Chapter 361

Ogre Nest

“Still… Kimon is quite…”

“You know something?”

We continued our conversation as we waited for Lehaty.

Rachel reacted when she heard of our next destination, Kimon. Or Facility 2.

“There is a legend of ogres living on this island a long time ago.”

“Ogres?”

Daniela seemed puzzled.

“Ah, I’ve heard stories of ogres living on the farthest island… Maybe it was here?’

I think it was in Fhiraldo… It had come up when Daniela and I were talking about hair color. A race that had the same hair color as me… Did they still exist?

“No, no such thing has been confirmed, unfortunately. But then again, it is said that they have long lives, like the elves, so perhaps… Well, that is not important to us now.”

I waited as Rachel paused to drink from her cup.

“Regardless, there are traces of such ogres having lived in caves on this island. And there are rumors of a treasure hidden there.”

“A treasure… Well, that ought to attract Adventurers.”

“Exactly. There is no end to such people coming all of the way here. Some people say that the treasure is silver and gold, while others say it is weapons and armor. Personally, I have no idea what it is.”

Ogres… It made me think of metal clubs. But perhaps they fought with swords as well.

“Regardless, there are many ruins around the back of the island. So you will likely find your facility there. After all, it is called Kimon.”

“…Ah, right.”

Kimon could be written as ‘Ogre Gate.’ So it would make sense for it to be close to a place that ogres lived.

“Still, why is there an ancient eleven ruin in a place that demons once lived?”

Well, we didn’t actually know if it was still there.

“I don’t know. Perhaps the elves built it long after the demons were gone. Perhaps it was good because of the amount of mana that was there.”

Indeed, mana was important when building a facility. After all, the network that the Karma used was connected to the dragon vein. It was quite possible this island was close to it. It was something I’d have to investigate.

“Alright, I suppose the first step would be to find this place that these ogres once lived.”

“Well, it is called the Ogre Nest.”

“Ogre Nest. I see…”

I was slightly relieved to know that we would likely find Kimon if we searched in this nest. It was a lot better than having to find it without any hint at all.

“The food is ready!”

After that, we ate what Lehaty had prepared for us. It was similar to Japanese food. The kind that Rachel would like. And it tasted great.

□ □ □ □

After filling our bellies, we left Rachel and headed for the Adventurer’s Guild. It seemed like a good idea to let them know we were here, or it could lead to trouble later on. We meant to be quite active during our time here, after all.

The guild wasn’t located in the hot spring town, but in a different town that was about an hour away on foot.

I was called Relcul, and unlike the other town, the buildings all had blue roofs. Apparently, this place was mostly populated by Adventurers.

According to Rachel, once rumors of an ogre treasure started to circulate, many Adventurers came to this island and caused trouble. That led to the founding of this new town.

“As for why they went to such lengths, well, it’s because the Adventurers angered the nobles. This town has so many of them. They say that you can throw a rock and hit multiple nobles at once. And these nobles wanted the Adventurers out. Enough to pay for that other town.”

It was an interesting story. And these Adventurers must have been very bold. I would have to be careful when meeting them. It was with such thoughts that we entered the town of Relcul.

□ □ □ □

As for the town… Ah… Unfortunately, it felt about as barbarous as I was expecting. The architecture was similar to the other town, and with a beautiful blue color scheme. Except, everything just seemed dirtier and darker.

“It looks like the nobles have not touched it once they detained the Adventurers.”

“Don’t say detained…”

Are we prisoners now? Well, it almost seemed fitting, though.

“You bastard!”

“Arrrghh!!”

Even now, someone was being hit over the head with a bottle in some random corner of the town. At least I didn’t see anyone die yet. No pools of blood…

In spite of all that, there was still a guild here. And the first thing we wanted to do was to find it. But there was no guarantee that we could do it safely. How annoying…

“Oh? Is that Mister Asagi and Miss Daniela that I see?”

It was a clear, soft voice that did not match such a town. Daniela and I spun around and saw a beautiful woman who had a white rapier on her belt.

“You. You are Light Dew. Levee Badi?”

“That’s right, Light Wind. I have not seen you since the Imperial Sword Tournament.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Miss Levee.”

“My, that level of formality is quite off putting, Silver Green.”

Something told me that she was doing this on purpose. In fact, the pair who had been fighting earlier were now looking at us. And there were others who watched with surprise.

“I think that’ll keep them in check.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“Don’t worry, I have plenty of experience in that regard.”

Levee added that she had beaten people half to death. It seemed like she was as horrifying as before.

Light Dew was an A-Rank Adventurer with an alias. Apparently, her rapier could strike through falling dew. Not only that, but she could use advanced ice magic.

We had been able to witness her skill during the tournament. She was a good match for Daniela. That had been quite a fight. Levee was a war junkie, while Daniela was quiet and composed. And they had not held back at all.

And now Levee was here.

“Oh, I could not help but be lured by this ogre treasure… After all, I heard that it has to do with thunder magic.”

“Thunder magic?”

But Levee and I were users of ice magic. What use did she have for artifacts related to thunder magic…

Not even Daniela used that.

“Well, I would put it up for auction in the imperial city.”

“Ah…”

Levee said with a mischievous grin. I nodded. Things that you couldn’t use could be sold at a high price. That was the right thing to do.

“Yes, I can only imagine what those fools will pay. Hehe.”

“You are quite evil.”

“But she does have a point.”

There was always someone who could use what you couldn’t. And we would get money. Win-win?

“Well, we’re not here for the treasure.”

“Oh, is that right?”

“Yeah. Though, we will be visiting the Ogre Nest.”

Levee pondered this for a moment. She was quite pretty when she wasn’t saying horrible things. Or being obsessed with fighting. She was the type of person that you wanted to be very careful when around.

“Well, I should stop pestering you then. But don’t hesitate to pass the treasure on to me if you do find it.”

“You have some nerve…I’ll consider it.”

“If we even find anything.”

“Yes, I have no expectations whatsoever. Goodbye, then.”

Levee gave a slow bow and then walked away in the direction of the mountain. Judging by the flow of Adventurers, the Ogre Nest was towards the mountains. The main street in the town also stretched in that direction until it reached a gate. This gate was also made of blue bricks.

After seeing Levee off, Daniela and I headed for the tallest building. The impression I continued to receive from the town was that it was quite filthy. There just seemed to be piles of mysterious garbage everywhere…

“I suppose no one ever cleans.”

“There must be someone…”

But it clearly wasn’t enough. Clothes said a lot about a person, and a town said a lot about its people. The Adventurers here were a rough sort. There were a lot of bars and fights seemed to be taking place in a lot of them.

It was no wonder Levee had had a rough time.

“Hey, lady. Why don’t you come and have a drink.”

Came voices, in spite of the fact that I was walking next to her. Daniela just ignored them. But that often had bad results when it came to drunkards.

“Hey, you have some nerve to ignore me!”

“Hahh…”

Bam! The bald-headed man slammed his mug on the table. Daniela sighed with undisguised annoyance.

“Come on. It is not worth it.”

“Yeah…”

“You should leave that wimp and come over here!”

I was angry now, but it seemed childish to react. And so we both pretended like we couldn’t hear.

“Tsk. You cowards can’t even reply!”

The man and his friends burst into laughter. Stuff like this had happened plenty of times before. And sometimes they had resulted in us kicking their asses and freezing them. But we were in a hurry.

“These newcomers are all the same… AHHhhh!!!?”

I was just about to sigh in relief at leaving them behind. There was a loud gust of wind and a hoarse scream. I looked back and saw that their table and chairs had been flipped over. Of course, that meant their food and drinks had spilled everywhere as well. There was even the remnant of a salad on the man’s head. It suited him.

“Hey, Daniela…”

“I did absolutely nothing.”

“Huh? You didn’t use wind magic just now…”

“They are hardly worth the effort. Still, I wonder who it was…”

It had been quite a shock to everyone, and eyes shot back and forth in hopes of finding out who did it. However, the culprit was not to be found. And Presence Detection was no use in a place like this.

Ultimately, someone blamed the table for being badly made. And the Adventurers stormed away angrily.

As we didn’t want to be blamed for it, we had made a visible effort to find the culprit, but that ended in failure.

□ □ □ □

While the whole thing wasted us a good fifteen minutes, we soon arrived at our destination. It was a large building with a blue roof and a sign that read: Relcul Branch.

It was rather spacious inside, but seemed about as orderly as the rest of the town. It was packed too.

As always, we took a look at the quest board. I thought that perhaps you needed to accept some quest in order to enter the Ogre Nest…but I didn’t see anything like that.

“I wonder how we can get in?”

“Hmm… We better ask.”

And so I found myself standing at the ‘Questions & Other’ counter. Thankfully, there wasn’t a line for it.

“Excuse me, we are trying to go to the Ogre Nest.”

“The Ogre Nest, yes. Just go straight down the main road until you see the blue gate to the right. You can’t miss it…”

“Oh. Uh, you don’t need permission, then?”

We had come all this way here because we assumed that the guild would want to manage everything… But the guild worker just looked at us curiously.

“No, you are free to enter as you please.”

“So… No records or anything?”

“No records. Let them march off to their deaths if they wish.”

“Uh…”

It was rather severe and callus… But I suppose that was their stance here. Don’t blame us if you die.

“I see. Thanks for your help.”

“Not at all. Be safe.”

She was polite, but cool. In any case, we had wasted even more time in coming here…

“Well, we might as well update our status cards then?”

“…Ah. That’s right. My level might have gone up since I fought the Blue Dragon.”

I muttered out loud. And the room suddenly fell silent.

“…Eh?”

I looked around the room and saw that everyone was staring at us. Had they heard? How good was their hearing?

“…The Blue Dragon…?”

“That’s what I heard…”

“You have to be joking.”

“That legendary creature?”

They whispered and stared. People in the back were even stretching and standing on their toes in order to see us. It was getting embarrassing.

“Let’s go, Daniela.”

“But, uh…the update…”

I found this kind of awkward atmosphere to be unbearable, and so I quickly left the guild.

Once again, I saw that I didn’t care for the position of protagonist. I didn’t have the specifications or the right. I preferred to live like a side character.

In any case, it was off to the nest. The Ogre Nest.

I grabbed Daniela’s hand and hurried through the gate.