Chapter 30
Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.
The first night in the Abyss was spent outdoors.
Rather than calling it sleeping rough, let's say it was camping.
With a campfire lit and a pot hanging on a makeshift stand made of branches over it, that's camping, right?
Although the sleeping arrangements were wild, with just a blanket instead of a tent or sleeping bag.
But that wasn’t a big problem for mages.
Skilled mages were known to make even such sleeping arrangements comfortable.
I stirred the soup that was bubbling away, proudly advertising how delicious it was becoming.
"I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?"
Maybe it’s time to check the seasoning.
I scooped a little soup onto a small plate and tasted it.
Ah, just right.
"Everything. You, those guys, this situation."
I wondered what was so strange.
I acted based on extremely rational and cold calculations.
"Why did you let them live?"
"It would be a waste. They're still manpower. And we don't have anyone who can use Housing magic."
Housing, the construction magic that created temporary bases from surrounding materials.
It was quite difficult, so it wasn’t included in the five basic magics, but it was very useful. Mages who could use housing magic got bonus points when joining guilds or parties.
Of course, it's a magic I can't use yet, as my basic magic is still at a low level.
But if you don't have teeth, use your gums.
As long as it gets made, that's what matters, right?
With that idea, I was currently casting housing magic (physical).
"Hey, that's crooked. Set it up properly."
"Ah, yes, yes..."
My incantation for Housing magic (physical) was immediately corrected.
Why waste this manpower?
"...Haa. Then what about him?"
Mea pointed to the swordsman who had first been bitten by her wolf and then had his skull cracked along with his helmet by my magic bullet.
If we had left him alone, he would have died immediately.
But the swordsman was still alive, for now.
Though he wasn't fully conscious due to the shock.
It was thanks to me allowing the theurge to use healing magic.
One could say I was his savior.
When he woke up, I intended to properly collect the price for that life.
"He's for cross-verification. He seemed like the leader, so he might know things the others don't."
"...Is it that important?"
I had told Mea that the half-elf I mentioned was a teammate from the training center.
I have Rei as well as Leaf on my team, but I didn't ask separately about beast-folk.
Of course, nothing like this would happen to Rei.
Unlike Leaf, who was receiving training on an individual basis like me, Rei was training at the Frontier Guild on Arthur's recommendation.
Attacking a newbie from one of the five major guilds?
That would be insane.
The guild would immediately issue a bounty and execution order, mobilizing all their connections to find and brutally slaughter them.
And it wasn’t just the newbie hunters.
Even the slave trader who was tracking Rei would be crushed if he tried anything now, right?
The five major guilds were organizations that could exert enormous influence not just within the city but outside of it too if they so wished.
I didn't say it, but Rei's decision to accept Arthur's offer and choose Frontier for training was largely to receive their protection.
Rei has already been attacked once.
Who's to say it won't happen again?
And those who realized Rei had obtained a license would probably try to make connections in Res Limen.
While there were guilds like Frontier that purely focused on exploring the Abyss, there were also guilds that secretly handled dirty work behind the scenes.
Anyway, back to Mea's question.
Is it important?
Objectively, two weeks isn't a long time.
It's a short period.
However, that’s enough time to form a bond.
"Yes. I think so."
The first bonds I formed.
Excluding my slave days when I had no will of my own, Leaf and Rei were truly the first human relationships I formed in this other world.
There was also Arthur, my roommate, Teacher Fiona, who taught me basic magic and the basics of magic, and the classmates who survived the underground level with me, but the first ones were always special.
"I see... Okay. I understand that."
It was worth using Devil magic, even if it meant paying a price.
Understanding this, Mea nodded slightly.
"But there's still something I don't understand."
"What is it?"
"Why do you use it so crudely?"
"Pardon...?"
"Crude? Inefficient? Lacking in skill?"
Words that stabbed like daggers, one by one.
Mea tilted her head like a cat, reciting each word as if choosing more precise expressions.
"You've never properly learned magic, have you?"
"Well... that's true. I did learn the basics from a quite capable teacher, though."
Fiona could be called a top-class instructor, couldn't she?
The daughter of the Grand Duke who ruled over Res Limen.
Of course, she must have learned magic from extraordinary people.
Mea seemed to agree with that.
"Yes. That's fine. Your handling of mana and the magical formulas for basic magic were clean. The problem is Devil magic. It's too crude."
"Ah, that's..."
Is it okay to use it recklessly?
I don't need to conserve my Patron Devils' power.
This meant I didn't have to worry about how to reduce consumption as much as possible, or how to borrow power efficiently while lowering the price.
Poor efficiency?
Just use more.
Problem solved!
That’s my Devil magic.
But to Mea, an orthodox Devil Sorcerer, my method must have looked like insane, inefficient madness.
"There's a mountain of things to point out, but first, why didn't you use that?"
Mea pointed at the grimoire dangling from my belt.
The Blank Grimoire I received from the Director.
But now it was just decoration.
"This is a Blank Grimoire. It's still an empty book."
"...Haa."
What's this?
Even though I gave a proper explanation, Mea added a bit of frustration to her usual expressionless face and sighed.
"Don't talk about such things carelessly. The value of a Blank Grimoire is higher than you can imagine."
"Is that so?"
"Even Master-rank explorers can't get their hands on one. From now on, make up some other excuse."
Master-rank explorer.
Before, I thought they were too far removed to feel real, but now it was different.
I just saw how strong Mea was.
Even though my mana made Mea's wolves hesitate, if we had fought properly, they would have ignored that and charged.
In fact, Mea stopped them just before they did.
Mea was far stronger than that Male-whatever.
Even if I gave it my all, Mea would undoubtedly have a higher chance of winning.
I did have the ultimate move of overwhelming her Devil with my Patron Devils' rank, like with Male-whatever.
But that was just a gamble.
If, by chance, Mea's Patron Devil was of a higher than Seir or Leraje, or even if it was the same rank, that was a straight path to a dog's death.
And Mea's explorer rank is just Senior.
Excluding the number of people and looking at pure rank alone, Senior was in the middle.
Explorer ranks were divided into five levels.
Novice, Regular, Senior, Expert, Master.
There were two cases that didn't fit into these five levels, existing above and below this hierarchical pyramid.
Below was the apprentice explorer with a temporary license who couldn't even become a Novice.
People such as myself at the current moment.
And above were the Pioneers who were said to be opening new horizons of cognition, transcending those five levels.
The eight Pioneers.
I was newly impressed by how amazing the position of the Frontier Guild Master was, whom Rei went to seek training from.
"I'll be careful."
"Good. About the grimoire, that's that. But not using price substitution at all is also a problem."
"...What's that?"
"As I thought."
Mea immediately said, as if she had expected this.
No, this is a bit unfair.
I didn't particularly need to look into it, so...
"It's literally paying the price in a different way."
"Then doesn't that mean you don't have to pay a price?"
"The efficiency is poor. And it's not like anything can be substituted."
If the price was one year of your own lifespan, one substitute it with 10 years of someone else's lifespan.
However, in this case, “someone else” only referred to beings under one’s control.
For example, a person who had been branded by that Devil Sorcerer Male-whatever
"It's usually like that."
"Then can you use someone else's fingers as a price substitution?"
"Fingers?"
"Yes. One finger for one spell. I saw a Devil Sorcerer who used such a price before."
Unless he was a planarian or something, they couldn't all have been his own fingers.
There was a possibility that he cut off his own fingers and regenerated them with healing magic or potions.
I thought that at first too.
"It's not impossible. But since it's someone else's body part, it would need to go through magical processing to compensate."
When I found out about the expenses, I felt I understood why that Devil Sorcerer was doing the dirty work of slave traders.
And why the money pouch I had taken as legitimate spoils didn't warm my heart much.
"Still, it's much better than not using it at all. The essence of life is wanting to live even one more day. If you want to extend your life even a little, make sure to use substitution."
"...Yes, I'll keep that in mind."
That brief hesitation was a trace of the agony of thinking what to say, unable to say "I don't need that" to her.
"Anyway, let's eat dinner first. It's a bit late, but it should taste good since those guys' supplies were quite good."
As it seemed to be almost done, I scooped some soup and handed it to Mea.
Mea received the spoon and bowl with her small hands and cautiously took a bite as if suspicious.
"...!"
And immediately, Mea's eyes widened.
"It's delicious, isn't it?"
"...Yes. It's been a long time since I've had something this delicious."
"I learned cooking quite diligently. There's plenty, so eat as much as you like."
The cooking I had experienced in this world was at a terrible level.
Disregarding my days as a slave, the food could barely be called edible when compared to when I lived on Earth.
In the end, necessity was the mother of invention.
I learned cooking with all my heart and soul.
Although I haven't had the chance to show off my skills until now since I was trying to save money.
"...Why him?"
When I placed the next bowl next to the head of the unconscious guy instead of eating it myself, Mea asked curiously.
"I'm stimulating him with the smell to wake up quickly."
"There's no way that would work..."
"Mmm... good smell... Bark, was it your turn today? More importantly, some water first..."
It's working, isn't it?
Mea suddenly started moving her spoon silently.
As if she didn't want to watch me interrogate this time.
I left Mea to her meal and grabbed the soup bowl before the swordsman who was trying to reach for it.
"Did you sleep well? Nice evening, isn't it?"
"...What on earth...?"
"Ah, still half-asleep? Then."
Crunch—
"Aaaagh!"
As I gently pressed down on the back of his hand that had reached up to grab the soup bowl, he screamed like an instrument.
"How about now? Are you a bit more awake?"