kscans

Chapter 234 - Conquering the Thirtieth Floor

A week passed since Mist's rescue.

Mist remained asleep, but the conquest of the Necropolis was proceeding smoothly, and today they were set to tackle the problematic thirtieth floor.

Even the Bandit clan hadn't managed to conquer the thirtieth floor. Since only they knew what was there, it was impossible to get information.

Hayato had contacted the Bandit leader, Jolth, just in case, but this was his response.

"Ah, that, yeah... Hayato-kun, you might be able to beat it. It's a bit too much for us, I think. If you find anything beyond it, let me know later."

That was the non-answer he received.

Given the circumstances, he had also asked Diite, but she was evasive.

"It's easy to say, but I think it will be difficult to conquer even if you know what's there. At any rate, you'll understand once you go, so could you and Damian-kun's party go there first? I'll explain after that."

Diite said this and ended the voice chat.

She was investigating why Mist had fallen asleep earlier than planned, and why there was an item on the lowest floor of the Necropolis to cure it. As a result, she didn't have much time.

Hayato, thinking it couldn't be helped, began making items he thought might be needed in his room.

After about an hour of making potions and other medicines, he heard a knock on his door.

"Hayato-sama, are you awake?"

"I'm awake. Did something happen?"

It was almost eleven in the morning. He was about to log out, but Rose had come to see him just before then.

"We have a visitor. He says his name is Ruth-sama, but what shall we do? To be honest, I am not sure if he is the real Ruth-sama..."

"I'll know, so I'll meet him. Um, in the dining hall?"

"Yes, he is waiting in the dining hall."

Hayato moved to the dining hall with Rose.

In the hall was a child with black eyes and black hair, wearing a navy blue military uniform. He was about ten years old, but his short pants made him look even more childlike. He wore a military cap with a visor in the front, giving him the air of some kind of elite officer.

Hayato determined that he was without a doubt Mist's opponent from the Clan War.

"Um, I'm Hayato. Are you Ruth-kun?"

Ruth, who had been sitting in a chair, stood up while taking off his hat as Hayato asked.

"I am Ruth Delta. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"A pleasure to meet you. I haven't heard anything from Damian-san. Were you planning to come originally?"

"No, I came on my own accord. Mist and Damian haven't said anything to me, so I did some investigating and came here. I'm usually in the dungeon we use as our base, but since I haven't heard from them recently, I came to ask directly."

Something caught Hayato's attention. The way he spoke, it was as if he didn't know Mist had fallen into the undying sleep. It was possible Damian had deliberately not contacted Ruth so as not to worry him.

Hayato decided it would be best to have him leave without mentioning Mist, or at least not say anything until Damian returned.

"Damian-san and the others are currently conquering the Necropolis dungeon and won't be back for a while..."

"Is that so. In that case, may I wait here?"

"That's a bit of a problem. Rose-san here needs to tend to the shop, and I have something to do in my room. There's one other person, but they never leave their room, so no one can keep you company, Ruth-kun."

"That is no problem. I will wait alone. May I produce items here?"

"Eh?"

"I've been making medicine to raise my Alchemy Skill. It's quite difficult after level 90, so I've been doing it whenever I have free time."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Skill grinding is tough. For production skills, the material costs are so high that no amount of money is ever enough."

"I heard from Mist. He said you have an Alchemy Skill of 100, Hayato-san."

"Well, yeah. Mass producing Elixirs to level it up is a fond memory now... no, it's not a particularly fond memory. It was just painful."

All skills are difficult to raise after level 90. Hayato had mass produced Elixirs using materials the Kokuryu members had gathered for him, all while doubting if the skill would ever actually level up.

"By any chance, are you also aiming to become a doctor, Hayato-san?"

"Eh? No, not really, but why?"

"I want to do work that heals people, so I am raising my Alchemy Skill. I usually spend my time at our base researching it. I'm also raising my Herb Knowledge and Human Anatomy skills. Is that strange for a vampire?"

Ruth said this, looking a little embarrassed.

Though it was only Hayato's speculation, he thought this was likely influenced by his real life situation. Perhaps Ruth had a dream of becoming a doctor in the real world.

Ruth too was afflicted with a fatal disease. Once it progressed to a certain point, he would enter the undying sleep. Normally, that dream would be impossible, but through the life extension of cryosleep, he might be able to achieve it someday.

In that case, there was only one thing Hayato could say as an adult.

"It's not strange. I'll be rooting for you to make your dream come true."

Ruth was surprised by Hayato's words. Then he smiled brightly.

"Thank you very much. When I say this, Mist and Damian make complicated faces."

(When was he talking about? Was it in the real world, or after he lost his memories? What reason did the two of them have for making such a face...)

Hayato pondered this as he said, "Excuse me a moment," and moved to the base's storage. He put the materials for Elixirs into his Item Bag.

Returning to the dining hall, he placed the materials on the table.

"If you don't mind, could I ask you to make some Elixirs? I have the materials, but I don't have the time to make them."

"Eh? But I can't make Elixirs with a 100% success rate, you know. If I fail, the materials will be lost..."

"I don't mind. The materials were a gift to begin with, and it's not like I'm making money off Elixirs. Don't worry if you don't make a single one, just relax and give it a try."

The materials were from Ash, and some he had gotten from treasure chests on the floating island. He hadn't bought them with money, so Hayato didn't mind losing them.

If anything, he was just happy to have another production enthusiast around.

"Thank you very much. In that case, I will make some for practice."

"Yeah, please do. Ah, that's right."

Hayato decided to ask the boy before him for information.

Damian had said that the information about an item on the lowest floor of the Necropolis that could avert the undying sleep had come from Ruth.

"I'd like to ask, Ruth-kun, you obtained information that there's an item on the lowest floor of the Necropolis that can avert the undying sleep, right?"

"That is correct. I received that information from God."

"Was that during the Clan War?"

"Yes. I was recruited as Mist's opponent, and I received the information as compensation for that."

"...What did this God look like?"

"I did not see a figure. It was like a voice chat was sent to me."

"That makes sense."

He had hoped to find out if they wore a nun's habit, but that was information Diite could find out in an instant. Hayato felt down, realizing he had asked a meaningless question.

"Come to think of it, the voice lacked any human warmth. I suppose since it's God, it wouldn't be human, but it was very business like, or rather, it was a voice completely devoid of emotion."

"Devoid of emotion, huh."

Hypnos spoke as if it had emotions. It was possible it could act emotionless, but he wondered if it could produce a voice so completely lacking in emotion.

"About that information, when did you receive it? Before the Clan War? After?"

"Um, excuse me. What have you been questioning me about?"

"I'm interested in God. I was thinking maybe I could meet them too."

It was a lie off the top of his head, but Hayato said it anyway.

"Is that what this is about. Um, I received the information right after the Clan War ended. After my battle with Mist. Well, Mist came to let me win, so it wasn't much of a battle, but it was right after that. I wanted to play a little more..."

"Right after the Clan War...?"

(At that point, Diite-chan shouldn't have been attacked by me yet. I mass produced the AI Killer over three days right after the Clan War, so Hypnos shouldn't have been active then. I need to confirm the timeline of this with Diite-chan.)

Just as Hayato thought this, a sound like something falling to the floor came from upstairs.

The three of them looked up at the dining hall ceiling.

"What was that sound just now?"

"Could that perhaps be the sound of Ivan-sama and the others resurrecting in their rooms? Their respawn point is set here now, correct? Perhaps they were defeated in the Necropolis?"

Hayato, thinking, "You've got to be kidding me," started up the stairs to check the situation on the second floor.