Volume 2 - CH 4

Chapter 4 [A Witch’s Investigation ~Former Capital Apanemis Edition~]

Tet and I headed to the guild the next morning.

Other adventurers also headed to the guild to undertake requests or they went directly to enter the dungeon.

We checked the bulletin board to see what kind of requests there were in this guild, then I went to the guild’s reference room. Tet headed to the guild’s training center.

“Tet is still the same as ever.”

Tet’s appearance is that of a pretty, tanned girl, but unlike her appearance, she is a master of body strengthening magic.

I ask her to restrain herself, just in case, so she doesn’t get hurt, but she does not fear getting attacked because of the loyal aspect of a golem.

Adventurers who come to the training center seem baffled by Tet’s fearless counter-attacks and frightening mana-infused battlecry.

“Well then, I guess I’ll go do some research.”

I can read through most books in the guild’s reference room just by skimming through them, thanks to “Speed Reading” and “Memorization”.

After reading a book, I shut my eyes for ten seconds and compare it with the books I’ve read in the past to find any contradicting points.

Depending on the situation, there might be an error in transcription, or a difference in source material, or perhaps some other reason.

“Ah, a map. I didn’t know this would be in such a place.”

I found a map of the entire continent in the guild’s reference room.

The map was not to scale and only showed the borders of each country and the major cities of each country, but in the center of the map, there was a blank area bordered by several nations’ borders.

“—[Empty Wilderness], found it.”

As expected, although the capital had been relocated, this was still the former capital.

The places shown on the map had much older names, but the general geography should still be the same.

Finally, there was a blank area to the north of this kingdom, surrounded by several nations, and it was named—[Empty Wilderness].

“I see. This is the [Empty Wilderness]… wait, hm? This place is…”

This was an inaccurate, reduced-scaled map, but no matter how you looked at it, the map showed a blank area rivaling the size of a small country.

However, what caught my eye even more is—

“Isn’t that the place where I was reincarnated?

The town named Daryl was at the northern borders of the Istchea Kingdom.

I never imagined that the place where I had been reincarnated was near the outer edge of the Empty Wilderness—the plains near the border between the Mukhad Empire and the Istchea Kingdom, but it seems I was wrong.

“Phew, I figured out the location of the [Empty Wilderness]. However, to think it was there.”

Certainly, there were only weeds growing and slime in the area.

It truly was a wasteland with nothing of value.

Well, if the description in the travel journal I read was old, it was possible that weeds would grow there by then.

“Now that I know the location of the Empty Wilderness, the next step is the fame and riches I need to obtain the place. I want more achievements as an adventurer. As I thought, I’ll have to go to the dungeon for the time being to earn money.

While letting out a sigh, I drew a map on some paper which I created with [Creation Magic].

Then, I returned the book and picked up a new one.

Thus, after having lunch, I continued to read through everything I could lay my hands on in the reference room, then bought the dungeon monster field guild and a map of the dungeon that was available for sale at the guild.

“It’s almost evening, isn’t it?”

When it hit the evening, I went to pick up Tet from the training center.

“Majo-sama! Heyyy~nanodesu!”

“Tet, you’re the same as usual, aren’t you?”

It seems like the stamina monster Tet had been having mock battles with adventurers from morning till dusk.

The unconscious bodies of defeated challengers were spread out on the ground.

“So, how many groups were there this time?”

“Umm… three groups!”

These three groups were several adventurers who saw Tet’s appearance and ability in the mock battles and tried to solicit her to their party.

I had been doing the same thing at every guild to improve Tet’s skills and as recreation for her, but there were those who forcefully invited Tet.

It was too much trouble for me to go deal with them each time, so I let her say to them, “If you can beat me, I can consider joining you~nanodesu!”

Generally, if you provoke those who forcibly invite you, there are many muscle-brain adventurers that’ll get on board, so Tet would defeat them and silence them.

Worst case scenario if Tet lost, I’ll go out and talk to them, but she’s never lost before.

“I see, good work. Well then—<<Clean>> <Area Heal>>!”

I used my usual cleaning and healing magic on the collapsed adventurers.

“This is my thanks for keeping company with Tet’s training. I will be in your care for a while.”

After casting the usual thank-you magic, I went back to our leased apartment and made potions until dinner.

“I’ve heard that the dungeon has mana absorption traps, so I need to prepare some mana potions.”

Even if I can substitute mana with [Mana Crystals], I can’t absorb magic power from [Magic Crystals] to recover mana.

If my mana is depleted due to a mana-absorbing trap, then it would be impossible to continue fighting properly due to nausea and other physical problems.

Even if the amount of mana I possess exceeds 15,000 currently, I felt it was necessary to have a method to immediately recover mana in those cases.

“Is that how it is~? Tet was able to listen to various conversations about the dungeon as well~”

On Tet’s side, it seems she became friends with the adventurers who were her mock battle partners and was able to hear about the dungeon.

Information that couldn’t be found in books was valuable, but with Tet’s limited expressive ability, it was somewhat difficult to understand, so it was necessary to listen to her repeat it many times over to understand.

Well, that time was like solving a puzzle and could be considered enjoyable.

Thus, our life in the dungeon city slowly began.