Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 51

Sorry for the missing monday release, I don’t know what I eaten last weekend that caused so much damage to my stomach, but between fever and going running to the toilet every 30 min, I couldn’t make time to use the PC.

I’m going to upload the chapter that I am owe you guys tomorrow if possible.

So that’s my explanation for why I didn’t uploaded a release monday. Below is the every time message, but I would be happy if someone take a look at them.

If you want to read 5 chapters (or more) ahead check out my patreon.
If you want to see the illustrations you can see them in this link.

And If you want to check the new ToC for my patreon click this link.

Chapter 21: The assassination attempt failure

Fricka fearfully puts her hands around her neck.
It seems that by stroking her own neck, which she became able to touch directly a few times, she finally realized that she was liberated.

“…!”

Just when I thought that a single drop of tears floated in her eyes, it overflowed in an instant, creating multiple streaks on her cheeks.
I felt that it was somehow wrong to just stare at her, so I tried to move away while looking away, but.

With a little thump.
Fricka hugged me to my chest, so that didn’t happen.

Umm…Well, it’s fine… Yeah, you can cry until you’re satisfied.
I who was unable to say a single wise word, after scratching my head, then patted Fricka’s back, who was crying quietly.

“… I’m very sorry.”

After about five minutes, Fricka seems to have calmed down. Her eyes are still red and she was sobbing a little, but let’s not remark that.
But It is like they say, the crying face of a beautiful girl have a quite destructive power… Cough.
Put aside my out of place impressions.

“Honestly, I was even prepared to die… Thank you very much for saving my life.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome. By the way, how did that happened?”

“That’s??”

It seems that Fricka’s father was the one who put the slave collar on her.
……Well, even if it’s just his in-laws, how is possible for him make something like this to his daughter? I wonder if the existence of a stepchild was stain in his eyes?

“No…It’s the opposite way.”

“The opposite……?”

“My father was terribly attached to my mother. And to me too……As I grew up and started to resemble my mother, he began to show changes little by little.”

Apparently, he seems to have been unusually fond of Fricka’s mother since a long time ago, and although he had been aiming for the position of her spouse from the beginning, because the existence of her fiancé ??Fricka’s biological father?? and the fact that he was from a different faction, he couldn’t receive the permission from Wiega-san
However, because her real father passed away about ten years after Fricka was born, and with the condition that Fricka, who had a weak body in the past, was to be given priority in the distribution of medicine, he settled down as her mother’s husband in an almost forced manner.
At first, she was shunned as the child of his hated love rival, but after noticing that Fricka’s appearance becoming similar to her mother’s, he changed his attitude, and after Fricka’s mother’s death, he seems to have bacame even worse.
…… In that situation, it might be unavoidable to Fricka thought that she doesn’t need love or affection in a relationship.
By any chance, the reason that Zagi-san and Wiega-san recommended Fricka as a bride candidate, was to protect her from that guy? It makes me think that… And make me have a headache.

“When the situation is resolved… I was told to kill the Miko(you).”

She handed out a knife to me
When I checked Its effect, it had function that grants a curse that hinders the LP recovery.
I’d like to think that I can cure it with the dispel potion that I have, but if this is an inheritance from that miko, it’s possible that his skill level is higher than mine and the potion won’t work on it.
……I-I’m glad I didn’t do anything that would cause me get stabbed……!*

It seems that he is quite annoyed that Fricka, which belongs to him (that what he is one-sidedly believing it to be) , has been taken away. And he tried to set me in a trap by taking advantage that I let my guard down around Fricka. If she explained it as “She died exchanging her life for the monster’s” she would not be charged with the crime. Certainly, if I was about to get stabbed, I’m confident that I won’t notice it until just moment…
Of course, Fricka refused at first, but she was threatened with “If that’s the case, I’ll put the collat in your little sister” and had no choice but to accept it.
So he used his own daughters to eliminate the miko only to satisfy his own ego?……Ah, I see, I see…….
Fufufufufu… Even if the Creator God gets angry with me, I will definitely give him a personal punishment, Yeah, let’s do that… In addition to that, I have to make some plans to destroy the past miko’s dangerous relics.

“However, I cannot kill you. I sorry, but I was selfishly thinking of entrusting Fin to you, and involving my father and committing suicide…”

“No, even if that was the case, I wouldn’t let that happen, okay?”

“… Yes, that’s right… You are this type of person.”

……She gave me an awkward smile, but let’s take it as a compliment.
Well I know the gist of it. I’ll think about what I’ll do when I return… For the time being, while swinging the collar that I still have in my hand around-

“Can you put this back again?”

“Eh…?”

“Of course, without the explosion function.”

Fricka’s face twitched for a moment, but she tilted her head at my following words.
I do have a good reason, ok?

“I thought that if he see that you are still using it, he will think ‘I still can order her around.’ and let his guard down.”

“……I see”

If he was a sharp person, he might have doubts about how “She still alive even though the situation has been resolved”, but he seems to be a short-sighted person.
In the first place, you probably think that It can’t be unlocked because only you have the unlock key, you don’t expect that create a new key is an option.

“… Can I have you put it in?”

“? I don’t mind.”

Well, even though the explosion function is gone, it’s scary to do it yourself, I thought so and agreed but…
… Putting a slave collar on a beautiful girl is a very perverted picture, isn’t it … I was just a little bit grateful that Uru wasn’t here.

“Now then, let’s aim to regroup with Uru this time.”

……Well, I said that but I don’t have any particular clue about how do it. So I have no choice but to explore the dungeon while marking our path.
Let’s hope that we will be lucky enough to hear Uru’s battle sounds, or that Uru will pick up our sounds and rush to us.
At the very least, if we knew the direction of the core, the probability of regrouping would increase by heading there, But… The core reaction is still pretty vague.

“Can’t you tell by looking at the roots? The thicker side should be the direction that the trunk is.”

“Oh, I see.”

We walk slowly while checking overhead. Since there wasn’t the high-performance radar Uru-sama here, I was nervous about being ambushed by a monster, but… We were not attacked at all.
… Ah, were the monsters also being eaten, right. Should I just concentrate on the movement of the roots.
And like that, even while I was being vigilant towards the surroundings, I was thinking about how to defeat Evil Treant.
Should I shoot more explosive arrows? But there aren’t many magic stones that big anymore. I wonder if even if the quality was not enough, I can brute force it with quantity.
Since there is also the miasma, the most suitable one would be an holy attribute attack, but…

“Fricka, Can you use holy fire?”

“… I’m sorry, I can’t use it.”

Well, holy attribute magic is more difficult than the others attribute magic. It can’t be helped.
Holy attribute magic can be said that is a compound magic of a basic attribute + anti-monster ability.
By the way, only the dark attribute can be said to be difficult to acquire in another sense, or I can say only specific races and monsters can be use it.
The Dark God is also a god of the God of Creation’s camp… So I wonder why.
Oh no wait, I just can’t use magic by myself, but I know it as knowledge. After all I can gain more recipes by reading books about magic during the game.

“Okay. Fricka, shall I have you learn it now?”

“I-Isn’t that a unreasonable demand…?”

“It’s okay, It’s okay, you are a priestess, so might be a little easier to learn it.”

“… If Rion-sama says so…”

When I gave a lecture to her, the fuel consumption was extremely bad??her MP became zero just by using it once, and she was about to faint??but she was able to learn it easily.
……Fricka-san is really excellent. But, sorry for pushing you too hard…

We walked for about an hour without encountering Uru, and we couldn’t continue to proceed by tracing the roots back to the trunk.
The reason for that is because very thick roots have taken over the passage. …… There was no reaction so far, but as expected if I start to cut them, they will counterattack.
And the core’s reaction is getting stronger, albeit subtly. I wonder if the trunk is just right in front of us.
As I was observing my surroundings while wondering what to do… I noticed that something like a small box was half buried under my feet.
What’s this doing on a place like this? I squatted down and looked at it, but before I could dig it out, Fricka gave me an answer.

“… That’s an urn.”

“Eh?”

*Translator Note: A reference to a japanese cliche that is when a man who plays around with various women get stabbed in the end.