Book 20: Chapter 1 (9)

“Hmm, I was worried about the increase in monsters, but I didn’t expect that unidentified ones were also appearing.”

The knight who heard the report from Shin mumbled as he looked at the list of monsters reported to be in the restricted area.

There were a total of five unidentified ones. All of them were high-level monsters that Chosen One would have to deal with.

“If it turns out like last time… Ah, I’m sorry. Please don’t worry about it. Thank you for the valuable information. I would like to ask you to continue investigating. I will raise this matter.”

“Has something like this happened before?”

The knight’s words leaked out a little. Shin thought it would be better to ask, regardless of whether he would talk.

“That’s not true… No, you’re exploring within a restricted area. It would be good for you to know.”

With that, the knight told them that the wards covering the restricted area had once been destroyed. The cause was unknown, and for some reason the monsters in Wraith Plains had temporarily disappeared, and there was no damage to the surrounding area.

The “last time” mentioned by the knight was probably the destruction of the wards by the Skullface Lord. Since Shin, Wilhelm, and Rashia were the only ones who saw it firsthand, it must have seemed like an unusual situation to the knights that the wards were suddenly destroyed.

However, when he said that it was destroyed, someone may have seen Skullface Lord. The Skullface Lord made a big jump and destroyed the wards in the air.

At that time, as the knight said, all the monsters in the wards had been absorbed and disappeared, so defeating the Skullface Lord would have been the end of it.

However, if the wards had been broken without Skullface Lord, the high-level monsters would have unleashed chaos. If that had happened, there was no doubt that the area surrounding Wraith Plains would have suffered tremendous damage.

“That’s why. I’ve heard that you guys are excellent, but if you feel in danger, I want you to step back and share information. We are in a position to protect our country. We don’t want to burden the Chosen Ones with everything.”

Shin nodded to the knight, who spoke with a serious expression on his face, and left the base.

The information about Skullface Lord had not been reported to the guild. Shin had completely forgotten about it, due the reunion with the support characters Schnee and Girard, the encounter with the unknown monster, and so on.

There was a possibility that Wilhelm might have reported something, so Shin decided to check back later. If there was no report, Shin was going to tell the guild about the Skullface Lord.

If Shin mentioned Schnee’s name, they might try to find out his connection with her, so he could just say, “I heard about this from a long-lived species.”

Shin’s words, those of an A-ranked adventurer, would not be dismissed as impossible.

𑁋

“Shin, did you get any new information?”

“No, there hasn’t been any progress there. As usual, the monsters disappear in the morning.”

Milt’s question was answered. This information came from the knights and adventurers who were dealing with the Skullfaces.

They had heard that Jack class and Queen class monsters appeared outside the restricted area as well, but the monsters seemed to be completely different from those that appeared inside the restricted area. 

According to the knight, the monsters could last for a while, but they wouldn’t be able to move from that spot and would soon disappear. It’s just that it doesn’t disappear quickly because of its high HP.

“I’m not tired, but let’s get some rest first. Isn’t everyone sleepy?”

When Shin looked around at the members, everyone nodded and said they were fine. No one seemed to be forcing themselves to be awake.

Shin himself did not feel sleepy.

When he was sent to Erkunt with Schnee, he had already confirmed that staying up all night for two or three days was not a big burden.

However, not feeling sleepy does not mean he does not feel tired.

“I feel like I’ve become more awake since I came here. But I feel better when I get a good night’s sleep.”

“Me too; I don’t feel sleepy anymore, or rather, I’m more resistant to sleepiness. Before I leveled up, if I got too absorbed in an experiment and stayed up all night, I would get headaches, get tired eyes, and feel unwell.”

Tiera agreed with Milt’s statement.

“Is it the same for the two of you? If I tried to stay awake, I would probably be able to do it better than you, but I can’t seem to concentrate.”

Shin, too, hardly ever felt the heaviness in his head and body sensation he used to feel when he wasn’t sleeping in real life.

Again, he wondered why high stats affected even these physiological aspects of his life.

However, he didn’t have time to verify it, so he’d leave it for now. 

There were ways to use items to postpone sleepiness and fatigue, but he didn’t want to use them if possible because of the side-effects.

“What do Schnee and Shibaid do in these situations?”

“Most of the time I deal with it on my own, so in cases like this I have to shift my sleeping hours.”

Schnee seemed to be in a sudden shift from an early bird to a night owl. She was not suffering much because she had plenty of strength. 

“I often work in groups. We took turns to spread the physical load. But when I work alone, it’s similar to Schnee.”

“With this number of people, taking turns is not an option.”

If they included Yuzuha in the head count, there would be eight of them. It’s not impossible, but it’s not a sufficient number.

“How about dividing it into day and night?”

“Day and night?”

Sety, who had been listening to the conversation, suggested that half of the members should be assigned to the daytime search and half to the nighttime search.

Even though only one night had passed since their arrival, they still had not found the entrance even after searching more than half of the restricted area.

Then again, Sety said, it might be possible that it appeared during the day.

“I can’t say that pattern doesn’t exist.”

“If we could find it tonight, we probably wouldn’t need to split. But if there is a condition for its appearance, then we would need to investigate again and again, wouldn’t we?”

When the condition is met, the object appears in the place already surveyed. There were countless such cases.

“If we don’t find it tomorrow night, we’ll consider it.”

Taking a break for now, Shin materialized Moon Shrine in the forest a little distance away from the plain. Of course, he did this while keeping it out of sight of the surrounding area.

After eating broth prepared by Schnee, Shin and the others decided to sleep until noon.

𑁋

After a while, Shin woke up.

There was still plenty of time until the scheduled time, but he didn’t feel like going back to sleep, so he decided to get dressed and go to the living room.

Perhaps due to his status, he felt as light as if he had had a good night’s sleep.

He quietly moved out of the room so as not to wake Yuzuha, who was still sleeping, and found that Schnee had already started to prepare the meal.

“Schnee, are you awake already? I doubt it, but you didn’t sleep, did you?”

“Good morning,” she said. “Don’t worry, I’ve had a good night’s sleep. I only woke up about 20 minutes ago.”

“I see. Well, that’s good.”

Since some preparations seemed to have already been made, he was worried that he might have woken up earlier than everyone else, but it seemed that was not the case.

When he looked for the other members’ locations on the map function, he found Filma and Shibaid’s markers moving outside. According to Schnee, they were doing light exercise. 

Sety, Tiera, and Milt’s markers were inside the room. Tiera appeared to be awake because her marker was moving. The other two markers were not moving, so they were probably still sleeping.

“Now, what should we do?”

Even if Shin wanted to help with the food preparation, he could do nothing more than set the plates on the table. He thought about joining the practice, but a message card had arrived, so he sat down in his chair and opened it.

The message was a reply from Shadow and the others. They had never seen a monster that wasn’t in the game after all.

As for the revival magic and items, most of them had never used them or seen them used. It was noted that Holly had the skill and tried it, but like Shin, there was no sign of it being activated.

However, it was mentioned that only Hibineko had used the revival potion.

Since the details were to be discussed in the chat, Shin quickly sent up a chat. 

After a few calls, he was connected to Hibineko.

“(I contacted you about the revival potion. Is this a good time?)”

“(I was expecting to hear from you. I thought you would call, so I closed the store today.)”

It was probably because of the nature of the content. His usual cat person style ending “~Nyaa” was absent, and his tone was a little different.

“(The first time I used revival potion was when I helped a merchant who was being attacked by bandits. They were a young couple and we knew each other. By the time I noticed the attack and rushed to the scene, the husband had already been cut down.)”

The bandits were not very high level and were killed instantly by Hibineko.

But already at that time, neither recovery by divine art skills nor by items had much effect on the slain man. 

“(His wounds were healed and his HP was recovered but it was quickly depleted. Even the all-purpose healing potion, elixir, didn’t help.)”

Hibineko said that the man was probably already dead, but the effects of magic and items were forcibly prolonging his life.

“(MP and items will eventually run out. So I decided to use the revival potion.)”

At that time, Hibineko was already firmly aware that this world, though similar to a game, was by no means unrealistic. Naturally, he also wondered how much of an uproar this item would cause if its effects were to come to light.

Still, Hibineko says he could not stand by and watch a young man disappear before his eyes.

“(My item box’s contents haven’t changed since I arrived here. Holding out a gleam of hope, I used the revival potion. As a result, his HP stopped decreasing.)”

The man’s wounds had already been closed by the healing skill and items, and he soon regained consciousness. 

Hibineko then falsely told the woman, his wife, that he had used a special recovery item he had obtained during the adventure.

At that time, Hibineko was working as an adventurer to rebuild his store, and words were spreading that his skills were comparable to those of a high-level adventurer, so the woman apparently believed his explanation.

The all-purpose healing potion, elixir, was also a legendary item, so it seemed like he was planning to use its effects in case of an emergency.

The couple now owned a small store in Balmel and had a son.

But the story did not end there.

“(I was curious to know how effective the revival potion would be, so I used it on a bandit as well.)”

It was a forced analogy, but what Hibineko had done to the young man could be interpreted as resuscitating a person in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest.

As long as he could recover his HP with his skills, he should not have been completely dead.

Nevertheless, this was not the case with the bandit. Time had passed, and the bandit’s corpse had completely lost the light of life. If the potion was used and the corpse was brought back to life, it would be nothing more than the resurrection of the dead.

Hibineko used the revival potion with the determination that he would take care of it himself if the bandit came back to life.

“(I had a strange feeling,)” Hibineko continued, “(as if I wanted it to succeed, but I didn’t want it to.)”

It was an experiment to see if it would bring people back to life. It was not a pleasant feeling.

At the end, the experiment was a failure.

Hibineko said that neither the severely damaged nor the barely damaged corpses ever turned back into human beings.

“(The young man wasn’t completely dead, so he survived?)”

“(I’ve never used it on anyone else in a similar situation, so I can’t be sure, but it probably is.)”

Having said that much, Hibineko let out a big breath. It seemed that all this time, he had felt bad for not telling anyone.

It might be helpful to save someone’s life, but it was likely that it would not be a complete resurrection of the dead. It was just a reversal for someone who was close to dead. 

However, if this fact became public, there would surely be people who would study it.

The perfect resurrection of the dead.

The creation of a perfect revival potion.

There would be people who aimed for these.

“(Death is closer to us in this world than in ours. If resurrection of the dead becomes a reality, more lives will be saved. But I couldn’t help but think that it is something that should not be touched so easily.)”

That was why he did not tell Shin and the other former players about it.

Hibineko stated that he could not speak about it until he would eventually learn about it when he had the chance to actually use it.

Even his voice was tinged with fatigue.

“(This is my personal opinion, but I don’t think your judgment is wrong, Hibineko.)”

Research of the revival potion was close to the study of life.

How much was good and how much was bad? Even in the real world, where science had developed, opinions were divided.

If it was simply used as a medical technology, it might be fine, but there always be people who would abuse it. Shin and Hibineko, who have no deep insight into this matter, could not give an answer to this question.

“(Also, in fiction, this type of research usually yields poor results. You don’t need to tell them that there is such research.)”

Shin said cheerfully.

This kind of technology was only possible in a game. Shin thought, no matter how much this world resembles the game, it doesn’t have to be the same.

“(It makes me feel a little better to hear you say that. That’s all I know. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what to do with this information, Shin.)”

“(I have no intention of making it public. It’s not like it’s a complete revival. Maybe it’s the same reason why other former players don’t make a fuss about it.)”

Besides Shin and others, former players also came here.

If their item boxes were intact, many of the players would have revival potions. In some cases, they would have used it. 

Even so, it was understandable that the reason why it had not spread was because it was not effective. Also, it could be information restricted only to the upper echelons of the government or organizations of a certain size.

Shin stopped his contemplation for a moment, almost thinking about unnecessary things.

It was enough to know that he could not be easily revived as he had been in the game.

Shin thanked Hibineko, turned off the 【Mind Chat】, got up from his chair, and stretched widely.

It felt good to relax his stiffened muscles.

Although he had not been talking for a long time, he could feel his body had stiffened up. He was more tense than he expected.

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