NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 129.2
The Reason Kurresh And Lelei Are Here
In response to Kurresh’s words, Yuuri cheerfully replied, “I see.” However, the Guild Master of the Adventurers’ Guild doesn’t introduce people every day. They only introduce those they think have potential, which meant that Kurresh and the others had certain qualities even at that stage.
By the way, Kurresh had the qualities that made the Guild Master think he should learn the basics at Scarlet Lynx, which would lay the foundation for a long career as an adventurer. And that was linked to his decision to become an adventurer in the first place.
“I’m thinking of becoming a navigator in the future. Basics are important, right?”
“A navigator? The person who maps things, right?”
“Yeah, exactly. A job that makes maps of dungeons all over the world.”
Behind Kurresh, who was smiling cheerfully, Lelei stared off into the distance. She had been learning how to draw maps as part of the basics, but she was terrible at it. She was so bad at it that unless it was absolutely necessary, she would basically leave all map-drawing to Kurresh. She had a good sense of direction and never got lost, but transferring that onto paper was a whole different story.
In contrast, Kurresh had a strong spatial awareness and the talent to memorize the terrain, including elevation changes, in his head. As a result, his maps were incredibly accurate and easy to understand, earning praise from other adventurers. However, the process of translating the 3D map in his mind to a 2D one was a tedious task, so Kurresh wasn’t fond of map-making. He was still in training.
“My hometown was a small village in the mountains, and there wasn’t much work around. I’d run around the nearby mountains, memorize the terrain, and make rough maps to share information with the villagers. Of course, they were maps drawn by a kid, so they weren’t as neat as now.”
“Mm.”
“But the changes in the terrain were important information for our lives, right? My maps were useful to everyone, and the adventurers who came to our village even praised them.”
“They praised you?”
“Yeah. They said it was amazing I could make maps like that by myself. Encouraged by that, I asked one of the adventurers for a letter of introduction and registered as an adventurer at the Drahein Guild.”
When Lelei asked with a curious tone, Kurresh shrugged his shoulders and answered with a slight smile. Growing up in a small village, being praised as amazing felt great to him. Of course, the villagers also praised him, but being praised by adventurers, who weren’t particularly close to him, made him realize he had a talent worth pursuing.
Incidentally, the reason he registered as an adventurer in the royal capital, Draherun, was that there was no adventurer guild in his hometown. It was in a region where you’d have to travel to a village at the foot of the mountain to take on requests, so he decided to just go to the capital. Kurresh was quite decisive when it came to strange things.
“But Kurresh, don’t you always say that drawing maps is a pain?”
“Following the rules and drawing them neatly is such a hassle!”
“Is that something you should be saying out loud…?”
“No, seriously, it’s so annoying I feel like I’m going to die. It’s really hard to translate the map in my head into a 2D one!”
“Oh, but Kurresh’s maps are amazing, Yuuri.”
“Really?”
As Kurresh passionately complained about how tedious map-making was, Yuuri chuckled and felt Lelei pat his shoulder. When he looked at her, she was smiling brightly, praising Kurresh. She truly respected his ability to do something she couldn’t even dream of doing. Although she usually didn’t show it, she admired Kurresh’s skill, even if she left the mapping entirely to him.
“The distances are accurate, and, uh, what’s it called? The scale? It’s consistent!”
“…The scale should be consistent for a map to work, Lelei.”
“No, no, it’s pretty difficult to remember things like the width of the paths and the distances and map them out evenly. There are only safe zones in dungeons where you can map out areas! By the time you get there, you usually forget!”
“Lelei, don’t over-explain… If the instructors hear you, they’ll get mad at you.”
“But—”
Lelei clenched her fist and passionately explained, while Yuuri sighed and gave her a gentle correction. Kurresh had a bitter expression on his face. It was common for Lelei, despite having a good sense of direction, to forget details like path widths and end up drawing maps with incorrect scales. Of course, her maps would get penalized by the instructors for that. It wasn’t surprising, though. The instructors weren’t that lenient.
Incidentally, a “safe zone” in a dungeon is a mysterious area that has fresh spring water, adequate space, and fruit trees that you can eat from, and where monsters don’t invade. No one knows why such areas exist, but they give adventurers a safe place to rest during dungeon explorations. It could be due to the Dungeon Master’s whims or a feature built into the dungeon’s basic structure.
“Well, anyway, the reason I’m here learning the basics is because I need to learn the foundation for safe exploration, even if it’s just for mapping.”
“Thanks for teaching me.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I was trained in martial arts by my dad, so I’m focusing mainly on the basics of exploration.”
“You should use your head a bit more. You’ll end up like Barloi.”
“I told you, I really don’t want that!”
“…”
After Lelei yelled in frustration, Yuuri and Kurresh turned their gazes away. They understood her feelings. Barloi, the werewolf beastman, was a well-meaning but a bit of a brainless guy. He was loved for his silly ways. Whether it was because he shared similar beast kin or just because of his fighter traits, Lelei was the type to act before thinking, and everyone could see that her growth path was slowly mirroring Barloi’s. No matter how much she denied it.
As Kurresh turned away, Lelei snapped at him, and the two started their usual noisy squabble. Yuuri just ate his cookie, watching them with a wry smile. It was nothing new, so there was no need to rush. Watching those two, Yuuri thought to himself that everyone had their own reasons for coming here.
By the way, after Yuuri and Kurresh referred to the previous leader as “the old lady”, Ali and Brook turned pale and warned them never to say that again. It seemed the first leader was truly a remarkable woman.