kscans

Chapter 132 - The Sleeping Mizuki and Mo's Reconciliation Plan

We were waiting for Myra and the others to return at the entrance of the Longhorn Trail. Much like the one in Richel, this dungeon's entrance was housed inside a small shrine. The stone building was bustling with adventurers—some about to head in, others just returning. A few, like us, were seriously injured. The group sizes varied, from solo adventurers to parties of six. Some were even teaming up with other parties to form new groups. The fact that we rarely saw other adventurers inside meant this dungeon was immense. There were even stalls set up for them, selling preserved foods, maps, and weapons. I remembered the dog-eared man I'd met on Longhorn Street. He said his party was called 'Lightning'. I wondered if he was exploring this dungeon too. We found an empty spot along the wall and settled in. The healing potion had numbed my right leg, but in its place, the wound itself had begun to throb violently. And Mizuki was still asleep. Anxiety and impatience gnawed at me. I just wanted Myra and Aira to get back quickly. Other adventurers kept glancing over at Mo. An elven adventurer must be a rare sight.

"Mo, I have a favor to ask you now."

"...What is it?"

"I want to make up with Wake. I was just trying to act cool in front of Cecily at the time, but I regret it now. I don't want someone who has the absolute trust of a powerful figure's daughter holding a grudge against me."

"...Understood. I'll order him."

"No, that's not what I meant..."

I had hoped she would arrange a meeting for us to talk, but her solution was far simpler. From her perspective, however, it wasn't something she needed to ask for. Wake would certainly obey her command, but the thought of not knowing what he was truly thinking was terrifying.

"...I know. But there's no point in just smoothing things over on the surface. The root of the problem is that Wake doubts your abilities."

"Is fighting him the only way to prove myself..."

"...You don't have to do that. Leave it to me."

Mo's 'leave it to me' overlapped with Mizuki's words in my mind. I reached out and touched her cheek. It felt a little cold. Just then, Myra and the others emerged from the black circle in the center of the room.


Myra was healing Mizuki. Meanwhile, Aira was healing me.

"I don't know what I'd do if you left, Aira. I want you to stay with us forever,"

I told her.

"I keep telling you. Don't let Cecily go. I'm fine with you, Mash. But if she tries to recommend another new guy, I really don't think I could deal with it."

"Stop calling the guys Cecily likes 'recommendations.' And am I right to interpret that as you liking me, Aira?"

"What are you talking about now? Besides, I don't like you."

"Which is it?!"

"You're so careless, Mash, yet you grasp our abilities more accurately than anyone else and make judgments based on that. I can't stand that you handed the heavily injured Mizuki over to Myra."

It was true that I thought Myra was better suited to treat Mizuki than Aira, but I never imagined she would be bothered by it. I patted her head.

"Even if you do that, I still hate you!"

She glanced down at the wound on my thigh.

"Do you think Cecily should go to a magic academy? What do you think, Aira?"

She'd probably stay with the party while we were in Miglutt, but taking her to the Demon Kingdom was likely out of the question.

"Cecily has been struggling ever since she joined Levante."

"She has? About what?"

"I already gave you a hint."

Smack. She lightly tapped my right thigh. It didn't hurt.


Aira moved over to help Myra with Mizuki. There were holes in my clothes, but the wounds on my body had vanished. I stood up without any pain. It was truly miraculous. As I was testing the feeling in my leg, Mo approached me.

"...Mash. I need to talk to you."

"What's up?"

"...Actually, the city of Miglutt and the city of Heilon have decided to cooperate against the Demon Kingdom. To do that, they've decided to establish a means of communication between the two cities."

"Hey, is it okay to be talking about that here?"

"...I heard it as a rumor, so it's fine."

"What kind of rumor is that?!"

She stood out just by existing, but I reconsidered; no one would ever imagine that the daughter of one of Miglutt's Four Regent Families would be in a place like this. Mo glanced over at Wake.

"...So, they're thinking of building a proper road and setting up post stations."

Post stations were facilities for official messengers, providing lodging and a place to change or rest horses.

"So they plan to use horses for communication?"

Mo gave a small nod. The two cities were on the front lines against the Demon Kingdom. A direct road between them would naturally be vulnerable to the Demon Kingdom's influence. Even if they built the road and stations, they would be easy targets for sabotage and likely unusable in an emergency.

"Didn't they have anything like that before?"

"...They do. The Emperor is maintaining one, but it's unreliable."

It seemed like an easy solution to just improve and reinforce the existing infrastructure.

"What about carrier pigeons?"

"...We plan to use them. But they carry very little information."

"Anything else? Aren't there any races in this world that can fly?"

"...There are the Winged People and the Bat Folk."

"Oh, so they exist! Then just ask them."

"...The Winged People are a bit unusual; they have bird legs. They used to live around here, but after a conflict with the Demon Kingdom, they created their own isolated society and withdrew. Now they live in their own kingdom in a forest far to the north. I think the country was called something like Nekoganekonda."

"Nekoganekonda? What's that, some kind of pun?!"

Perhaps their bird legs made it difficult to live in cities.

"...I believe they've been ruled by a queen for generations. They live in a giant tree, and the largest one is 333 meters tall."

My head was filling up with seemingly useless information. I was tempted to joke about it being the Tokyo Tower, but she wouldn't get the reference, so I kept quiet. Still, if it really existed, that was one ridiculously tall tree.

"Is that so? I'd like to visit sometime."

"...You said you came from Richel, Mash, but it's much farther than the distance between Richel and Miglutt. The road disappears partway through. If you're going, I want to go too,"

Mo replied.

"Then what about the Bat Folk? They're not the Giant Bats we saw on the fifth floor of the dungeon, are they?"

"...They're not monsters. Like the elves, the Bat Folk have a small population. Most of them are in the Demon Kingdom. Their flight time is short, so they're not suited for long-distance travel."

"Then running is our only option."

"...Running?"

"Mo, who do you think is faster, a human or a horse?"

"...A horse, I think. But since you're asking, it must be a human."

"That's the right answer, but over short distances, a horse is faster. But what about over ten, fifty, or a hundred kilometers?"

"...I'm not sure. But if they're trained equally, wouldn't the horse still be faster?"

"Actually, no. In the course of evolution, when humans came down from the trees to live on the ground, they started living as bipeds. That created a huge difference between them and other creatures."

"...Humans lived in trees?"

Mo asked. I remembered the creation myth of this world, where the gods first created the human race. And it was the proliferation of humans that incurred the gods' wrath. Evolution was a denied concept in this world.

"Maybe it's different in this world. In our world, the prevailing theory is that humans evolved from apes."

"...Is that so?"

Mo looked surprised.

"Yeah. Anyway, back to the point. The advantages of bipedalism are that the balance of our center of gravity allowed our heads, and thus our brains, to grow larger. Our hands became free to use. And finally, we became able to run farther."

"...Why does being bipedal let you run farther?"

The advantage of quadrupedal locomotion is the ability to generate explosive propulsion with the entire body. The expansion and contraction of the body during running also acts as a pump for the lungs. In other words, their breathing is linked to their body's movement. This makes them suited for running fast over short distances, but not for running long distances over extended periods. Oxygen is necessary to move the body, but too much of it can become toxic. For bipeds, running and lung movement are not linked. This makes us unsuited for sprinting, but perfect for long-distance running. With training, a person can run over a hundred kilometers in half a day. Bipedalism was the survival strategy that allowed humanity to endure climate change and expand its habitat across the entire world. Plus, it allows for more flexible responses to obstacles, rough terrain, and things like river floods. You can even hydrate while running. And it's even better if you have Water Magic. I explained all this to Mo.

"Well, to be able to run long distances, it would take about half a year to a year of training for fifty kilometers, and two to three years for a hundred. There are also individual differences."

"...I see. That might be better than using horses. I'll think about it."

"If you have the money, it's always better to have multiple means of communication."

Mo nodded.

"...Is there an easy way to train people like that?"

"Do you know what a marathon is? You have people compete in martial arts in the arena, right? This is like that, but they compete by running instead of fighting. If you hold regular athletic events and give rewards not just to the winners, but to as many participants as possible, they'll train themselves."

"...I see. When the old Empire existed, a festival called the Olympia was held in a southern city every four years."

"Really?"

I looked at Mo, a little surprised. She gave a small nod.

"Master, this is an old story, but during the era when the old Empire ruled the world, there was a man known as the Dog-eared Emperor. That emperor had a prime minister who was a transmigrator."

"Don't tell me that man was Okita Soji?"

Famu shook her head.

"It's said to be a false name, but he called himself Richelieu. Acting on that prime minister's advice, a sports festival that gathered people from all over the world came to be held."

If he named himself after the historical figure from my world, his naming sense was terrible. But Famu seemed to have more to say, so I kept quiet.

"He left behind many words, but he is said to have stated, 'Man creates with his head, builds with his hands, and connects with his feet.'"

"Is that so? That means there might be a lot of transmigrators who've said similar things to what I have."

Mo might have predicted I would say something like this. I felt a little embarrassed. When I looked at her, she had a refreshed, clear expression, as if she'd just completed a major task. She then glanced at Wake with a proud look. Did she really think my statement would make Wake see me in a new light? When I looked at him, he was giving me a genuinely awkward look. I started to feel mortified.

"Uh... right. My bad. I shouldn't have been meddling in another party's business,"

Wake apologized. I doubt it was from the heart, but Mo was implicitly pressuring him to make up with me. This was no different from her just ordering him. It was just a slightly longer route to the same destination.

"No, it's fine. Famu, Mizuki, and I have only been adventurers for a little over a month. We don't know anything about fighting..."

"A month? Even with Lady Mo's help, you reached C-rank in that time?"

His expression turned to one of surprise. So that's what he was shocked about.

"That's how it is. Let's get along from now on."

I extended my hand, and he shook it. Mo nodded, looking satisfied.

"Making running popular is a good idea, but what about shoes? We don't have the kind of high-performance ones from our world."

"That's a matter of running form. The sandals in this world are good enough to run in, and it's not like we're competing for speed. What's important is delivering information reliably, no matter the circumstances."

I suddenly realized the person asking the question had changed to Mizuki. She was awake. Her face was a little pale, but she seemed okay. I wrapped her in a hug.

"Hey, this is embarrassing!"

she protested, but she still wrapped her arms around my back. My eyes started to well up. But our embrace was broken apart by Myra and Aira.

"How cruel! I'm the one who healed her. You should praise me first!"

Myra pouted, her cheeks puffed out. I hugged her instead.

"Hyaa! P-Preferably when we're alone..."

Myra squirmed shyly, but she didn't try to get away. In fact, she pressed her body closer, her large breasts flush against me. I happened to meet Aira's gaze as she stared at us.

"Alright, you get a hug too!"

I let go of Myra and went to hug Aira.

"I don't want one! I said I don't want one!"

Aira pushed me away. I then noticed Mo, standing there with her arms open, waiting.

"...My reward for helping today. I haven't received it yet."

I spread my arms and was about to go hug her when Famu stepped between us and stopped me.

"Mo, Master is mine!"