even gave him the teleportation stone.”
“Father…”
Holding her father’s spear tightly, Mina was confused by the idea that her father might have reached the fifth floor, the top floor of the Great Labyrinth.
“Even if he had reached the fifth floor, why was this spear on the fourth floor?”
“That’s the biggest mystery. Did he turn back and get killed by a monster? Or did he use the teleportation stone to go from the fifth floor to the fourth floor and get killed… or was he killed by someone.”
“Killed…”
“… It’s not impossible. It’s common for adventurers to fight over valuable materials and treasures.”
“No way…!”
Mina’s face went pale at the idea that her father might have been killed, and she gripped her father’s spear tightly. However, there were few clues about her father at present, and it was merely speculation.
Reito turned his gaze to the hot spring where Mina and Honemin had been bathing earlier and asked Honemin.
“Hey, Honemin. Let’s change the subject, but what is this? It’s not just a hot spring, is it?”
“Oh, that’s the white medicinal bath. You know the green medicinal bath on the third floor, right? But this is the holy water that flows from the earth veins, and is brought up by geothermal heat.”
“Earth veins? Geothermal heat? They’re bringing something like that up this far?”
Reito asked Honemin while touching the white medicinal bath, and she slapped her palm as if remembering something and explained.
“Now that I think about it, everyone seems to be mistaken, but even though this is the fifth floor, it’s not the top floor. This is the lowest floor.”
“What?!”
“For some reason, adventurers are mistaken, but the Tower’s Great Labyrinth is designed to descend from the top floor to the bottom. In other words, the first floor is the top floor and the fifth floor is the bottom floor.”
“So, what about the sun and blue sky reflected on the ceiling?”
“That’s just an image. The sun doesn’t move even as time passes, and there is no concept of night on this floor.”
“What?”
“I’m surprised…”
“Huh…huh?”
Mina, unable to grasp the situation, looked around at everyone, but Reito and the others were also surprised by the new fact. In any case, according to Honemin, this white medicinal bath was a natural source that springs from underground.
“Can this white medicinal bath cure any illnesses?”
“If it’s a minor illness, you can cure it in one shot by just bathing. But if it’s a serious illness, it’s difficult. If you soak in the bath for several days over time, maybe…”
“If that’s the case, if I draw a lot of this and take it to Mina’s mother, will it cure her illness?”
“Huh?”
Mina looked astonished at Reito’s words. Everyone else nodded at his suggestion, and Honemin also thought deeply while looking at the white medicinal bath.
“Well, I don’t think this White Medicinal Bath will run out no matter how much we draw, but we can’t say anything for sure until we know the name of your mother’s illness. What’s it called?”
“Green Death…”
“Green Death?”
“It’s a disease that turns the skin of the whole body green. Once half of the body is dyed green, you die.”
“Eh, isn’t that what Mina had earlier…?”
“That’s right. Green Death isn’t exactly a disease, it’s caused by a type of poison. But it’s hard to imagine that a normal person would be infected by Green Death…”
“…It’s his fault. He did something to my mother.”
Mina gritted her teeth and gripped her spear.
Reito was suspicious of her reaction and asked her.
“Who is that guy?”
“He’s the guy my mother used to date! That man used all the money I sent him and ran away! I came back home because I hadn’t heard back from him, and when I got there, but my mother…!”
“Did he poison her?”
“How cruel…!”
“But isn’t Green Death a disease that can be cured by administering an antidote? You didn’t have time, but you can buy an antidote when you return to town, right?”
“Actually, my mother has the skill ‘Drug Resistance’… and that’s why the medicine is less effective.”
“Drug Resistance?”
“It’s a skill that makes you resistant to drugs. It’s effective against poison, but on the other hand, it also weakens the effects of healing potions.”
“There’s a skill like that!?”
Skills didn’t necessarily only give beneficial effects to the body, sometimes they had bad effects too.
For example, ‘Enhanced Hearing’, which was easy for assassins to learn, allowed them to hear sounds from far away, but on the other hand, they react sensitively to loud noises. Mina’s mother’s Green Death was slowed down by the skill “Drug Resistance”, but the effect of healing potions was also weakened.
“My mother’s body is already weak, so they said that giving her strong medicines would only put a strain on her body, so medicines won’t do anything… but I’m also worried about my father.”
“So you were planning to challenge the Great Labyrinth and investigate your father’s death before quitting your adventure?”
“Yeah… but can this hot water really help save my mother?”
“All I can say is that there is a possibility. The best thing to do is to soak in the hot water, but it’s not a problem to give it orally either.”
“In that case, why don’t we bring back a lot of this stuff?”
“Ah, but I… it seems like I dropped my storage stone.”
“Leave that to me. Everyone help me draw water.”
“Leave it to us.”
Reito activated space magic and took out the extra luggage. Then he took out a huge pot that he had brought for cooking and drinking water. Although it was a waste, they disposed of the water inside, and everyone used the bucket to pour the white medicine soup into the jar.
“Okay, is this enough? All that’s left is to put the lid on and put it into the space magic and there’ll be no problem!”
“Please make sure to heat the white medicine soup before drinking it. It needs to be at least warm to body temperature.”
“Y-Yes…Thank you. I can’t believe you’re going through this much trouble for me.”
“When in trouble, we help each other, that we are.”
“…Take good care of your mother.”
“Take good care of your family.”
“…Well, I’ll help you this time.”
Mina bowed repeatedly to Reito and the others who had filled the jar with the white medicine soup. All that was left was to go to her mother and hand it over to her.
Reito and the others also filled the remaining containers with white medicine soup, and decided to explore the inside of the temple.
“Was Excalibur sealed in this temple… Could there be other treasures here?”
“No, unfortunately there isn’t. I checked it out too, but there doesn’t seem to be anything of value there.”
“Dammit!”
“Dain was collecting monster materials, wasn’t he? That alone would be enough money, that is it?”
“Greed leads to an early death. Even so, this floor is the most dangerous so far. Normally, it’s impossible for the Goblin King to form a group.”
“There are opponents more troublesome than the Goblin King and Goblin Lord. I don’t know how many times I’ve pretended to be dead and overcome a crisis…”
“Didn’t you get bitten by Kobolds or wolf-type monsters?”
“To be honest, I’ve been chased around a few times.”
“Um… how are we going to get home?”
“Well, I’ll give you some teleportation stones too. Oh, I’ll send the bill to your home later.”
“The bill!?”
~
Despite all that, Reito and his friends safely reached the bottom of the Great Labyrinth, exploring the deepest part that many adventurers had not been able to reach.
For a while, each of them soaked in the white medicine bath to heal their wounds.
After getting ready, they decided to use the teleportation stone to return to the outside world.
“Honemin, we’re going now. Thank you so much for everything.”
“No, no, just bring a new notepad next time.”
“Thank you for all your help.”
Reito and his friends gathered in one place, and everyone clutched the teleportation stone.
It seemed Honemin would be staying at the temple for a while. After saying their farewells to her, everyone prepared to use the teleportation stone.
“Well, even though we say goodbye, I’ll come and see you if I want to see your face.”
“That’s right. We’ll be challenging the fourth floor for a while, so we might have a chance to meet again.”
“But if this pattern continues, it seems like we’ll never meet Honemin again…”
“Am I a ghost or a fairy?”
“Umm, Skeleton-san! Thank you for the white medicine bath!”
Mina bowed vigorously while carrying a large jar on her back. As she did so, the white medicine bath started to seep out of the lidded jar, so she quickly stood up.
Honemin waved her hand to her as if to tell her not to worry, and casually placed her hand on her shoulder. Clack clack clack…
“Eeek!”
“Hey, you’re scaring her! Write it properly!”
“You’re like her mother…”
“Oh, I’m sorry. She is so much fun to tease, I just…”
Reito hugged the frightened Mina and scolded Honemin. Honemin was smiling as she wrote while moving her chin, but the notepad Reito had given her was almost full.
“Well, you should go soon. I’m going to enjoy the hot springs, so don’t worry about me.”
“By the time we meet again, will you be regenerated into an undead?”
“This is not a horror story!”
Finally, after a stand-up comedy-like exchange, Reito and the others used the teleportation stone, even though they were sad to say goodbye to Honemin.
The teleportation stone can be used in the same way as the teleportation crystal, by either saying the destination level or the word “teleport” to travel to the outside world.
Reito and the others held up the teleportation stone at the same time.
““““Teleport!””””
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