Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?

Chapter 111: To a Distant Land (5)

“Haah, I had hoped to resolve this quietly…”

White Wind led us back inside, insisting this wasn’t the right place to discuss this. The group of wizards who’d initially made this request also followed.

They were dragged in along with me without receiving a proper explanation. They didn’t exactly have a say in the matter, but none of them even tried to complain, so it probably was fine.

“Before we begin, what I’m about to tell you is classified information, so make sure this doesn’t reach anyone else’s ears. Understood?”

I was more bothered about getting dragged here without having the chance to clean myself. Urgh, I felt so grimy.

As I picked bits of bark and plant from my hair, I tried my best to focus on the conversation. Considering he’d said this was classified, this clearly wouldn’t be a simple matter.

“By the way, you absolutely must keep this secret from your party, particularly that priest.”

Wait, even from the Inquisitor?

I halted my hand while brushing over my wet hair and looked at White Wind. His usually cheerful—or rather maniacal—expression was now completely serious, making him look especially grave.

I wasn’t really all about doing anything for money, though…

“You seem to assume I’d readily agree to that.”

I was usually pretty open to accepting jobs, especially if they paid well, as long as they weren’t against the law and I had nothing pressing to take care of.

However, it was rather concerning that he asked me to keep this from my party. Seeing that a Great Sage was involved, this shouldn’t be anything illegal, but it still felt off.

Especially considering I currently couldn’t rely on my Quest Log to check.

“Ten million Gal. Would that be enough to buy your discretion?”

“…You think I’d accept this so easily?”

“There’s no reason not to. Don’t be too rigid. I’ll even add a bonus if you succeed.”

It was hard to turn down that sum.

I thought back to the amount Jacrati had offered me.

Technically, they’d offered me ten million Gal just for Vipurit’s head and even gave me an additional reward for killing the Demon—which I’d turned down. It wasn’t like they were giving me too little or too much for that, but…

What exactly was that guy asking of me? The Magic Tower might be wealthy, but they wouldn’t just shell out ten million Gal for some trivial task. This had to be something important…

What could have escalated this simple snake hunt to a ten-million-Gal Quest? Had I stumbled onto something I shouldn’t have??

“Alright, we’re all set then? Let’s get down to the real talk.”

Cutting my inner turmoil short, White Wind spoke up again.

“First off, you saw those plants, right? They were born from one of our mistakes!”

And he immediately dropped this bombshell.

“Due to some of the buildings deteriorating, some Arcane Power leaked into the surroundings, affecting the local ecosystem. The water’s higher density relative to air made it so this Arcane Power didn't disperse like it would have otherwise. As for why the snakes are congregating here, I also have no clue, ahaha.”

The others reacted even more strongly, their faces flushing red as they fumbled for anything to say.

If the other person weren’t a Great Sage, they might have immediately expressed their anger.

“So.”

Besides, it seemed like it really was the Magic Tower again!

Seeing how even White Wind didn’t know why the snakes were here, that actually seemed to be unrelated to them, though… However, those plants were definitely their fault. He probably hadn’t strongly demanded others to resolve the snake problem in order to cover this up.

So, our wizard friends here shouldn’t go around blaming the Temple or the Adventurers’ Guild, right?

At that moment, I showed my displeasure. White Wind didn’t seem to care at all, though.

“The root cause is this aging building, so repairing it would resolve things… but the problem is, to repair the Tower, we must first remove those plants! If we ask our people to remove them, it would be far too conspicuous, given the nature of Arcane Power.”

On the contrary, White Wind cheerfully clapped his hands and exclaimed.

“So. I’d like you to take care of this matter. I don’t want this to reach the ears of the Temple or the Adventurers’ Guild. If it does, you know what will happen… right?”

I’d been wondering why he insisted on keeping this from the Inquisitor, and it turned out to be the same reason why they didn’t properly communicate the matter with the snakes.

Ultimately, they wanted to deal with this secretly, meaning that ten million Gal was more like hush money than an actual reward for a Quest.

Right now, I was in a situation where I would effectively be nothing but a weeder, to which I wore a deliberately annoyed expression.

“…Do you think I’d take on such a trivial task?”

“Yeah, yeah. I know! You wouldn’t want to get involved in some petty or trivial task. That’s why I offered you so much money!”

As if already anticipating my reaction, White Wind waved around one of his fingers. Then, a mannequin standing in one corner of the reception room moved toward us.

Creak, creak.

Thunk.

Was it a mannequin or perhaps a marionette? Accompanied by metallic clanking, the humanoid figure walked over and opened a drawer, pulling out what appeared to be a very ornate box.

It seemed a bit too wide and flat to be used to store something.

“So, how about this?”

I stood corrected. It was indeed a box to store something, and what it held was a necklace.

“This is a subspace necklace made by yours truly! It can hold up to three cubic meters! If you were to sell it, it would easily fetch you over ten million Gal, so how about this instead?”

Wait, that was a subspace necklace? Ah, I couldn’t resist more inventory space.

“Hey, is it really alright for you to give me that?”

“Ahaha. Compared to having the whole city treat the Magic Tower like traitors, this is a small price to pay.”

“Hmm.”

“So, I can take that as you agreeing to keep this a secret from the Hero, right?”

I accepted the necklace from White Wind, ignoring the shocked looks from those around us.

The necklace, with its serpentine octagonal chain, was intricately inscribed with tiny letters. However, its design was rather clunky.

It even seemed like its silver color wouldn’t clash with my appearance… Hmm. Why a necklace, though? I already had enough things around my neck, particularly the bandages.

“You can wear it around your wrist like a bracelet, around your neck, or even around your ankle as long as it’s touching your skin. To put something inside, you just have to touch the item and think about storing it. To retrieve something, you must first make sure you have enough space around you and then think about taking it out.”

Luckily, it seemed I didn’t have to wear it around my neck. Thinking about whether I should wear it around my arm or leg, I looked at White Wind.

“It won’t work if someone else is also touching the item, so keep that in mind! It uses a small amount of Arcane Power, but since you have plenty, that shouldn’t be an issue. Lastly, since it doesn’t have any security measures, anyone who meets the conditions can use it, so don’t lose it. That’s all for the warnings!”

Then, should I take that request?

White Wind’s clear voice fell on me. Despite his sitting posture, it felt like he was towering over me.

“…Tsk. Define the scope of this task.”

Still, who could resist more inventory space?

“Ah, right. It’s best to clarify things like this with a contract. Can you read?”

“I can.”

“Hmm, hmm. Good, good. That makes things faster.”

White Wind had the marionette fetch a pen and paper. With shocking speed, it covered the paper with writing.

The paper was soon filled with the basic contract details, special clauses regarding the confidentiality of this mission, a pledge for the ownership transfer of the necklace, and the tasks I needed to perform.

With this, I could clearly understand what I needed to do even without my Quest Log…

“Check it over!”

The problem was that I wasn’t all too familiar with contracts.

I’d dealt with a few publishing contracts but had legal assistance, so those were fine. This was very different.

I now understood why the Adventurers’ Guild was so necessary. Feeling a new appreciation for the Guild, I quickly signed the contract.

There didn’t seem to be any hidden clauses, and it seemed to include everything essential. I figured that spending more time mulling it over would only delay things.

Besides, with the Archmage still here, there was no way that he would scam me, right? Although, that was often how people got scammed. Still.

“I’ve checked it.”

Hah, so now the Quest would begin. Since he wasn’t taking back the necklace, he apparently intended to give it to me as an advance payment. Now that I’d taken it, I should get to work.

I rolled up the copied contract and touched it into the bag at my waist.

“Ah, are you heading out right away?”

“I don’t plan to drag out this trivial matter.”

“Haha. I knew I picked the right person for this.”

Ah, so he hadn’t given me time to wash up because he knew I would be going back in there anyway. That was kind of pissing me off.

“Alright, then you guys also go and help him out! I originally planned to keep you out of this, but now that you know, I don’t really have a choice. Having a convenient excuse for all this isn’t too bad, either.”

Seeing how they wouldn't get compensated for their troubles in the least, it seemed that I was in a much better position than them. I offered them a silent consolation as I headed out.

The sun had yet to set.

* * *

* * *

Splash!

No, the sun had set already.

“Ah, you’re back up!”

“A-Aren’t you cold?”

“We have some food ready for you here!”

I emerged only after successfully clearing about a third of the lakebed.

The contract stipulated that I didn’t need to clear all the plants, just what was covering the building, but that took up almost half the area, so it took some time.

As a result, the sun had already set completely, and the moon was shining high above me. My day had vanished in an instant.

“First, a blanket…”

I had it rough, but so did they.

As I fully climbed onto the bridge, I saw the wizards who must have been waiting around this place like guards while I was submerged in the lake.

One hurried over with a blanket, probably thinking that I felt cold.

“No need.”

Maybe because of the heat pack, I didn’t feel particularly cold. I refused the blanket and examined the food they were offering to me. It was nothing but meat.

“…”

“Sh-Should I get something else?”

…No. It wasn’t like I didn’t like it, nor was I so lacking in character that I would complain about food someone went out of their way to get for me.

Besides, I’d skipped lunch and dinner while I was busy cutting those damn weeds underwater, so my stomach was practically empty.

The main reason I’d resurfaced was that the effects of the decompression sickness medicine had worn off, and I could no longer ignore my hunger. Waiting any longer seemed dangerous, so I just started stuffing the food into my mouth.

I chewed mechanically.

Then, I began wondering where my party members might be and what they were doing. Had they noticed that I was missing?

That Great Sage must have come up with some explanation, right?

Deb was probably having a tough time following around Bers, and the Inquisitor was most likely engrossed in practicing her skills. I hoped they were eating properly.

As for Bers… She looked like the type of person who was capable of taking care of herself, so she should be fine.

“Do you want some more?”

Around when I’d almost finished my meal, lost in various thoughts, the wizard who’d initially given me the snake request asked cautiously.

I immediately shook my head. Eating any more would probably make me feel sick.

“Is that really all you’re going to eat…?”

Ah, was it okay for me to go back into the water right after eating? It should be fine. I had been eating pretty slowly, so 20 minutes should have passed already.

“Huh, you’re going back in there right now?”

Of course. My fatigue level was still manageable.

Additionally, the contract specified that I should act as inconspicuously as possible.

I wouldn’t have much of a problem doing this during the day, either, but nighttime was still much better. There wasn’t much time left, anyway.

So, I took the medicine I needed and promptly jumped back into the water.

I felt a bit sorry for the wizards who had to wait until I resurfaced again, but I had to ignore them. I never told them they had to stay with me after all.

Splash!

The lake’s water, which was even colder at night, wrapped around my body.

“Oh!”

Just after I submerged without considering the feelings of those around me, one of the remaining wizards exclaimed.

“Wh-What?!”

“What’s the matter?!”

The others, thinking something serious had happened, looked alarmed. The wizard who’d just cried out turned toward his colleagues, his face pale.

“I forgot to give him the stone to maintain his body temperature… It’s been hours since the last one wore off.”

“…You idiot! How could you forget something so important?!!”

“Aargh!!”

It wasn’t really anything big.

* * *

Meanwhile, I, the protagonist of the wizards’ concerns, quickly reached the lakebed. The water’s depth, probably around 30 meters, combined with the night’s darkness and the floating debris, was reminiscent of a snowy night.

After landing in the area where I’d already cleared out the weeds, I inspected the remaining section. The only place left was the main building.

Bubble.

Breathing through the underwater breathing device, I slowly walked along the exterior wall of the building. Upon reaching the still-untouched weeds, I lowered my body and swung my sword, which was about 40 centimeters long.

The [Slash] advanced approximately two meters before me. The weeds within that range were torn apart effortlessly.

Bubble.

Afterward, I walked through where I’d cut the weeds to about my knees’ height.

Even in that state, these stubbornly resilient plants clung to my legs. It wasn’t anything I couldn't handle, though.

Once I reached the center of the cleared area, I took out something from my inventory. This pill-like object was an herbicide designed explicitly for these weeds.

It supposedly worked by attacking anything that Arcane Power had transformed… The reason my help had been requested despite having developed this was fairly simple.

To be effective, it needed to be buried in the ground so that it could make contact with the roots. The problem was that the wizards couldn’t cut through the weeds as efficiently as I could, and even if they could, it would cause too much of a commotion.

When I asked White Wind if he’d considered improving this poison, he said doing so would take too long. He’d planned to make it more effective by having it work as soon as it dissolved into water, but he was pretty anxious about the Temple or the Guild discovering this matter while he worked on it.

That was probably why he’d made me do this as soon as I arrived. By using me, he could solve this problem even with the current version of the poison.

Well, it wasn’t anything significant. As soon as I received this extra inventory space, I was already fully satisfied.

Thunk.

In any case, I pushed the pill into the ground. The weeds covering parts of the building's exterior wall began withering immediately.

The radius was slightly larger than I’d cut down with my [Slash].

Although there was some loss in effectiveness, I still had plenty of pills.

Praising myself for how well I cut those things, I repeated the process.

And when I finally reached the center where the main building was.

“…?”

Hidden among the weeds was a purple… grotesque… thing that seemed like a nest. What was that?