“…Let’s go back.”
“You mean, retreat?”
“Yes.”
After thinking it over, I made the suggestion to the two of them.
Ray, her expression as cold as ice, asked back, but I had no intention of changing my mind.
This was too dangerous.
“Originally, I was thinking we might try to take down the Stratum Lord, but in this state, it’s too dangerous.”
Tombstone was a game with a natural talent for making people suffer, so of course retreating didn’t come without any demerits.
Stress would rise dramatically, and the risk of developing negative quirks would increase as well.
That was why, if I were still just a Tombstone player, I never would have considered “retreat” as an option in this situation in the first place.
If stress piled up too much from the very beginning of the game, it would severely restrict future actions, and negative quirks would continue to have a bad influence later on.
But this isn’t a game anymore.
“Let’s go back, take our time reorganizing, and come again. We only came down lightly to scout in the first place, so there’s no need to take unnecessary risks.”
At my persuasion, Valerie averted her gaze as if she felt ashamed.
But it wasn’t particularly her fault.
To begin with, it was only natural for an expedition to be unstable with just two people, and even so, she had deflected attacks well and dealt damage where it was needed, ultimately taking down Ursus, a formidable enemy for the early stage.
We had simply run up against our physical limits.
“If that is the client’s opinion.”
Ray seemed to ponder for a moment, but soon readily agreed.
I had been worried that she might be stubborn, but it seemed that worry had been needless.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but now was the time to worry about what came next.
First, I laid out the return magic formation just as the butler had explained—
“Come to think of it, why hasn’t that disappeared?”
Valerie’s puzzled voice reached my ears.
When I turned my gaze to where her fingertip was pointing, I saw the bear’s corpse still lying there, not moving in the slightest.
The sight of it foaming blood at the mouth was rather grisly.
Compared to the hounds we had just encountered, which had vaporized and vanished in an instant, it must have felt strange that the corpse was still maintaining its original form perfectly intact.
But I’ve played this game.
“It must be a drop item. Miss Ray, could I ask you to investigate?”
At my request, Ray strode toward the creature’s corpse without hesitation.
Then she nudged it with her foot a few times, and soon seemed to find something, bending at the waist.
“It seems like the energy is concentrated here.”
After rummaging around for a moment, Ray pulled out something that sparkled.
It felt rather clichéd, but in Tombstone, the way to cover the cost of expedition supplies was to sell magic stones that dropped from defeated enemies at a certain probability to the Association.
Since this had been a single entity, and those had higher drop rates as well, it was entirely possible for one to appear.
At least we’re retreating with something to show for it.
I was letting out a sigh of relief when Ray suddenly spoke in a subtly flustered voice.
“Uh… hmm? This is, um…”
“It’s a magic stone, right? For now, let’s take it back with us. According to the contract, the division of income is—”
“No, that’s not it…”
Ray, who had been mumbling oddly, eventually stood up and held the magic stone out toward me.
“This is a magic stone, right?”
“Uh.”
Not an “uh” of affirmation, but an “uh” of sheer disbelief.
It couldn’t be helped.
What sat daintily atop Ray’s pure white hand was, at least to someone who didn’t know any better, not the sort of thing one would look at and shout, “It’s a magic stone!”
“Uh, that.”
“Right? I’m not the only one seeing it like this, am I?”
As I was left speechless and stammering, Ray blushed fiercely as if she had known it, then forcibly shoved the thing she had been holding into my hand.
The moment I was half-forced into taking it, Valerie let out a deflated sound beside me and asked,
“Isn’t that… a ‘toy’?”
Fuck. So this insane mod even changed the shape of magic stones into this kind of shit.
After applauding inwardly about three times in admiration, I pressed a hand to my forehead in that same rhythm.
Clap, clap, clap, smack.
Let me think for a second.
In any case, a magic stone’s shape probably wasn’t what mattered.
What had value was the energy condensed inside it. Whether it was triangular, square, or an anal plug, what did the shape matter?
…Probably.
“L-Let’s go back.”
Even though it bothered me immensely, I slipped the tiny magic stone into the front pocket of my backpack and, for the time being, declared our return.
Perhaps sensing my strong intention that they not pay it any mind, the two of them packed up their things without asking any particular questions.
And thanks to that, an awkward atmosphere ended up settling over us for no reason.
Holding open the emergency escape scroll I had kept in my backpack, I let out a deep sigh and pulled the cork from the bottle that had held the liquefied mana.
Then I warned them.
“As the butler said beforehand, the emergency escape scroll is unstable. Since we’ll be forcing our way through the labyrinth’s strong suppressive force to return, the aftereffects will last for quite a while even after we arrive. It will have a negative effect on your minds as well, and perhaps strange quirks may form.”
“Yeah, still better than overdoing it and all dying.”
Valerie answered calmly.
Ray nodded as if she agreed.
Then there was no reason to hesitate any longer.
I didn’t know much about this goddamn mod, but at the very least, as long as its base was Tombstone, my judgment would generally be right.
As a veteran, I had that much confidence.
With the three of us placing our hands on the scroll spread out on the floor, I tipped the bottle of liquefied mana.
*
* The expedition has retreated from the labyrinth. *
* Ray’s desire has increased by 4d10=21. Current desire: 35/100 *
* Valerie’s desire has increased by 4d10=20. Current desire: 38/100 *
* Ray has developed the “Flasher” quirk. *
* Valerie has developed the “Masochist” quirk. *
*
“Bleurgh, that felt disgusting.”
Light burst out from the effect of the teleportation scroll, and the next moment, we were standing in the clearing where we had spread out the magic circle when departing for the labyrinth.
Teleportation. This was my second time.
However, I couldn’t deny that the impression was quite different from the first.
Valerie grimaced fiercely, gagged, and grumbled.
“Certainly… not a sensation I want to experience again.”
Ray also seemed to agree, her face pale blue as she nodded.
And the same went for me.
It felt like the world had turned upside down.
A horrible sensation, as if the brain inside my skull were rattling.
It was a passage that made me understand why everyone’s mental strength got shattered so badly when they retreated in Tombstone.
Forcing down my nausea, I said to the two of them,
“Uurk—, ngh… F-For now, it would be best to return and rest for the day. Miss Valerie, especially you, must receive treatment.”
“I will. Otherwise, I feel like I’ll drop dead soon.”
As someone who knew that her life tokens had actually been reduced to one, her words did not sound entirely like a joke. After saying that, she soon shook her head a couple of times and let out a heated sigh.
“Ah, I’m in seriously terrible condition. I’m going on ahead.”
“Then, my lord, we’ll head to the barracks first. Can we discuss the details tomorrow?”
“Yes, let’s do that. That would be better.”
At Ray’s suggestion of, “We’re dead tired for now, so let’s leave the details for later,” which was exactly what I had been hoping for, I readily nodded and decided to send the two of them off for now.
After quietly watching the backs of the two as they left with brief farewells, I shifted my gaze slightly to the left.
Naturally, what entered my sight was the interface window I had seen to the point of weariness in Tombstone.
* Ray has developed the “Flasher” quirk. *
* Valerie has developed the “Masochist” quirk. *
Just looking at those two words made me feel like what was bound to come had finally arrived.
There were all sorts of mods that added quirks, but of course, I had never seen such vulgar quirks—even emphasized in pink, no less.
I had figured there was no way the additional content in Sextone wouldn’t include added quirks, but to think they would slap them on right from the start.
Half in doubt, I quietly brought my finger over the interface.
* Flasher: Collapse type is fixed to “Exhibitionism.” *
* Masochist: Collapse type is fixed to “Masochistic.” *
I wondered what it was, but the effect was simpler than expected.
In fact, negative quirks that fixed the collapse type often caused little direct damage while still occupying a negative quirk slot, so in the game, there were many cases where they were actually welcomed.
Of course, I would have to check what effects those collapse types called “Exhibitionism” and “Masochistic” had, but even in the worst case, if I managed the mercenaries’ stress well and prevented situations where they fell into collapse in the first place, it could be fundamentally blocked.
Compared to what I had braced myself for, if this was the extent of the demerit, the situation might be far better than I had thought.
I, too, was fairly tired, so I decided to return to the head of household’s room for now.
Since my stomach was still churning from the aftereffects of the warp, I decided to skip dinner and, as always, gave the butler, who was soaked in liquor and rolling around on the sofa, a kick in the back.
Her master had returned after narrowly escaping death, yet what an utterly outrageous woman she was.