12 times
Iron Tier Adventurer Hassan
012 –
“Found it! Bursting mushrooms! These cost about 1 copper per root. Alchemists make potions with these!”
Luna is picking out a strange mushroom and shouting loudly. Next to her, the musician and the doctor are also constantly putting mushrooms and insects attached to the tree trunks into their leather pouches.
It was a very smooth gathering scene. However, on the other hand, I wondered if it was okay to go off on a different path like this without even cleaning the temple.
“Young man, this is how you normally do low-level requests. There’s no strict censorship, and since most of the work is completed autonomously, it’s good to give them this kind of extra income.”
Dr. Platan, a seasoned Iron-rank adventurer, was already stuffing a handful of mushroom roots into his backpack.
“If we don’t earn some extra income like this, it will be difficult for us iron-rank adventurers to make a living just from being adventurers.”
Since it came from an old man, it had some credibility. In a world where the Internet and information are developed, everyone is given an abundance of knowledge and information.
In this world where even books are precious, let alone information machines, the wisdom and knowledge of the elderly are quite remarkable. I used to think they were just quack doctors, but now I can trust them.
I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask this inspiration for things like adventurers’ work or information in the future.
So I squat down next to the old man who is digging up the roots and ask him.
“But, sir, is there a reason why you work as an adventurer while having a doctorate? If you have a degree, wouldn’t you be able to find work in better places?”
There is something called university in this world. The universities in the world I lived in felt like they were more of a spec than a place of learning, but the universities in this world are like an iron fortress that not just anyone can enter.
So in this world, the pride of college students and degree holders really soared through the sky.
I’ve met a few college students from another world, and they were just like the unlucky kids who enjoy the excitement of a Friday night club.
Just like there’s an irreconcilable divide between me, who gets double experience points on Christmas, and those blasphemous bastards who increase condom sales on Christmas.
Did it ever feel like there was something between college kids and me, a slave, that could never coexist?
Anyway, an intellectual with a PhD is digging for mushrooms in a field like this with his face covered in dirt. Is it empiricism or something?
“I mean, my major is philosophy.”
“ah-.”
As expected, educated people are different. This feeling of everything becoming clear with just one explanation. Even in this world, philosophy seems to be a total non-mainstream thing.
Well, in a world where adventurers who live hand to mouth are popular, it’s not easy for people who talk about invisible metaphysical stories to make money.
Philosophy and mathematics are very important as the foundations of learning. This world is clearly a corrupt world.
“The world wasn’t like this in the old days. There was a world where philosophers were respected. That was the case even when I was young. But when the Titan faith collapsed and the Twelve Gods faith gained strength, everything changed. Young people these days are provocative and only seek immediate gain-.”
The old, half-timbered Dr. Platan was so happy that I listened to him that he kept telling me things I didn’t even ask him.
Even the old people of this world can’t help but squirm when the young people want to hear their stories.
“What are the 12 gods? They are mostly irresponsible gods who just take up space. It’s not just the 12 gods. Look at Pluto. I don’t know what he’s doing underground. Labyrinths leading to the underworld are being revealed all over the world, and trapped demons and the dead are coming up to the surface.”
Pluto.
I don’t know much about the 12 gods, but I have heard the name Pluto a few times.
As befitting the god of wealth, Pluto’s realm is said to contain many buried treasures, and adventurers who seek them head to the underground ruins.
Even if it doesn’t feel real to you as a god or anything, it seems like an adventurer should know that level of knowledge.
“That’s not all! These days, foreigners are coming to this continent of Gaia in droves! From the daughter of Ideophee over there! The elves of the World Tree, and even the Samaritans of the wilderness! They’re trying to ruin this kingdom and continent that we’ve worked so hard to build!”
“That’s really fucking problematic. If foreign workers gain power, our own people, especially our own minorities, will suffer reverse discrimination. Elves are the bastards!”
The end of the world, the end of the world-! I agreed with the doctor who was foaming at the mouth like a soldier who had his leave cut short, cursing at the mouth. Then, as if he was in a great mood, the doctor raised the corners of his mouth slightly and came to a final conclusion in a voice that only I could understand.
“You are a more awake young man than you look. Are your parents from the continent of Gaia?”
“I am a native Samaritan.”
Of course, my real hometown is, damn it, the Republic of Korea on Earth.
“Yes, that’s right. You look like a barbarian to anyone. Anyway, I’m going to revive the faith in the Titans. I’m also preparing an amazing thesis. If this goes out into the world, huh, just wait and see. There will be a backlash. There will be a backlash-!”
Well, it seemed like this old man had a dream too.
It’s a dream.
Dreams and visions are the driving force that moves people. If they have them, people won’t die. In that sense, is inspiration still in its prime? Juji doesn’t seem to be standing still.
“Young Samaritan, this is just an academic question, but why did you become an adventurer? What brought you to Sodomora, leaving the wilderness behind?”
The arrows of questions were pointed at me.
“They say that Samaritans travel the world in search of a glorious death. Are you one of them?”
“Well, that’s about it.”
“As expected! My predictions are never wrong. Still, you are one of the more polite Samaritans I have met. For a friend of a foreign race, you seem quite educated. Have you ever received formal education?”
I’m about to graduate from college in the original world. But will my degree and diploma be valid here? While I’m pondering this, the old man comes up with the answer himself.
“Even if times have changed, there’s no way savages would go to school. Well, even if you say that, I’m not that great of a person. I’m rolling around in the dirt with those savages who cursed at me like that-.”
That ended my conversation with the old man.
I feel like we talked a lot about something, but now that I think about it, I can’t remember what we talked about. All I can remember is that elves are fucking bad.
*
“I’ll be honest with you. I have no idea where this place is. We’re in a tough spot.”
Shit, you little punk. Only after the sun has set and darkness has fallen on the forest, does he mutter in a tone of uncertainty.
Actually, I already knew that this inspiration was not finding its way, but I never thought it would be manipulated to this extent.
Diriring-.
“Like a lost child. Cry and whine aaaaaaaaaaaaa-.”
“Shh, shut up. Be quiet.”
“Okay.”
My nerves were extremely sensitive in the forest where the sun had completely set. If there was one thing I had learned from my two years of living in another world, it was that the dark forest was an extremely dangerous place.
You have to be careful because you don’t know what will happen and what kind of accident you might have. Playing instruments and singing in such a place? Damn, even the god of music, Grandpa, wouldn’t tolerate that.
My fierce growl must have been working, for the snub-nosed musician strapped his instrument to his back and stared at the map with a feigned seriousness.
“So, brother, is it true that the black thing is the text and the white thing is the paper?”
This bastard was more ignorant than I could have imagined. It seemed impossible to get help from him.
I’m not familiar with the terrain either, so I can’t tell where anything is on a map. The map itself is drawn very vaguely.
The only thing left is that voodoo guy or something.
Luna is struggling to walk, her backpack so bloated from holding onto everything she has.
“Lost? Then it’s time to use my voodoo of catastrophe!”
Luna speaks confidently behind her mask.
The name itself is ominous, the Voodoo of the Great Calamity. Now, all we can do is hope for whatever blessings or magic she may have!
“Get me a stick. I need a stick.”
At Luna’s direction, the musician and I brought several suitable sticks.
Luna looked at it and judged it one by one, saying, “Hmm, this one is too crooked. This one has too many branches.” Then, she finally nodded, holding a branch that was straight enough to be used as a whip.
“Okay, this will be enough!”
“I never thought I’d get the chance to see Ideophee’s magic. It’d be interesting.”
Even the old man who had been looking embarrassed and embarrassed until just now seems to have become interested in the voodoo of the great disaster.
I too, with a half-expectant expression, look to see what Luna will do.
Most of the magic I’ve seen so far has been unbelievable, like shooting hot fireballs to defeat giant monsters, or instantly healing large wounds on a person’s body.
“Okay, everyone be quiet. I need to concentrate.”
Phew-.
Luna placed the stick into the dirt like a pillar, placed her hand on it, and began to chant an unknown spell.
“. .”
It was a language so horrible that I cannot describe it. It was not so much a spell as an abyssal howl rising from the depths of the swamp.
It’s like the sound of chaotic footsteps that are crawling and then running in a hurry. It’s a spell that wouldn’t be strange if the gate of time and space were to open and a demon were to be summoned.
“Hiyaat-!”
Finally, Luna lets out a strange scream and collapses to the floor as if she has fainted. The situation is very tense.
“Wh-what is happening, brother! I sense a very evil and wicked aura of sorcery-!”
I don’t know if I really felt that kind of sorcery, but I couldn’t do anything but swallow my saliva in response to the nose-scraping musician’s question.
“I, I don’t know. What do you know, sir?”
“There isn’t much research on Ideophee’s magic. Most of the information was lost in the Titan War 50 years ago. Let’s wait and see.”
Huh, huh—Luna took a deep breath. Just when she thought she should help the guy up, the guy got up groggily and approached the pole that was stuck in the floor.
Then he starts stomping his feet around it, making a bang-bang sound, until he finally knocks the stick to the ground.
Fur stone.
I was seriously contemplating whether there was any religious significance to that.
“Okay, let’s go this way!”
Luna pointed her finger in the direction of the fallen stick.
“No, does that make sense?”
“Eek-!”
Luna, the voodoo magician, shrinks back as I grow more and more angry. The musician with the nose, who was watching this scene from the side, grabs my shoulder.
“Truly, my foreign brother. But isn’t there a proper way?”
“Well, that’s true.”
But I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I had to find my way through this dark forest using such an old-fashioned method.
But I, too, was an accomplice in the chaos of catching bees, so even though I have a mouth, I have nothing to say.
So we decided to walk along the branches like Luna said.
Before I knew it, the moon was high in the sky and unidentified beasts were howling and crying, so I just moved my feet without thinking, not knowing what would happen if I stayed still.
At that time, I was cutting through the grass like that.
“Look, look, it’s true… My, my voodoo doesn’t lie.”
“Don’t joke around. You were just muttering that this might not be the right path.”
Ahead of us, an abandoned temple glowed under the dim moonlight. The stone pillars were cracked and broken here and there.
As befitting its name of an abandoned temple, the collapsed buildings, stone walls, and stone statues were eerie. If I had come during the day, it would have been quite picturesque and charming.
Looking at it under the moonlight, it feels like some kind of cursed temple or the entrance to an underground dungeon, and it’s really eerie.
In any case, it was fortunate that I found the temple. I could use this area to determine the location and reference point on the map, and I could also find my way back.
“Then let’s camp here today. We’d better start a fire quickly. The beasts and monsters around here are afraid of fire.”
“Brother, that would be good.”
“Okay, then let’s do that.”
The bonfire maker and I agreed with the inspiration. So we gathered some dry kindling and rocks around us and made a decent base camp around the bonfire.
“You’re good at it, young man. As expected from a person from the wilderness, you seem to have a lot of experience sleeping out and camping.”
The old doctor sticks out his tongue at me as I quickly build a campfire and a makeshift shelter. It seems like doing all sorts of odd jobs as Elfriede’s slave is helping me out in some way.
“Here’s some flint. I brought it with me in case the work takes a long time.”
Knock, knock- knock!
Hwaruk-.
Finally, after the inspiration struck the flint and made it spark, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
Since becoming an adventurer.
First time staying at a hostel.
It felt a little different than I expected, but somehow I managed to do it.
Kissik, kissik.
Kisik, kisik!
“Brother! This is fucked up! A horde of goblins have appeared! They seem to have been drawn to the bonfire!”
“Huh, why are there goblins in this forest near the city!? When the Titans were here, this kind of thing happened….”
“Hehe, shit.”
[Work Review] Mr. Platan’s speech was so long that even I was sweating profusely!!!!!
In fact, it is said that even in ancient Greece, philosophers were ridiculed for being poor..!!!
