An Adventurer Mom, Who Awakened [Housewife] Skill Through a Login Bonus, Is Making the Most of Her Adventurer Life With the Weekly Flyers She Gets! - Chapter 22

Loa Academy was built in the suburbs, a little distance away from the center of the labyrinth city of Loa.

It was said that famous researchers conducted all sorts of research there but to ordinary people, it was little more than『someplace amazing』. They didn’t really know much beyond that.

Though it was in the same city, it was a place that felt distant and unrelated to the lives of common folk.

On the day of the walk rally, Kachua and Ed boarded a carriage early in the morning, headed for Loa Academy.

They got off at the Academy’s back gate.

That was the starting point for the school tour.

Beyond the gate stretched a thick forest, and just past the trees, they could catch a glimpse of the Academy’s main building.

“Wow…”

“Right?”

Exchanging those words, they showed the entry permit they had received from the teacher to the gatekeeper.

It was just a small back gate but it was properly guarded.

“Go ahead.”

“Thank you very much.”

The guard smiled and let them pass. With slightly nervous hearts, Kachua and Ed stepped forward.

There didn’t seem to be many other children participating in the school tour, or perhaps the groups were being staggered to avoid overlap—either way, they were the only ones to get off the carriage at the back gate.

A path led onward into the forest from the gate.

Though it felt a bit lonely, the road was well-paved and easy to walk. The weather was pleasant, too.

“Lovely weather, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it really is.”

At some point, the walk started to feel almost like a picnic, and they proceeded cheerfully along the forest trail. But then they came to a halt—gasping in surprise.

Before them was a gently rounded hill.

The path continued… into a tunnel that pierced through the hill.

It was a narrow tunnel, just wide enough for one person to pass through. Inside, it was pitch black—they couldn’t see anything beyond the entrance.

To either side, the thick forest closed in. There seemed to be no alternate path.

“What should we do? Should we turn back, Ed?”

When Kachua turned around, she saw Ed intently examining the side of the path.

“…………”

“What is it?”

“Mother, look at this.”

As she leaned in, she saw a small sign. Ed was staring at a short message written on it, deep in thought.

On the sign, it read:

【If you don’t give up, you can move forward.】

“This might be a quiz.”

“A quiz?”

“Yeah. Mother, did you bring Kero-chan today?”

“Kero-chan? Of course, he’s with us.”

There are areas inside dungeons where not a single beam of light reaches.

In those cases, the standard adventuring tactic is to use light magic or torches to illuminate the path but some adventurers also make use of monsters that dwell inside dungeons.

Kero-chan the Lantern Frog was a frog-type monster Kachua found in the graveyard area on the twelfth floor.

Just as its name suggests, it glows when in a good mood. It’s a quiet, palm-sized monster that many adventurers tame by feeding it sweets to use as a light source.

Kachua and her party had given candy (monster-flavored) to Lantern Frogs several times to light their way. Kero-chan, in particular, was so fond of candy that whenever he saw Kachua, he’d hop right over.

Even after the party finished hunting zombies on the twelfth floor and moved on to the thirteenth, Kero-chan followed them.

Eventually, since he never left her side, Kachua decided to keep him as a pet.

Thankfully, keeping or using monsters is allowed. In fact, there’s even a profession specifically for that—Monster Tamer.

Whether in the dungeon or at home, Kero-chan had become a treasured companion who would glow whenever they needed a bit of light.

Kachua even had a special lantern case made just for Kero-chan’s size and always kept him in her backpack.

Now, she took Kero-chan out of her bag and offered him a piece of candy.

“Kero-roro” he croaked happily—and began to glow.

“Now we can move forward.”

“I’m really glad we brought Kero-chan.”

Even so, the darkness was still scary. The two of them kept chatting as they slowly made their way through the path, relying on Kero-chan’s light.

The path was narrow, twisting and turning, and very difficult to walk through.

“Yeah, but even without Kero-chan, I think you and I could’ve still made it through, Mother—as long as we didn’t give up.”

“Didn’t give up?”

“We could’ve gone back to the guardhouse and borrowed a candle or tried using string to avoid getting lost even without light. If we think creatively, we can keep moving forward—so not giving up is what’s most important.”

“That message on the sign really did say something meaningful.”

“But I’m still glad Kero-chan is here. It is scary without any light.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

As they talked like that and continued walking cautiously, a light appeared ahead of them.

Looking back later, it didn’t feel like the tunnel had been that long. But when they finally made it out safely, both of them let out a sigh of relief.

“We made it!”

On the other side of the tunnel was a large, empty room that looked like a brick-walled basement or storage chamber.

Unlike inside the tunnel, there were torches on the walls here providing light but no windows and no furniture.

The only things in the room were three doors, each with a different symbol painted on it.

It was an odd sort of room.

One door had the symbol of a book.

Another had the image of a tall tower-like building.

The last had the mark of a flask.

“Maybe it’s the library, the main school building, and the research lab?” Ed suggested.

“Ohh, so the flask symbol is the research lab, huh?” Kachua replied.

“Ed, where do you want to go?”

“Hmm…”

When Kachua asked him that, Ed looked genuinely troubled as he began to think.

After quite a long silence—

“….Mother, is there a place you want to go?”

Ed asked.

“I’m fine, sweetie. You should be the one to choose.”

“I want to go to all of them, so I can’t decide! I want to see the library and the school looks amazing and the lab is super cool too! So—where do you want to go, Mother?”

He truly seemed conflicted.

“Well then, I’d like to go to the library,” Kachua said.

“Why?”

“There’s a book a friend’s child is looking for. If it’s Loa Academy, there might be a copy of it here.”

“Then let’s go through the door with the book symbol!”

Ed stood up straight and tall.

“No, no. It shouldn’t be where I want to go—it should be where you want to go.”

“But we’re a team, right? So today let’s go where you want, Mother!”

Ed said with determined cheer.

“That makes me really happy, but… are you sure?”

“Totally! If I end up attending the Junior Division of Loa Academy, I’ll get to visit the main building and the lab eventually. Today, I want to show you the library!”

Ed said with a smug little grin.

“Hehe, thank you. Well then, let’s head to the Grand Library!”

With that, Kachua and Ed opened the door that hopefully led to the library.

Beyond the door, a red carpet stretched out beneath their feet and the space looked like the hallway of a grand estate.

The two of them continued down the corridor.

“Huh?”

They soon arrived at a door with the familiar book symbol they had seen before.

With a sinking feeling, they opened it—only to find themselves right back in the room with the three doors.

“Hmm… why did that happen? Is it some kind of magic hallway?” Ed wondered aloud.

They had turned a few corners, sure but the path had seemed like a straight line overall.

Crossing his arms, Ed glared at the door. That’s when he noticed writing next to it.

“…【Hinges are fragile. Proceed together】?”

“This must be a『looping corridor』type,” Kachua said.

“You know about it?” Ed asked, eyes wide.

“They pop up in dungeons sometimes. The corridor itself is alive, and it tries to make people lose their way. Just like the hint says, we’ll need to cooperate.”

“How do we do that?”

Kachua smiled gently at him. “Just follow my lead, okay?”

They opened the door and entered once more. This time, according to their plan, Kachua tickled the door’s hinge with her fingers.

Fwip! The corridor twisted and writhed in response.

“Now, Ed!”

“Okay!”

Though the floor rippled and made it hard to run, Ed darted down the shifting hallway and reached the large door ahead.

He shouted back toward Kachua. “Mother! I made it!”

“Alright, I’ll stop tickling now. You take over, Ed!”

“Got it!”

Ed began tickling the hinge on his side.

Looping corridors are living passages. If you distract them or throw off their awareness, they lose their ability to disorient you.

In dungeons, the standard method is to paralyze or put them to sleep and then dash through. But if you’re caught off guard without prep, the common trick is to 『tickle them』.

They’re extremely ticklish.

The hint said,『Hinges are fragile』. That was the clue—tickle the hinges.

Whether Ed was just naturally good at it or not, the corridor wobbled and swayed wildly as Kachua made her way through. With some effort, she reached the door where Ed waited.

“Ed, when I give you the signal, open the door and jump through.”

“Okay!”

“Here we go—one, two… now!”

Kachua flung the door open. Ed leapt through, and Kachua followed right behind him into whatever lay beyond.