WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈

Chapter 25: Bread Bread Bread Bread

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“They have a mage, sure, but they’re rookies?”

“All four of them came back alive.”

“Come to think of it, Lingxiang’s group was interested in them...”

“They’ve got promise.”

All eyes turned toward us.

Not only lower-floor Expedition Party members of the 8th or 9th Rank, but even veterans who had spent a long time in the Labyrinth glanced our way.

Mm-hm. That’s right.

As expected, they were different from those uncivilized country bumpkins.

“Bwahahahaha! Bow before the genius mage!”

At last, people were recognizing my blooming talent, and I couldn’t help puffing out my chest.

“Kekekekeke! This is what we’re made of!”

Unlike me, who laughed with dignity, Elena perked up her ears and cackled wildly.

“Everyone... please keep it down...”

“I’m embarrassed. I’m embarrassed for you. I-I can’t take this.”

“What are you embarrassed about? This is an achievement we should be proud of.”

“That’s not it! I’m embarrassed because of you two!”

Daisy and Dize timidly protested as they grabbed our arms.

Huh? What was their problem?

Regardless, Elena and I laughed to our hearts’ content.

“Bwahahahaha!”

“Elfffft!”

“You may not cause a disturbance here.”

“Yes.”

After selling the Mana Stones, we left the exchange.

Then we went to the guild and reported the Marauders who had attacked us.

“Khand, an 8th Rank Expedition Party mage, and Brook. I see. Understood.”

“Do we really have to report it? There’s no reward, and it feels like they just suspect us.”

Elena grumbled.

We had dealt with the Marauders ourselves, yet the clerk’s expression hadn’t been pleasant.

It couldn’t be helped. We hadn’t recorded anything with a magic crystal ball. We had only told them what happened, so of course they would be suspicious.

Normally, there was no need to report it, but I had a use for it this time.

“I won’t do it next time.”

Our next destination was...

“Let’s go to the blacksmith.”

We headed to the shop of Arnold, the blacksmith who had given Elena a sword before.

Clang! Clang!

“Get lost! I’m not taking any more customers today!”

What a personality.

I looked at the muscular, bald middle-aged man hammering away without even turning toward us.

“We came to pay back a debt.”

“A debt?”

At that, Arnold’s head snapped around.

“Oh? You came back alive? All four of you?”

His scowl eased, and surprise filled his eyes. He, too, seemed amazed that all four members of our rookie party had returned alive.

“How much was the sword?”

“Ten silver coins.”

I took silver coins from a thick pouch and handed them to him.

“Here.”

“I heard this was your first trip into the Labyrinth...”

Although he had lent it to us, Arnold clearly hadn’t expected us to pay him back so quickly.

Holding her broken sword, Elena asked, “How much will it cost to repair this?”

“You broke it?”

“Well...”

“Two silver coins. Looks like you made some money. Once you pay for the repairs and that sword, you won’t have anything left! Khahahaha!”

The bald blacksmith burst into loud laughter.

The Labyrinth’s harsh environment wore down equipment quickly, so many people lived from day to day.

Elena snapped, “Fuck, are you making fun of us right now?”

“Hehe, the Labyrinth isn’t easy, is it? Don’t get angry. It’s impressive enough that rookies like you made this much money and came back alive.”

He’d faint if he saw this.

Arnold looked at us with approval, so I set down my backpack.

“You buy equipment here too, right?”

“Looks like you picked up some scrap metal...”

Thud!

“...?!”

Arnold stopped laughing at the weight of the bag.

Daisy, Dize, and Elena set down their own bags one after another, and he asked in shock, “D-don’t tell me that’s all equipment?”

“Yes. The quality isn’t very good, though.”

The gear of the Expedition Party members killed by the Human Breeding Tree, along with that of the Marauders on the second floor, excluding the mage’s equipment, spilled out in a flood of weapons and armor. Arnold let out a hollow laugh.

“Hoho. It seems I misjudged you.”

“Huh?”

“I apologize for looking down on you.”

Arnold explained.

“When I gave you that sword, it was something of a grave offering.”

He had watched so many rookie Expedition Party members die that it left him feeling uneasy. Giving us the sword had been a way to ease his own guilt.

Arnold had never expected us to return alive.

There was probably a reason for that, but...

Not my problem.

“Not only did all of you return alive, you came back with this much loot... Impressive. Though it’s all just scrap metal.”

He didn’t ask where the equipment came from.

What happened in the Labyrinth stayed in the Labyrinth. That was an unspoken rule.

“So how much is it altogether?”

Arnold answered my eager question knowingly.

“Do you want gold or silver?”

Oh, shit.

Two gold coins and ninety-eight silver coins.

Including what we already had, we now possessed one hundred and seventy-eight silver coins.

We had surpassed the wealth of the chief of South Sunlight Village, the most powerful man in the village, who had raised five pigs and three goats.

“Eeeeeek!”

“We’re rich! Bwahahahaha!”

“One hundred and seventy silver coins means... th-three thousand four hundred loaves of bread?!”

“T-this isn’t a dream, right?”

There was money to be made in the Labyrinth.

If you had the ability, it gave you dreams and hope.

This worked out well. There would be plenty of expenses from now on.

That was why people willingly thrust themselves into hell, even knowing they were headed straight for the flames.

* * *

The entrance to the Labyrinth was crowded with countless Expedition Party members.

Among those returning through the portal was Lingxiang’s party.

Yet the veteran party’s expressions were grim.

They had planned to travel to Sky Castle on the third floor, gather Mana Stones, and complete a special request, but things had gone wrong.

In the end, they had to return to the city from Salt Cave on the second floor.

“Damn, I stink of fish. We spent the whole time brawling with those damn fish. We’re completely in the red, aren’t we?”

Kyle, the warrior, complained.

Once they considered the cost of repairing equipment rusted by Salt Cave’s environment and the consumables they had used, they had suffered a complete loss.

“I’m too pissed off to take it! Beer! I need beer! Let’s go have a drink!”

The dwarf Howard looked at Lingxiang, their leader.

Lingxiang also wanted to soothe the fatigue with alcohol, so agreed.

“Let’s go.”

“Mahabne! You’re coming too, right?”

Mahabne, the Paladin and another member of the party, stood nearby.

“I’ll sit with you, but I won’t drink.”

Like a devout follower of their faith, Mahabne declared they would not touch alcohol.

The four went to an inn to drink.

Fatty food warmed their stomachs, and once the alcohol went down, their faces naturally reddened as buried thoughts spilled out.

“That fucking idiot can’t even cast a spell properly, and what? A Double Master? This is why mages are hopeless!”

Howard slammed down a beer mug and cursed as he stomped his stubby feet.

The decisive reason their party had failed this expedition was that the mage they had recruited had failed to do their job.

“Ahem, I’ll be going now.”

Kyle remembered the arrogant mage who had left without a single apology after the party had barely managed to keep them alive.

“Wouldn’t it be better to get magic equipment? Once you invest in it, you can keep using it!”

“Does that cost pocket change? We’re in this situation because we don’t have money.”

Kyle stressed the need for magic equipment, but Lingxiang shook her head.

Both Expedition Party members operating on the lower floors and veterans preparing to rise into the middle ranks were equally short on money.

“Recruiting a capable mage is best.”

Lingxiang’s thoughts went to the rookie mage she had almost recruited not long ago.

Ian.

He should have entered the Labyrinth by now.

Had he returned alive?

As if Howard had read Lingxiang’s mind, the dwarf shared news heard somewhere, beer foam clinging to his beard.

“Hey, Lingxiang.”

“Yeah?”

“Those rookies. I heard they came back alive.”

“Oh, really?”

Lingxiang, who had been resting her chin on a hand, flicked her tail even more eagerly.

“All four went in, and all four returned. They didn’t just come back alive, either. Apparently, they brought back a huge haul.”

So they hadn’t simply picked up a few Mana Stones or run away to survive.

“Shining stars can exist anywhere. There must be many remarkable people.”

Mahabne made the sign of the cross.

That silver-haired guy definitely did it.

Having met Ian’s group directly, Lingxiang knew that the party’s astonishing haul and accomplishments were mostly Ian’s doing.

Damn. I should’ve recruited him then.

Lingxiang licked her lips in regret.

“Hmph, even so, it was only the first floor.”

Kyle, the youngest of the group, scoffed.

“That much...”

Lingxiang cut in with a crooked smile.

“What do you mean, ‘that much’? Kyle, what were you like when you were a rookie?”

“...!”

“You were pissing and shitting yourself while begging for your life...”

“Aaah! Stop! Please stop, Lingxiang! Stop!”

It was true.

Kyle acted proud now, but he still remembered his first trip into the Labyrinth.

Five people had entered, and he alone had barely returned alive.

The trauma had left him so shaken that he couldn’t enter the Labyrinth for weeks afterward. He survived by begging.

The same was true for Howard, who could split the heads of terrifying fanatics with a single swing of his axe.

“My first Labyrinth earnings were eight copper coins, I think? We split that between three people, so I got two. It was enough for one beer! Hahaha!”

A first trip into the Labyrinth held great meaning for Expedition Party members.

Dmitri, the Dragon Slayer and first explorer of the Deep Zone, and Cassandra, the Witch of the Great Forest, were famous Expedition Party members who had achieved legendary feats. They had all stood out from their rookie days.

In other words, it was a hurdle rookies had to overcome if they wanted to adapt to this life.

“Those who endure may bend, but they will not break.”

“Those who fail to endure will face ruin.”

Ian’s group had overcome it wonderfully.

Even veteran Expedition Party members who had seen it all could only marvel.

“They’ll become something great.”

“They might even reach the Deep Floors.”

“We’ll have to wait and see about that.”

“That’s true. There’s no such thing as one hundred percent in the Labyrinth.”

“Bwahahahaha!”

The veteran party drank away the fatigue of their expedition, discussing the talked-about rookie party over drinks, sometimes mourning fallen comrades and sometimes badmouthing others.

Damn. I should’ve recruited him then.

Footnotes:

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