Chapter 298: Ch 297: How hard can it be?

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’Now that I think about it…

I think the skill description said something about the skill being much more powerful when used to help someone, didn’t it?…

Hmm, that means that I almost never use it at full power…

It’s a shame, but the skill is incredibly useful even if I can’t consistently extract its full potential.’

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as the remaining Imps attempt to exact revenge for the sudden death of their companions.

They have opened their claw-like hands and are flying towards Alessia and Delia.

But I am still under the effects of Sword breathing style and I use the momentum of my initial attack to move in a quick sweep around my girls, eliminating the little monsters before they can reach them.

If they had been further away, I wouldn’t have been fast enough, as I was using the Strength profile, but the ghoulish play of the little devils has ended up costing them dearly.

After I finish defeating the monsters, I freeze for a few seconds in surprise, with the great sword extended in the direction where the last of the 6 Imps was a few moments ago.

Suddenly I feel arms wrap around my back, encircling my chest in an embrace, and I hear Alessia’s trembling voice whispering in my ear.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

’ – Was there really a need for so much drama? Master must have been mistaken. The monsters must not have been as strong as he said… But then the arrow and spear… No… It’s not that the monsters were weak. It’s Master who is absurdly strong… And it seems that he himself isn’t even aware of his own strength… That can become problematic… But that doesn’t matter now.’

“Sorry… But I couldn’t think of any other way. Good thing it all worked out,” I say as I stick the sword into the ground.

“You’re an asshole. Do you think I could live if you weren’t in my life?” She says and I feel on my neck the warm tears the girl is shedding.

“Hey, I had no intention of sacrificing myself. But, if I had to, I was willing to stay behind to give you a chance to escape…” I say, moving my hand to stroke Alessia’s head.

’I really hate making them cry.’

“… And about living without me… Yeah, I think you could do that. You have Delia now. Besides, you know I’d want you to go on with your life, even without me.”

“I… I h-hate you… But I love you so much more than I hate you. You are mine…” says Alessia, squeezing her embrace with a strength that would surely be able to break the trunk of a medium-sized tree.

“…I will never let go of you. Never.”

“Well… that’s going to be a problem on our way back to the trail,” I say, joking to try to get her to stop crying.

“Hmt, you know what I mean,” says Alessia, playfully biting my neck, after which she releases me, wipes her tears, and walks away to go to Delia.

Delia is on her knees a short distance away from us, covering her face with her hands.

I guess she must be shocked by what happened and relieved that the three of us were able to get out of the mess she got us into unscathed.

’ – Thank you, God Solus, for helping us out of this mess… I have to learn to listen more to Emir… He warned us about the risks of going off the trail and… also… we had agreed that I mustn’t run to aid the people who ask for help without consulting them first, as it puts the whole team at risk… But I… No matter how much I understand it, I can’t ignore people who ask for help… I am a bad partner… Emir and Alessia deserve better than me… He is so gallant and heroic, with his incredible strength and shiny sword… He’s just like one of the heroes in the stories… I… I have to change… I can’t continue like this.’

Then Alessia kneels down next to the Saint and starts whispering things to her while I try to discern from where we have come, to know in which direction we should walk to get back to the trail.

My first instinct is to glance at the map on my interface, but the terrain appears surprisingly blurry, as if we’re in a new location.

I try to enlarge the area depicted to see if I can visualize where the trail is registered, since that area should be on the map, but no matter how hard I try to manipulate the map, all the terrain it depicts is blurred.

’That’s something new…

I imagine that the No Man’s Zone area outside the trail has some sort of effect that is distorting the map…

It’s a bit disheartening…

Until now I had always been able to guide myself thanks to the map of my interface…

But this shouldn’t be a problem…

Even without my interface map to guide me, I believe I can find my way back…

It’s just retracing the path we took to get here…

How hard can it be?…

Normal people don’t have a UI to help them…

If they can find their way around without access to an interactive map, then surely I can do it too…

And if it turns out that I can’t…

Well, we can always use Space travel to get out of here.’

…

“Emir, are you sure it won’t be long now?” Delia asks, looking exhausted from walking through the treacherous and uneven terrain of the wooded area off the trail.

“Yes, I think so. We must be pretty close to the trail by now,” I say, stubbornly refusing to tell my girls that I have no idea where we are or where we’re going.

’Sooner or later we’ll get to the trail…

It’s just a matter of time…

The trail usually has a lot of curves…

I’m sure that, if we keep walking in a straight line, we’ll eventually reach it.’

“Ok,” says Delia and keeps walking with a dejected expression.

’ – I have to have faith in Emir. He’s never wrong.’

’ – I’m sure that Master has been completely lost for a while now; he just doesn’t have the balls to admit it… I’m getting worn out from this walk too… There are hardly any monsters off the trail… I know I should feel grateful for that but… if only there were more monsters; at least that would make this endless hike a little less tedious.’

We’ve been walking for several hours now and I can tell that both my girls and I are starting to get tired of this.

Alessia hasn’t complained once, but the looks she gives me from time to time are incredibly eloquent.

And I’m sure that sooner or later, Delia is going to reach her limit.

Physical exhaustion is not a problem, thanks to Delia’s magic, but mental exhaustion is a completely different story.

’It can’t be too far away.’

…

“Master, I’m already tired of this; couldn’t you just use Space travel to get us out of here?” says Alessia, looking at me irritably.

“Yeah, but we’re almost-” I start to say, but Alessia cuts me off before I can finish.

“Well, open an illusory door to the capital for Delia and me. We don’t seem to be much help in the fighting anyway… In the rare moments where there are fights…” says Alessia, who doesn’t even have her sword equipped anymore, as she has been keeping it in her storage ring for a while now to get rid of the useless extra weight.

In the off-trail area of the No Man’s Zone, the monsters can fight each other.

It is because of that reason that there can be monsters of a much higher level than the floor we are on, but that in turn causes there to be very few monsters.

While we have been wandering around, we have encountered only a handful of monsters.

But even though they were as strange and super strong as the Imps Lvl 66, I was able to take them out quickly thanks to the absurd combination of the new Justice weapon’s extra damage bonus and the 280 points in Strength from the profile dedicated to prioritizing that stat.

Alessia and Delia also had the opportunity to fight in some situations, but it was mostly me who fought.

I made that decision due to the riskiness of the situation, as they were all unknown monsters.

Delia still doesn’t react very well to unforeseen situations.

Alessia, on the other hand, has a capacity for inventiveness and reaction to the unknown that is enviable even for me.

But, with her current stats, she has to risk too much to be able to do any real damage to any monster above level 40.

“I’m sticking with Emir. I’m sure he’s right and we’ll get to the trail soon,” says Delia, her clothes and face grimy from the number of times she’s tripped over tree roots.

“No, Delia. You’re coming with me…” says Alessia, looking at the Saint as she speaks in a tone of voice that gives no room for argument, after which she turns to me and continues speaking.

“… I advise you to come with us to the capital, Master, but if you are so convinced that you know the way to the trail, you can keep walking alone for as many hours as you want.”

’Haa…

She may be right…

I’m pretty tired of this too…

Who would have thought it’s so hard to find your way around in a forest?’

“Fine! I’ll listen to you and accompany you.” I say, as I try to open an illusory door towards our home in the capital.

But no matter how hard I try, the door refuses to appear.

“Well?” asks Alessia after a few seconds.

“I can’t do it,” I say as I start to get really worried about our current situation.

’ – He’s not lying… But if that’s true, we’re in real trouble.’

“Try saying the spell aloud. Maybe that’s why it’s not working,” Alessia says in a strained voice.

“Space Travel!” I exclaim at the top of my lungs.

But absolutely nothing happens.

I try again one, two, three times more because of the anxiety of knowing that we are really lost and that we have no way to get out of this problem safely.

However, the door still does not manifest itself.

’ – This is my fault. If I hadn’t run towards the voices of those monsters, none of this would have happened.’

’F*ck, f*ck, f*ck…

What do we do now?…

I don’t know where we are…

Nor in which direction the damn trail is.’

“Sorry. This is my fault. I’m a burden to you,” says Delia, her ears drooping.

“Don’t talk nonsense, Delia. You’re not to blame for anything. It’s true that we’re in this situation because you ran towards the monster voices, but that happened because of what a good person you are…” I say, reaching over to stroke her head.

“… Don’t martyr yourself for being a good person…” As I pronounce these words, I notice that Alessia is criticizing me with her eyes.

But right now we have to keep ourselves physically and mentally whole.

That’s why I can’t start lecturing Delia.

There will be time to do that when we get out of this place…

If we get out.

“… Come on. Let’s keep walking. I’m sure it won’t be long before we find the trail.”

“Okay,” Delia says in a hesitant voice.

I extend a hand towards her and when she silently takes it, we resume our walk.

’ – Master’s magic item for camping in the No Man’s Zone is only good against monsters up to level 50… a level limit that we already saw is useless off the trail… So…’

“We’ll have to stop to rest… We need to regain strength if we are going to be here for an indefinite period of time… We’ll have to set up guard duty shifts,” I hear Alessia mutter in an extremely low voice as we walk.

…

’Haa…

We’ve been walking for hours and hours, but with no luck…

Wait…

Luck…

It’s definitely not something I’m very comfortable with but…

Desperate times call for desperate measures…

Activate Luck profile!’

“Come on. Just a little more, girls.” I say, as an ember of hope ignites in my chest.

“Master, we must stop and rest. We should-” Alessia begins to say, in an exhausted voice.

“Yes, I know, Alessia. You’re right. We should rest but… I think that if we keep walking a little more, luck is finally going to smile on us…” I say, with more encouragement than I genuinely feel.

“… Just a little bit more.”

’Come on, stupid family luck…

If you really exist…

Now is the best time for you to finally start helping me.’

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