Manuke FPS Chapter 32

Upon returning to camp, we reported back to Varold and Keith at the command tend .

“You’ve worked hard . How was the mapping?”

It wasn’t me who answered the question .

“Schwarz is a very capable explorer, nya . But today we only explored . Nothing related to mapping yet, nya . ”

“Eh? No mapping today yet, Schwarz?”

“Yes, I did some mapping today . I can’t explain how I do it, but after this, I’ll note down the area explored today . Have you been able to set up a place for me to do up the map?”

Varold seemed a bit perplexed thanks to Mitche’s unnecessary reply, but I denied the remark with a wry smile . In the labyrinth, I didn’t say anything about mapping at all to Mitche and Frau . So from their points of view, we probably were just exploring the area .

“It’s ready, I’ll take you there . Varold, let’s leave the detailed report until after the mapping is done . ”

When I first entered the camp, I heard from Keith about the tent that was being set up for drawing the map . Mitche whispered to Frau, “Have you checked it, nya?” Of course, she hadn’t, since they weren’t to inquire about my methods . Frau whispered back, “I haven’t, but seems like there won’t be any problems . ”

“Schwarz, how long will it take you to draw the map?”

“If I have 1 hour, I can draw something simple . ”

“Well then, come back here in an hour . Dinner will also be brought here . ”

“Understood . Then, if you please, Keith . ”

I bowed lightly to the other 3 before following Keith to the mapping tent .

“Mitche . Frau . Thank you for your hard work . How was he?”

“He had no problems exploring the labyrinth . Rather than that, he was so capable that we had it quite easy . About the mapping, you can see for yourself once it’s done . ”

“Schwarz wants to hide his skills, but it’s useless, nya . Rumors will spread soon and then the competition to recruit him will start, nya . ”

“Competition? He’s just a D-rank with no achievements, isn’t he?”

“His ability to track enemies is on par with Beastmen, and his ability to see in the dark is better than the average Beastman . His long-range attacks are powerful, faster and stronger than a bow . He can even draw maps . Of course, there will still be PT, but the number of clans that want him won’t be small . ”

(T/N: Probably probation time)

“If Schwarz was female, I’d definitely recruit him to Sasanqua, nya . ”

“I see…”

“I see…”

Unaware that my worth was being discussed, in the tent Keith led me to, I was “mapping” . The tent was rectangular and about 4 tatamis wide . Aside from a desk, they also prepared several candle-lit lanterns in consideration of me being unable to call up light with magic .

“Looking at this, the Labyrinth is just like a maze at a theme park…”

The Emerald Demon Labyrinth was wide and full of weird turns, many of which led to dead-ends . You’d just get lost in some dead-end if you didn’t go in with an accurate map . No wonder they couldn’t even explore the first floor completely .

But it was different in my case . The auto-mapping function could automatically display the area within a 150m radius . I didn’t need to take a turn to know if it led to a dead-end or not . We probably wouldn’t have any trouble getting to the 2nd level staircase .

Actually, we had avoided all the dead-ends during today’s exploration: As I understood, what they expected from me was to extend the exploration range ASAP, even if it was just a little bit further into the labyrinth . (T/N: meaning he deliberately avoided all dead-ends so they wouldn’t waste time wandering around) .

The map was completed in exactly 1 hour . Once done, I headed to the command tent along with the finished result: a map of the area explored today .

“I’ve made a map what was explored today . ”

Varold, Keith, Mitche and Frau were waiting for me inside . They took the map from me immediately and checked it out together – humming their approvals all the while .

“As expected from someone whose assistance Remi has specifically requested . It is the first time I’ve seen such a detailed map .   Schwarz, we’ll rely on your help again tomorrow . And later too . Dinner is on the desk over there, please eat while it’s still warm . ”

“Thank you . ”

“Thank you . ”

I moved away from the group to the desk with dinner laid out on . Seemed like it was bread and soup today . It was some kind of stew that reminded me of tojiru . (T/N: Pork & vegetable miso soup) The broth was white with big chunks of vegetables and some kind of meat . The other 4 were still standing around the map, talking in low voices when I started to eat . Normally, you wouldn’t be able to hear anything from this distance, but my ear-pads picked up their conversation perfectly .

“Seems like there’s no question about this map’s effectiveness, Varold . The ones we have so far are unsatisfactory…”

“That’s also my thought, Keith . We’ve been asking the monster-sweeping teams to map for us, but it’s unreasonable to expect something so detailed from them . We’re going to have to rely on Schwarz to map the whole place . ”

“We didn’t take this path at all . ”

“This one too, nya . ”

“What do you mean? He can map a route he did not take?”

“Well, Schwarz took the lead while exploring . At this intersection, he was the one who decided to take this path . But according to this map, all the other paths were dead-ends . ”

“The map is full of dead-ends, but we didn’t run into any of them – not even once, nya . ”

“In short, you mean that he knows where a path leads without taking them?”

“No . It’s possible that we just had good luck, and the dead-ends were drawn based on his guess . We need to verify how accurate his map is . ”

“I see . I’ll have the map copied before tomorrow . Aside from Schwarz’s Exploration Party, I’ll send another group down into the labyrinth to verify it . ”

“It’s better to send some other cartographer and his guards to verify this map . They can confirm the accuracy themselves and they won’t complain if they have to adjust their maps . ”

“I see . I’ll have the map copied before tomorrow . Aside from Schwarz’s Exploration Party, I’ll send another group down into the labyrinth to verify it . ”

“It’s better to send some other cartographer and his guards to verify this map . They can confirm the accuracy themselves and they won’t complain if they have to adjust their maps . ”

That… They became suspicious of me, didn’t they? We were able to avoid all the dead-ends because I knew where the paths led to using the mapping function, but it indeed seemed weird that we didn’t meet any dead-ends at all . Should I deliberately lead them to some dead-end tomorrow? No, let’s not consider that . I had been insisting on not talking about my mapping skill, and making people uneasy about my obscure method was not good . Maybe it was better to let them think that I had the ability to somehow know a path’s destination without actually walking it .

“Thank you for the meal . What should I do with the dishes?”

“Ah, please put them over there . ”

“Understood . I’ll be in your care tomorrow too . Let’s start exploring in the morning . Now, if you please excuse me . ”

“You know the sleeping quarters, right? Beds aren’t specifically assigned so just pick whichever you want . Rest well . ”

Of the 4, it was Keith who responded to me . I gave him a light bow before exiting the command tent .

On the way to the sleeping quarters, I thought more about my ability . About the VMB system and its power . From their point of view, my mapping method was probably cheating . Cheating, huh…? It was something FPS players avoided and hated . The so-called program tampering, which destroyed the game’s balance purposely, also led to the demise of many players .

To this other world, I was a foreign existence, a cheat rather than a bug . I was not someone who used bugs to dupe, but a cheater who intentionally used external tools to alter the world…

I felt nauseated…

Upon returning to camp, we reported back to Varold and Keith at the command tend

“You’ve worked hard . How was the mapping?”.

It wasn’t me who answered the question

“Schwarz is a very capable explorer, nya . But today we only explored . Nothing related to mapping yet, nya . ”.

“Eh? No mapping today yet, Schwarz?”.

“Yes, I did some mapping today . I can’t explain how I do it, but after this, I’ll note down the area explored today . Have you been able to set up a place for me to do up the map?”.

Varold seemed a bit perplexed thanks to Mitche’s unnecessary reply, but I denied the remark with a wry smile . In the labyrinth, I didn’t say anything about mapping at all to Mitche and Frau . So from their points of view, we probably were just exploring the area

“It’s ready, I’ll take you there . Varold, let’s leave the detailed report until after the mapping is done . ”.

When I first entered the camp, I heard from Keith about the tent that was being set up for drawing the map . Mitche whispered to Frau, “Have you checked it, nya?” Of course, she hadn’t, since they weren’t to inquire about my methods . Frau whispered back, “I haven’t, but seems like there won’t be any problems . ”.

“Schwarz, how long will it take you to draw the map?”.

“If I have 1 hour, I can draw something simple . ”.

“Well then, come back here in an hour . Dinner will also be brought here . ”.

“Understood . Then, if you please, Keith . ”.

I bowed lightly to the other 3 before following Keith to the mapping tent

◆◆◇◆◆◇◆◆.

“Mitche . Frau . Thank you for your hard work . How was he?”.

“He had no problems exploring the labyrinth . Rather than that, he was so capable that we had it quite easy . About the mapping, you can see for yourself once it’s done . ”.

“Schwarz wants to hide his skills, but it’s useless, nya . Rumors will spread soon and then the competition to recruit him will start, nya . ”.

“Competition? He’s just a D-rank with no achievements, isn’t he?”.

“His ability to track enemies is on par with Beastmen, and his ability to see in the dark is better than the average Beastman . His long-range attacks are powerful, faster and stronger than a bow . He can even draw maps . Of course, there will still be PT, but the number of clans that want him won’t be small . ”.

(T/N: Probably probation time).

“If Schwarz was female, I’d definitely recruit him to Sasanqua, nya . ”.

“I see…”.

◆◆◇◆◆◇◆◆.

Unaware that my worth was being discussed, in the tent Keith led me to, I was “mapping” . The tent was rectangular and about 4 tatamis wide . Aside from a desk, they also prepared several candle-lit lanterns in consideration of me being unable to call up light with magic

“Looking at this, the Labyrinth is just like a maze at a theme park…”.

The Emerald Demon Labyrinth was wide and full of weird turns, many of which led to dead-ends . You’d just get lost in some dead-end if you didn’t go in with an accurate map . No wonder they couldn’t even explore the first floor completely

But it was different in my case . The auto-mapping function could automatically display the area within a 150m radius . I didn’t need to take a turn to know if it led to a dead-end or not . We probably wouldn’t have any trouble getting to the 2nd level staircase

Actually, we had avoided all the dead-ends during today’s exploration: As I understood, what they expected from me was to extend the exploration range ASAP, even if it was just a little bit further into the labyrinth . (T/N: meaning he deliberately avoided all dead-ends so they wouldn’t waste time wandering around)

The map was completed in exactly 1 hour . Once done, I headed to the command tent along with the finished result: a map of the area explored today

“I’ve made a map what was explored today . ”.

Varold, Keith, Mitche and Frau were waiting for me inside . They took the map from me immediately and checked it out together – humming their approvals all the while

“As expected from someone whose assistance Remi has specifically requested . It is the first time I’ve seen such a detailed map .   Schwarz, we’ll rely on your help again tomorrow . And later too . Dinner is on the desk over there, please eat while it’s still warm . ”.

“Thank you . ”.

I moved away from the group to the desk with dinner laid out on . Seemed like it was bread and soup today . It was some kind of stew that reminded me of tojiru . (T/N: Pork & vegetable miso soup) The broth was white with big chunks of vegetables and some kind of meat . The other 4 were still standing around the map, talking in low voices when I started to eat . Normally, you wouldn’t be able to hear anything from this distance, but my ear-pads picked up their conversation perfectly

“Seems like there’s no question about this map’s effectiveness, Varold . The ones we have so far are unsatisfactory…”.

“That’s also my thought, Keith . We’ve been asking the monster-sweeping teams to map for us, but it’s unreasonable to expect something so detailed from them . We’re going to have to rely on Schwarz to map the whole place . ”.

“We didn’t take this path at all . ”.

“This one too, nya . ”.

“What do you mean? He can map a route he did not take?”.

“Well, Schwarz took the lead while exploring . At this intersection, he was the one who decided to take this path . But according to this map, all the other paths were dead-ends . ”.

“The map is full of dead-ends, but we didn’t run into any of them – not even once, nya . ”.

“In short, you mean that he knows where a path leads without taking them?”.

“No . It’s possible that we just had good luck, and the dead-ends were drawn based on his guess . We need to verify how accurate his map is . ”.

“I see . I’ll have the map copied before tomorrow . Aside from Schwarz’s Exploration Party, I’ll send another group down into the labyrinth to verify it . ”.

“It’s better to send some other cartographer and his guards to verify this map . They can confirm the accuracy themselves and they won’t complain if they have to adjust their maps . ”.

That… They became suspicious of me, didn’t they? We were able to avoid all the dead-ends because I knew where the paths led to using the mapping function, but it indeed seemed weird that we didn’t meet any dead-ends at all . Should I deliberately lead them to some dead-end tomorrow? No, let’s not consider that . I had been insisting on not talking about my mapping skill, and making people uneasy about my obscure method was not good . Maybe it was better to let them think that I had the ability to somehow know a path’s destination without actually walking it

“Thank you for the meal . What should I do with the dishes?”.

“Ah, please put them over there . ”.

“Understood . I’ll be in your care tomorrow too . Let’s start exploring in the morning . Now, if you please excuse me . ”.

“You know the sleeping quarters, right? Beds aren’t specifically assigned so just pick whichever you want . Rest well . ”.

Of the 4, it was Keith who responded to me . I gave him a light bow before exiting the command tent

On the way to the sleeping quarters, I thought more about my ability . About the VMB system and its power . From their point of view, my mapping method was probably cheating . Cheating, huh…? It was something FPS players avoided and hated . The so-called program tampering, which destroyed the game’s balance purposely, also led to the demise of many players

To this other world, I was a foreign existence, a cheat rather than a bug . I was not someone who used bugs to dupe, but a cheater who intentionally used external tools to alter the world….

I felt nauseated….

Chapter end