CH 202-203

Chapter 202-203: Horse Riding practice and Man that came alone

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TLN: Hey guys, Reigokai here!

Finally back in DCFM! Haha, that took longer than I expected. I gave it 5 chapters to accumulate before translating it, but I didn’t expect the author to take a long break after that.

Oh well, I will adjust depending on the situation. Sorry about the delay on updating this one!

Enjoy!

——-

I don’t know if it was because we had a good teacher, but our horse riding practice went well.

The teacher was Rifreya.

As expected of a girl from a distinguished family. It seems like she was taught horse riding pretty strictly.

The reality is that she not only can run normally, but make jumps too. She is pretty skilled.

Jeanne unexpectedly likes animals and was optimistic about horse riding in itself, but her affinity with horses is…or more like, there was a horse that really disliked having Jeanne ride it. We had a really hard time.

It is most likely…no, it is most definitely because of Hated One.

A Hated One has a special constitution that makes them be hated by Spirits, not be able to use Spirit Abilities, moreover, Spirit Abilities don’t work on them.

Jeanne purposely chose this when she transferred here.

According to Rifreya, Hated Ones are more hated the lower the chaotic rate of the creature.

Within the horses that we rented, the one that was fine with Jeanne riding it was a horse with black mane, and white and tea body color. It is apparently a horse that has a strong mix of Darkness, Light, and Earth Spirit Elements, so it certainly does seem that the more ‘chaotic rate’ you have, the more resistant they are to Hated Ones.

On the other hand, the pure white horse didn’t even want to get close to Jeanne.

I was loved by all the horses.

…Well, Demon Lords like me in the bad sense of the word, so that’s probably how it is. It doesn’t have an embarrassing name like Loved One just for show.

By the way, humans are chaotic beings to begin with, so the debuff of Jeanne has practically no effect on them.

The cat humans that are the Lynxes are the best example of this. Grapefull is fine with Jeanne, and she recently even shows signs of being happy when petted.

“Horses are cute.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne brushes the white tea patterned neck of the horse while having it run the open space outskirts at a slightly fast pace.

We may call it a journey, but it is not one that we are hurried with, so it might be dangerous to do so when our technique is still questionable. There’s the need to learn how to make them run at full power at necessary times.

“Let’s practice cantering tomorrow. You can’t do cantering yet, right, Hikaru?” (Rifreya)

“Yeah, what I learned on the other side was called trot, but that’s it. I have not practiced actually making it run.” (Hikaru)

“Understood. If possible, I would like you guys to learn all the way to sprinting, so let’s do our best.” (Rifreya)

I learned a bit of horse riding by hanging out with Celica, but I just got to trotting…to a degree where I can make it walk quickly to the direction I want. Sprinting…is probably galloping in horse riding terms, but I am far from that level.

There might be cases when we will be chased by troublesome monsters or bandits.

Whether we can escape at full power in those cases will be important.

If the opponent is a monster, it would be one thing, but in the case it is bandits, I don’t think I would be able to kill them. If so, it would be better to run away.

“But, Rifreya, how long will it take until we manage that sprinting?” (Hikaru)

“If it is you and Jeanne-san, I would say it won’t take even 10 days. Of course, that’s if you practice a whole lot every day though.” (Rifreya)

“Every day, huh. I feel like the horses would be dropping first…” (Hikaru)

“I figured that could happen, so I have rented a number of them for the morning and afternoon. Totally prepared. We have the coin after all! Coin!” (Rifreya)

Rifreya has become someone who does the talking with money, but well, we do have gold.

The job of digging out Spirit Stones from dungeons is dangerous but the return is big because of it.

Even in Japan, it is said that coal mining was really profitable in the past. It is probably similar to that. There’s the demerit of food expenses increasing as your Tier increases though.

“Speaking of which, are we going to buy horses for our journey?” (Hikaru)

“Of course, we will. If you are fine with a carriage, that’s also an option.” (Rifreya)

“No, we are practicing horse riding here already. Also, carriages are slow, right?” (Hikaru)

“Not to the point of calling it slow, but it might be boring. Also, we will need to cross the sea, so it would be better to go with horses. However, if we are going to get the horses on board, we will need coin for it. It might be better to go on foot to the harbor and get horses on the other side… We do have the coin, so maybe there’s no need for all of that?” (Rifreya)

“You are thinking about it a lot.” (Hikaru)

“You and Jeanne-san don’t know about this side of things, so I have to be the one to do it.” (Rifreya)

“It really helps out.” (Hikaru)

Actually, Jeanne and I are complete foreigners.

We don’t know much about the rules of this world.

According to Rifreya, outside the Dungeon City, a Gold Rank tag holds quite the power, so our journey should go pretty smoothly just from having that.

“Reya, we are wrapping things up in around 7 days even if that isn’t enough time for practice. The messaging system will be coming back, and there’s a dangerous fellow approaching this city after all. Calculating all that, I would like to depart around 8 days later.” (Hikaru)

I told this to Jeanne who returned after riding around the open space.

Her ears are astoundingly good. Does she have the Hearing Up Gift?

“No problem. There isn’t that much preparation to be done anyways. Hikaru will be the one carrying the luggage after all.” (Rifreya)

“Let’s ready some weapon spares just in case. Even some random stuff would be better than not having anything.” (Jeanne)

“Yeah, I would like a Spirit Tool that lets out water as well.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya and Jeanne were talking about the travel preparations.

Shadow Storage is useful on a whole other level in long journeys.

Food, sleeping bags, tableware, pots, and even a tent can be stored.

There’s no need to carry valuables with us, so the chances of us being targeted by bandits is low. There’s no need to worry about thieves when staying at an inn on the road either.

Money is heavy if you are carrying it, but inside the shadow, it is weightless. Dark Spirit Abilities might be the most practical and handy ones.

◇◆◆◆◇

6th day of not going into the dungeon and practicing horse riding.

We will be departing the day after tomorrow.

Jeanne and I have improved quite a bit.

With my improved physical strength and my previous experience, and most of all, the cooperation of the horse, made this result possible. If it is a straight line, I can manage sprinting…galloping.

Even if I were to fall, as long as I don’t fall in quite the bad spot I won’t be dying (thanks to my Tier), so it lessened the fear.

“…Hm? Someone is coming.” (Rifreya)

The first one to notice was Rifreya.

The place we are practicing horse riding is an open field with nothing around and there have been barely any people passing here.

Even if they did pass by, they were dressed in a way that you can tell that they are natives, so we weren’t bothered too much about it.

“That’s…the man that was with the masked man, Ferdinand, I think?” (Hikaru)

There was still distance, but there’s no doubt he is the 2nd group Chosen I saw that day.

“Is he that guy?” (Jeanne)

“Yeah, it seems like he is alone though.” (Hikaru)

It seems like he is not together with the masked man today.

But what business does he have with us all by himself?

“Jeanne, do you think he will attack us?” (Hikaru)

“Who knows… It is an open space and not many passersby. Even if he were to use a gun that makes loud sounds, there wouldn’t be any issues, so it wouldn’t be a bad place to perform a perfect crime, but…we have 3 people here. Also, we are wary of them. He probably should know that, by the time he kills one of us, his own head will be flying.” (Jeanne)

“Then, it is not an attack.” (Hikaru)

“If you think normally…but we don’t know if he is normal just from his appearance. We don’t know if he has…a grudge on me or you after all… When you have over 1 billion viewers, that’s how it goes. John and Darrell were killed by fans after all.” (Jeanne) <Most likely referring to John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell.>

I have heard that, if you stand out in social media, you get a lot of comments from weird guys.

We are the worldwide version of that. Even if 99.9% of them are normal, it would mean that 0.1% of 1 billion is…1 million weirdos.

We can’t say for sure that there’s no such people mixed in the 2nd Chosen group.

There’s the choice of running away, but we have the rented horses.

Also, I am a bit interested in why he would come all alone.

Ferdinand was slowly walking our way on foot.

I don’t know if it is to lower our caution or he is always like that, but he looks like he is unarmed.

There’s the chance he is hiding a gun, so it would be bad to relax here.

I summoned the Dark Knight. It is to serve as a shield in case of anything.

“Hey, Hikaru and Jeanne-san, why are you so on guard here? I uhm…think about this every time I hear about this 2nd group, but aren’t they all normal humans?” (Rifreya)

“Reya, that’s a big mistake. We don’t know what kind of power they are hiding, and no idea what they have brought with them. Most of all, we don’t know what they will pull off. Those guys know about us one-sidedly, and we don’t know what kind of emotions they hold towards us… That’s the kind of situation it is. Of course we will be on guard.” (Jeanne)

Jeanne speaks all that out really fast. I agree with most of that too.

On top of that, there was the matter with Nanami, so the chances that they want to kill me are high.

Nanami has come back to life, but there’s no assurance that she has memories of the murder or if she managed to properly give a testimony.

“Hmmm…then, how about I drive him away?” (Rifreya)

“No, don’t. It is dangerous. Not even you are safe, Rifreya. Just as we have told you many times already, just as I have been watched, you have been watched too.” (Hikaru)

“Then, what do we do?” (Rifreya)

“…I will deal with this.” (Hikaru)

I am the only one who has met Ferdinand.

By the way, the more he approached, the more withdrawn Jeanne got.

I can really tell that she isn’t good at dealing with strangers.

More so when it is a man like this that gets aggressively involved with others even in this parallel world.

Ferdinand approached us without hesitation and spoke.

“And here I was wondering who it was. So it was you, Hikaru-san. Do you remember me? I am Ferdinand, the one Worigami-san introduced you to. Fufu, there’s no need to be so on guard, you know?” (Ferdinand)

Ferdinand said this at a slightly distanced location.

He really looks like a noble as always.

Is he trimming himself even in this adventurer city? His blonde hair is glossy and his attire is still clean.

“…What do you want, coming all the way here?” (Hikaru)

“I was looking at the map, and it seemed like Chosen were at a distant location from the city lately, so I was wondering what they were doing. It is called curiosity. And so, what were you all doing? From what I can see, horse riding?” (Ferdinand)

“…That’s right.” (Hikaru)

I feel no hostility.

No…in the first place, I don’t think I have sensed ‘hostility’ from a person with my body before.

But I have fought many monsters on a daily basis, and I could tell by instinct that this man is not a threat.

Of course, if he has a gun, that’s a different story though. Bring out a gun, aim, and shoot… It shouldn’t be impossible to restrain the other party while they are doing the motions for that.

Thinking that way, I managed to relax a bit.

He is alone.

It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t worried and looked at the map to check.

All of the dots in Meltia are overlapped, so I can only see 1 dot in the world map, however, we are in an open space here which is an exception.

This guy might have the High Efficiency Map of the Surroundings.

Chapter 203: Information of Nanami and Tied up

Author: Happy New Year!

Looking forward to your continued support this year as well!

———-

“Horse riding; so elegant. I also had a taste of it in my homeland, but are the horses in this world the same as the ones here?” (Ferdinand)

Ferdinand speaks sociably to us.

Did he really come here solely out of curiosity?

Thinking about it normally…that would be the case.

Worigami-san said that we shouldn’t hold strange suspicions between Chosen, and that he would like to cooperate with each other as fellow Chosen. I did think for a bit that I might be way too on guard.

“The horses here are actually more tame.” (Hikaru)

“Heeh, that’s great! I fell off a horse when I was a child, so I am still a bit scared. There’s no cars in this world, so for long distances, you would have to ride a horse…” (Ferdinand)

He is doing harmless talk here, but I can’t trust him.

There’s people like the student I don’t even know the name of that killed me and Nanami after all.

Of course, the chances a person like that is mixed in the 2nd group are terribly low, to the point that it might even be fine to ignore it. I understand that logic.

But I can’t draw that line.

My heart…my soul still hasn’t recovered to the point of believing in strangers.

“…If you have no business here, can you please leave? We want to practice.” (Hikaru)

I decided to end this conversation.

No matter the case, we will be leaving the morning of the day after tomorrow. There’s no need to further our connection with the 2nd group Chosen of this city.

With the conversation being cut off…no, even before that, Ferdinand showed a thinking gesture, and spoke.

“Hikaru-san…could it be that you intend to leave this city?” (Ferdinand)

“…Eh? No.” (Hikaru)

I unconsciously showed displeasure in my answer.

A displeasure I can’t describe at having our actions seen through.

“What will you do about Nanami-san?” (Ferdinand)

Ferdinand said the name of my childhood friend out of nowhere.

“Huh?” (Hikaru)

“No, I was just wondering…are you not going to reunite with her?” (Ferdinand)

“Reunite…? What do you…mean by that…?” (Hikaru)

I don’t understand.

What is he saying here…?

“Aah, I see. You don’t talk much with the 2nd group, right? Then, it can’t be helped that you don’t know… Actually, Nanami-san was re-elected to be a Chosen.” (Ferdinand)

“…Huh? …You must be lying…” (Hikaru)

“It is not a lie. She was apparently preparing herself with the help of your little sisters, you know? Of course, for the sake of reuniting with you, Kurose Hikaru.” (Ferdinand)

I could feel the blood in my body freezing in contrast to the indifferent attitude of Ferdinand.

It doesn’t feel like he is lying.

…No, he was apparently a soon-to-be lawyer, so lying must be right in his skillset.

But…we are talking about that god.

If it is that god, the chances of them putting Nanami in the 2nd group are…plenty high.

“I have made contact with almost all the Chosen that have come to this city, but Nanami-san has still not come. But isn’t she on her way? …Like, let’s say…the person that’s heading straight here with a passion from the north.” (Ferdinand)

Lies! …That feeling was currently clashing with my thoughts that it might be true, and my head was swirling.

If Nanami has truly been transferred, then she would aim to reunite with me.

There’s no doubt she would head straight towards this city no matter where she has been transferred to.

There’s no doubt about that.

That’s because, if the roles were reversed, I would have done the same.

“There were only broad choices for the transfer location. The aforementioned north person must have chosen the Dart Transfer. You throw a dart onto a map and you get transferred into the place you hit. I didn’t have confidence in my throwing hand, so I chose a normal transfer… Didn’t the north person have an absolute reason as to why they would force themselves to transfer to a place close to Meltia?” (Ferdinand)

Dart Transfer to choose your transfer location? There was such a choice given now?

If it is as he says, if the Chosen that got transferred to the hell was Nanami, it would be a reason as to why that person would be aiming for this city.

Most of all, Nanami is pretty good at darts.

“Oops, sorry for the long talk there. Well, if you are going to be leaving the city, you can use me to leave her a message. I am mostly around the 1st Floor of the dungeon.” (Ferdinand)

Ferdinand said only that and left soon after.

“He was kind of a weird person. Nanami-san is your childhood friend, right, Hikaru? I heard she is coming here.” (Rifreya)

“It is obviously a lie. Kuro, there’s no way you would believe that load of bull, right?” (Jeanne)

“Ah, was that a lie? It sounded kinda true though.” (Rifreya)

“It might be his plan to keep us in this city. If not, he wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of coming all the way here and talking with us.” (Jeanne)

“Huuh, now that you mention it, that might be true.” (Rifreya)

Even when the 2 were talking, I was spaced out.

Nanami has come to this world.

This inconvenient world that has nothing, heading to this city.

Just as he says, the Hell Chosen being Nanami does feel like there’s some validity to it.

Nanami is unexpectedly a very decisive person.

There’s times when Nanami would be the one taking the lead on occasions when even Celica would falter.

Even at the time when she was selected as a Chosen, at the end, she was even thinking about how to live there in a positive manner. I can’t think of how I should be living even now.

Nanami has come to this world.

I have Rifreya and Jeanne with me now, but if Nanami is with me, I might be able to become more positive.

She would slap me into shape when I am hesitating, and she might tell me that our world is fine.

…That’s a sweet and dangerous poison called hope.

Just like how it is difficult to judge the verity of messages, there’s no method to tell whether Ferdinand’s words are true or not.

Just like how Jeanne shot it down in one go as a lie.

His words were too convenient for me.

That’s right, I know.

…Even if I know…

I can’t just ignore it and throw it away.

“Oi, oi! Kuro! Are you okay?! What are you getting all bewildered by his cajolery?! Nanami is the Hell Chosen? As if that’s possible!” (Jeanne)

“B-But…it might be true. Or rather, why didn’t I think of that possibility?” (Hikaru)

“Oi oi, get a grip of yourself here. The Hell Chosen is a monstrous human that basically crawled out from the depths of hell, you know? It is obviously a 30 year old brawny mercenary with a whole ton of experience. There’s no way it would be Nanami who sounds like she is even frailer than me!” (Jeanne)

I can understand where Jeanne is coming from here.

There’s no way Nanami is that strong.

Or more like, it would be impossible for most humans.

However, Jeanne doesn’t know my little sisters.

Celica and Karen; if those 2 have sent Nanami to this world with perfect preparations…getting out from hell might be possible.

You can bring guns when you transfer, and guns should be effective against the monsters of this world too. If you shoot their Spirit Vein Center, you could even defeat a Demon Lord in one hit.

That’s how deadly strong guns -especially rifles- are.

“Sorry, Jeanne. If Nanami has come to this world, I…I have to wait here.” (Hikaru)

“Oi…are you seriously saying that…? What about the journey? We even made the preparations, and even did horse riding training here… No, most importantly, I am sure now. What he is saying is a lie. He must have a reason why he wants us to stay in this city. Even if Nanami is heading to this city, you can just reunite with her once the messages have come back, right? We have made the preparations already… I have been looking forward—” (Jeanne)

Jeanne is most likely correct and I am wrong.

The chances of Nanami being chosen and having come to this world should be low.

I understand…the logic.

But having touched that possibility…

“Nanami…she would arrive here believing that I am here, so if I am not, she would be sad… Sorry.” (Hikaru)

Once the message system comes back, we would be able to know if Ferdinand is lying or if he is telling the truth, where Nanami is; all of those things would be cleared up.

At the very least, I can’t move from here until then.

More so when it would only take a short while to be able to know.

Also…there’s the side of me wondering if he would go out of his way to make a lie like that.

How self-interested of me.

Even though I thought he is someone I shouldn’t trust, I want to believe in his words.

…No, I am already believing in them.

“Jeanne, just for the time until the messages come back -until the answer comes to light. That’s why…can you please postpone the journey?” (Hikaru)

“Postpone? Postpone, you say…? Kuro…didn’t you say you can’t open the messages? Are you relying on my messages? If that’s the case, count me out. I am not your messenger. It is information you want to know yourself, so shouldn’t you be the one confirming your own messages?” (Jeanne)

What she says makes complete sense.

If we are going to stay in this city waiting for Nanami, I should obviously be confirming the messages myself.

“…Got it. At that time…I will confirm the messages myself.” (Hikaru)

“Kuro…you…that much? Are you seriously saying that…?” (Jeanne)

It seems like Jeanne was surprised by what I said.

Is it because I said that I would open the messages I have not been touching this whole time?

But if Nanami is coming here, and I can confirm that, I think I will have the courage to open them.

At the very least, I feel so right now.

“I have been looking forward to this… To go out into the world.” (Jeanne)

“Jeanne…” (Hikaru)

“I was looking forward to it!!” (Jeanne)

Saying that, Jeanne ran off towards the city.

I can’t chase her.

“Is that okay, Hikaru?” (Rifreya)

“It is my own selfishness. Sorry, Rifreya.” (Hikaru)

“Aah, I don’t mind. I don’t care where we are as long as I am with you. Then, I will go chase her.” (Rifreya)

“…Please do.” (Hikaru)

Even I knew that Jeanne was secretly looking forward to this journey.

Jeanne is not the most emotion rich person, but Jeanne and Karen have some similarities.

The reason I am together with her is because I am paying back my debt of gratitude towards her for giving me the Resurrection Gem. That’s why, doing an action that goes against her wishes is truly biting the hand that feeds me.

…That’s right, I knew.

Even when I did, I ended up prioritizing my selfishness.

I have no right to chase after her.

————

Author: The 2nd volume is going to be published!

Please do buy it together with the 1st volume to support this story!

The next volume hinges on whether it does well, so please!