The Path of an S-Rank Adventurer: The Boy Who Was Expelled from His Party Awakens to His True Power [Weapon Master] and Eventually Becomes the World’s Strongest

Forbidden Six Labyrinths – Sasha’s Journey 5

One hundred days advancing through Great Salt Lake of Dilolomans.

At last, after crossing the long path, they reached the lowest level… and it was, surprisingly, a “residential area”.

High ceilings, pure white walls, and numerous houses within. The homes were built with an unknown architectural method, and surrounding them were “cars” and “motorcycles” scattered around.

Tycoon was shaking.

“C-civilization… it’s civilization!! Hahaha!! Amazing, amazing, amazing!! I can’t believe there’s civilization at the lowest level of Great Salt Lake of Dilolomans, one of the Forbidden Six Labyrinths!! What is this square-wheeled box!? Look at this construction method… I’ve never seen anything like it. Every house is a treasure trove!! Ah, my hypothesis was correct!! Ahahahaha!!”

“W-what? Tycoon’s broken…”

“Annoying. Reynold, knock him out.”

“D-doesn’t that seem excessive? Hey, Sasha, what should we do?”

Sasha grabbed Tycoon’s shoulder as he excitedly ran around.

“Hm? Hahahaha, isn’t that Sasha? What’s up? Are you excited too?”

“No. Calm down a bit. You’re too excited, this isn’t like you.”

“I-I know. But I can’t help it. When you’re shown something like this…”

“Good grief… Anyway, calm down.”

“Ah, right…”

Tycoon finally calmed down.

Sasha and the others started walking through the residential area.

“Wow, look at this… it’s all rusted and falling apart.”

“It’s a weird shape. It looks like it has wheels.”

“…Is it some kind of vehicle? Look, there are seats inside.”

Sasha traced the nearby white wall with her finger and lightly licked it.

“This is salt.”

“Great Salt Lake of Dilolomans, as the name suggests, is a lake of salt… The white walls around here are all like salt.”

There was no sign of any magical beasts.

The salt-covered residential area. No food, no drinking water.

“Is this the lowest level, I wonder?”

Robin said.

Tycoon observed the surroundings.

“Probably, yes.”

“So, what about treasure?”

“It’s right in front of us.”

“Huh!?”

“This magnificent view!! This is the treasure!!”

“…Eh~”

Robin looked discouraged.

Tycoon’s words might have been true, but… she didn’t want to think of just an old residential area as “treasure.” Robin wanted to find actual visible “treasure.”

Then Sasha spoke.

“There are so many houses here. Let’s rest here for today and investigate tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Hey, men!! Let’s prepare camp!!”

“Okay, okay. So… we’ll take that house?”

Reynold opened the gate of a nearby house and grabbed the door.

It was a finely crafted door. When he turned the doorknob, it clicked open.

The entrance was narrow and raised by one step. There was a container next to it, and when opened, it was filled with shoes.

“Hm, shoes by the entrance… it seems like the people who lived here… let’s call them ‘ancients.’ It seems like the ancients would take off their shoes here before entering the house.”

“They took off their shoes inside?”

“Probably. Notice how the entrance is raised? And this shoe rack… it’s natural to think so.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter to us though.”

Reynold stepped inside without taking off his shoes, and Sasha and Piasora followed.

Inside the entrance was the living room. There was also a staircase leading up to the second floor, and several rooms.

“Hey, a sofa. Sniff… it smells like salt.”

“What’s this? A door… Inside… what is this?”

When Tycoon opened the door of the box, there was a round metal container inside.

The cylindrical metal had pictures of fish drawn on it. If Haise were here, he would have recognized it as a “canned food,” but there wasn’t enough information.

“Eek!?”

“!!”

Reynold and Tycoon heard Piasora’s scream.

Sasha was the first to head up to the second floor, with Robin and Reynold following, rushing to the room where Piasora was.

“Piasora!!”

“Sasha!! Over there…”

“Hm… What is this?”

What could be seen from the closet was human bones.

A skeleton of a girl, dressed in a pink one-piece.

It seemed she had been hiding.

“Is this the house’s resident…? Piasora, say a prayer for her.”

“Y-yes…”

As a priest, Piasora’s prayer purified the soul of the dead.

When the prayer was offered, the bones disintegrated into particles and vanished.

“The resident of this house…”

“An ancient. What on earth happened here?”

“Hey, hey, Tycoon. The next room’s filled with books.”

“What!?”

“Ugh!?”

Reynold was shoved aside as Tycoon rushed to the next room.

Sasha and the others peeked into the room.

“Ancient books!! Ugh, I can’t read them… But these characters, I’ve seen them somewhere before. Maybe I can decipher a little. If I can understand some of the characters, I might be able to understand the text and decipher the unknown characters. Alright, let’s get started…”

Tycoon mumbled as he pulled out some parchment, began reading, and took notes.

“If he gets like that, he won’t move for days.”

“We have no choice. We’ll do what we can to explore. Plus, with such a large residential area, we might find a way further in or the location of treasure.”

“Well then, let’s rest here for a while. This will be our base!!”

“Before that, let’s eat. I’m hungry~…”

Sasha and the others began preparing for camp.

◇◇◇◇◇

After finishing their meal, they forcefully shoved bread into Tycoon’s mouth, and they had some free time.

Piasora and Robin fell asleep from exhaustion, while Tycoon was busy deciphering. So, only Sasha and Reynold remained in the living room.

“…”

“…”

They were both silent, but Reynold was aware.

Sasha was polishing her sword and armor.

Though she was normally protected by heavy armor, when she removed it, her feminine shape became evident.

Reynold was a man. He felt excited and wanted to touch her.

“Haise… how far has he advanced, I wonder?”

“…”

The excitement faded.

Reynold looked at Sasha.

She had a somewhat happy, gentle smile.

“Say, Sasha.”

“Hm?”

“Do you realize? When you mention Haise’s name, you make such a face.”

“W-what!?”

“Haha, just kidding. Hey, Sasha… do you still care about Haise?”

“Well, he’s my childhood friend.”

“No, I mean as a man. Do you care about him that way?”

“…I don’t know.”

If it were the usual Sasha, she would’ve answered immediately.

Reynold sighed.

“Well… do I still have a chance?”

“Hm?”

“It’s nothing.”

Sasha and the others stayed in the residential area for about two days, resting and recuperating.