How to Live as a Genius Scholar in another World

Chapter 11 – Sewer Reconnaissance Request (2)

—–CROW—– 

Time passed, and it was already lunchtime.

I finished a hearty meal and headed to the meeting place.

It was 11:30. There was a large clock tower in Sardis, so it was easy to tell the time. Pocket watches were expensive, so most cities had a clock tower like this to tell time.

I had left 30 minutes early because I was incredibly bored.

I had been waiting since 6 a.m., and I was going crazy from restlessness. Waiting for six hours in this world, with its limited entertainment options, was a form of hard labor.

*Trudge, trudge.*

When I arrived at the meeting place, there was a large crowd gathered in front of the fountain. It seemed like many people used this place as a meeting point.

—*Splash, splash, splash!*

Water continuously gushed from the small fountain.

Just by looking at structures like this and the clock tower, it was clear that this wasn’t a typical medieval setting. It felt like a modern civilization that had been maintained for over 1,000 years after a failed industrial revolution. It also resembled the fantasy worlds in Disney movies.

“Are you Mr. Nord?”

Someone spoke to me as I was looking at the fountain.

It was a woman wearing a sleeveless robe. A short, flashy robe was covered by a shoulder-baring cloak. With her white hair and blue eyes, she looked like a typical ice mage.

“Yes, I’m Nord. Are you the party leader for this request… uh…”

“I’m Tirsi. Tirsi Armashunas.”

“Yes, Ms. Tirsi. I apologize. I didn’t get the details of the other party members.”

I had forgotten to ask.  The receptionist hadn’t told me either.  Tirsi nodded as if she had expected it.

“You wouldn’t have heard even if you asked. The names and descriptions of party members are only given to the party leader.”

“What? Why? Is it too much trouble to tell everyone each time?”

“Probably. There are so many parties formed and disbanded every day. But don’t worry, I know who they are.”

Unlike her cold coloring, Tirsi’s eyes and tone were gentle.

I felt relieved.  If the team leader was sane, the project wouldn’t fail even if it was just the two of us.

“By the way, you’re quite early.”

Tirsi said, glancing at the clock tower.

“It’s still 30 minutes early. I thought I would be the first one here.”

“Hehe. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit, but this is my first time leading a request, so I’m not good at managing time until the meeting time.  And it’s better to be early than late for a first impression.”

“That’s true. It’s okay to be late occasionally, but not when meeting for the first time.”

Should I say she was meticulous, like a mage, or broad-minded, considering she was a mage?  Opinions might differ, but Tirsi’s attitude seemed reasonable to me.

Magic itself was common in this world, but many mages had terrible personalities. It was because they learned how to draw magic circles before basic etiquette.

Many of them were arrogant, hypocritical, and lived with a superiority complex.

I understood how they felt.  How proud they must be to be intellectuals in this uncivilized world.  It was annoying, but as long as they didn’t bother me, it was fine.

And mages were better than the motherless university professors.  That bitch asked me to park her goddamn elephant.  How the hell was I supposed to do that?

“Ah, here comes the next party member.”

Tirsi said, fiddling with her wand. An old man with white hair was walking towards us from a distance. He carried a short spear and a wooden shield on his back, and wore a simple leather armor on his chest.

“Hahaha. As expected, it’s Ms. Tirsi.  I’m glad I came early.”

“Mr. Gentrick. Hehe. It’s been a while.”

“You know each other?”

I asked, seeing them greet each other warmly. The Audhumla Guild wasn’t that large. It was likely they had met while working.

“Yes. I met him on a previous request.”

“I’m Gentrick Hariuss. Nice to meet you.”

The old man offered a handshake, and I instinctively accepted. He was wearing gloves, but I could feel his strong grip even through the leather.

‘Be wary of old men in a profession where young people die easily.’

That was the gist of the argument – an old man who survived when others died couldn’t be weak.  But judging by this old man’s Iron class, he probably wasn’t that skilled.

I guessed he was just good at surviving and making a living.  The adventurer profession was like working in a small company factory or a construction site in this world.

Still, his experience wouldn’t go to waste.  Depending on how long he had been an adventurer, he was at least more experienced than me, so I decided to trust him.

“Now there’s only one left.”

“Indeed.  Three of us are here 30 minutes early.”

“I came early just in case, after hearing that the party leader was a Bronze-class mage.”

“…Please don’t make it sound like I’m picky about time.”

Gentrick and I laughed together as Tirsi grumbled.

Our party luck seemed good this time. Three of us had gathered at the meeting place 30 minutes early. Some might criticize our time management skills, but I thought differently.

I preferred to arrive early and wait rather than make others wait while I was doing something else.

This mindset stemmed from consideration.  It wasn’t easy to find party members like this in this world, overflowing with natural psychopaths and acquired sociopaths.

But, well.

As expected, the last person didn’t show up even after we waited for over 20 minutes.

“The last person is late.”

“It’s still 10 minutes early.”

“But we’re all here.”

Gentrick seemed dissatisfied, but it was because we had arrived too early.  Still, it was human nature to be annoyed when we couldn’t leave because of one person.

That was when it happened.

“Here comes the last party member… huh?”

Tirsi, who was checking her pocket watch, looked to the left and suddenly gaped.

What happened? I followed her gaze and saw a short woman running towards us.

Even with her face completely covered by a hood, I could bet my life that she was a woman, because her breasts were clearly visible even from this distance.

“I’m, I’m sorry! Am I late?!”

She was wearing a cheap hood that was much longer than Tirsi’s.  It looked like a gray poncho.

“I, I’m Francesca Eitrinen, a half-dwarf! I’m so sorry I’m late!”

She panted and took off her hood.  She was a beautiful woman with black hair and blue eyes, giving off a pure impression. She looked young, but not childlike.

A half-dwarf.

Unlike the typical image of a dwarf, she… Francesca, was it?  Anyway, her face didn’t have a single hair.

I had heard that female dwarves in this world didn’t grow beards. Dwarves’ beards were a cultural factor, not a racial trait.

It would be wrong to impose the Tolkien-esque dwarf image on the real dwarves of this world.  If someone told me I had to fight with kung fu and archery instead of swords because I was a yellow monkey, I would be generous enough to give them a roundhouse kick, despite being a zero-dan in Taekwondo.

Still, she was short, just like the dwarves I knew. About 150 or 160 cm?  Almost elementary or middle school student level.

But her breasts were huge.

—*Jiggle, jiggle.*

It’s important, so I’ll say it twice. Her breasts were huge.

Big.  Huge.  Massive.  Insanely big.  I wondered if her bust circumference could rival her height.

What was even more surprising was that she was wearing leather armor.  I never knew that a woman’s breasts could move so much even when tightly bound by a bra and leather armor.

“Um…?  Is this the party for the sewer reconnaissance request…?”

Francesca asked hesitantly. Seeing Tirsi frozen like a statue, she began to worry that she might have made a mistake.

Gentrick and I exchanged glances.  Our eyes darted between Francesca’s chest and Tirsi’s.

*Swish! Swish, swish! Swish, swish, swish!* It was a swift and precise movement, like the decisive final shot in a world billiards championship.

—An overwhelming difference in bust size.

That was why our party leader was stunned.

Tirsi wasn’t small-chested. She was probably a B-cup. But breast size for women was like penis size for men. It was inevitable to be stunned after witnessing such an overwhelming difference and reflecting on oneself.

So, Gentrick and I greeted Francesca first to buy our party leader some time to recover.

“Ahem, ahem. Yes. We are the party for the sewer reconnaissance request. I’m Gentrick.  Nice to meet you, Miss Francesca.”

“I’m Nord.  It’s a pleasure to work with you today.”

“Oh, yes! Nice to meet you both!”

Francesca replied brightly in a relieved voice. Tirsi finally snapped out of her daze and spoke.

“…T, Tirsi Armashunas. You don’t have to apologize. You’re actually early.”

“Yes, yes! Thank you!”

Francesca replied quickly, seeming a bit nervous.

From my perspective, Tirsi was just a group project leader, but to Francesca, she might seem like an amazing person, being the party leader and a mage.  Gentrick had also used honorifics with Tirsi.

“Let’s get going.”

Anyway, after exchanging introductions, we followed our recovering party leader to the sewer entrance.

***

The sewer entrance was located in the city’s slums.

Sewage treatment plants were NIMBY facilities even in this world. NIMBY facilities tended to be built in rural areas with low property values or areas with a high concentration of undesirable facilities, and in Sardis, the slums fit that description perfectly.

The slum dwellers’ gazes turned towards us, but they quickly retreated. They didn’t dare to mess with a four-person adventurer party that included a mage.

Still, judging by the way they were looking at us, I would have been pickpocketed if I had come alone.  I had to be careful.

I looked around as I followed Tirsi, and after about a ten-minute walk, we arrived at the sewer entrance.

“Ah, are you from the Audhumla Guild?”

A young man greeted us at the entrance. He was wearing the standard uniform of a guard.  He must be a sewer guard.

But his appearance raised a sudden question in my mind.

Come to think of it, managing the sewers was the territory’s responsibility.  Then why did they hire guards like him and pay adventurers to do sewer reconnaissance?

My question was answered by the guard’s self-introduction.

“I’m George, the client for this request.”

Damn, it was subcontracting within subcontracting.

Just like civil servants exploited public service workers, the guards here subcontracted the NIMBY facility management to adventurers.

‘Isn’t this illegal?’

It was incredibly unfair, but questioning it in this uncivilized world was foolish. The lord must have condoned it, since they and the Adventurers’ Guild were exchanging requests.

I decided to think of it as a win-win situation.

The guards didn’t have to return to their smelly duties after the reconnaissance, and we got to build up our achievements and earn money.

What was good was good. If it really sucked, I could just avoid sewer reconnaissance requests in the future.

“I’m Tirsi Armashunas, the Bronze-class adventurer and temporary leader of this party.”

Tirsi, acting as the party leader, stepped forward.

“Are there any special instructions for this reconnaissance request?”

“No, no. There haven’t been any problems up until the last reconnaissance. This is just a regular inspection for maintenance.”

George waved his hand dismissively.

He was probably stuck here because he was being exploited by his senior guards. He had the look of a civil servant who just wanted to avoid any incidents during his shift.

“When was the last reconnaissance?”

“A month ago.  But I also went inside with the repairmen about two weeks ago.  We only encountered a few monsters while returning after the sewer maintenance.”

It wasn’t very helpful information. Tirsi nodded as if she understood and looked at us.

“There don’t seem to be any problems. I’d like to start the request immediately. Does anyone need to prepare anything?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m good too.”

“M-me too!”

With no objections, Tirsi nodded.

“Then let’s go in.  Everyone, put on your masks.”

“Huh?”

Masks?  No one said anything about bringing masks. I was bewildered as I saw Gentrick taking out a mask from his bag and Tirsi chanting a spell while touching her earring.

The warrior used equipment, and the mage used magic!

It felt like I was the only one who hadn’t brought a dungeon essential. What the hell? There was no mention of masks in Professor Brammaton’s book!

“You don’t have a mask?”

Guard George asked, holding his spear.

His question made me feel a little wronged.  Damn.  I had survived the Chinese Corona outbreak in the 21st century, and now I was being called a maskless person!

“Is, is it really necessary? I didn’t hear anything about needing to prepare a mask.”

I wanted to believe it was all superstition.  I hoped that masks weren’t necessary and that the others were just being cowardly.

“Ah, they didn’t used to care much. But recently, the Mages’ Guild said… what was it? Poisonous gas?  They said it’s better to wear a mask to be safe.”

But damn, it was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

The only ventilation in the sewers was the drains. It made sense that poisonous gas would be generated in a semi-enclosed space filled with waste.

“But then, do we need masks with antidotal magic or something?  Iron-class adventurers don’t have that kind of money.”

“Antidotal masks?  No. We just use cloth masks.”

What the fuck?  Then masks were pointless.

“I see. Cloth masks.”

I sighed.  Cloth masks were useless against poisonous gas.  But it would be foolish to spend more money on a gas mask than the request reward.

‘It’ll probably be fine if I just go in like this.’

If it was dangerous, Professor Brammaton would have mentioned it.  In the chapter on ruins and dungeons, it said to bring gas masks and antidotes. The sewer gas probably wasn’t deadly.

Tirsi fiddled with the wand she had used to cast the spell and spoke apologetically.

“I’m sorry. I’m still learning, so I don’t have enough mana to cast a spell on Mr. Nord as well…”

“Hehe. It’s my fault, why are you apologizing, Ms. Tirsi? I understand.”

It would be bad if she used her mana on a status ailment resistance buff for me and then couldn’t cast spells when needed.  Prioritizing damage over healing was the national rule for Korean gamers.

If I got a headache, I could just go to the temple afterward.  I had quite a bit of money saved up.

“Um…”

*Poke, poke.*

As I was thinking that, someone poked me in the back.  There was only one person out of my sight.

“Ms. Francesca?”

“Ah, yes.  Um… if you need this, please use it. I made it with new cloth yesterday, so it’s clean.”

Francesca held out a mask with both hands. The black cloth mask looked clean, just like she said.

“But if I take this, won’t you be without a mask, Ms. Francesca?”

“Don’t worry about me. Dwarves are tough.  Besides the smell, it’s no different from the underground mines back home.”

“…Is that so?”

Dwarves built cities underground.  They might have a higher resistance to poisonous gas and lack of oxygen than other human races.

“Thank you for lending it to me. I’ll use it well and return it.”

It would be rude to refuse after she said that. I gratefully accepted the mask and put it on.

—*Sniff.*

I took a breath with the mask on. A slightly refreshing scent, along with a distinctly feminine fragrance, wafted through the air.

It smelled nice, but I felt like I was doing something wrong. I felt like a pervert burying my face in a woman’s clothes.

“Are you all ready?”

George, who had been watching us, picked up something from his feet.  A large lantern and a map.

“Don’t lose the lantern or the map. Follow the route on the map, and write down any damaged sewers or facilities on this paper.”

“Understood.”

Tirsi accepted the equipment and spoke to us.

“I’ll carry the lantern and map since my hands are free. But in case of an emergency, I’d like to ask someone else to take notes.  Is there anyone who can write?”

“I can.”

“Me too.”

“What? Am I the only illiterate one? I’ve lived all these years for nothing.”

Everyone except Gentrick, who was illiterate, could write. Gentrick scratched his head.

Tirsi looked back and forth between Francesca and me. Francesca was the one who received the paper.

“It’s better to give it to the rogue than the warrior.  Your hands will be occupied while writing. You need to be able to react to sudden combat situations.”

It was a reasonable opinion, so there were no objections, and we finally entered the sewers.

—–CROW—–