Chapter 8 – ‘Enemy Search’, ‘Trap Detect’, and ‘Trap Dismantle’

Translator/Editor: Mana

Early morning. Jin and I were walking through the forest to the north of the town of Puriff.

Though I called it a forest, it couldn’t really be treated as such. This forest gave off a different atmosphere to the forests of Changs, my hometown, or the forests near Broad, where I started adventuring. This forest at the foot of the mountain was nothing like the forests I’ve experienced until now. There were rocky plateaus and the entire ground gently sloped towards the mountain, making it hard to walk.

Jin found a rocky plateau with little vegetation and stopped. Following his lead, I also stopped.

“I was thinking of teaching you ‘Enemy Search’ this morning, but first… How much do you know about ‘Enemy Search’, Note?”

“Just that it’s an art that thief and assassin related jobs can use to track the position of monsters…”

“That’s basically it. To be exact, it’s an art that can track not only monsters, but humans and other living things too.”

“Is that so… I never knew.”

“Well that’s how it usually goes. Generally speaking, monsters with a strong presence are easy to sense, while living things with no harmful intent are harder to sense. Only those with a high level ‘Enemy Search’ can track those kinds of living things, so it’s easy to create misunderstandings from that…”

“I see…”

It wasn’t everyday that I had the chance to hear this kind of expertise, so I was very grateful he explained it to me. As I was nodding my head in interest at Jin’s words—

“So Note, I want you to raise your ‘Enemy Search’ level until you can sense anything and everything.”

“Eh?! Isn’t that a bit…”

Impossible…

I stopped myself from the verge of finishing my complaint. That was a bad habit of mine…

“Don’t say that… You can do it if you practice. For now, Note, let’s try using ‘Enemy Search’!”

“Even if you tell me to try use ‘Enemy Search’… I don’t know how… I would appreciate it if you could show me an example.”

“That’s true. My ‘Enemy Search’ is already activated though.”

Really? I hadn’t noticed at all…

“‘Enemy Search’ is a technique that extends your perceptions of other presences. That’s why there isn’t any particular motion or shout required.”

“But even if you tell me to extend my perceptions…”

“For example, there are times where you think ‘that grass over there just made an unnatural rustling noise’, right? That much is enough in the beginning, for ‘Enemy Search’. As long as you gradually sharpen your senses.”

“I wonder if there’s any trick to it…”

No matter how carefully I examined the surroundings, I couldn’t sense any monsters at all. I didn’t seem to be making any progress in locating a presence, so I helplessly turned to Jin to ask for tips.

“Tips, huh… Let’s see, the most important factor of ‘Enemy Search’ would be…”

“Would be…?”

“Intuition?”

Was Jin possibly—

“Are you the type that’s bad at teaching others?”

Jin could only scratch his chin troubledly at my blunt remark.

After lunch. Jin, Erin, and I stood before the dungeon entrance. The morning ‘Enemy Search’ practice had finished, and the afternoon ‘Trap Detect’ practice was about to start.

For the record, I never figured out how to sense monster presences in the morning practice.

According to Jin, it was difficult to grasp the first step of ‘Enemy Search’, but once you figured out how to sense properly, the rest would come easily. He consoled me, saying that no one learned the technique in a day, so I didn’t need to worry.

“Erm… are we going into the dungeon?”

“That’s right. ‘Trap Detect’ is a similar art to ‘Enemy Search’, so we’ll be using similar practice methods to learn it. Note, I want you to sense the traps within the dungeon to learn ‘Trap Detect’.”

The same feeling as ‘Enemy Search’… To be honest, I don’t think I’ll learn anything from that method…

“Well, it’d be easier to pick up than ‘Enemy Search’.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll actually be caught in the traps.”

“Hah?”

“No no, I’ll die!　If I’m caught in a dungeon trap I’ll die!”

“Sorry, I said it badly. You’ll be caught in a trap, but it won’t be the ones created by the dungeon. We’ll have you get caught in one of the traps Erin and I will scatter all over the first floor.”

Apparently, there were no dungeon-generated traps on the first floor. So the plan was for Jin and Erin to spam their traps in an isolated corner so that I could practice sensing them.

There was no danger to my life, but the traps were designed to deal damage so that my body would naturally fear them after being caught several times. Eventually, I would be able to detect the location of the traps.

It was a practice based on the assumption I’d get caught several times…

We entered the dungeon as we discussed things, and eventually arrived at the isolated corner with the traps. At this point in time, I couldn’t feel the slightest presence of any traps. Were there really any here…?

“So from here on I just have to walk while watching for traps, ri—”

As soon as I tried to confirm with Jin, the ground under my feet lit up.

Ah, this is bad—

The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air in a huge blast of wind.

—Three hours later.

I suddenly stopped on the path I was walking straight down.

Then proceeded while hugging the right side wall, as if avoiding the middle of the path.

“…Tch.” I could hear the sound of Erin clicking her tongue.

“Why are you unhappy that I avoided it properly…?”

“I spent so long creating that ‘Electric Zap Zap from Hell Trap’. It’s boring if you don’t get caught…”

That naming sense is terrible, oi!

Incidentally, amongst the other traps Erin made there was a ‘Panic! Slip and Stick Zone’ and ‘The Rolling Boulder Everyone Wants to Try Once’, which were particularly horrible.

“Fine! The next trap will be extra special!”

Next to the high-spirited Erin, Jin looked rather weary. He had an expression on his face that seemed to be apologising for Erin’s enthusiasm at having people caught in her traps. It was thanks to that enthusiasm that I was all the more determined to master ‘Trap Detect’ quickly, so I wasn’t that mad…

Cautiously, I stretched my consciousness around the corner, finding a trap with a suspicious white object there. Right in the middle of the path. Thinking myself mistaken, I rubbed at my eyes and slowly approached it. I found myself not mistaken.

The white object left there was—

“Why are there panties here?!”

No matter how you looked at it, they were panties. Those panties were clearly used from their appearance, and a little childish—

Ah, the owner’s name was written along the band of the waist. ‘Neme’… They’re definitely Neme’s…

When I directed my gaze towards Erin diagonally behind me, she proudly said, “Well? This is the ‘Sexy Panties Zap Zap Trap’!”

It was the worst trap. The idea itself was the lowest of the low… It was probably just a trap that shocked you if you tried to pick the panties up. There was no way I’d fall for a trap that obvious. Really…

“Why are they Neme’s panties, anyway? Isn’t it usually bad to use other people’s panties for things like thi…”

No, it wasn’t like I was asking out of my desire to see Erin’s panties—her face was totally my type, though her personality left something to be desired—over Neme’s childish panties. Really…!

“It’s too embarrassing to use my own panties!”

“Why didn’t you just buy some panties to use…?”

“Ah…” Erin covered her hand over her mouth, as if the thought never crossed her mind. Behind her, Jin held his head in his hand.

For the time being, I stepped towards the right side wall in order to avoid the panties, when it suddenly lit up—

Eh, even though I avoided the panties?!

A thunderbolt hit me hard enough to make my entire vision go white.

“You’re too distracted by the panties…” Erin said with a sigh.

It seemed like correct answer was to walk through the middle of the path. The trap was designed to activate on the walls if I was too distracted by the panties to use ‘Trap Detect’.

“Do you understand what I was trying to teach you there?”

“If you’re going to be distracted by panties, go for the panties?”

“No! If you focus too hard on something else, you’ll miss things you would normally pick up on!”

“I see, you look like an airhead but you’re actually thinking, Erin! ”

“That airhead comment was unnecessary!”

Though we were joking around like this, what Erin said was true. I should engrave it into my heart.

When I later brought this up with Jin in a serious conversation, he replied, “I think Erin’s just an airhead”.

After that, I grasped the feel of ‘Trap Detect’ despite getting caught in numerous more traps, and we returned to the party house.

On the way back, I practised ‘Trap Dismantle’. Because it wasn’t good to leave the traps Jin and Erin created just lying there, Jin showed me an example of ‘Trap Dismantle’ and I attempted to copy him as we returned.

I failed to dismantle most of the traps, activating them and hurting my hands instead…

Because I was dirty from all the traps, they let me bathe first. After my bath, I was refreshed and just in time for dinner. Erin’s voice echoed through the house.

When I arrived in the living room, everyone had gathered.

For some reason, Neme was suspiciously glancing around. Seeing that, Force called out to her. “What’s wrong, Neme?”

“It’s embarrassing to say but… a pair of Neme’s underwear is missing… Does anyone know where it is…?”

“It was probably Note who took it,” Force replied instantly. What the hell, there’s no way I would…

“Ah!” I unintentionally raised my voice. Neme looked my way.

That was definitely the panties in Erin’s trap! Come to think of it, we left it in the dungeon and came home without it!

I looked at Erin, and it seemed like she realised the same thing. She glanced around nervously.

Five minutes later. In order to clear my name as the prime suspect of the panties, I confessed everything, to Erin and Jin’s anger.

Wasn’t Erin the one at fault? Jin and I argued, but were promptly dismissed.