Episode 205 Karina's Teammates

I ended the talk about the new magic.

"On a different note, I reported on a metal slab with sacramental writing before. Are you making progress on deciphering it?"

Branch Chief Kondou made a bitter face.

"It's being looked into, but they seem to be having a hard time. Did something happen with that?"

Using the 'Scroll of Knowledge' obtained in the pyramid, I obtained knowledge about Sacramental Letters, and the characters written on the metal slab, 'The Creator created a secret path in a layer that is a multiple of five, and hid the key to use it in the body of a wandering monster' I told him what was written.

"A secret path and a wandering monster. What does that mean?"

"Wandering monsters are Vagabonds."

The Branch Chief turned a sharp gaze at me.

"Vagabond ... Is it the FortSpider? Perhaps, did you get the key?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Can you show me?"

I showed the tattoo on the back of my left hand. The Branch Chief was surprised when I told him that this was the transfer gate key.

"Other advanced dungeons also have transfer gates. Most transfer gate keys are tokens or rings, but tattoos are rare."

After hearing that information, I learned that transfer gates weren't that rare.

"A secret path ... No, if we find a transfer gate, it seems like it would make dungeon exploration easier."

The Branch Head made a sour face.

"That may be so. However, it might be better to keep the fact that Grimm-kun obtained the transfer gate key a secret."

"Why is that?"

"If the adventurer who got the transfer gate key is found out that he is solo, other teams will try to get you into the team. It will definitely become a scramble for Grimm-kun."

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Please spare me from the rush of teams cozying up to me for the transfer gate key.

"I would be happy to be invited to join a team after evaluating my abilities, but I don't want them to be only looking for the transfer gate key."

In addition to that, it seemed that it would be better to keep it a secret for the time being that I had knowledge of the Sacramental Letters. If this became known, there would be an influx of requests from all over the world to decipher the Sacramental Letters.

It seemed that

The Branch Chief promised to keep the transfer gate key and the Sacramental Letters secret.

"By the way, about looking for a transfer gate, you should be prepared for it to take some times. In another dungeon, it took about a month from when it was discovered that a transfer gate existed until it was actually discovered."

"So long ..."

It seemed that I had no choice but to search patiently.

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Mochizuki Karina, a teacher at the Magic Academy, went to Tokyo after a long absence. She was invited to drink after a long time from her teammates when she was an active adventurer.

She had three consecutive holidays from today, so she had time. She wanted to see them for the first time in a long time. Karina stopped being an adventurer when she encountered a BlueOgre and lost one of her companions while exploring the 29th floor of an intermediate dungeon.

The man who died was an Attack Wizard, whom Karina was on good terms with. Karina lost her self-confidence after not being able to protect him, and retired as an adventurer.

She entered the pub she used to frequent. Her former teammates were already waiting. They were Muscle Wizards Sawai Hiroyuki and Tsutsui Naomi, and an Attack Wizard Watanabe Minori.

"You finally came."

Sawai, the former team leader, spoke up.

"I shouldn't be late. More importantly, how is everyone doing?"

Sawai frowned. Something must have happened. Minori, who was on good terms with Sawai, smiled and told her.

"The leader encountered a group of OrcKnights and was seriously injured. He was hospitalized for about a month and has just been discharged."

Sawai was a Muscle Wizard. By the time he was in his late thirties, he said he began to feel like he was failing.

After Karina ordered draft beer and fried chicken, she turned to Sawai.

"Perhaps, are you retiring?"

"I thought about that too. No matter how hard I train, I'm at my physical limit."

Was that really true, Karina wondered. Introduced by Grimm, she met Mitsuhashi, his karate master. Mitsuhashi Shihan was in his late 40s, but he had been promoted from an F-class adventurer to an E-class thanks to Life Magic. With that momentum, wouldn't he be D-class soon.

"As an adventurer, you've made enough money, so you can afford to find another way."

Sawai gave a nihilist laugh.

"As an Edo person, I don't have enough money."

Everyone who heard that became dumbfounded.

"Who is an Edo person. You were born and raised in Hokkaido, right."

Sawai gave a wry smile when Karina made a sharp retort.

"I'm joking. However, I don't have the financial means. I think I have no choice but to continue being an adventurer, but I'm worried that if I continue like this, I'll get seriously injured again."

However, it is unthinkable to get seriously injured by an OrcKnight. When she thought so, she realized that she thought so because she had mastered Life Magic.

A beer was brought, so she drank it in a gulp. It was the season when beer felt delicious.

"If you change the way you earn money in the dungeon, it's fine."

"How do you want me to change?"

"For example, hunting BigSheep for wool, or hunting LizardSoldiers for red magic stone ."

Sawai made a sour face. He didn't want to do it that way. When he was hospitalized, he left the team, so it was no good if he didn't work solo.

"In that case, you can't push yourself too hard. Either change to a steady way of earning money, or stop being an adventurer like me."

Among them, Sawai and Minori were the only ones who continued to be adventurers. Minori seemed to have a solid way of doing things in the lower tiers of intermediate dungeons.

"I can't be a teacher. Besides, the salary is low."

She didn't deny that the salary was low, but when she dived into the dungeon with her students, the academy paid for the expenses, so there was no loss. If you were a normal adventurer, you would end up in the red if you got injured due to using primary healing magic potions.

Naomi, the other Muscle Wizard, said she wanted to go to the dungeon. Naomi retired as an adventurer and became an employee of the Adventurer's Guild. She occasionally went to dungeons, but she didn't seem to do any serious exploration.

Since all of them were drunk, they decided to go explore the dungeon. They decided to go see how Sawai had weakened. Sawai made a face that he was kind of annoyed, but he gave in to the momentum of the women who were drunk and agreed.