WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ The Wizard's Memoir ◈
Chapter 15: The North
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Olivia's party struggled back to the village.
Whether it was a reward for their hard work or a victory for professional ethics, the alchemist survived. They were also lucky that the mining village had a healer skilled at treating injuries. Even so, the ruined left arm had to be amputated.
“Adventurers stake their lives to earn dena. Since I kept my life, I've at least broken even.”
Whatever the alchemist felt inside, they sounded positive. They calmly said they would give up adventuring and open an alchemy workshop in Northern Ridge.
Although they had defeated the dungeon's master, the exploration continued for a while.
They had to eliminate the spriggans, monstrous fae that threatened the miners, recover the remains of fellow adventurers, and find the treasure the golem had guarded. Naturally, they looked forward to the last task most.
“What share do we get? A hundred percent, right?”
“The alchemist's party worked out the condition for clearing the dungeon, namely how to summon the golem, and dealt with some of the lesser monsters, so...”
“Even so, ten percent? Oh, fine. Twenty percent at the absolute most, right? We should get eighty percent. Seriously.”
If several parties had taken part in clearing the dungeon, the Guild would have assessed their contributions and mediated. But only two parties had entered this dungeon beneath the mine, and one owed the other their lives. They weren't in a position to demand much. Even after making a generous allowance for their circumstances, Olivia's party deserved eighty percent.
Assuming they found the treasure, that was.
Olivia's party spent two days searching every corner of the underground dungeon. Based on the alchemist's account, they also carefully examined the place where the golem had first stood. Yet they found neither treasure nor a treasure chamber.
There had never been a dungeon with a boss but no treasure. It went against this world's common sense. While Olivia and Dahlia floundered in confusion, Etran snapped their fingers. It wasn't spellcasting, just a gesture of realization.
“It's the golem.”
“Huh?”
“Now, this is interesting.”
“I think I'd find it interesting too if I knew what you meant.”
Olivia sounded sulky. Rolf also folded their arms and gave Etran a serious look, urging them to explain. Etran spoke quickly, feeling that dragging this out to tease them might earn a punch.
“The golem was the condition, the boss, and the reward. It wasn't a clay golem or a stone golem. It was a copper golem.”
Etran looked around at the others as if to ask whether that wasn't fascinating. Nobody seemed particularly amused.
Etran's prediction had actually come true.
“So... the treasure's copper?”
“Copper! Just lousy copper!”
“Yes. That's right. Copper.”
“No! I mean it's lousy!”
In the days of the ancient kingdom, copper had been used for money, tableware, and decorations. It had been a precious metal second only to gold and silver. Now, however, it was an unpopular metal, worth less than steel and only a little more than scrap iron.
Besides, the golem wasn't solid copper. Like a suit of armor, it had an outer shell of copper plates three to four inches thick, with a thin framework inside. However great the ancient kingdom had been, it couldn't have used tens of thousands of pounds of copper on a single golem.
They divided the parts into loads and weighed them with Floating Disc. The total came to about 3,500 pounds, roughly 1.5 tons. Since this was a copper mine, checking the price of copper was easy. Ingots sold for three dena per pound, while scrap sold for two.
In other words, the total income was 7,000 dena. An eighty-percent share came to 5,600.
“Only 5,600...”
Halving that again and dividing it four ways left 700 dena per person.
Compared with the 297 dena they had earned at Shadow Castle Ruins, it wasn't a small sum. But the party still had far more years ahead of them than behind them. It wasn't enough to fulfill their dreams of changing careers, retiring, and enjoying a happy old age.
“Let's go to a gold mine next time. A silver mine, at least...”
Dahlia muttered weakly.
The people of Star Valley, however, were delighted. Not only could they return to work, but they had also gained a large supply of highly pure copper.
The refinery and smithy bustled with activity for the first time in a while, and merchants from elsewhere came to trade. As large orders were placed and paid for, Olivia's party collected their dena too. Not having to pay the Guild a fee made the deal a little better.
“Now that our pockets are full, shall we take a few weeks off?”
“What nonsense is that? We need to earn as much as we can while we have the chance!”
Adventuring was a more seasonal profession than one might expect.
In midsummer, it was difficult to work in heavy gear. In midwinter, even traveling between villages meant risking one's life, leaving adventurers unable to go anywhere. That made the present, as spring gave way to summer, the time to earn as much as possible. The rainy season in July and August and the heavy snows of December and January would give them plenty of time to rest.
“On that subject...”
The alchemist spoke up. Their presence among Olivia's party felt so natural that the others were slow to react.
“Oh, shit! You scared me! How long have you been there?”
“...I was here when we received the dena.”
Of course the alchemist had been present, since they had also divided out the other party's share. It was only twenty percent of the total, but since it hadn't been split into individual portions, the alchemist held the largest amount. That was why they were still there.
“This isn't my dena. I have to send it to their surviving families.”
“In person?”
“Even if I wanted to, that would be difficult in my condition. I intend to ask the Guild.”
For all its meddling, this was why they couldn't do without the Guild. The alchemist looked down at the place where their arm should have been, then back at the party.
“The Northern Highlands are cool even in summer.”
“Huh?”
“And their reputation as a barren land is outdated. These days, the farms do well, and quite a few prosperous cities have sprung up.”
“R-really? That sounds nice.”
“Northern Ridge is the most comfortable place to live among them. There's a reason the Adventurers' Guild keeps a permanent branch there.”
Even someone slow to take a hint could see where this was going.
“Are you asking us to go to Northern Ridge with you?”
“Not necessarily... but if you do go, I'd like to ask if I could accompany you.”
Times might be good, but not good enough for a one-armed traveler carrying a large amount of dena to travel alone. Even without highway robbers, there were wild animals and accidents to worry about.
“Northern Ridge...”
If they intended to work in the north, they would have to pass through at least once. They needed to make themselves known at the Guild to gather information on dungeons. Olivia looked around, asking what the others thought.
“I've wanted to visit at least once.”
“The Northern Highlands sound good, since it's summer.”
“Hmm...”
With no particular plans, nobody objected. By unanimous agreement, Olivia's party chose their next destination: the crest of the north, Northern Ridge City.
@
Traveling with the alchemist wasn't bad.
Their condition meant they needed help with various things. But as an adventurer who had worked in the Northern Highlands for years, they knew the roads well. They also told interesting stories about northern affairs, adventurers, and alchemy. This was a great help to the inexperienced Etran and to Rolf, who had mainly worked in the east.
“The ruler of the north is the margrave. Margrave Leopold. Strictly speaking, the full list of titles includes marquess of somewhere, count of somewhere else, baron of something, and commander of this order and that. But unless you're a noble, you just say ‘the margrave.’ Even the margrave probably can't remember them all.”
“If you're a marquess, you're a marquess. If you're a count, you're a count. How can you be both?”
“That's how nobles are. The land has been divided into so many separate estates.”
Marriages tangling noble families together had more to do with it, but discussing family lines always led to disputes, so the alchemist left that out. The party, being outsiders, wanderers, and adventurers, didn't care.
“Things are stable. The local lords squabble now and then, but their neighbors don't let it grow into anything serious. They give them looks that say, ‘Why are you fighting when you eat such expensive bread?’”
“That's how it is everywhere these days.”
A hundred years ago, wars had broken out every three days. But after the Hero King König had sorted everyone out on three separate occasions, an age of stability had begun.
“The fighting still hasn't stopped in the east.”
Rolf, a former wartime mercenary, spoke quietly. That region was a frontier in the truest sense, teeming with heathens, cultists, and barbarian tribes. Many of the rougher adventurers came from there.
“People call the north harsh, but it's still a place where ordinary people live.”
“Never mind that. What about dungeons? Tell us about uncleared dungeons in the Northern Highlands.”
An adventurer by nature, Olivia had no interest in politics or military affairs.
Apparently thirsty after so much talking, the alchemist took out a waterskin. Etran quickly opened it for them, earning a grateful look.
“The most famous dungeon is the Abyss Labyrinth.”
“The Great Labyrinth!”
“It's also called that.”
Etran knew the name well. It was one of the three great dungeons that had remained uncleared for seventy years, ever since they were first officially recorded. In other words, since the founding of the Adventurers' Guild.
“As its name suggests, the Abyss is a bottomless pit. Its depths seem endless. Adventurers have cleared down to the sixty-seventh floor below ground, but there's still no end in sight.”
“The book said the sixty-third floor...”
“It must have been an old book.”
Etran's eyes shone at the name, which stirred an adventurer's dreams. Olivia and the other experienced adventurers, however, showed little interest. It was so famous that it hardly felt real, but there was also the practical issue that it wasn't profitable.
After seventy years of ongoing exploration, the shares owed to past participants had reached an astronomical level. The joke was that even if someone defeated the boss and claimed the treasure, nothing would remain after dividing it among hundreds of people. It wasn't really a joke.
Only entrenched old hands, washed-up veterans who couldn't let go, and clueless youngsters were still eagerly trying their luck.
“The next most famous place would be Elf Garden, the garden of the fae.”
“Is that a dungeon's name?”
“It's a region where many dungeons are discovered.”
It was a vast forest region in the Northern Highlands. It wasn't a garden actually tended by elves, but many traces of the elves of remote antiquity, the High Elves, had been found there. That was how it had received the name Elf Garden.
The alchemist talked about several dungeons that had already been cleared, then suddenly sighed. Those were the places where they had met the companions whose belongings they now carried.
As the mood grew heavy, Etran changed the subject.
“About that nitric acid. Can it dissolve iron too?”
“It's a strong acid, so yes, if you have enough.”
“Really? Then it should be useful for hunting things besides copper golems. How do you make it?”
“It has many uses, but you can't use it often. Every ingredient is expensive, so it costs more than it's worth. Still, if you're truly curious, you prepare saltpeter, alum, and vitriol...”
Once the conversation turned to their specialty, the alchemist became talkative again. Olivia and the others, all softhearted to a fault, quietly felt relieved.
The warrior, wizard, seeker, crossbow wielder, and their alchemist guide spent the day traveling up the starry valley. They stayed the night at a small ranch.
Since there were quite a few of them, they paid in silver coins for supper and a place to sleep. Being able to drink as much milk as they liked was a small piece of good fortune for Etran, who loved it.
The next morning, they began climbing the mountain ridge as soon as the sun rose. A young shepherd guided them while going about other business, but even the fit adventurers struggled to keep up. Mountain folk certainly had stamina.
Then, sometime after noon, they had the strange experience of seeing the sky open before them.
Everything blocking their view vanished at once. Blue sky and vast grasslands spread out before them like an unrolled carpet. Even while gasping for breath, Etran couldn't stop exclaiming in wonder.
“So this is...!”
They had reached the Northern Highlands, an honest land where it was cool in summer and you froze to death in winter.
Footnotes:
In Korean, guri means “copper,” while gurida is slang for “lousy.” The party's complaints play on the similarity.
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