CHAPTER 85
The Jewel Crab Nest.
A place where expensive Jewel Crabs were everywhere you looked.
Toward that nest of Jewel Crabs, someone began to fall.
The Jewel Crabs recognized the existence belatedly.
It was fire.
Fire harboring intense heat.
Living creatures hold an innate fear of fire.
Unless it is a creature that handles fire equally, the damage inflicted by fire is irreversible.
So, fearing fire was natural.
It was the same for the Jewel Crabs.
Living in the waterway, they had almost no resistance to fire.
Therefore, all the attention of the Waterway Crabs focused on the fire falling below the cliff.
Thud—
The girl of blazing fire landed at the bottom of the cliff. The fire blooming around her began to grow stronger and stronger.
Her name is Babiyen.
In the past, she was a disciple of the Red Flame Lord and a Mage who handled fire magic.
The Jewel Crabs sensed that something was wrong.
The moment they detached their bodies from the cliff wall.
Whoosh!
Fire soared up the cliff all at once.
Seeing the fire surging from below, the Jewel Crabs hurriedly began to run upward.
Some of them threw themselves into nearby passages, but most fled upward.
The fire chased the Jewel Crabs.
Some couldn't escape the fire in time and were scorched or burnt.
Still, a significant number managed to climb up.
Boom!
Just as the Jewel Crabs thought they would continue upward, their movement was suddenly blocked.
There was a net densely filled with threads of light.
A Sacred Weapon created based on Holy Magic.
Jewel Crabs have hard jaws.
Normally, they would have cut through the net using those jaws, but the situation was dire.
Fire was soaring from below.
For the Jewel Crabs, fleeing in another direction was better than tearing the net of light.
As the Jewel Crabs hurriedly looked around.
A single passage below caught their eyes.
A wide passage that even people could walk through.
Where they had to head was already decided.
The Jewel Crabs flooded toward the passage all at once.
Avoiding the fire coming up from below, they threw their bodies however they could.
Scatter to various places through this passage.
The moment the Jewel Crabs flooded into the passage with such thoughts. A single woman greeted the mass of Jewel Crabs.
Her hair fluttered.
Along with it, the red electricity dwelling in her sword flashed.
Lightning Attribute Awakener, Aranseol.
Jewel Crabs are Water Attribute Fantasy Species that hold moisture in their bodies.
That meant they had the worst compatibility with the lightning in front of their eyes.
Having avoided the fire which was relatively okay, they now faced a Lightning Attribute Awakener.
The Jewel Crabs wanted to scream, but there was no way.
They tried to push Aranseol with sheer numbers. But Aranseol was also a swordsman trained by the Sword Lord.
A fierce competitive spirit poured out from her two eyes. At the same time, Aranseol's sword danced madly.
She drove her sword into the bodies of the rushing Jewel Crabs one by one.
It was a sword harboring electricity.
Every time her sword touched them, the Jewel Crabs collapsed as they were, along with the current flowing through their bodies.
Jewel Crabs piled up endlessly behind Aranseol.
She swung her sword without resting.
After swinging her sword for a long time, the swarming Jewel Crabs hesitated.
Now, there were only about ten left.
Hundreds before them had all fallen to Aranseol's sword.
Just as the remaining Jewel Crabs tried to turn back to retreat.
A man landed behind their backs.
Yes, it's me.
Having waited on top of the light net before coming down, I smiled broadly.
I have to scrape up and eat everything left, too.
It's wasteful to leave leftovers.
Holy Magic flowing into my arms swelled my muscles.
At the same time, Aranseol also leaped toward the Jewel Crabs.
The Jewel Crabs screamed once again. But there was nothing they could do.
Hand over the gems obediently.
After knocking down all the Jewel Crabs.
A while later, Babiyen slowly flew up from the underground.
Babiyen wasn't excellent at it, but she had learned magic to fly in the sky.
So, although the speed was slow, she came up steadily.
"Babiyen, good work."
"Phew, a few of them burned. What a waste."
Babiyen smacked her lips, expressing her regret to the fullest.
Greedy thing.
Even while looking at the Jewel Crabs piled up like a mountain in front of her eyes, she regrets the few that burned.

"Perhaps I should have controlled the firepower more," Babiyen mused.
"If you had, these things wouldn't have fled like that," I replied. Babiyen’s full-power assault had been the right call.

Meanwhile, Arshel was prying off all the gems.
"Ahahaha, I wonder how much this is all worth..." Greed overflowed in her eyes.
Sigh. I'd better not end up like that.
Still, I couldn't let her do all the work alone, so I quickly sat down beside her. I couldn't resist picking gems myself.

After we had been picking for a while, our backpacks were completely full. It got to the point where we had to throw out some of our supplies to make room. We could always buy more daily necessities. With the money from selling these gems, we could buy thousands of them. So we crammed them all in. When they wouldn't fit, we stuffed them into our pockets.

The satisfaction of a full bag.
A truly indescribable sense of fulfillment washed over my entire body.
This is what it feels to be alive.

"You were lecturing me about gems, but you look the happiest of all," Babiyen remarked.
"Well, it's always good to have money."
With this, I'll buy a ton of elixirs related to Holy Magic. While I'm at it, I should get some for Aransol, too.

"Alright, shall we head back now?"
We had gathered more than enough gems. There was no reason to hunt any more Fantasy Species.
I immediately unfolded the parchment. As I channeled my mana into it, the parchment began to glow. Ririran should be here soon. All we had to do now was wait patiently.

Three hours passed.
I stared silently at the parchment. The other three had fallen silent as well. I had definitely used the parchment, but Ririran hadn't appeared. The light from the parchment had faded at some point.
In the heavy silence, I slowly folded the parchment.
"She must be busy. Let's wait a bit and try again."
That had to be it.

"Um, Harua."
Just then, Aransol spoke up.
"Maybe... since the 1st World and the 2nd World are entirely different dimensions, the signal from the parchment just isn't getting through."

The moment I heard those words, my face froze. It was a thought that had been nagging at the back of my mind, and Aransol had just voiced it.

The 1st and 2nd Worlds were different dimensions. Just as there was no Transferee with the ability to return to Earth, the same principle applied to the 2nd World. In fact, when an incident occurred in the 2nd World, no news of it could be relayed to the 1st World. No matter what magical tool you used, the worlds were different, making communication impossible. The only way to deliver news from the 2nd World was by word of mouth.

The same went for this parchment. If we were in the 1st World, Ririran would have appeared the instant I called. But because we were in the 2nd World, the signal never reached her.

I quietly shifted my gaze to check Babiyen and Arshel's reactions. Babiyen let out a short sigh. As a fellow mage, her reaction suggested that Aransol’s hypothesis was highly likely. Arshel’s face was frozen, unable to say a word. As the scout, the burden had once again fallen on her shoulders. Her reaction was understandable.

I carefully folded the parchment and put it back in my bag.
"The Pioneer's Guild files a missing person report if you don't return after a certain amount of time. Horizon will see that and report us missing."
The parchments came in a set of two. Since Ririran had one as well, she could send a signal to our side.
"So if the space mage enters the 2nd World, she'll send a signal. We just have to wait until then."

"...Doesn't a missing person report take at least ten days?" Babiyen asked, quietly pointing to the daily necessities we had taken out. "Can we survive for ten days with just that?"
We couldn't. Stretched thin, a week would be our limit.
But I had Resurrection magic.
"Babiyen can take care of the water, right?"
"It's possible, at least until my mana runs out."
"Then I have a plan."
"What about food?"
"I have a plan for that, too."
It was a method I'd only reveal as a last resort, but it was an incredibly useful one. With Resurrection magic, we wouldn't have to worry about food. Of course, there might be some psychological trauma, but what could we do? When you're starving, you'll eat anything.

At my bright smile, Babiyen quietly took a step back.
"Your eyes have gone crazy. You're thinking of something weird again, aren't you?"
"As the team leader, I'm simply devising a plan to ensure our survival."
"The things you think of are always weird. Or dangerous."
"What do you take me for?"
"A madman."

To define a person in a single word. Lady Babiyen is so toxic.

"Both of you, stop. Why are you assuming we can't get out?" Aransol cut in, ending our conversation. "Arshel, do you remember the passage where the Gem Crabs were?"
"Ah, yes," Arshel, who had been counting her fingers like a sinner, flinched and looked up.
"Gem Crabs are sometimes found outside, right? Maybe one of the tunnels they were in leads to the outside?"
Her words were definitely worth looking into.
"That's our Aransol! I knew I could count on you. Your horns aren't just for decoration!"
"My horns were never for decoration," she retorted, but as I showered her with praise, she puffed out her chest, looking slightly smug.
At the same time, Arshel's expression brightened a little.
"I-I'll go check right now!"
"Babiyen, give her a hand."
"Yes, yes."
Babiyen followed Arshel toward the passage. The old Babiyen would have become extremely sharp-tongued in a situation like this, probably lashing out in frustration. But now, she was remarkably composed.
Has our simple-minded Babiyen grown up?
It seemed that after everything she'd been through, something like this was no big deal.

While Babiyen and Arshel scouted ahead, Aransol and I sat and waited patiently. There was nothing for us to do anyway.
"Harua."
Aransol had moved next to me, resting her head on my shoulder with a soft thud.
"What you said about food earlier... you were talking about Resurrection magic, weren't you?"
She figured it out. This is the problem with smart people.
Aransol casually shifted her head, now resting it on my lap. Then she looked straight up at my face.
You little fox. Stop being so flirtatious.
"What were you going to do with Resurrection magic?"
"Just trying to solve a national food crisis."
"You weren't planning on cutting off a finger from someone who starved to death, reviving them, and then eating the corpse, were you?"
"Aransol, I can cure most poisons. You wouldn't get food poisoning."
Aransol stuck out her tongue with a "bleh" sound. Her small, red tongue was cute.
"That's so like you, Harua."
"It's not like I want that situation to happen. Besides, we could always eat Fantasy Species."
Of course, many Fantasy Species had poison in their bodies. But even if it was a poison I couldn't detoxify, Resurrection would solve the problem somehow. It was the all-powerful Resurrection magic.
"Anyway, because of you, Babiyen, Horizon, and I are all becoming desensitized to death."
I felt a little sorry about that. I was the one who had forced death upon the three of them.
"In that regard, I'm grateful that you trust me."
None of it would have been possible if they hadn't trusted me.
"Really? How grateful?" Aransol looked up at me intently.
What kind of answer is she looking for?
"Enough that I feel I'll have to repay you for the rest of my life."
"A lifetime? You'll have to work very hard, Harua."
"You can say that again."
As she spoke, Aransol seemed to be enjoying herself, tapping her fingers lightly on my knee.
Haven't we been getting much closer lately?
Recently, whenever it was just the two of us, Aransol would stick close like this. That was probably why Babiyen kept trying to pair us up. But I didn't feel any desire to put distance between us. I, too, felt so comfortable that I wished this moment could last forever. I suppose I had gotten that used to her.

I raised my hand and gently patted Aransol's head. She smiled, looking pleased. Then, our eyes met.
Aransol and I stared at each other silently. Her eyes were truly enormous, even seeing them again. And for some reason, her cherry-like lips seemed to shimmer before my eyes.
Aransol's eyelids lowered slightly, and the corners of her mouth lifted into a small smile.
I couldn't tear my eyes away from her.

"I found it!"

Just then, Arshel's voice echoed from below.
I flinched and raised my head. Aransol quickly sat up as well. She let out a dry cough and tapped her cheeks with her hands.
"Sh-shall we go, Harua?"
"Ah, right."
I gathered our things and stood up. It was time to escape the Waterway Labyrinth.