On The 10th Year, The Transferee Who Gave Up Returning Finally Becomes The Protagonist - Chapter 21

After spending the night in the hot spring town, Tor and the twins headed to their destination, which was Flaretalia.

It was two days by carriage. The closer they got to Flaretalia, the number of monsters increased, as did the number of Adventurers that hunted them.

And while safety was supposed to be guaranteed on the main roads, they would occasionally see smaller monsters crossing the road.

“It really does become flat.”

Mailey drank a little of the carbonated potion, and stared at the container. She had bought it as an experiment.

It was a circular flask. She had likely chosen it because it was strong to pressure, and would not burst.

“It’s because the carriage sways so much.”

“But it is still as effective as a regular potion, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Light slash wounds will take half a day to heal. But with carbonated potions, it’s almost disgusting how quickly it closes up.”

It took around five minutes to heal. Even if you were moving your body aggressively during combat while drinking it, not only would it prevent the wound from widening, but it would heal it gradually. That’s how effective it was.

And yet they were sold in that town at a lower price than ordinary potions. That showed how big the issue of transportation was.

“We’ve entered it. The barrier.”

Euphie muttered, and then Tor, who was in the back of the carriage, scowled as he felt the sensation. It was like tearing through some membrane.

“I’ve never gotten used to that feeling of going through a barrier.”

“It cannot be helped. Without this barrier, the town would be destroyed by the monsters and magitec beasts.”

“I know that. But Flaretalia’s barrier feels…stickier than in other places.”

“Oh? Are you the barrier meister now?”

Euphie chuckled after hearing Tor’s reaction.

“Flaretalia is a relatively new town, so the barrier isn’t just an imitation of barriers from the old civilization. They must have made adjustments to it.”

“Ah, that would explain things. It is expensive to maintain a barrier, so if they were able to make it more efficient, a little discomfort could be forgiven.”

Barriers were a type of magitec that existed since the old civilization. But it required an immense amount of energy to make a barrier that could surround an entire town. And so they had to gather magic stones with high purity from magictec beasts and used them for this purpose.

You needed Adventurers who were above C-Rank to hunt magitec beasts, and they were quite expensive.

“If only there was a way to instill magic stones with energy.”

“That would cause a revolution.”

Magic stones were used as a magic energy source and fuel, but no one had found a way to instill magic energy into them once they were emptied.

“When I first came to this world, I thought they were like rechargeable batteries. Only, they are really just ordinary batteries.”

“The magitec beasts are out of place artifacts from the old civilization. Just like magic stones.”

In spite of there being a dungeon nearby, the walls surrounding Flaretalia were low, and the gate was gigantic. Not only Adventurers, but many merchants came and went. And there were multiple lines as the screening procedures were different for each.

“You’ll be able to enter sooner if you get off here.”

Suggested the driver. And so Tor paid off the fare and they waited in the line on the Adventurers side. As the driver said, they were practically letting people through after just looking at them.

Once it was their turn, Tor showed his Adventurer identification. The guards seemed to assume that the twins were in his party, and they were let through without any questioning.

As someone who had been involved in a smuggling incident not long ago, it was rather worrisome.

“It is lively here.”

Euphie said as she saw how crowded the main street was.

Mailey was holding hands with Euphie as she turned to look at Tor.

“Should we find an inn?”

“No, you two to need to buy weapons and register at the guild first. In Flaretalia, you can get a discount if you are from the Adventurers Guild.”

“Is that because of the dungeon?”

There was a reason that Tor was frowning.

The popular theory was that the old civilization had opened a gate in the dungeon that connected to another world. However, not only did their attempts to invade that world end in defeat, but monsters then came out of the dungeons and destroyed them.

That was why dungeons were overflowing with monsters. And so it was the job of Adventurers to go into the deepest layers of the dungeon and activate the barrier, and turn off the dungeon’s function of being a gate to another world.

Flaretalia’s economic structure was supported by the pillars that were the income from the dungeons. And it could not be maintained without Adventurers. However, it was the job of Adventurers to seal the dungeon. And if the dungeon was sealed, then Flaretalia’s economic structure would crumble.

“Well, everyone who lives here is aware of it. The dungeon will not last forever.”

“But I heard that this dungeon hasn’t been sealed in over fifty years?”

It had been discovered fifty years ago. And while people had traversed as far as the seventh floor, no one had been able to go farther in over ten years.

The eight floor was a treacherous mountain range, and there were many flying monsters, which made things difficult.

“Even B-Rank parties have trouble in the eighth level. You must be able to deal with flying enemies. But you will likely be exhausted already by the time you reach it. That means you need to have enough personnel that you can take turns resting. And considering the risks of injury, you would need a great deal of people to make it through.”

The twins followed Tor as he started to walk towards the street with the weapon shops.

“On which floor will we be for our combat training?”

Their purpose here was to train Euphie and Mailey, as well as acquire some funds. It was not about going through the dungeon.

If they went to the guild, they could acquire information about what monsters would appear. And it would not be dangerous if Tor was there.

As they made their way to the weapon store, the twins suddenly stopped.

“What is it?”

He turned to where they were looking. It was a store that sold liquor.

As there were many merchants and Adventurers in Flaretalia, there was a great demand for alcohol. And so there were wine storehouses.

Tor recalled the wine he had drank in the Durande bar as he said to the twins,

“Do you want to stop by?”

“No, there is no need right now.”

“It is not the wine that we want.”

Tor wasn’t sure what else they could want at the store, but the twins started walking again.

While he thought it was strange, he brushed it aside and walked after them.