Chapter 138: Rescue

The owner of the room had said that Qiu Nuoya was free to use it, but had they really not considered how difficult it would be to actually make use of the room?

In any case, Qiu Nuoya figured he would not be able to return here for a while, so he stuffed everything he could into his magic bag.

He even took the claw foot bathtub.

Why?

Because he wanted it.

There is barely any bathing culture in this world!

There had been a public bath at the inn in Oraria, but it had been more like a spa than the kind of bath Qiu Nuoya was familiar with.

He had planned to buy a bathtub eventually and make a private bath for himself, but bathtubs were completely made to order. For someone who had not earned enough money yet, one had been far beyond his reach.

But if someone was giving him one for free, Qiu Nuoya had no reason to refuse.

Thank goodness his magic bag is so spacious.

As soon as he returned, he would set up the bathtub in his room.

After packing away nearly everything in the room, Qiu Nuoya looked around the now-l empty space. He made one final check to ensure he had not forgotten anything, then climbed onto the bed where the teleportation magic circle was hidden underneath.

That was when he noticed another book beside the pillow.

It was somewhat thick, and there was no title written on its cover.

What is this?

Qiu Nuoya picked it up and tried to open it, but the cover would not budge.

There was no obvious lock, yet it seemed to have been sealed by some kind of magic. He examined the cover, then the back cover. He looked at it from above and from the side, but he could not understand how the seal worked at all.

"Well, whatever. I’ll take it with me for now." Qiu Nuoya tucked the book under one arm, placed his other hand on the bed, and poured his magic power into it.

The next moment, he felt his body gently float upward. Then, in the blink of an eye, he had returned to the place he had originally come from.

...

"What exactly were you doing!? You boasted to me that you could protect Nuoya, yet you couldn’t even protect him, and you didn’t even know where he was! Do you really think such an excuse is going to fly with me?!"

When Qiu Nuoya returned, he could hear Viktor shouting furiously and standing before him was Warren, his face deathly pale as he endured Viktor’s angry tirade.

For some reason, Mochi was perched on top of Warren’s head. The slime looked rather dejected, and the sight made Qiu Nuoya feel strangely uncomfortable.

Qiu Nuoya immediately understood the situation. Viktor had probably been searching for them, found Warren, and had just been told that Qiu Nuoya had suddenly disappeared.

"Sorry! Viktor, Warren! I’m back!!" Qiu Nuoya called out loudly to the two of them, who apparently had not yet noticed his return.

A brief silence followed.

The tension in Warren’s face suddenly collapsed. "Nuoya~!!! You... Why did you suddenly disappear...!? I was seriously worried about you!!"

Warren looked as though he were about to cry, and Qiu Nuoya felt terrible.

Being forcibly teleported away had been completely beyond his control. However, he had been the one careless enough to touch the magic circle in the first place.

In the end, this was entirely his own fault, while Warren had been completely innocent.

Mochi leaped down from Warren’s head and into Qiu Nuoya’s arms.

Sorry. I made you worry too.

"Everyone, I’m sorry. I’m fine!"

Viktor seemed unsure of what expression to make for a moment. Then he let out a long breath and gave Qiu Nuoya an awkward smile.

"I’m glad you are safe." But his expression quickly turned stern. "However, touching an unidentified magic circle without doing any investigation first is unacceptable for an adventurer! You need to reflect seriously on what you have done!"

Qiu Nuoya could not argue with that.

Yes, he would definitely reflect on it. He was sorry.

"Hm? Nuoya, what is that book you’re holding?"

"Ah, well, this is..." Qiu Nuoya then briefly explained what had happened, leaving out nothing important.

"So that book was also in that mysterious room?"

"Yes. But for some reason, this is the only book that I can’t open."

Qiu Nuoya handed the book to Viktor.

Viktor tried to open it just as Qiu Nuoya had, but the cover would not budge. He examined the front cover, then the back. He ran his fingers over the cover and pondered for a while.

"Would you mind letting me borrow this book for a little while?"

"Of course."

In any case, there were still plenty of other books that Qiu Nuoya needed to read, so he could not afford to spend forever fussing over a book that would not open.

"By the way, Viktor, where is Igor?"

With everything that had happened, Qiu Nuoya had been too distracted to notice, but he suddenly realized that Igor had been missing for some time and asked Viktor.

"Ah, as for Igor, I left him behind."

"You left him behind? Where?"

"There was a cave where we went to explore. We were taking a brief look inside when the island shook violently and the entrance collapsed. He was trapped inside, so I came out first."

!?

Viktor spoke about it so casually that Qiu Nuoya was left speechless, his mouth hanging open.

"Wait, so Igor is still trapped inside that cave right now?"

"Well, yes, I suppose that’s the case."

"You should have told me that first! We need to go rescue him right away!"

As Qiu Nuoya hurriedly began to panic, Viktor remained completely unfazed.

"He will be fine."

In a way, that might mean Viktor trusted Igor very deeply. But surely, his attitude could also be considered incredibly heartless!?

"More importantly, where is Long? If possible, I was hoping he could dig out that collapsed cave."

Ah, that’s true. With Long’s enormous arms, digging through the collapsed cave might be easy for him.