WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈

Chapter 26: The Party Leader's Burden

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“The condition isn't great, so I'll have to lower the price a little. Sixteen silver coins...”

“Are you trying to scam a mage just because we're rookies? It has a few flaws, but that rich color and those visible veins prove it's packed with mana. Alchemists go crazy for materials like this, and you're offering only sixteen silver coins?”

“Hehe, can't I even make a joke? I'll give you twenty-one.”

“You tried to rip us off, so raise it more. Twenty-four.”

“Fine. You win.”

This was the kind of city that would fleece you the moment you let your guard down.

After selling the equipment, we also sold the Human Breeding Tree's essence.

That brought our total assets to 202 silver coins.

The first thing we planned to do with that fortune was...

“Let's rest first.”

We went to the inn to rest.

“We're not sleeping in the stable again, right?”

“Of course not. We're rich now.”

We returned to the same inn we'd stayed at before.

This time, though, we rented two proper rooms instead of sleeping in the stable.

‘One room per person is still a luxury!’

At least there were fewer fleas and bugs, and it didn't smell like cow or chicken shit.

“Oh, you've finished your first trip into the Labyrinth. Congratulations! All four of you came back alive? That's impressive!”

Perhaps it was because we'd gone from livestock in the stable to guests in one go.

The innkeeper recognized us and marveled. Elena jabbed me in the side as the corners of my mouth rose.

“Be honest. You chose this place because you wanted to show off, didn't you?”

“No, I just liked the food here.”

“You only ate bread. What food could you possibly like? You could even taste stone powder in it.”

She's usually dull, but she picks up on the strangest things.

“Hey, shut it, knife-ear. When the party leader says we're doing something, we do it. Got it?”

“Sure. Whatever you say.”

I was exhausted enough to eat and go straight to sleep, but I was covered in blood, sweat, and dust. There was no way I could lie down in bed like this.

So we decided to bathe first.

For one copper coin each, we could use the well behind the inn.

Of course...

“Brr, cold.”

The water was fucking freezing.

After going through all that hardship, washing with ice-cold water felt like a good way to catch a cold and die.

‘It couldn't be helped in that primitive backwater village, but things are different now.’

“Who wants to wash with warm water?”

Everyone's eyes lit up.

“Me!”

“M-me...”

All three immediately raised their hands.

I asked the innkeeper for a bathtub and hot water.

In this primitive medieval world, a hot bath required an enormous amount of labor.

They had to boil water in a huge iron cauldron over the kitchen hearth, then servants had to carry bucket after bucket up to the second-floor rooms.

‘Why isn't there city gas?!’

Still, it was possible if you had this.

Clink!

The magic that turned metal into hot water.

“Oh my, just wait a little. I'll have it brought up right away.”

The innkeeper happily accepted the silver coin I offered, then called over some workers. Before long, after the laborers had worked themselves ragged, a wide wooden bathtub was filled with steaming water.

Only one tub's worth of water had arrived, so I showed some manners.

“Girls first.”

“Really? Thanks, Ian!”

Unlike Daisy, who thanked me sincerely, Elena eyed me suspiciously.

“I'll kill you if you peek.”

“Fuck off.”

Please.

Maybe Daisy, but definitely not you.

Elena and Daisy entered the room and locked the door. The soft sound of water and their cheerful laughter drifted through the crack.

While we waited, Dize and I leaned against the stairs and looked downstairs.

Crackle, crackle!

Expedition Party members like us sat by the fireplace, easing their exhaustion as they soaked in warmth and alcohol. A sharp gust of wind blew through, followed by a group entering through the inn door.

They were obviously rookies like us.

‘Looks like they didn't even have money to get treated by a Priest.’

They looked even worse than we had. After asking whether there was room in the stable, they paid when the innkeeper told them a spot had just opened up, then trudged inside.

They couldn't wash. They couldn't even get a proper meal. They moved only to ease their exhaustion, doing the bare minimum to survive.

New livestock filled the stable.

“Those people...”

That would have been our bleak future if we hadn't struck it big. Dize watched them and sighed in relief.

“W-we were lucky.”

“It's ready~”

Then our bathtub arrived.

I looked at the steaming water and spoke to Dize.

“Dize, you go first.”

“What about you, Ian?”

“I'll wash after you.”

I had no hobby of bathing with another guy.

“Okay.”

Naturally, the water was filthy after Dize, who was covered in blood, sweat, and dust, had washed in it. I gave them a few more coins and had them bring fresh water.

The moment I sank into the clean water, an old-man-like groan escaped me.

“Urrrgh...”

It felt as though my entire body was melting.

This was insane.

“Grrrgh, grrrgh.”

I washed my hair, then scrubbed myself hard with a stiff brush and sponge. Even though I was a mage and had stayed in the rear, the water became dirty in no time from all the grime.

All that filth came off my body?

‘Damn, I really was filthy.’

Even natives in some remote wilderness probably weren't this bad.

Then again, the village we'd lived in before coming to Labyrinth City had been short on water. We'd just wiped ourselves down with snow.

This was the first proper bath I'd had since coming to this world.

Ugh, I wanted shampoo.

I wanted body wash.

I wanted to brush my teeth with toothpaste instead of salt.

I wanted to put on YouTube and play with a rubber duck!

‘What a primitive world!’

In the end, my bath concluded with lamenting this wonderful world.

After washing up, I changed into clean clothes I'd bought in advance through an errand boy. Since I was a considerate genius mage, I had also prepared clothes for Dize, Elena, and Daisy.

“Whew.”

People were funny.

When things had been so hard, all I could think about was going home. Now, life felt worth living again.

I shook out my damp hair as I stepped outside, where clean and refreshed Elena, Dize, and Daisy were waiting.

“What took you so long? You're a guy, seriously.”

Maybe it was because she'd washed.

Instead of her usual stale smell, Elena gave off the citrusy, fruity scent unique to elves.

“You look a little better after washing.”

Elena playfully pinched my cheek.

“How dare such a lowly creature lay a hand on this genius's precious body?”

I playfully slapped her hand away and nodded toward the first floor.

“Let's eat.”

We sat at a table and ordered food.

A feast was laid before us: plump, freshly baked wheat bread, greasy pork stew, roasted turkey, and onions fried in butter.

“This is delicious...!”

The meat was tender and rich with fat.

The bread was soft and savory too, since we'd ordered wheat bread instead of the Stone Bread we usually ate, mixed with dirt and coarse grains. I smeared it with the grease on my fingers, added jam and fried onions, took a bite, then washed it down with stew.

Was this heaven?

“Ahh!”

In the Labyrinth, we had to crudely fill our stomachs with hard bread and jerky. Before that, in the village, we'd eaten nothing but potatoes.

How could this not taste good?

“What about alcohol?”

Perhaps the food was greasy, because Elena sucked the oil from her fingers as she asked.

I wanted beer too, but...

“Can you even drink it?”

My eyes kept closing, even while I enjoyed the meal.

“No.”

Daisy and Dize were already nodding off.

We decided to drink tomorrow, finished our light meal, and went upstairs. With our stomachs full, we lay down in soft beds stuffed thick with straw and pulled sun-scented blankets over ourselves. My eyelids sank shut on their own.

“Ha... This is it. This is living.”

The Labyrinth.

A cesspit for people at the bottom of life, where they had to abandon their humanity and struggle desperately to survive.

Ironically, thanks to the Labyrinth, we were living a truly human life.

* * *

I had a dream.

It wasn't the happy dream I always had, of eating hamburgers or chicken in my studio apartment while watching YouTube.

It was a nightmare.

Jack and Kevin, members of Mauk's group who had frozen to death on the snowfield.

Their frozen corpses, their heads half-crushed by Elena and me, stood in a pure white space and stared silently at me.

...

Arthur and Lami stood beside them, along with that filthy furball who had died by my hand.

The bastard with an Ice Spike lodged in its mouth, its eyes showing only white, staggered toward me with the others.

“Uuuurgh...”

“You didn't have to kill us...”

“You could have saved us...”

“It hurts... It hurts...”

I tried to say something, whether an excuse, a defense, or a curse.

But dreams were like that. The words only rattled hollowly inside me.

“Gasp!”

When I woke up, my whole body was damp with cold sweat, and my head throbbed.

A rooster crowed outside the bluish window.

And there was this empty feeling inside me.

‘Six in the morning.’

I was fucking exhausted, still exhausted, but a mage's biological rhythm had woken me at this hour.

‘Ah, my head.’

Out of habit, I used Memorize and lay back down.

After groaning for a while, I woke up again and saw darkness outside the window.

It was already evening.

Except for the brief moment I'd spent using Memorize, I had slept for nearly twenty-four hours.

‘Well, that was our first forced march.’

I stretched to loosen up, then woke Dize, who was still asleep, along with Daisy and Elena in the next room.

“Ughhh...”

“Yaaawn~”

We took seats at a round table on the first floor and ordered a meal.

This time, we also ordered the alcohol we'd regretted missing the day before.

Clink!

“Everyone, good work.”

We clinked our glasses in a quieter mood than yesterday.

Looking closer, Daisy and Dize didn't look well.

“I dreamed about the people who died.”

“You too? Me too.”

It seemed everyone had nightmares like mine.

Except Elena.

“How pathetic. It's all about your mindset.”

“Ahh! That's refreshing!”

The beer, meanwhile, was fucking cold and delicious.

Snow began falling only a short walk from the city. The outdoors was a natural freezer.

After filling our stomachs a little with greasy food and alcohol, I finally got down to business.

“Let's settle the accounts first.”

Normally, people decided the shares before entering the Labyrinth.

Whether it was a fixed party or a temporary day-trip party recruited through the guild, they decided the shares ahead of time so there would be no complaints later.

The more experience and skill someone had, and the rarer their position, such as Priest or mage, the higher their share.

Of course, the rates could be adjusted depending on the circumstances.

And naturally, I had contributed the most during this expedition.

That went for fighting monsters, but especially our battle against the Marauders. It wasn't an exaggeration to say we'd won because of my wits and magic.

I made that point, then announced the split.

“For this one, let's split it evenly. Twenty-five percent each.”

“What?”

“R-really? Is that okay?!”

Daisy and Dize were startled when I proposed an equal split after making things sound so serious.

Daisy had awakened as a Priest, but Dize, to put it nicely, hadn't done much during this expedition.

Elena frowned, clearly dissatisfied...

“Instead, I'd like to keep this.”

The dead Fire Mage's belongings.

When I said I wanted the mage's equipment we hadn't sold, her expression relaxed.

‘To learn new spells and increase my proficiency, I need materials related to magic!’

Even the value of this mage's equipment alone exceeded what I would have received by raising my share.

Whether they knew that or not, the others nodded.

“Okay! We don't know anything about magic anyway!”

“Yeah, honestly, even if you took almost everything, Ian, we couldn't have complained.”

Aw, these good kids.

How could I not look after them when they were like this? Other Expedition Party members would have started scheming about how to squeeze every last thing out of me.

“Good. This is what's left after taking out the meal costs, lodging, party funds for the next expedition, and other small expenses. Forty-six silver coins each.”

Dize happily took the money pouch.

“Wahahahaha!”

Daisy smiled faintly as well.

“Hehe.”

“Time to get new equipment~”

Humming, Elena slipped her money pouch between her breasts.

I used that chance to inspect the Fire Mage's equipment.

First, there was a small amount of Fire Powder.

It was a material with the properties of fire. It could increase the power of fire magic, shorten chanting time, or reduce the side effects of handling spells beyond one's level.

Materials like this were called catalysts. It wasn't an exceptional material, but anything related to magic was fairly expensive.

‘I should sell this and replace it with catalysts or research materials that match my affinity.’

Next were two bottles of oil.

They were commonly called Black Oil Flasks. The oil inside was highly flammable, so it worked well with fire magic.

‘They're sensitive enough that I could light them with Bolt if I had to.’

‘They'll be useful enough.’

Finally, there was the staff and robe the bastard had carried.

The staff the village chief had given me was certainly a magic staff, but its only inherent ability was helping me concentrate a little better.

This staff, set with a red gemstone, had...

‘A faint Mana Amplification enchantment.’

In other words, it would further increase the power of my magic, which was already strong for my level.

The robe was cloth on the outside, but thick leather was layered inside, so it looked like I could wear it instead of a Gambeson.

‘Nothing incredible, but every piece is practical.’

‘As expected of a second-floor mage. Great equipment.’

Fuck, no wonder people risked their lives to raid others.

I had gone from a pitiful newbie mage with nothing but a stick to equipment on the level of a second-floor Expedition Party member in an instant.

‘I should wash the robe and wear it. Then get some light armor to wear underneath, along with a new helmet.’

Feeling secure, I smiled with satisfaction and spoke to the others.

“Spending money is good, but don't forget to account for taxes.”

“Taxes?”

Labyrinth City, Labyrinth, humanity's last bastion of civilization, wasn't maintained for free.

Even at this moment, Fire Mages were keeping fires burning so the city wouldn't freeze, while craftsmen built and repaired its walls.

Warmer temperatures than the snowfield outside.

Well-maintained streets and entertainment facilities.

Taxes were the price of using the city's infrastructure.

“How much are they?”

“Twenty silver coins a year.”

It wasn't an enormous amount.

But for lower-floor Expedition Party members and laborers who lived day to day, sometimes even taking losses, it was no easy sum to pay.

“W-what happens if you can't pay...?”

“Your head gets lopped off by the guillotine...”

“Eek!”

“...Not really. You just get expelled. Out onto the snowfield we crossed, outside the city.”

“That's basically the same thing!”

Well, that was true.

“...”

“Still, we're off to a good start. Let's keep at it.”

“O-okay.”

The drinking session ended in a heavier mood than it had begun.

I was about to head upstairs and meditate when Elena called me aside.

“Ian. Let's talk for a minute.”

Talk?

In the end, I returned to the first floor and sat alone with Elena at a table.

A bottle of strong moonshine had somehow appeared in front of her.

Gulp, gulp. Ah.

“You know too, right?”

After taking a big drink, Elena spoke with an unusually serious expression.

“Hm?”

“Dize.”

“What's wrong with Dize?”

“He has no talent.”

“...”

“Next time we go... No, even if it isn't next time, if he keeps going into the Labyrinth like this, he'll die someday.”

I understood what Elena meant.

“You're saying we should let Dize go.”

“For his sake. And for ours.”

It was the judgment of Elena, someone with a warrior's talent.

Even I thought it was cold, but realistic.

He had less courage and skill than Daisy, even though she was a woman. And Daisy had awakened, so she could now use precious healing spells.

But Dize?

‘He has nothing.’

The search ability he had gained at the Shrine last time had been single-use.

The most dangerous thing in the Labyrinth wasn't monsters, malicious traps, or Marauders.

It was an incompetent ally.

“He's timid and weak, but he's still a good kid. I don't want to see him die like Arthur or Lami.”

Had she grown attached to him?

Even Elena, that pureblooded knife-ear with no blood or tears, was worried about Dize in her own way.

‘Of course, Dize did well for his first trip into the Labyrinth.’

‘But that isn't enough.’

‘We're not aiming for the lower or middle floors. We're aiming beyond the Deep Zone, for the end of the Labyrinth.’

‘We have to become the best.’

I nodded.

“Whew.”

As a veteran player, there was no way I didn't know that taking along an incompetent team member out of attachment was suicide in the Labyrinth.

It was just happening sooner than expected.

‘Let Dize go and recruit a new party member.’

“We should.”

“Should I tell him?”

“No, I'll do it.”

“I keep telling you, you're too kind. That's your problem.”

“...”

Was I?

I smiled bitterly at Elena's words.

I wasn't as good a person as she thought.

I'd only been waiting for the right time and figuring out how to say it.

Footnotes:

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