Volume 1 Chapter 2 part1
TLN: Testing the waters by moving sites, please refer to here for future releases:
Lost Item
An otome game world with a gentle setting.
Anyways, when a terrific item makes an appearance, they are called “lost items” in present time, and are impossible tools from ancient times being rediscovered.
Many of them are made with a lost technology and can’t be newly made, so their rarity is high.
Among these lost items, there’s even a item that only the protagonist can equip. It’s a setting made for the protagonist to give off a special feeling.
This floating island I arrived at is the one where that very item is sitting at.
Advancing through the forest which didn’t have any path maintenance, I wiped my sweat, unsheathed and readied my sword, then proceeded while cutting away at the grass and branches.
Just moving forward alone is a pain.
The ground’s all mushy, and I’ve fallen over many times.
“It would have been better if I had my hatchet.”
Advancing through the forest, I progressed by cutting away grass and branches while thinking about how much easier it would have been to have a hatchet. I brought one along, but when I got thrown out, the handle broke and it was no longer useful.
“I wasn’t supposed to use this sword for anything other than training.”
This is more or less the mindset of nobles.
I’d wake up early in the morning and train the basics under my father’s guidance. Noble houses would would employ a mentor or a tutor, but poor nobles don’t really have the leeway to hire someone.
I look at my surroundings.
I’m aiming for the center of the island, but it’s taking a long time to get there, unlike how it was in the game. As expected, it seems that the game and reality are different.
To start with, traveling along a path that hasn’t been maintained is hard.
I can’t be careless about the snakes, insects, and other living creatures, but above all, the most dangerous thing is──
“It’s here again.”
I complained in a low voice while hiding.
I crouch down onto the ground and conceal myself as the enemy passes by.
This enemy isn’t a monster.
It’s a round robot with full body armor that travels by floating along. It’d doesn’t have any feet, and it moves by floating in the air with a bit of a tottering manner.
It’s a machine that’s characterized by its long arms and pointed hat on its head, and is a robot that’s tasked with defending its base──the island.
It seems that it periodically makes rounds within the forest.
While staying still and holding my breath, I pray that I don’t get discovered.
Confirming that the machine had passed by me, I get up and quickly leave the scene.
“I was spared from being torn apart.”
Since this operating machine is protecting a base that is already devoid of people, it holds a strangely lonely setting, but getting caught will be a disaster.
The robot has continued to run since ancient times to protect the island, and has broken or rusted parts here and there. Since it hasn’t been able to find me, I suppose it’s half-broken.
“I want to hurry and get to that base.”
There’s a base within the floating island.
It’s the base where the lost item is residing, but robots are guarding it.
The setting didn’t explain this in detail.
Within the game, it was a place to gather useful late-game items. In short, it was the point where you could get the microtransaction items.
Though there was a chance for the protagonist and co. to get kicked out, it was the moment where one could get those items.
I proceeded through the forest while cautious, and came across a building after walking for several kilometers.
The building was entangled with ivy, and grown trees were sprouting through the roof, making it look worn out.
It was probably left untouched for a very long time.
It’s a bizarre scene that resembled what I saw in the game, but it feels fresh when seeing it in real life.
“…Now this is proof that I’ve reincarnated here.”
I had been thinking that perhaps these recalled memories were actually just delusions…that I was only under the impression that I reincarnated. I’ve thought about it many times. It was also possible that I was only seeing this world as the world of that game.
While in relief that I haven’t gone mad, I entered the building with caution.
The defensive equipment in the building is broken, and most objects were immobile due to tree roots and ivy.
It was a building made of concrete.
There was electrical equipment implanted into the walls.
It all resembled objects from the world I know about, and I can feel a sense of familiarity too.
“Old buildings like this are sometimes treated as dungeons, weren’t they.”
There are old buildings like this on floating islands, where adventurers would gain treasure there and accumulate a fortune.
Nobles would find new islands like this and then would be praised if they conquer a dungeon. They take pride in being the descendants of great adventurers.
“It could also be said that they’re breaking into historical sites, though.”
Adventurers plunder treasures from precious historical sites. Sometimes they’ll nonchalantly destroy historically valuable things for the sake of fortune.
Looking at it another way, they’re destroyers and looters.
“Well, I would do the same for the sake of not getting sold off to perverted old women. I wouldn’t say that in front of people, though.”
Continuing along the pathway, I discovered an open door.
However, there was a swaying, floating machine in the passage──a robot tasked with defending had turned my way and noticed me.
It’s a miracle that these nearly-broken robots can move, and I shed a tear thinking about how they’ve been guarding a base that nobody will return to.
However, I have a rifle.
“Sorry about this.”
Having made an apology to the machine that’s been protecting the institution up until now, I pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit the robot, and it electrically discharged at the point of impact.
A sprout of light instantly burst out, and the robot fell onto the floor. The flickering light in its eyes then vanished.
I stay on alert while holding the rifle, but it doesn’t appear to be coming back. There aren’t any other enemies coming to the scene either.
Confirming the effect of the bullets, I was relieved that the facility and robots were partly broken.
“It’s just like the game. It’s good that I remembered their weak points. Now then, I wonder if it’s this way──”
The special lightning effect on these magic bullets does a number on the robots. Since they’re tasked with defense, they should at least have had lightning resistance installed, but that’s fantasy for you…along with the world of an otome game. There’s no use talking about minor details.
I move forward, relying on my memories, towards the open door.
It was half-open from the tree roots and ivy.
“Was it like this in my memories? Well, it’s going according to the game.”
When entering the room, the skeleton of a corpse tumbled over.
It wore tattered fabrics of what used to be clothing, and put its hands together in a prayer pose.
I took out a flat card from its pocket-like thing.
What I took out was the card key. I wonder if this was also an ID, as someone’s name was written here with the alphabet. The photo has vanished from the deterioration, and only a portion of the letters are left, so I don’t know this person’s full name.
“This is the alphabet, right? I’m sensing something strange.”
I did not expect to see the alphabet in another world.
I put the card key into my pocket and resume moving.
There’s a place within the game where a microtransaction item resides. I’ve stopped by this island many times to get this item for the purpose of completing the game.
However, my memories from ten years ago could be unreliable. I would have forgotten the coordinates for this floating island if I hadn’t written them down right after I regained my memories.
It’s frightening thinking about how I would have had to rely on my fuzzy memory if I didn’t write anything down.
The anxiety and fear from setting out into the sky alone…is something I don’t want to experience twice.
When I searched for a room that could be opened with a card key and showed it to a device that then opened a door, there was a place that seemed like a break room.
Rusted and worn-down vending machines stood out.
One of them had collapsed, and the goods inside had spilled out.
When picking them up by hand, they crumbled away like sand.
There were two skeletons corpses sitting on a sofa.
“…I didn’t care about it when this was a game, but what in the world happened here?”
A part of the ruined base was still operating. Thinking about how a civilization with such technological strength had perished…makes me feel a bit uneasy.
“Well, my top priority is getting what I need.”
Of the two skeleton corpses, one had the key I needed for moving ahead.
I left the room after getting the key, and headed towards my destination. What lies in store after this are defense robots of a different type.
“Come to think of it, this fellow was here too.”
It was a multi-legged robot that was missing a few legs, making it immobile. However, it was in the way, blocking the passage, and the also had weapons to protect what’s ahead from intruders.
While hiding in the corner, I shoot the rifle, and the impact of the bullet turned into a flash of light, but──the defense robot came alive and began counterattacking with a Gatling gun held in its hands.
It was only the Gatling gun that was moving. However, that alone is enough of a threat. Whether broken or not, it’s a relief that its aim isn’t locked onto me.
“Woah there!”
As I hid in the corner, I load the next bullet with the bolt action mechanism, and attack with the rifle while still hiding.
So as to not present myself, I use a mirror to look at the situation while attacking in concealment. It may be cowardly, but tackling this in the first place is like poking a wasp nest.
Due to the opponent being broken, it isn’t fighting back since it can’t move and fix its sight on me. If this thing was maintained and replenished, then I’d immediately be in the heat of the wasp nest.
What I was thinking as I released shot after shot was──
“Shoot! It’s too sturdy. To make matters worse──damn it! I was off again!”
Calculating the consumption of bullets in my head, this is taking up an outrageous amount of money.
Since I’m shooting it with a bad posture, the shots aren’t hitting, and to add insult to injury, when they do hit, the thing is still operating. After numerous shots, the thing finally stopped functioning, and once I checked, it turned out that I used up nearly thirty bullets.
Thinking about how it was in the game, it should have only taken around ten shots…
“Perhaps things really have changed now that this is real?”
I refocused my mind and afterwards, I headed to my destination while keeping a lookout and keeping company with defense robots. I kept moving forward, aiming for the core of the base.
When I realized it, only a few of the bullets I brought were left.
I proceeded through the dim passage, with only a fragment of light remaining, and then I finally arrived at the location of my objective.
I use the key to open a door.
I continued on through a staircase leading to the basement.
I couldn’t see anything in the darkness, so I fetched out a lantern and turned on the light.
“If electricity exists, I’d at least like there to be flashlights.”
This is a world where light bulbs exist, but no flashlights. Due to that, they still use lanterns. I descended the stairs while raising a complaint.
Within the dark passage, there were occasionally fallen human bones that provoked a sense of fear.
I don’t know what went on in this place, but if possible, I’d like quickly get I came for and go home.
“Even so…this is going completely according to my memories.”
It’s the place where the microtransaction item I bought resides──reaching into my memory, what’s ahead is a large room intertwined with tree roots and ivy.
That large room is the dock of an airship.
Grasping the rifle tightly with both of my hands, I walked while being cautious. Many of the places to accommodate airship docks are empty while ivy and tree roots stick out and dangle.
Even for the airships that are here, they’re entangled with a lot of ivy and tree roots. What’s more, moss is sticking onto the surfaces.
Also, all of the airships are broken.
Among them, a noticeably large space had been prepared for the thing I’m here for. It’s on a whole other level in size compared to the other airships.
“──There’s no mistake that it’s this one.”
It was the only airship that maintained its original form, and was green from the ivy and branches entangling it, along with the moss sprouting. However, not everything was covered, and the gray armor was visible in one spot.
I shuddered.
“It’s really here! It really is!”