Chapter 146
Chapter 146
Floating Island (3)
“Stop making a fuss.”
I had secretly wanted to put anyone acting up in their place, but there wasn't a single one. To reach the Floating Island, everyone had to ride the same platform the Administrator of the Floating Island had used, and since there was only one, boarding alone took a considerable amount of time.
Managing that tedious process ended up becoming my job.
“All right~ Next!”
Since the Vice-Commander was diligently handling things herself, there was no way I could just stand around doing nothing. The Vice-Commander was compiling the student roster.
“Yo~ Working hard, huh? Troublemaker.”
“Vice-Head, is it?”
The next person to approach was someone I knew well—the second-year Combat Department Vice-Head, Soloven's close friend. I gave a half-hearted reply to his familiar greeting.
“Did you take another nap?”
“Hm?”
“You reek of trees. Just how long were you lying there?”
I frowned at the overpowering scent of wood coming off him. The Vice-Head simply laughed it off.
Starting with him, I sent countless people up. It felt like I'd watched that transparent elevator go back and forth well over a hundred and fifty times.
“That should be all the students! Then shall the rest of the temporary student council members come up with me?”
There weren't many people left on the ground. Among the remaining students, there were only me and two male students. Following the Vice-Commander's instructions, we boarded the elevator.
“Wow.”
Since the Floating Island wasn't very far away, there wasn't much to see during the ride. You could just see the entire academy below.
I remained indifferent, but the other two male students were different. Apparently they weren't scared at all, clinging to the walls as they eagerly looked outside.
“All right. Our work is done too. You should each have an assigned inn. You can rest there. Feel free to enjoy yourselves for the rest of today. I'm busy, so I'll be leaving first.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
The Vice-Commander excused herself as she spoke. I greeted her first as she turned to leave, and the two boys behind me quickly followed suit.
“Dismissed. Go do whatever you want.”
“Yes! Thank you for your hard work, Senior!”
The first-year boys bowed with impeccable manners before hurrying off. I let out a huge yawn and stretched.
I was only doing this because of the reward, but it had been pretty exhausting. It was also boring since there hadn't been a single troublemaker causing a scene.
“Canis.”
“Canis~ has arrived~”
I didn't know the principle behind it, but whenever I called Canis, she always appeared like this.
Simply saying her name was enough for her to show up. She was so fast that it almost looked as though she had traveled through the shadows.
“Where's everyone?”
“At the inn~ Or, more accurately, a pseudo-temple~ I guess.”
“Let's go.”
At my words, Canis skipped ahead with springy steps. She seemed to be in an unusually good mood, moving far more cheerfully than usual.
“It's just an inn.”
The place Canis led me to was an ordinary inn. There wasn't anything that looked like a temple.
Seeing the puzzled look on my face, Canis chuckled to herself. Without answering, she headed for the door.
“Huh.”
The typical medieval inn was usually described as having a dining and drinking area on the first floor, with lodging starting from the second.
It had that warm, classic wooden style. This inn was similar, but the people inside were different.
Everywhere I looked, people were dressed in light-colored priest robes.
It seemed to be an inn exclusively for Divine Department students. I headed toward the only table in the corner filled entirely with people dressed in black.
“What are you staring at?”
“Ah. N-Nothing.”
I couldn't resist picking a fight with the guy whose gaze lingered on me a little too long. From somewhere in the distance, I could even hear Winter sigh.
“No, seriously... why are you picking a fight with someone who was just sitting there...?”
“He wasn't just sitting there. He was glaring at me.”
“...Good grief.”
At my answer, Winter shook her head as if I was beyond help.
“They told us to rest however we wanted today. Do we have anything we need to do?”
“No. We don't, but don't wander around for no reason. Get some rest early today.”
“Aw.”
I answered Winter while taking a drink of the beer Worden handed me.
Whether my answer had been unexpected or she had simply wanted to go out and have fun, Winter's reaction was less than enthusiastic.
“Why? You want to go out and have fun?”
“Well... that's part of it.”
“Forget it. We've got plenty of time.”
The Floating Island stayed docked at Museion Island for roughly two weeks. Just like in the game. I felt sorry for Winter, but we were going to be pretty busy from here on.
“Tomorrow, we're all going somewhere.”
“Mhm~ I'm looking forward to it~”
The Floating Island event in the game was quite diverse. There were daily missions along with all sorts of other missions, and completing them rewarded you with a special event currency.
Using that currency, we could exchange it for useful items at the exchange shop. I planned to drag the members of the Religious Order into a full-on farming grind.
“It'll all become flesh and blood for us in the end.”
“If you put it that way.”
Winter stopped complaining after that. As we talked, the food we'd ordered in advance was brought out.
“Wow. Seriously.”
“This is making me mad.”
Because of the Floating Island's unique environment, meat was difficult to obtain. As a result, every dish served consisted entirely of vegetables. Winter looked genuinely surprised, while Aro, who loved meat, grumbled in dissatisfaction.
“Well then. Shall we make a toast?”
“Um... we're the only table that ordered alcohol.”
“So what?”
“...”
Ours was the only table that had ordered drinks. After glancing around awkwardly, Winter steeled herself at my words.
“To the grind.”
“The... huh? What? What kind of word is that?”
Ignoring Winter's objection, I downed my beer in one go.
***
“Hm.”
Canis's furniture-creating magic was seriously useful. We had gathered in a small forest on the outskirts of the Floating Island.
I'd brought the members of the Religious Order here first thing in the morning. Worden was lying flat on the grass, while the three women enjoyed tea around the crystal table Canis had created.
“Senior.”
“What?”
I was lying down as well, using Worden's thick muscles as a pillow. Seeing how relaxed I was despite gathering so early in the morning, Winter called out to me.
“We've all been here for a while now. What are we doing?”
“We're waiting for one more person.”
“...But there are only five people in the Anaye Order.”
Winter replied with a doubtful expression. I simply waved a hand while letting out a huge yawn.
Aro handed a cookie to the pouting Winter. Watching her immediately forget about it and focus on the snacks made me chuckle.
“So, you're here.”
About five minutes later, as I kept my eyes closed and focused my senses, I detected an unfamiliar presence.
Seeing me suddenly sit up, Worden also raised himself. In the distance, I spotted a familiar purple ponytail.
“...Good morning.”
“Yeah. Morning.”
Soloven greeted me with an uneasy expression. I welcomed him with a fierce grin.
Back at the end of Episode 2, I'd dueled Soloven. As a result, I'd gained the authority to assign him one request.
“I'd forgotten all about it.”
“I hadn't.”
“...So what's the request?”
“Whenever our Religious Order is farming on the Floating Island, you participate. No exceptions.”
I'd just recruited Soloven into the farming factory.
Hearing the unfamiliar term, Soloven tilted his head.
There were areas on the Floating Island where monsters appeared. Defeating those monsters gave you a chance to obtain exclusive event currency.
But this was reality. That event currency was simply a part of the monsters' bodies, so as long as you knew how to butcher them, you could obtain it every time.
“I happen to know a thing or two about butchering. Raise your hand.”
Only two people raised their hands—Soloven and Worden. Soloven had probably learned it in class, while Worden was the son of a hunter.
I'm pretty sure Canis butchered monsters back in the Poison Swamp too.
I narrowed my eyes at Canis.
“What an~ intense stare.”
I shook my head as Canis shamelessly played innocent. It didn't matter anyway, since I knew how to do it myself.
“From now on, we're splitting into teams of two. Until lunchtime, you'll explore the surrounding forest and kill every monster you come across.”
“?”
“The monsters will have horns. Bring back every single one. Don't cut the horns off—you have to extract them properly through butchering.”
Everyone tilted their heads in confusion, but no one questioned it. I looked at them with satisfaction.
“All right, let's split into teams. Two people per—”
“I wanna team up with Junior!”
“Mmm~ Then I'll go with reliable little sparrow~”
“Uh? O-Okay, then I'll go with Senior Soloven.”
The teams were formed in an instant. Aro enthusiastically raised her hand and picked me, while Canis immediately chose Worden.
She was probably planning to make full use of the gullible Worden. Left without a partner, Winter awkwardly chose Soloven. She was probably the closest to Soloven after me, so it was the most reasonable pairing.
“All right then, dismissed. Bring back at least a hundred. As for Soloven... uh... right, I'll give you a reward too.”
With that, I sent the other two teams off. As soon as Soloven disappeared from sight, Aro latched onto my right arm.
“Phew. I thought I was going to die from the heat.”
“Senior Soloven isn't that bad.”
“No, his soul's way too hot. Unlike you, who's nice and cool.”
“...That was a compliment, right?”
Even now, Aro still reacted badly whenever she saw Soloven. Unlike back in the desert, she no longer openly treated him as an enemy, but she acted as though he simply didn't exist.
Since Soloven himself didn't seem to care, I usually let it go, but I was still curious.
“Is there a reason you dislike Soloven?”
In the game, Soloven was a very popular character, but he was also one who divided opinions.
His excellent performance, bold fighting style, and upright, kind personality earned him plenty of fans. At the same time, some players disliked him for being too rigid and overly formal.
“He's a fire attribute. I hate fire.”
“Huh.”
I wondered if Aro belonged to the latter group, but her answer was much simpler than I'd expected. She disliked him simply because he was a fire attribute.
There wasn't really anything I could say to that.
If she disliked it, I couldn't exactly force her to like it. I was satisfied enough that, for my sake, she at least wasn't openly hostile toward him.
“So why are we hunting these things?”
“There's an exchange shop on the Floating Island. If we collect these creatures' horns, we can obtain rare items that are only available here.”
“Oh.”
Aro didn't show much interest when I mentioned rare items. Honestly, I was the only one here obsessed with artifacts and equipment.
Now that Candela was steadily filling the Religious Order's treasury, even Winter, who came from the Commoners' Alliance, had become much less greedy.
As we chatted, we walked deeper into the forest. Since the Floating Island wasn't particularly large, it didn't take long.
“A wild boar.”
“I suppose that's basically what it is.”
We encountered our first monster. Just as Aro had said, it was a wild boar.
A wild boar with a long horn as thick as a human forearm growing from its head.
Before I could step forward, Aro moved first. She pulled out a Talisman from her robe while simultaneously activating her magic.
Boom!
It was a technique that combined the Talisman with the Thunder Horn Mark. A fox formed from the magic released by the Talisman charged forward at incredible speed.
Startled, the wild boar lowered its horn and charged straight at it, but the fox exploded on impact, scattering lightning in every direction.
“Here, use this.”
“Oh my. Oh my. Oh my! Is this a present?”
“No. I'm only lending it to you this time.”
“Tch.”
Since it was a technique that genuinely consumed stamina, I handed her the Laurel Crown of Victory.
Aro made a huge fuss and happily accepted it, but I firmly told her it wasn't a gift. Leaving the pouting Aro behind, I exhaled softly and began butchering the snorting wild boar.
“So all the monsters here have horns?”
“To be precise, they're wild animals that became monsters after growing horns.”
After collecting the horn, I answered Aro's question honestly.
Every monster here had horns.
A massive event connected to that would be happening very soon.
Just thinking about it made my mouth water, and I couldn't help grinning.
“Um... are you okay over there?”
Despite Aro's worried question, I merely continued to chuckle.