CHAPTER 84
We were lost.
It was about 18 hours after we entered the Waterway Labyrinth that Arshel realized it.
"Uh, why, why?"
Arshel wore an expression that said she couldn't understand at all.
She had clearly retraced the path as she remembered, but a completely different path had appeared, so it was natural.
Aranseol, Babiyen, and I exchanged glances.
Noticing the mood, Arshel turned to look at us.
"W-wait. I'll find it soon, very soon. The waterway is just a bit strange."
The water channel flowing beside us.
Water flows everywhere in the Waterway Labyrinth.
But that is exactly what drives people crazy.
The water in the Waterway Labyrinth is contaminated.
Even in a situation where food runs low and throats burn with thirst as they get lost, they cannot drink a single sip.
Despite the water being right in front of their eyes.
"Arshel."
At my call, Arshel flinched.
The one most panicked right now was Arshel, who had been guiding the way.
She guided us, but she got everyone lost.
Naturally, it was something that would weigh her down with responsibility.
Furthermore, we were a newly formed team this time.
She must have had the thought that she needed to do even better.
"Calm down. If the Scout panics, the path will only become harder to find."
It had been only 18 hours since we entered the Waterway Labyrinth.
Considering we took breaks and slept in between, not that much time had passed.
Lost in this amount of time?
And Arshel, a mid-tier adventurer at that?
It is absolutely not a common occurrence.
Moreover, this isn't Arshel's first time in the Waterway Labyrinth.
Getting lost in this timeframe is even harder.
"Take your time, get a grip, and explain the situation."
There must be a reason why Arshel thought she was lost.
I told her calmly to explain that reason first, and Arshel took a few deep breaths.
Then, trying hard to compose herself, she raised her head.
"The reason I judged that I was lost is that the way back is different."
She pointed to the path we had just walked.
"You remember the path we came back from earlier."
That was the path we took to chase down a Fantasy Species.
Since it was a dead end, we had returned to the original path.
"But the path here is different from before. Starting from the traces to the ground itself, everything."
Scouts observe more minute details.
Their eyes, trained to find paths, have near short-term memory capabilities.
Arshel had also cultivated such Scout's eyes.
"Yeah, it feels strangely different from before."
Aranseol agreed with that.
She was also a possessor of excellent intuition.
As expected, some change had occurred in the Waterway Labyrinth.
"Has the path in the Waterway Labyrinth ever changed before?"
"......I've never heard of it. New paths are sometimes created, but those are dug by Fantasy Species."
"Conversely, is there a possibility that when the path changed, all the adventurers who experienced the change died in the Waterway Labyrinth?"
When I presented a new opinion, Arshel's face froze.
Seeing that she didn't deny it, it seems like a plausible story.
The 2nd World is always a series of unexpected situations.
As such, it wouldn't be strange no matter what happened.
It never goes smoothly for a single day.
I let out a breath and rummaged through my bag.
I had prepared for this possibility in advance.
"Arshel, don't worry. I've prepared a means to get out."
What I took out was a piece of parchment.
And the one who made this parchment was none other than Ririran.
Ririran worried about my actions.
I am deeply involved in events occurring in the world while using Resurrection magic.
Yet, I didn't possess the martial power to match that.
All I had was still just Resurrection magic and connections.
Against a Lord or a Deadly Sin, my Divine Martial Arts were less than an ant's bite.
In reality, it was a tightrope walk where it wouldn't be strange to suffer anything, anywhere, anytime.
For me, Ririran drew a Space Magic formula and handed it over.
「If something happens, call me. I will help you.」
As a master of Space Magic, she can appear anywhere.
It was a safety device Ririran prepared specially for me, who caused a lot of trouble.
"If you use this parchment, a Space Mage will come. Then, we can escape anytime."
We won't be trapped in the Waterway Labyrinth.
When I made her realize that fact, Arshel finally let out a breath.
"Phew... so you had something like that. You should have told me earlier."
"Surprise."
"I'm exhausted."
Arshel wiped her face with a tired expression.
Babiyen and Aranseol also seemed relieved.
Both of them must have been worrying internally about what to do.
"So, I want to make a suggestion here."
Since motivation has been dampened, it's time to refill it.
"Arshel, don't you think there would be quite expensive gems in a place no one has ever been to?"
Only then did Arshel slowly raise her head.
It sounded like a plausible story to her, too.
"Gems!"
Among them, Babiyen's eyes flashed the brightest. She was a gem ghost.
"Wouldn't it be okay to search to our heart's content before we leave?"
Arshel's expression changed.
"I have a knack for sniffing out gems, you know."
Motivation is rising.
With this, the motivation recharge is complete.
"I'll look for it right away."
Arshel quickly began to explore a new path.
Since there are traps in the Waterway Labyrinth, she, as a Scout, would naturally check them for us.
Even if we just followed behind her, gems appeared.
As I tried to follow Arshel, Aranseol quietly approached.
She poked my arm and smiled slightly.
"Good job."
"For what?"
"Just everything?"
If the Scout panics, we are the ones in trouble.
So I just told her the solution.
"Harua is an excellent team leader."
At this point, isn't Aranseol a compliment vending machine?
Aranseol was someone who always praised me no matter what I did.
"Praising me doesn't get you anything."
"Why wouldn't I get anything? My praise falls right onto Harua. Aren't you thankful?"
"Why do I have to be thankful for hearing compliments?"
What was so fun about talking to me? Aranseol covered her mouth and laughed as she walked ahead.
Goodness, what a cheerful fellow.
Hoping Arshel would find at least one gem, we proceeded down the new path.
Pioneer.
Fitting for the name, we were truly pioneering a new path.
The first pioneering brings danger.
But it also brings rewards.
Just as Arshel was moving forward according to her intuition, a strange path caught her search.
"Here, I think there's more of a path."
Arshel felt the waterway wall where water was flowing.
Sticky liquid and moss got on her hands, but she didn't care.
Her eyes were now sparkling solely for pioneering.
Rumble—
At that moment, she pulled out a brick from between the moss.
As soon as I saw that, I instinctively pulled Arshel back.
Boom-crash-bang!
As soon as Arshel was pulled out, the wall collapsed, and smoke rose.
When I lifted my head, Aranseol had pulled both me and Arshel at the same time.
Thanks to that, I ended up holding Arshel, and Aranseol was holding me.
"What are you doing?"
While Babiyen looked on with slight absurdity, Arshel lifted her head with a startled face.
"Ah, sorry. I should have checked properly."
"We are here to assist with that. It's fine."
There were no injuries, so it wasn't something to apologize for.
Then Arshel looked up at me with strange eyes and gave a short smirk.
"I can see why you go around with a bunch of girls."
"Could you please not say things that would make others misunderstand?"
Why make a person into a libertine in an instant?
I am not that kind of person.
"It's a compliment. A compliment. Your team will last a long time."
Saying that, Arshel lightly slipped out of my arms.
Then she examined the inside of the collapsed wall and stepped in first.
We immediately followed.
If anything happened to the Scout, I intended to step in immediately.
"As expected, it's a path I haven't seen. And it's old."
Arshel meticulously examined the walls and checked the condition of the path.
There were places where the ground had weakened over time.
Arshel pointed those out as we leisurely moved forward.
'It certainly is an old path.'
Fortunately, there seemed to be no traps.
After moving forward while checking the surroundings for a while, Arshel's steps came to a sudden halt.
What appeared in front of her was a cliff.
Normally, it would be a path where we'd turn back saying we went the wrong way.
However, it wasn't an ordinary cliff.
Below the cliff.
We could see things stuck closely together.
They were existences that, at a glance, could be mistaken for hermit crabs.
But their true value lay in the hermit crab's shell.
Gems.
Waterway Gems, which can only be quarried in the Waterway Labyrinth, were hanging abundantly on their shells.
However, the point was that there weren't just one or two such hermit crabs.
Jewel Crabs.
They were a special Fantasy Species that only appeared in waterway dungeons.
I covered Babiyen's mouth as she was about to scream.
Just looking at it, the number was enormous.
If they sensed any presence, there was a high possibility they would move all at once.
"Wow, how many are there exactly?"
Aranseol also opened her eyes wide, surprised by this.
A wide smile spread across Arshel's face as well.
Just taking one of those Jewel Crabs could earn a huge sum.
But seeing hundreds of them gathered like that, she couldn't help but laugh.
"This must have been the Jewel Crabs' nest."
I wondered where all the Jewel Crabs were hiding.
They were all gathered here.
But sweeping up that many wasn't easy.
Looking below the cliff, there were many holes.
They were surely paths the Jewel Crabs used.
If we disturbed them, it was highly likely they would all flee into those holes.
Above all, the guys are attached to the cliff.
In the end, to catch them, we would have to climb down the cliff as well.
Catching Jewel Crabs at this point is not as easy as one might think.
We need a plan.
A plan to catch as many Jewel Crabs as possible.
While pondering, I slowly turned to look at Babiyen.
We can't catch all of that number.
Still, a method to securely secure a significant number came to mind.
"Babiyen."
"Yeph?"
Babiyen, whose mouth was covered, answered questioningly.
Be proud.
"You are the most important card in catching the Jewel Crabs."
The operation to catch the Jewel Crabs begins.