<548 - Do You Want to Eat One More Before You Go (3)>
Underworld.
In the so-called Underground World, there are plenty of elves and monsters that have fled from humanity on the surface.
“That over there is a Blinder, a blind bipedal cannibal, and that one is an underground spider that preys on cannibals. They say you can make yogurt from the eyeballs of the underground spider. Wanna try?”
“I’ll pass. Oknodie, I’d like you to hold back as well.”
“Hmph. Why? We came all the way here, so we should at least eat the local specialty.”
“Would you eat cicada fries if they offered it as a local specialty?”
“Of course!”
“…You can skip that! I don’t want to see the sight of cicada wings sticking out of Oknodie’s mumbling mouth, so please don’t eat it!”
Ziang begged so desperately that we decided to skip collecting cooking handbook entries.
Thanks to the revolutionary generously handing out experience points, I really don’t need to bother with these trivial handbook entries anymore.
“But still, Ziang should eat well and grow strong. If you don’t do some pre-collection, you won’t be able to join the graduation part, and that would be a problem!”
“Don’t worry. I’m regularly practicing assassination techniques. I’ve been keeping up my skills and feel by legally taking out test subjects that escaped from the seniors’ laboratory before they return.”
Ziang truly is a well-prepared friend! At this point, I can trust him for personal growth. It’s really rare for a lowerclassman to tour around with upperclassmen, so I felt even more reassured.
“There should be distinguished monster habitats and elf habitats in the Underworld as well. As far as I know, there are a few areas where mighty elves reign as lords. Is there a particular place you’d like to stop by?”
At the okashii-ne’s question, I shot my hand up eagerly.
“Me! Me!”
“Ho-ho. Please, go ahead.”
“I want to go to the Vampire’s Ancient Book Museum!”
“Oh ho! In the den of the successful elves, known as the nobility of the night, there’s bound to be hidden confirmed gacha tickets among the ancient and powerful books.”
“Wait a minute. Vampire… I think I’ve heard that somewhere.”
As Ziang rummaged through his memories, he asked in disbelief, “Isn’t that the same race mentioned in Professor Sadako’s [Night-time Activities for Adventurers] first semester midterm exam in the [Diary of a New Maid]?”
“Wow, you have a good memory, Ziang! I think that vampire is the same one!”
Of course, I’m not one to lose when it comes to memory.
━━━
Diary of a New Maid Page 7
The blood-stained clothes of the missing new maids were found in the fireplace.
Indeed, the sight of Lady Sadako that day was neither an illusion nor a hallucination.
She is not a human.
She’s a vampire who feasts on human blood!
I must hide.
In the chimney.
In the attic on the third floor.
In the basement’s storage room.
If I don’t hurry, I’ll be discovered!
━━━
The diary from the midterm exam of [Night-time Activities for Adventurers] had such content.
━━━
Diary of a New Butler Page 3
I shouldn’t have been tempted by the notice recruiting butlers after all the new maids ran away.
Lady Sadako, who boldly demanded human fresh blood, was undoubtedly a vampire.
The butlers were left with two options.
Either get bitten and die.
Or find a substitute sacrifice to offer instead.
Fortunately, there’s a dungeon nearby.
If I spread the rumor that there’s treasure in the dungeon,
then adventurers will flock in droves.
I should write a request letter to the adventurer’s guild in the city from my office.
━━━
The diary read during the midterm exam of [Adventurer's Terrain Adaptation] also had this content,
leading to one conclusion:
“We’re going to meet Professor Sadako’s kin.”
“Right?”
“…A wicked world like the Underworld should never be connected to the surface. I’m with the anti-imperialists from today.”
Ziang’s serious expression showed a firm will not to allow even one more existence like Professor Sadako!
The okashii-ne and the emperor both laughed heartily, claiming they now had reliable minions.
“I’ll stop the carriage for a moment. There’s a signpost.”
The okashii-ne stopped the emperor’s carriage in front of a tall monument.
The monument was covered with an unknown language.
━━━
Wee-dah-bleek-rek-thwank-eh-bla-gah-kah-dah-weep-dah-la-chack-go-bye-dah-vah-reek-sqew-quen-shur-know-slip-groaning-bleedor-bilock-gleek-frahn-tick-dah-ree-gleek-flick-dah-burdikleek-peelah-bleep-fah-nick-inner-stay-tah-vay-and-chack-fwa-blee-blah-nah-thah-zay-dah-paygroid-spot-now-screech’s-tareest-surging-widdle-woowl-yuh!
━━━
Ziang looked at the monument with a serious expression.
He casually poked my waist and asked, “Do you know what this means?”
“Could it be a recipe? Like one side of a human liver, a handful of elven hair, things like that, boiling it down like a witch’s stew!”
“Yikes, that’s horrifying!”
The okashii-ne shook his head while laughing heartily.
“Unfortunately, it’s not a witch’s stew. It’s just a common signpost.”
With a wave of his hand, the okashii-ne created an instant translation of the monument.
━━━
75 km to the Eastern Magical Forest
125 km to the Western Crystal Mine
200 km to the Southern Heart of the Volcano
112 km to the Northern Ruins and Fallen Crusades
50 km to the Underground Abyss of Darkness
━━━
The mastery of language functions reached the extreme with the unlocked [Auto-Interpretation] function, allowing one to decipher the Underworld’s common tongue, known as Beek, to a level even I, a veteran player, acknowledged.
“Well, since there’s a magical forest where witches could live, it’s not entirely wrong. It’s somewhat accurate. Maybe about 1%… Let’s go with that!”
“Everything Ziang said is correct! You’re a total genius. So smart!”
Why did the okashii-ne raise such an unnecessary language function so much when it’s not useful in situations like this?
The emperor generally leaves the Underworld alone, not wanting to interfere with the DLC content players should clear.
To have trained an unnecessary skill beforehand is truly a strange okashii-ne to see anytime.
“I know what’s in the magical forest!”
━━━
Chapter 1: The Holy Promenade
Chapter 2: The Magical Spring
Chapter 3: The Eternal Shade
Chapter 4: The Remote River
Chapter 5: The Enchanted Grove
Chapter 6: The Cloudy Woods
Chapter 7: The Ancient Tree Rings
━━━
There’s a class to the DLC content too.
[Universal Shop] DLC sells various items at the academy’s snack bar, perfect for new players who find material gathering bothersome and lack the information.
It’s easy to access, reasonably priced, and only uses a little DP each time a DLC is added.
The [Underworld] DLC, which adds a slew of new fields, is a comprehensive content pack incorporating exploration, hunting, wisdom challenges, and world expansion.
Of course, it costs exorbitantly high and consumes tremendous DP, so adding this one will leave new players unable to buy smaller DLCs due to DP constraints!
Naturally, veterans like me, who rack up achievements through multiple playthroughs, have plenty of DP to spare!
“The Holy Promenade is where the elves nurture endangered species. The Magical Spring has fairy magicians petrifying bad humans into golems! The Eternal Shade is where werewolves and vampires dwell, and that’s where we’re heading!”
“You’re just as odd as the okashii-ne.”
“Hmph. Why am I?”
“Why do you know so much about the knowledge of the Underworld that the Imperial Emperor purposely sealed?”
“By sending a scholarship student?”
Even though they were intrigued, both the emperor and the okashii-ne let it slide, as it wasn’t worth making a fuss over.
The usual time for entering here is during a time when the emperor bends the Underworld’s seal, coinciding with a massive war event happening on the surface.
The dwellers of the Underworld are spurred into action the moment players unlock the gates to the Underworld, drawn by the endless blood and death flowing from the surface.
Routes for preventing or aiding the invasion of the surface exist, but I enjoy a route that neither impedes nor assists. I focus on letting every invading creature charge on in and then explore the now-vacated Underworld for delicious rewards.
Thanks to that, I know every shortcut.
Before I even met the elves on the Holy Promenade, I snapped a huge leaf and glided down like a hang glider to the Magical Spring.
Before I even met the fairy magicians of the Magical Spring, I used a pulley to break through the spring and reach the Eternal Shade.
Ziang, who couldn’t even catch a glimpse of the monsters, openly expressed disappointment.
“This is nothing like what I expected.”
“What were you expecting?”
“Powerful beasts adapted to the distorted ecosystem of Gehenna. A grand slaughter being carried out under the emperor’s overwhelming power, the emergence of named targets one by one amidst the endless waves of troops—me assassinating them all in style!”
“There are no cool assassins here! We specialize in stealth!”
“Tch.”
I hurried our steps to console the disappointed Ziang.
While others may face difficulties on the way down, we hadn’t been caught by the underground races, so the opening of the entrance shouldn’t be a problem and shouldn’t lead to any issues.
*
Rei was overflowing with confidence until his concealment was discovered.
How strong can those worthless underground races hiding underground really be?
He was an assassin maid of the Foundation.
And a competent individual with skills stronger than any other assassin maid.
That’s why the Foundation assigned him to monitor the notoriously feared butler, Jonnas.
“Damn earthlings have come down!!”
“Go, Cloud Whale!!!”
“Whoa! Boom!”
“Gigadrill Unicorn, horn stab!!”
“Drill!!!”
That kind of confidence vanished like lies before the invasion of dozens of dark elves and all manner of unheard-of rare monsters they controlled.
If he didn’t want to be peppered with arrows and blown away by some bizarre attacks he didn’t even feel coming, then running away was the only answer.
‘How could Lady Sadako have quietly descended into such a place?! Is it the emperor’s power!!’
Frustrated, the rescue of the lady failed.
It was impossible alone.
[Flare Round]
Piiiiiing- Kaboom!
The flare launched outside the hazardous material management office in the surface world was perfectly picked up by the Jezel party searching nearby for Oknodie and the Foundation’s watch.
It was only natural that a large-scale encounter between the surface and underground beings would begin.
With the potential for an uproar that could escalate into war, Rei was too anxious to realize.
His shadow had already returned intact.
