[Reberu] ga Arunara Agerudesho? Mobukyara ni Tensei Shita Ore wa Gēmu Chishiki o Ikashi, Hitasura Reberu o Age Tsudzukeru - CH 116

[You’ll get used to it!]

After Sakurai dropped dead all of a sudden and Iris went off to pick him up.

Ethel Tyner was summoned by the director of the adventurer academy to the director’s office where he was waiting.

“Enter.”

“Pardon the intrusio—n.”

After she knocked and received permission, Ethel entered the room while greeting with a slightly loud voice.

The man in the room was a middle-aged man wearing a rough and casual style of a dark blue suit without a tie while the jacket was left unbuttoned.

Although seeing the academy director standing by the window, Ethel wondered “Is there any meaning to him holding that unlit tobacco pipe in his mouth?”, she decided that there was no need to point it out and kept her mouth shut.

“I’m sorry for having you to come over while you were busy, Ethel Tyner-kun.”

“No no, I’d come anytime if Academy Director is the one calling. So, what do you need me for?” (Ethel)

While changing her expression to a stern one, Ethel cut straight to the chase.

Hearing that, the academy director put the tobacco pipe into his pocket with a bitter smile, straightened his collar and began to talk about his reason for summoning her.

“You know that the academy dungeon was blockaded, right? The dungeon blocking itself of its own accord is a problem related to the meaning of the existence of the academy and its survival. So, we sought help from the elves to search for an immediate solution.”

“From them?” (Ethel)

Ethel had a terribly unpleasant premonition.

And at the same time, she realized that it was certainly reasonable for the academy to ask the elves for help, and unconsciously grimaced.

Elves were a kind of humankind who had excellent hearing and the same lifespan as humans, but they aged slowly.

And because of that, they were better at handing down things from the old age than ordinary humans. After all, their memory and cognitive ability didn’t deteriorate as much as ordinary humans as they grew older.

They, who could be said to be a part of humankind, were priests and keeper of history in the nation.

They knew that gods once resided in this world at one point in the past, therefore, they could accurately convey the teachings of the gods as priests.

They could hand down things that had been happening since this nation was born, therefore, the great library they managed contained all the history of the nation.

If the academy wanted to derive a solution to their current problem by studying the records of the past, it could be said that it was a natural course of action for the academy to rely on the elves.

“And in response, they asked us to send Ethel Tyner back.”

“Send me back… do they still think I belong to the church?” (Ethel)

“Well, it seems they still can’t accept that you, a former saintess candidate, have left. Anyway, their reasoning is that there is a need to open a forbidden book to solve this case. In order to do so, a person with appropriate qualifications is required, it seems.”

“Can’t they just have their own people to study it up and tell us what they get?” (Ethel)

“The person that met the qualifications is dealing with another, or so I’ve heard. As for the academy, we don’t want this problem to drag on for too long.”

Upon hearing those words, Ethel slightly lowered her face. It was obvious that trouble would occur if she went to the church as told.

She left the church because she was disgusted by them. She didn’t want to have any dealings with them anymore.

However, it was true that her path as an adventurer would be more stable with the help of the academy.

It was Ethel herself who would ultimately suffer if the academy were to become dysfunctional.

She knew that, but she was still very reluctant.

At Ethel who was groaning gununu… the academy director continued his words so as to give her considerations.

“But at the same time, we the adventurer academy is focused on student independence. Adventurer is a profession in which one is responsible for their own choices, which is why we give the students freedom of choice in things such as which request to accept. It is against my personal pride that we teachers who teach that to rob the student of their choice.”

“So?” (Ethel)

“‘Gather information regarding the problem of the dungeon in the elves’ territory’. This is the request from the academy to you, ‘Adventurer Ethel Tyner’. I promise I’ll prepare anything you want as long as it is directly related to solving this problem and within my limit, which includes all sorts of conveniences in matters regarding the academy.”

“What if I end up finding nothing?” (Ethel)

“You’ll definitely find something if you do a thorough examination. Also, if you say that you need a cooperator from among the students, I promise that I’ll take care of it for you. At least, the more people you have, the more things you can do.”

“Now, what say you?” – the academy director’s gaze seemed to say, making Ethel fell into thought.

She was very thankful that the academy emphasized her right as ‘adventurer’ and gave her considerations.

Then, she used the abacus in her mind to calculate the gain and loss… while taking her own feelings into account… still, the answer she came up with was, “It’s a chance to pave way for my future, but still, I don’t want to”.

“Okay, I’ll accept it, but on one condition.” (Ethel)

“Let’s hear it, then.”

That being said, she was also afraid of refusing straightaway given that he had given her so much considerations.

Thus, she decided to accept the request on a condition.

She hoped that it wouldn’t, but if the condition was met, then she’d have no choice but to give up.

“Sakurai Tōru, a low-rank student just like me. My condition is that he is to cooperate with me on this request.” (Ethel)

“The reason being?”

“As far as I know, no one knows more about dungeons than he does. Given the nature of the request, I want a cooperator with the appropriate knowledge.” (Ethel)

“Why don’t you pick the teachers?”

“The teachers are too specialized in their own field of teaching.” (Ethel)

For example, the teacher of ‘Labyrinth Studies’ had a wealth of knowledge about the types and structures of dungeons, and also about exploring them, but his knowledge about the ecology and behavior of monsters that appear in the dungeons were inferior to those of the teacher of ‘Monsterology’.

They were basically scholars who were hired to work as teachers as a result of pursuing their own fields——they were fundamentally the ‘narrow and deep’ kind of people.

However, the examination she was going to do was sort of like finding any kind of clue from a huge amount of materials.

Since she didn’t know how wide the range of materials she had to scour through, wouldn’t it better to get help from someone whose knowledge was ‘wide, but shallow’ rather than teachers whose knowledge was ‘narrow, but deep’ to find the clue?

She preferred to have one person who had a lot of knowledge in the big frame of ‘dungeons’ rather than having many teachers to accompany her… so Ethel told the academy director.

“I’ve heard that he’s currently in coma, though.”

“That’s right. But unless I know what those guys are planning and what is waiting me there, I’m not going to concede on this condition.” (Ethel)

“I see, he is a disciple of the ‘Sword Saint’ and he’s someone who has a connection with a royalty. Moreover, the case where Julia-sama appeared in the defense of his trial is still fresh in everyone’s memory… so it means you want to put a bomb next to you to keep the church in check, huh. That’s quite clever of you.”

She hadn’t thought that far, but since she didn’t know whether the church was really scheming something, she was planning to hold the wild card whom god-knows what he might cause in case of the unexpected. So Ethel replied with silence.

The academy director probably also saw that she wasn’t going to budge on this point.

He said “Alright”, and accepted the condition posed by Ethel.

“I’ll respect it if that is your choice as an adventurer. You won’t be penalized for this, I swear it on my name and ancestors. Well, it’s unusual for students who should be protected and raised to shoulder the serious affair of the academy, in the first place.”

“Thank you for your understanding.” (Ethel)

“But at the same time, if Sakurai Tōru wakes up, I want you to explain about this request and confirm whether he agrees to it. And if he agrees, you two are to promptly leave for the elves’ territory. That’s my condition. You have no problem with that, don’t you?”

“Yes, I’d naturally do so when that happens.” (Ethel)

A comatose person would not wake up that fast anyway.

Although she was using an injured peerson as an excuse, Sakurai would most likely forgive her, and there was no way Sakurai would agree to help in such a troublesome matter.

After all, a dungeon did not exist just in the academy. You could get to the closest off-campus dungeon in just 2-3 hours if you ride a horse, so all he had to do was go there.

But if by chance Sakurai were to agree cooperating for some reason, then she’d give up and accept the request.

That was how Ethel draw a line that she could be satisfied with and decided to bet the rest on destiny.

Her judgement was flawless, but she overlooked some things.

The first was that Sakurai had already revived from ‘Netherworld’ for the second time thanks to Iris and awakened from coma.

The second was that the common sense in this world where ‘riding a horse for a couple of hours’ was normal was too inefficient for Sakurai, a reincarnated person from modern age.

And finally, Sakurai, who had made the decision to go the elves’ territory himself, had searched around for Ethel to use her as convenient pass and had been listening to their conversation from the start from right outside the window.

Why was he crawling on the wall outside by the window like an insect, you ask?

This was because he thought that it would be to move straight from building to building by using Shishū skill ‘Nuiage: Cat’s Path’ without going through the corridor when he was heading to the academy director’s office. Though, that was of no concern to Ethel who saw him showing himself outside the window out of the blue.

“Ethel-kun? Why do you look so surpris—…”

The academy director followed Ethel’s gaze, who was suddenly petrified in shock, while knitting his eyebrows, and found Sakurai sticking to the window.

The academy director stared at Sakurai, who was smiling while giving them a thumbs up, for a while, before silently unlocking the window and opening it widely so as to invite him in.

“I’ve heard everything. It is such an honor for me who is nothing but a low-rank student to be counted upon in regard this serious affair of the academy… ohh, this blessing is more than I deserve!” (Sakurai)

As soon as he descended into the room, Sakurai made his way to Ethel’s side – making an exaggerated speech as he did – and grabbed her shoulders tightly and pulled her to himself as though so that she couldn’t run away.

And, ignoring Ethel who had turned stiff and wide-eyed in shock, he declared to the academy director directly in front of him with a fearless smile.

“This request, to accompany Ethel-san to the territory of the elves’! This Sakurai Tōru will be happy to accept it! Ah, don’t you think this can be counted as part of my community service, Academy Director?” (Sakurai)

“Fumu, I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks a bunch!” (Sakurai)

“I should be the one to thank you for your cooperation, Sakurai Tōru-kun. Now that the conditions have been met… Ethel-kun, I’m counting on you.”

“Ah, ahh… ahhh…” (Ethel)

At the exchanges taking place in front of her, sounds that didn’t form proper words leaked out from Ethel’s mouth.

Is this my punishment for making use of an injured person as an excuse?

Still, isn’t the meting out of the punishment too quick? I wish I could’ve dream for a little while longer.

I know I thought of him as a wild card whom god-knows what he might cause, but I had never thought he’d turn around and bare his fangs toward me this quickly… Those thoughts ran through her mind.

Ethel covered her face with her hands, not wanting to face the reality that her own scheme had fell apart in less than a minute.

Then, after they the academy director and stepped into the corridor where there was no one but themselves, Ethel finally released her hands covering her face and grabbed Sakurai’s shoulders from the front.

“Why, just why doesn’t the world go the way I want it to…?” (Ethel)

“Ethel…” (Sakurai)

Sakurai strongly sympathized with her sad muttering.

Because he had always been harboring the wish for the world to go the way he wanted, too.

However, the world was not still.

Those who lived in this world was not only oneself, but also many others with each having their own will. They were also feeling, thinking, and moving.

Since the world was made up by the will of many people including oneself, it was unavoidable if things did not go as one wished.

However, there were times when one still wanted to lament over it, and Sakurai lamented like a loser every time.

It was exactly because he understood how much pain Ethel felt and knew that the world was more unrelenting than anyone else that Sakurai had only one thing to say for her.

“Well, give up. You’ll get used to it!” (Sakurai)

“What are you laughing aaaaaat!?” (Ethel)