4. Town

"Hey, Shinjo-kun, where are you going? It's dangerous!"

"Seki, Kumiko, you two go back to town."

After confirming the stairway to the surface, I quietly turned around without going up.

I was headed to collect the unopened treasure chests. I didn't think Nanami's group would share the gold coins and jewels they obtained, so I needed to secure at least a minimum amount of funds.

It was a nuisance that Seki Midori and Kumiko had followed me, but... I would allow it as within the acceptable range.

The traps had mostly been triggered, and the monsters had just spawned, so we shouldn't be attacked immediately.

"Just watch silently from there. If you're coming, stay behind me."

I picked up some pebbles and threw them at an unopened treasure chest.

With a *pffsh*, the treasure chest opened. Some kind of trap seemed to have been triggered, but it was no problem. Up to the third underground level, the patterns of the treasure chest traps were fixed.

There were stone bullets, poison needles, or even just sound effects to intimidate, but none of that would be a problem.

Since the traps flew out at random angles in all directions, I could safely disarm them by taking a sufficient distance and carefully hitting the side of the treasure chest with a pebble at the right angle.

"Is it okay to open treasure chests like that?"

"It's okay because I'm opening them. Here, you two take some of the contents too."

We didn't have backpacks, so we couldn't carry much, but opening about five should be enough for immediate funds.

I gave Seki and Kumiko the gold coins and jewels I had gathered by rummaging through the bottom of the treasure chests. The two of them busily stuffed them into their uniform pockets. Without bags, they couldn't carry any more.

"Alright, let's go back to town."

"Yeah... it's kind of amazing."

Seki had a dumbfounded look, as if wondering what had just happened.

Kumiko was desperately trying to suppress her laughter, as if something was funny. Why were you laughing? It wasn't a laughing matter.

...Well, her personality was mysterious, after all.

***

Climbing the stairs to the surface led to the 'town'.

It was undeniably a town. In the dungeon of 'Genocide Reality', this was the only town that existed. Because it wasn't given a name, it could only be called 'the town'.

"So this is what the town was like."

Looking up at the ceiling where the dazzling sunlight poured in, I let out a voice of admiration.

The orderly streets of Genoria, built from wood and stone in a medieval European style, were a beautiful sight.

However, even though there seemed to be nothing strange at first glance, anyone with a keen sense would immediately feel a sense of incongruity.

This beautiful town had no scent of life. It was a town where no residences existed at all.

The reason there were no residences was because there were no residents. All the facilities necessary for adventurers were present, but it was completely deserted. It couldn't be helped since it was an old game, but there were no NPCs (non-player characters).

It was like a medieval European-style amusement park with no actors.

Even so, seeing it in person was spectacular, but there was another point that personally surprised me.

Genoria was a pseudo-3D game, so the act of looking up couldn't be done.

When I suddenly looked up at the sky, I was astonished by 'that fact'.

I had thought that the town, the game's only place of respite, was a town on the surface.

However, the square, grid-like town surrounded by high walls was not on the surface.

The real surface existed in the sky above the walls, which we had to climb up to reach.

This town existed at the bottom of a large rock cave hollowed out in a bowl shape, and the ceiling, five or six meters above, was made of glass if you looked closely.

Almost reflexively, I picked up a stone I had kept and threw it with all my might at the glass ceiling.

*Bashun*, the unique sound of magic activating in Genoria echoed. The stone was repelled, and not even a scratch was left on the glass.

"Hey, Shinjo-kun! What are you suddenly doing?"

"I tried to see if I could break the glass ceiling, but it seems impossible."

"Does that mean we can't get out from above?"

"That's right. I thought we were saved when we got to this town, but the reality is that we're still trapped here."

It was still daytime, but strangely, a full moon was visible. No, it wasn't that strange for the moon to be visible during the day, was it?

I stared intently at the vivid full moon floating in the blue sky.

Not only the moon, but even the glass ceiling was out of reach.

We were like birds in a cage.

If that glass couldn't be broken by any kind of magic, then we couldn't climb the walls and leave this deserted town.

And the only place we could go from this town was the dangerous dungeon below.

Nanami's group was in the middle of the town, discussing things this way and that. They were saying things like "The cell phone signal doesn't reach," but that was obvious.

That retro game maniac with the frizzy hair was enthusiastically repeating, "It's a game world, it's a game world." Even though he had correctly identified the town's location, the others still seemed to be half-doubtful.

I was irritably watching, thinking, "Just hurry up and teach them how to make health potions," when the frizzy-haired guy finally started explaining how to use magic.

Seeing the injured people recover with the health potions, the others finally seemed to start believing what the frizzy-haired guy was saying.

That was fine. I had no intention of keeping pace with their slow speed.

I had no intention of joining Nanami's combat group anymore. I would do as I pleased.

Seki, who was looking up, was staring intently with a tearful face at the full moon floating in the blue sky, probably thinking about curves again. I wondered if he was lost in thought.

I quietly approached Seki and tried to thrust the rusty knife I had at him from behind.

At that moment, I was blocked by something like an invisible wall and couldn't move forward. As expected, negative actions were prohibited within the town.

The experiments were mostly done.

"Hey Seki, don't just stand there blankly. Let's go shopping."

"Ah, wait for me, Shinjo-kun..."

Seki and Kumiko followed after me.

First, I would head to the tool shop. We needed to gather the necessary tools.

"You two should use the money you just got to buy backpacks first. And get at least two flasks to use for making magic potions. I'll replenish ten."

"Hey, is it really okay to use this money?"

Looking at Seki and Kumiko trying to offer me the gold coins and jewels they had jingling in their uniform pockets, I sighed.

"It's what you guys got, right? You can get as much money as you want if you go down below, so use it freely. If you have any left over, just put it in your backpacks. You can exchange jewels at any shop, but they can also be used as tools, so it's a good idea to keep some without selling them."

The jewels obtained in the dungeon could be used as mana recovery potions. Diamonds, the kings of jewels, could be used omnipotently as mana when using magic. Red rubies could only be used for magician-type magic, and blue sapphires could only be used for priest-type magic.

Green emeralds, when used, temporarily granted resistance to status changes such as poison. Knowing the effects of the jewels obtained in the labyrinth made a significant difference.

Topaz... even I, who had created one of the only three Genoria攻略 sites in Japan, didn't know its effect. I translated and read English sites, but there were no sites that mentioned it either.

It might just exist meaningfully without any effect. Genoria had many useless novelty items, probably to enhance the sense of reality.

By the way, peridot, which was relatively low in value, temporarily reduced the rate at which thirst and hunger decreased. Lapis lazuli had a sleep-preventing effect.

These were relatively easy to obtain, so it was probably better to sell them when possible, except in emergencies.

Since I was going to explore the labyrinth, I would also buy exploration tools such as ropes while I was at it.

The backpacks available at the tool shop were light, cheap, and sturdy. The total weight shouldn't change, but they felt much lighter than carrying things by hand.

"Well then, I'm hungry."

"Hey, Shinjo-kun, isn't that..."

At Seki's slender fingertip, there was a familiar red sign and a double M mark that looked exactly like it. McBurger.

McBurger was probably a popular store even in America. At first glance, the townscape looked like medieval fantasy, but Genoria also had these parody-like shops.

"Should we get the Thank You Set?"

"That's old..."

Well, it couldn't be helped since it was an old game. The counter resembled McBurger, but there were no staff; it was a vending machine that dispensed items when you pressed the menu buttons.

It said "Thank You Set," but the price was one coin for any set you chose. I thought it was a pretty haphazard pricing system, but I bought a set with a burger, fries, and a drink.

"Delicious. It tastes just like McBurger before they changed the recipe!"

"Shinjo-kun, aren't you just making things up even though you don't know the old taste? Also, the paper bag says '100% Orc Meat'..."

Since it properly tasted like beef, you shouldn't worry about it.

Once it was in your stomach, it was all the same. I munched on the salty fries and washed them down with a gulp of iced coffee, feeling a sense of relief.

"Well then, since we're in town, let's rest at the inn for now."

"Eh, what, what? Can I take a break with Wataru-kun?"

Kumiko interrupted just as I was talking to Seki.

She always jumped on these kinds of topics. Oh well.

"There's an inn. We need to rest; at the very least, I need to take a shower, I feel gross."

"That's true."

Both Seki and I were covered in orc blood and goblin green body fluids.

Kumiko, probably because she used a spear as a weapon or because she was naturally agile, wasn't dirty at all despite wearing a white sailor uniform.

This girl, despite being a girl, was much more capable than I thought.

Did she fight while dodging all the attacks? She might have an aptitude for an agility-based class.

"Well, whatever, that's the inn over there."

"Wow, it's kind of amazing."

Since it was a medieval-style townscape, you could somewhat tell what kind of shop it was by the signs.

However, the order panels were normally written in Japanese, so this world was probably modeled after the Japanese-translated version.

Genoria had slight variations depending on the ported console and version, so that was something I was curious about.

"It's kind of like a love hotel."

Kumiko said something stupid, and I almost spat out the coffee I was drinking.

Certainly, the medieval-style red roof didn't exactly look like a seedy hotel, but there was no charm to it.

Somehow, being told that made the interior, with its system of selecting room photo panels with buttons, really look like a love hotel.

It was bad enough that the inn had such a system, but why was Kumiko so knowledgeable about love hotels?

"Kumiko. You... aren't you a little too familiar with love hotels? It's kind of off-putting."

"W-what... I haven't even been in one, you know! Look, I see them on TV and in dramas!"

Yeah, right. She was a bitch, you couldn't trust her.

It was also strange that someone pretending to be pure would often watch dramas featuring love hotels.

Whether Kumiko's constant claims of being a virgin were true was also something you couldn't be sure about.

The more a girl pretended to be pure, the more suspicious she was. If there were unicorns in Genoria, I could have had them verify.

"Well, whatever. It looks like it can fit about six people, so one royal suite should be fine."

"Eeeh, men and women together is bad!"

Seki shouted in a fluster.

As far as I could tell from the pictures, there seemed to be six beds in the room, and we could just take turns using the bath.

"Being bothered by that is what's perverted."

"Hmm, is that so..."

Even though we weren't short on money, it would be boring to wastefully take multiple rooms.

I was also curious about what the most expensive large room was like.

"Hey, Wataru-kun. Can I bring the other girls too?"

"I don't mind."

Even though Seki was there, I would be troubled if I ended up in a room alone with Kumiko and she attacked me.

If there were many people around, Kumiko, who cared about her public image, wouldn't act like a bitch, so having more people would actually be more convenient.

When I wondered who Kumiko would bring, she brought Sashiki Ena, a big-breasted girl with a gentle face, and Tachibana Mio, a quiet girl with a bob haircut.

I think Kumiko introduced them in front of the classroom... or maybe Kumiko explained who they were. Since they were in the same Class A, they were probably Kumiko's friends.

The two of them came over to us with downcast eyes and gave me slight bows. They didn't have the energy they had when we first met, and their eyes were tired and lifeless.

They had lost a friend in a tragic way, with an arrow piercing her head. Since they had witnessed it firsthand, it was only natural that they were depressed.

I just hoped they wouldn't be traumatized.

"Wataru-kun, I want to let these girls rest too."

"Of course, let's rent a room then."

I inserted a gold coin into the love hotel-style panel at the entrance and pressed the button, and a room key came out. It seemed like we were on our own after that. I wondered what happened to the bed making when we stayed for consecutive nights, but there was no point in worrying about it.

If this were a game, just pressing a button in front of the bed would count as resting and recover our stats, so it should be a similarly convenient setup.

We proceeded to the back of the inn and opened the door to room number thirteen.

The room really looked like a hotel room.

It felt a bit small for the highest-class royal suite, but there was a soft cream-colored carpet that your feet sank into.

Six beds with clean sheets were lined up, and snacks and drinks were prepared on a large table with six chairs around it.

When I picked up a snack, it was an elaborate Japanese sweet: dried persimmon filled with chestnut paste. There was the question of who made it, but did Genoria even have persimmon and chestnut trees? It was full of things that made you want to point them out.

In the closet, there were even changes of underwear and nightgowns for everyone. There were no inconveniences for resting. As expected of a suite that cost thirty gold coins.

"It looked small from the outside, but it's surprisingly grand."

"They might have hollowed out the walls to expand the space, but there's an even bigger problem."

For some reason, outside the large window of the room, a blue sky and ocean stretched out. It was an ocean view with a sense of openness.

From the outside, it was just a medieval-style stone inn, so such a structure was impossible. Should I check it out a bit?

"Hey, Shinjo-kun, what are you doing!"

"Like this!"

I slammed the window glass hard with the battle axe, but all I got was a numb hand. It felt more like hitting stone with a sponge, a futile effort.

It was probably an indestructible object of some kind. The ceiling window must be the same. The ocean view was probably just a video playing.

"There's a faint scent of the sea."

"Probably a phantom smell."

Since this was a fantasy RPG with magic, any kind of mechanism wouldn't be strange. If we could somehow deal with this window, there was a possibility that the ocean really continued beyond it. Whether it was a phantasm or reality didn't matter.

What was important now was that, either way, we were physically trapped here and couldn't get out.

And while the others didn't know, I had no intention of leaving this world. I welcomed being confined; after all, I was originally an indoor gamer.

Rather, I was planning to fully enjoy the underground labyrinth. I had no lingering attachments to the real world anyway.

"Hey, Wataru-kun, why are you trying to take a bath first?"

"What? I'm the one who paid."

"Ladies first, right? If Wataru-kun is okay with it, I don't mind joining you."

When Kumiko grinned mischievously, Sashiki and Tachibana, who were with her, gave vague, tired smiles. No matter how many times I looked, their eyes were hollow.

I had no intention of entertaining Kumiko's boring jokes, but indeed, the girls seemed more exhausted. Even though she was joking, she probably meant for them to rest first.

"Alright, you guys go take your time and bathe first. I'll go buy you some changes of clothes."

"Don't you dare peek while saying that. It's okay if it's just me, though."

"Hah, keep dreaming."

"Um, what should I do...?"

Seki was shrinking apologetically at the edge of 

the large room.

He should just drink some tea and relax.

"Why don't you come shopping with me?"

"Yeah, I'll do that!"

I locked the door as we left, just in case. Even though it was such a luxurious room, it didn't seem to have an auto-lock.

Such a mismatched system, but I guess that's just how the world of retro games is.