Chapter 116: Flight Filler
———Karra———
<8: 27 am>
“Pfft… Oh god… This is too much…” Kenni tried her best to not laugh and cry at the expense of the other class. I don’t see their reaction as that amusing. Surely she can tone it down.
“Ignore her.” Wiina said, still under the guise of Jass.
“Please make sure to get comfortable. You can relax freely in this lounge area. We also have Wi-Fi here so no need to worry about losing connections.” Edea explained.
I don’t think there’s a lot for us to do or say. We’ve already been here once. The other class is a different matter, they have a lot of process.
They are probably so overwhelmed right now that trying to talk to them would probably just make things more awkward.
Aside from lounging around there isn’t actually that much for us to do. From what I’ve heard the buses have games and stuff. We don’t have those here. Though it could just be that we haven’t explored enough of this ship to find that out…
“By the way, you all don’t need to stay in the lounge. As long as you don’t go out to the deck, you’ll be fine.” Edea said as if reading our expressions. Indeed, we’re probably going to get restless even with the food on the table.
Isn’t there a map or a diagram or something then? If there are more facilities inside the ship I would really like to know. Hmm… Just what are we going to find when we’re exploring?
———Lerim———
<9: 08 am>
“Colorful place, if nothing else.” I remarked as I stepped inside the area. It was once a dead forest with nothing more than dead trees more akin to rows of skeleton.
Now it’s a vast jungle with many irregular-looking trees and land formation. It covers up a lot of space and has some large monsters roaming the area, probably hunting down other monsters for food. I’m still not really sure how their biology works.
Anyway, that damn guild gave out a request to me to map out the area and report on the level of monsters. The pay is high so I can’t really refuse it now can I?
I just need to record a video of this place and bring some parts of the monsters here as proof that I am exploring the area and not… I don’t know, have other people done it for me I guess?
Let’s start up the recording device and start moving. The quicker I get this done the faster I get paid.
Hmm… There’s a rock formation creating a bridge over the river. I don’t really need it since I can just jump across, and would it really be wise? No doubt there are monsters in the river waiting to jump at unsuspecting humans trying to cross it.
*Leap*
Better to jump across it than going with the intended path. The gap in the river is quite wide, but it’s not large enough for me.
*Rustle*
Hm!? Was that a monster approaching me? No, it could be small animals as well. It’s hard to tell what could be lingering in this place. It’s a completely uncharted territory.
“Yo! Why is someone like you here?” A pretty normal-looking guy asked as he suddenly walked up to me. Better not waste too much of my time.
“Just here to observe the landscape. Not many people dared to go into unknown territory without some foreknowledge.” I explained to this guy before getting ready to walk off.
“Oh is that right? We also got a similar request as well. Where’s your team?” He suddenly said. Hm? Was there another adventurer guild nearby?
“Nothing you need to be concerned with, moreover…” I said as I noticed the strange shadow casted on the ground just right behind him. “You need to move.”
“Wha-
*Dive* *Crash*
“SQUAAKKK!!!” A giant bird monster descended on us with a very loud screech.
*Dash* *Slice* *Chop* *Slash*
Clip its wings, damage its beak, sever its neck. Three smooth steps. It’s done.
“Ka…” It can make even a tiny bit of noise in that state. What a disturbing creature.
“You’re lucky that thing didn’t land right on top of you. It looked like it could crush you with its talons.” I remarked as I sheath my sword.
“Hey, dude, are you…” Someone else ran towards us with a worried expression, which turned grim once he saw the monster corpse. “W-What in the world- How did it…”
“It’s just a big bird. Nothing to concern yourself over.” I said before looking around to make sure there aren’t more monsters coming this way. Last thing I need is a horde of monsters looking to ambush us. I have fought those things getting out of the habitat a few times so I just have a good idea of where to attack. It’s just a big dumb bird at the end of the day so it’s nothing complex.
“Hey, who the heck are you?” The new guy asked.
“She said she has the same mission as us. Doesn’t look like she has her teammates though.” The guy I saved explained in my place, still not getting the picture.
“Oi! You two! Can’t you all do basic procedures!?” A third guy comes in, being a pretty bulky guy, contrasting the first two who are quite scrawny. “Running off like that. This isn’t a game, you know?”
Just more people I have to deal with, isn’t that just the most fun thing in the world…
“You three can do whatever you want with that corpse. I have my own things to do.” I said, hoping to finally leave and go at things at my own pace. “Not that I think any of us should stay here for lo-
*Ring* *Ring* *Beep*
“Ugh. What is it now?” I picked up the phone and asked, making sure to check the numbers beforehand.
“<There should be three adventurers also exploring that place. I want to make sure both sides are aware of each other. Sorry, the other nearby branch only just now contacted me about it.>” He explained. Well ain’t that something. Guess they were acting somewhat independently of each other.
“Well too bad, I already ran into them. Who the hell are these rookies?” I asked while looking at the three. They are conversing with each other and don't hear my snide remark.
“<I don’t actually know anything about them. Just make sure they don’t die or something. I hope that’s not too much to ask.>” Huh? What?
“Excuse me? I already have this job you gave me because no one else is qualified and now you’re making me babysit three people?” They are all rather unimpressive and this place is fraught with dangers we never saw before.
“Huh!? What the hell does that mean?” Oh, the big guy heard me that time.
“Got anything else you want to ask me?” I asked him, knowing full well those guys probably won’t be happy if I ignore them for too long.
“<No. Make sure you all are alive. That’s all.>” He said decisively.
*Beep*
And he hung up on me immediately… Surely he can be a bit more professional now that he’s a guild master.
“Welp. Change of plans. Guess we’re forced to join up.” I said, feeling rather salty about this whole ordeal. As if waking up early wasn’t bad enough.
“What the hell did you mean earlier? ‘Rookie’!?” He’s still going on about that?
“What about it? It’s just a slip of the tongue, come on now, we can’t stay here for long.” I said, hoping the trio will cooperate. “Seriously. Let’s move from the corpse before something bad happens.”
“Can’t say I like your tone, missy.” Oh come on now does he not understand what’s going to happen next!?
*Rumble* *Rumble*
“Crap! All of you! Time to get out of here!” I shouted at them as I pulled out my sword again, purely by instinct.
A giant four-legged stubby creature with a long trunk walked towards our location. Did it smell the blood from this giant bird with that thing? No way I’m gonna fight something like that now!
Even if one of them wants to still complain to me for some reason, thankfully no one here is stupid enough to fight something that could easily crush them under its foot.
“Alright, that should be enough distance.” We ran for a good amount of time and rested near a giant stone pillar protruding out of the ground. It’s a weird rock formation, like a towering and pointy stalagmite. There are a bunch of them around, and they don’t seem to have any purpose outside of aesthetics.
I don’t really know what that colossal monster is capable of, but by sheer size alone it cannot possibly be weak. Even if it couldn’t use strong magical attacks to compensate for its size and speed, it would probably take a lot out of me to kill one.
“Okay then, who the hell are you, actually?” The big guy asked. “And why are you here alone?”
“Because I’m enough for them, it seems.” I said, not feeling particularly interested in complaining too much. I just wanna get this done and get my pay.
“The hell does that mean?” One of the scrawny guys asked.
…I was about to ask them why they are even here since they’re not strong at all, but that would just prolong the conversation for no reason.
“Just get a move on. You guys need to map this place, I need to map this place. Let’s not waste any time here.” I said, hoping they’ll quickly cooperate and not slow me down. “Are any of you confident enough to take the lead here? If not, I can do it.”
“Why should we even go along with you? We’re not even from the same branch.” The big guy asked. He must be the most experienced one here, and probably the closest thing to the leader out of the three.
*Ring* *Ring* *Beep*
“Hello?” His phone rang up and he quickly took the call. I guess he is finally getting filled in. “Huh? Are you serious? Who is she anyway? …You don’t know? That branch’s guild master vouch for her? She’s very strong? …Uh huh…”
Speaking of guild masters. I still can’t believe that guy suddenly got the position for it. I know the incident related to that basement created a lot of controversies and more than a few scapegoats, but do they really have to pick him of all people to replace that guy?
“Haa… Alright. We’ll follow your lead.” The big guy reluctantly said after ending the call. Seems like we’re all in agreement then.
“Good. Let’s get moving. I have already recorded the natural bridge over the lake and some fauna. There’s also these pillars…” These things are the size of skyscrapers, which is completely insane. “Honestly, I’m not even sure how much they want us to record. Let’s at least get to some large landmarks.”
They all simply nodded and we started to walk towards the nearest notable structure. This one is up on a really steep hill, not a lot of trees to hide the monsters roaming on it.
*Growl*
A few horned wolves noticed us as we walked out of the forest part of this biome and up the hill and lost the covers.
*Dash* *Slash* *Crush*
No point in stretching out the fight. I just overpowered them, simple as that. It was only seven weak wolves.
The three of them look rather surprised. Come on now, those are common monsters anyone could fight with just a little bit of training. It’s not that impressive compared to fighting the giant bird earlier.
———Karra———
<9: 58 am>
“Agh!” Lynda let out a cry of frustration as she lost to me again.
“Hey now, don’t smash the machine.” I said, noticing her clenching her fists.
“I’m not going to do that! No one is that stupid!” She said, clearly sounding frustrated.
“Aw come on!” Meanwhile Jeff loses to her close friend with snake hairs.
This game room is definitely nice for letting us have fun and kill time. Why didn’t they mention this last time?