Even in a Dark Fantasy, You Still Have to Eat - Chapter 20

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Even in a Dark Fantasy, You Still Have to Eat ◈

Chapter 20: First Encounter # 3

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Asibarr offered some advice.

【Kid, my Blessed. If you rush into deals blindly just because you’re in a hurry, you’ll end up looking like a beggar.】

“Can I really get a higher price for this gem?”

I looked at Sabranik.

Sabranik’s scales shivered.

【Give me the Sapphire Gem.】

【I shall make Snake’s Blood more potent.】

「Snake’s Blood Lv.2」

「The blood flowing through your veins becomes poisonous. Your resistance to poison also greatly increases.」

“Oh!”

Snake’s Blood, Level 2!

It had to be more effective than Level 1.

“Then here you go.”

I put the blue gem into the skull snake’s mouth.

I was a little afraid it might bite my arm too.

Soon, Sabranik shed a single tear.

The moment it fell onto my head, something incredibly cold seemed to surge through my body.

When I opened my eyes again...

I was lying in an unfamiliar bed.

“Ugh.”

My stomach hurt.

When I looked down, I saw it was wrapped tightly in bandages.

Where was everyone?

What about Hermit?

As I sat up, someone slid the door open and walked in.

“What the...? You little troublemaker, you’re already awake?”

Who was this?

She had long black hair tied into pigtails.

Her clothes looked similar to the nuns at the orphanage where I grew up...

But she didn’t seem to be a nun.

Why?

Because she reeked of alcohol.

“...Who are you, Sister?”

I asked while subtly covering my nose.

The woman’s shoulders jerked with a hiccup. Then she raised the gourd in her hand to her lips and gulped down a drink.

“Gulp. Sister...? Hehehe, I’m Ishtar! A fighting sister!”

“You’re the Priest from the neighboring unit?”

“That’s right! Hammer? Hammerrrr! Your youngest is awake!”

Ishtar leaned her head out into the hallway and shouted.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

Heavy footsteps came from far away.

“Hey, you!”

Hammer’s voice thundered through the room.

Did they have a megaphone in their mouth? They were unbelievably loud.

“Oh, Hammer...”

“You! What the hell have you been getting up to?”

“Well...”

“You two went exploring in the Night!”

“Uh...”

“It’s a miracle you both came back alive! You almost died!”

Hammer didn’t give me a chance to speak.

As Hammer rattled on, I noticed an arrow in their hand.

“Do you even know what this is?”

“...Um, the arrow that was stuck in my stomach?”

“No!”

“Ah, then it’s the one that was stuck in my chest.”

“I’m saying it’s not an ordinary arrow! This belongs to the Erdari!”

“An elevator?”

“Damn it! Looks like you don’t even know who you met. You’re one lucky bastard! You saw the blood relatives of demons and still came back with all your limbs intact!”

The drunken Ishtar tugged at Hammer’s arm.

“Hammer, stop shouting! I worked hard to treat him, so he needs rest. Say whatever you want tomorrow after the sun rises. Let’s have a drink instead.”

“You two! Once your wounds heal, you’re going to get a proper scolding!”

# # #

Hammer was scary when angry.

I got scolded for a full hour.

Hermit, whose whole body was wrapped in bandages, was no exception.

“So, whose idea was it? Tell me honestly. As punishment for doing something dangerous on your own and hurting the party’s morale, you’ll clean the latrines and stand night watch for a month!”

“Latrines...? Night watch...? That’s too cruel...”

Fear showed on Hermit’s bandaged face.

What was so frightening about cleaning the latrines and standing night watch?

At this point, I was curious.

“Hammer! I did it!”

I raised my hand.

Hermit stared at me with wide eyes.

Hammer crossed their arms, making their armor clatter.

“Yore, you?”

“Yes! I talked Hermit into it! I wanted to earn more runes! I wanted to test my new equipment too! Hehehe, I didn’t know it would cause this much trouble for the party. I’m sorry!”

“...”

Hammer, who had been firing words at us like a machine gun, fell silent.

Then they raised a hand.

Bonk!

They hit me on the head.

“Ow!”

“You want me to believe that?”

Hammer turned away and left.

“But you said it! You’ll handle latrine cleaning and night watch for the time being!”

Only after the heavy footsteps faded did Hermit speak to me in a small voice.

“Why did you lie to Hammer?”

“I’m a Thief. Lying is my job, right?”

Latrine cleaning and night watch?

They weren’t bad for me at all.

I was planning to contact the Thieves’ Guild in secret. Latrine cleaning and night watch were perfect excuses to move around at night.

But Hermit looked so touched that she nearly cried.

“I won’t forget this debt. So you can keep the Engraving Tome we got this time.”

The Engraving Tome.

Right, we had gotten one of those.

But I had something else in mind.

“Once you’re healthy again, enhance my gear.”

Through this exploration of the Night, I had clearly learned how useful good equipment was.

Without the Wooden Armor and the shuriken I had just obtained, I would’ve been dead and gone, walu-walu and all, by now!

‘The better the equipment, the better!’

Another rule of life was carved into my heart.

「First: Eat well, sleep well, and take good care of your health.」

「Second: Always use the best equipment.」

The first and second rules.

Both were about protecting my body.

“I can enhance your gear right now!”

“Oh, really?”

But Hermit added something strange.

“...But let me warn you first. Just because you have spirit gold doesn’t mean you can always enhance equipment. There’s a chance of failure. You can think of it as failing about once every two tries.”

“What? It can fail?”

“For your information, I majored in alchemy at the Mage Tower! Only a mage as skilled as me can even get one success in two tries!”

“What happens if it fails?”

“Usually, nothing. But if you’re unlucky, the item might break...”

“Hmm.”

After thinking it over, I reached a decision.

I would enhance my shuriken and bracers.

“If they break, they break.”

It would be a shame to risk losing them.

But if they broke, I could just steal equipment from other thieves and use that instead.

“Good. Then I’ll start. Don’t be so nervous.”

“Hermit, I’m not nervous.”

“I was talking to myself. Don’t be nervous...”

Boing.

Now I was suddenly getting nervous too.

Should I stop the enhancement while I still could?

Hermit took the buttons and tools, then began drawing a strange magic circle on the infirmary floor.

She muttered an incantation.

“Empress of Blue Eyes and the Anvil. Your servant begs you to bring a miracle here...”

Boom!

A small explosion rang out.

My shuriken sparkled inside the magic circle.

「+1 Thunderbolt Shuriken」

“Ooh!”

Nice! Very nice!

The rust was gone, and it gleamed as though it were brand-new.

I immediately enhanced my bracers too.

「+1 Thunder Bracers」

“Oohhh! Ooooh!”

The worn parts of my bracers looked as if they had all been neatly repaired.

They felt sturdier and lighter too. It couldn’t have been my imagination.

“Two successes in a row. Has my skill improved that much...?”

Leaving Hermit tilting her head behind me, I headed to the Training Ground.

Once I had enhanced them, I had to test their performance!

When I reached the Training Ground, Hammer was lifting a heavy chunk of metal.

“Yore, how long has it been since you got a hole in your stomach? Ishtar’s healing blessing can fix most wounds right away, but...”

“Hehehe, lying in bed doesn’t earn you either rice or Ether, does it?”

“You brat, I like that determination! If other Thieves were like you, the Empire’s war would be a little easier!”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

With Hammer praising me, I threw shuriken at a straw dummy.

Thud. Thud! Thud!

The sound was different.

Before, it had been more like tap, tap, tap.

They had only scratched the surface.

But now, the shuriken were striking the dummy hard enough that anyone could see the difference.

Thud, thud, thud!

The enhancement effect was incredible!

Hammer patted my shoulder.

“Right. Meeting the Erdari must have been a good stimulus for you too. I never thought they would come to Michanic University. You should stay away from the university for a while.”

“Hammer, what are these Erdari?”

I remembered the figures roaming freely through that Night.

The people who shot arrows at me.

What exactly were these Erdari? Hammer gave me a simple explanation.

“His Majesty the Emperor fought against the demons of the Night, remember? The Erdari are descendants and worshippers of those demons. They look human, but their roots lie more with monstrosities. If you meet one alone, consider yourself dead.”

Hammer said they never let any human they met live.

But this was the most unacceptable part.

“I heard they don’t need Ether to level up. Their average level is 15 or higher, and some are even over Level 20...”

“Fuck!”

A curse slipped out of my mouth.

They didn’t need Ether to level up?

“That’s cheating!”

An old memory stirred inside me.

「This summer, a new Reboot Server opens!」

「Everyone can enjoy the game without the burden of excessive cash spending!」

My heart tightened, and my head spun.

‘Some people are nearly tying their brains in knots calculating how much of their precious Ether to invest in leveling up while still affording chicken and cola!’

How dare they come in here and try to enjoy the game for free?

Pure rage.

Bloodlust!

It was the first time in my life that I had hated someone this much.

“Exterminate the Erdari.”

I clenched my fist and strengthened my resolve.

Hammer looked impressed instead.

“You really are a Thief. I don’t know why, but the Thieves at the Wall hate the Erdari with all their hearts.”

“Is that wrong?”

“Khahaha! What’s wrong with that? It’s better this way. They’re demons who threaten our Empire’s safety and peace! Remember that every day, so you can keep that wholesome hatred going!”

Remember it!

I would never compromise with them.

I would treat them like my sworn enemies.

They really were my enemies.

They shot me with arrows and tried to kill me.

As I focused on training with those thoughts in mind, night soon came.

As punishment, I stood night watch.

Night watch was a very romantic job. You stood on top of the Wall and looked out at the pitch-black Night.

Still, it was a little boring.

Should I take out the Engraving Tome from my Black Bundle and read it?

「Rare: Double-Edged Sword Engraving Tome」

It was a thick book.

When I opened it, the letters changed into something I could read, just like when I used the skill book before.

「Double-Edged Sword: Imprints the realization devised by the ascetic priests of the Chandara Order upon the soul. Increases damage dealt and damage received by 10% each.」

Rustle. Crunch.

Then I heard a sound from the arrow storehouse on top of the Wall.

Was there a rat in there?

The moment I entered the storehouse with that thought, I found an unwelcome guest dressed in black.

A bow hung on their back, and a long sword swung at their waist.

Silver hair spilled down.

They were a mysterious beauty with pale purple skin.

I couldn’t tell whether they were a man or woman because of their androgynous appearance.

The sight of that beauty had dazed me, but the moment I saw their long ears, my senses came rushing back.

“Erdari!”

A demon that looked similar to a human.

When I shouted in surprise, the Erdari looked at me too.