First Clear(5)

Once the search and seizure of Hamsiki’s House was over, we had plenty of time on our hands.

Contrary to the expectations of the expedition, there wasn’t much to investigate beyond the stone gate.

“These are all the items we found during our initial search. There’s no way they’re all ordinary. Commander, please entrust this to us. Through research, we will uncover their secrets.”

“…We’re leaving the library tomorrow, so make sure you find a clue before then.”

“Y-Yes, sir…!”

While the others rested, all the mages from the expedition force gathered to examine the loot taken from Hamsiki’s house.

Well, it didn’t seem like they’d find anything useful, though.

‘Even if something does come up, I can just quietly ask Raven about it.’

Among the mages who had set up a makeshift laboratory in the library, I spotted Raven wearing a scholar’s expression and conducting various experiments.

She looked quite pleased.

‘Is that really that enjoyable…?’

As a barbarian warrior, I couldn’t understand the appeal, but as a friend, I had to respect it. Besides, having someone like that around was good in its own way.

‘Versil’s a player, so she’s not particularly interested in the academic side of things.’

Anyway, since we had free time until the next day, I just rested deeply without any worries.

And after some time had passed.

“The reorganization of the squads is complete! All troops, confirm your new assignments via the posted notices!”

The redistribution of the expedition’s personnel was complete.

Seven had died during the library raid, and with 27 more deaths in the final fight, each squad needed rebalancing…

“Our squad 4 doesn’t seem to have changed.”

Since our squad had fewer members to begin with, there were no reassignment changes. Only squads 1 through 3 saw slight adjustments.

Squad 1: 49 members.
Squad 2: 49 members.
Squad 3: 48 members.

They started with 60 members per squad, and now they’re reduced to this.

With squad 4 at 37 people, the difference between their squad and ours was now barely ten people.

“There will be a meeting! All squad leaders please attend immediately!”

After the redistribution of personnel was completed, we had another meeting.

These guys love their meetings, huh.

So after killing some time, I entered the tents last, and the meeting began immediately.

“Thanks to your loyalty and efforts, we were able to conquer the library safely. Nia Raphdonia.”

“Nia Raphdonia!”

For some reason, Jerome presided over the meeting himself instead of delegating to the deputy commander.

“The mages are conducting research diligently, but no clue about an escape route has been found yet. We’ll discuss that after the analysis is complete.”

“So, today’s agenda is…?”

“I’ve gathered you here to discuss our next course of action.”

And so we got down to business.

With the library conquered, where would we go next?

Naturally, all the squad leaders turned to me.

I had stayed here the longest, and I was the one who provided the map. They figured my opinion would be important.

‘…Where should we go next?’

Three possible destinations came to mind.

1.Giant Island

We can farm the Hipramagent essence there, and that huge monster lives there too. There’s also the portal stone connected to the second basement level.

2. Rainbow Island
The island lies in the direction of the rainbow we saw at the end of the rainy season.
A place shrouded in complete mystery, but my gamer intuition tells me this island is the core of the first basement floor.

3. Village Chief’s Island
No explanation needed. If my guess is correct, there’s a portal to the first floor here. Even if not, the village chief is definitely hiding a massive secret. Capturing him could greatly help our journey.

‘Tch, what should I do?’

By now, I had a good sense of the overall strength of the expedition force.

To be honest, they’re not without flaws, but they’re definitely a formidable force.

And considering that they were mostly knights, mages, and priests, they were more suited for PvP than monster hunting…

Honestly, they could probably burn the village chief’s island to the ground in a single night.

‘But… something about it just feels off.’

Once again, I decided to trust my instincts.

So, I spread out the map I had found in Hamsiki’s house and pointed to a location.

“…I think this place would be best for our next expedition.”

Aside from Rainbow Island, it was the only island we hadn’t visited yet.
“First, let’s check what this island is like. If there’s nothing significant or if conquering it would take too long, we can head straight to Rainbow Island. How does that sound?”

Basically, we were just stopping at this island to complete the map before heading to Rainbow Island.

But…

“I see. I understand the Baron’s opinion.”

Jerome nodded as if he had heard me well, but didn’t give a definitive answer.

“What are you all doing? I didn’t gather you just to hear the Baron’s opinion. Speak freely, whatever your thoughts may be.”

At Jerome’s words, the other leaders shared their thoughts, and Jerome listened intently to each one.

And after some time, he made his decision.

“Tomorrow morning, we will head to the island where this so-called village chief resides.”

If this was the plan, why even ask for my opinion? But I couldn’t entirely blame him—after all, he did follow my suggestion when we came to the library island.

‘Sigh. I guess the fact that we didn’t gain anything here weighed heavily on him.’

He had followed my lead and brought the troops here, but in the end, we lost soldiers and gained nothing.

So Jerome must have decided:

First, capture the chief and extract information, then move efficiently from there.

‘So it comes down to this…’

Aside from my uneasiness, I had no solid reason to object, so I silently accepted his decision.

Ah, of course, I had one question.

Actually, it was something I’d been wanting to ask for a while.

“…Tomorrow? It’s the rainy season outside. How are we even supposed to go anywhere?”

And it wasn’t even the end of the season—just the second day. Dangerous monsters were probably pouring down like rain.

But Jerome brushed off my concerns.

“Baron, you’ve traveled during the rainy season before, haven’t you? There’s no reason we can’t do the same.”

“Uh… yeah, but that was near the end of the rainy season…”

“Exploring this entire layer is part of the expedition’s mission. Shouldn’t we experience this rainy season properly at least once?”

“….”

Every time, they surprise me with how hardcore they are.
***

Excluding the mages still absorbed in their research, everyone was asleep, with only the patrol guards patrolling against unexpected threats.

Currently, I was lying blankly under a blanket.

I’d taken a nap right after the meeting ended, so sleep wouldn’t come…

“……”

Forcing my eyes shut didn’t seem to help, So I spent the time sorting out my thoughts.

The first level 1 monster we ever encountered—and defeated.

Dozens of casualties.

Hamsiki and the golden book—missing.

Our next destination-decided at the meeting.

A lot had happened today, and I had a lot to process.

What Jerome Saintred said stuck with me too.

The commander of the expedition group made the following statement:

No matter how many died, the mission would be a success if they completed the exploration and brought me back alive.

That eased my fear that this would turn into another Ice Rock disaster.

‘If they wanted me dead, then having more casualties in Squad 4 would have been to their advantage.’

But Jerome had done the opposite.

Not something you’d expect from someone scheming behind the scenes.

Which only raised more questions.

‘Why does the royal family want to rescue me? Wouldn’t it be better for them if I just died here, like a thorn removed from their side?’

I have no idea.

The more I think, the more I feel like I’m spiraling into contradictions.

So I got out of bed to clear my head.

“Baron? Where are you going?”

“Can’t sleep, so I’m going to stretch my legs a bit.”

“Ah, I see. Understood.”

After explaining to the patrol guard, I strolled quietly through the far end of the vast library.

Maybe, just maybe, I’d run into Hamsiki.

Sure enough, about ten minutes in, I heard a familiar sound.

[Sqeak…!]

“…Hamsiki?”

[Over here! This way! Climb up here…!]

After confirming that no one was watching, I quietly climbed the stairs to the second-floor shelves.

Hamsiki was hiding in the gap left by a missing book.

[What took you so long…!]

“I was waiting for nightfall.”

[Are you okay? I saw you earlier—you looked badly hurt…]

Huh… didn’t expect this to be the first thing he’d ask.

“…I’m fine now. Don’t worry.”

[How can I not worry?! The rightful one has finally appeared…!]

His words made me tilt my head in confusion.

“By ‘rightful one’… do you mean the golden book?”

Hamsiki had told me earlier that the Golden Book must be given to the one who was worthy.

[Yes! From the moment you defeated Kashan, you earned that right!]

…So, as I thought, clearing the library was the condition for being worthy.

As a player, it was satisfying to have my prediction confirmed, but it also raised another question.

“Wait, then did everyone here qualify?”

[Huh? Of course not! You’re the only one who qualified!]

“I see.”

Then what’s the condition?

Top combat contribution? If so, it makes sense that I qualified.

Ah, but that’s not the important part…

“So? Now that I’m worthy, what happens next?”

I asked, expecting a reward. Hamsiki replied bluntly:

[Here! Take it! It’s yours now—this book.]

The golden book that had ended abruptly with an unresolved story.

Maybe, now that I qualified, I could finally read the rest?

I opened it quickly—

But…

“Same as before.”

[Really?]

“Yeah—what do you mean ‘really’? Aren’t you supposed to tell me how to use this thing? You’re just handing me a book and calling it done?”

[Uh… yeah?]

“Hah…”

That face told me he really didn’t know how the book worked.

Not that I was surprised.

Dungeon & Stone had always been an unforgiving game.

They’d throw something at you without a hint of how to use it, leaving players to experiment and figure it out.

‘…Maybe placing the book back on the altar will trigger something.’

A few ideas came to mind, but I couldn’t test them yet. If something did happen, the reward would just end up in the royal family’s hands.

So there was only one choice I could make.

“Well, thanks. I’ll take it for now.”

I stashed the golden book securely in my subspace.

“Is that all? No blessing or exclusive equipment or something?”

[Didn’t you already take it all? My fountain pen, my treasured books…!]

Oh. Right.

“….”

[…]

There was a moment of awkward silence between me and hamsiki, but I quickly changed the subject.

“Oh, right. I don’t know if you’re aware, but we’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

[Leaving…?]

“We’ve got things to do. I don’t know when, but I’ll come back eventually, so don’t get too lonely.”

[Who said anything about being lonely?! What kind of misunderstanding is that… I’m actually glad. Hmph! Now I can finally rest properly in my own home!]

I gulped at Hamsiki’s words.

The way he was talking, it seemed he had no idea what had happened to his house…

“…….”

[……Why’d you suddenly go quiet?]

“Ah, it’s nothing. I should get going. I’m starving…!”

Making an excuse, I quickly returned to the campsite and lay down.

And the next morning.

Just as the entire expedition was packing up to leave the library…

“Um… Baron…?”

Sven Parab, the goblin paladin, approached me early in the morning with shocking news.

“Last night… She showed me the future again.”

“What did you see?”

“Well……”

He hesitated for a long time before squeezing his eyes shut and describing the scene he had seen in his dream.

“Surrounded by the expedition force… You were brutally executed…”

The goddess had shown him my death sentence.

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