The Author's POV
chapter-122

Inside of a densely packed forest, two individuals calmly walked through the heavy vegetation. Of the two individuals, one stood at the front looking at a large map made out of paper, whilst behind him, another individual followed him with a confused look on his face.

"Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?"

Scratching my chin, as I looked at the map before me. Tilting the map sideways, with a hint of doubt I responded.

"err...should be?"

Taken aback, Kevin couldn't help but say

"y-ou, don't tell me that we're lost"

"no, well, maybe. But most likely not"

-Smack!

Facepalming, an extended sigh escaped from Kevin's mouth. He was starting to regret his decision...

Not even halfway through the journey and they were already lost. Just what kind of guide was this?

Noticing Kevin's action, I shrugged my shoulders.

In my defense, I didn't have much to work with.

Although I had a general idea of where the dungeon was, well, let's just say that a lot of the important information on how Kevin found the dungeon was skipped in the novel. After all, back then when I was writing this part of the story, I basically directly skipped to the moment Kevin found the dungeon.

...Thus, because of how lazy I was back then, I was currently in a pickle.

Fortunately, I had a few reference points to work with

"A river...a large bent tree and a cave..."

Those were the things I was looking out for.

"Keumm...keumm...can I just ask why you're using a paper map instead of your phone?"

Coughing a couple of times, Kevin glanced at me and asked me something that had been on his mind ever since leaving the small town below.

Looking back at Kevin, brushing my hair to the side I lazily said

"What difference does it make? In the end, with this, I can just save my phone's battery"

Taking out my phone and pointing towards the top right corner, I said

"...Moreover, good luck finding a signal in the middle of nowhere"

Raising his hands in resignation, Kevin said

"Alright, do whatever makes you comfortable. I was just curious as I've never seen anyone use paper maps anymore"

Briefly glancing at Kevin, I shook my head and continued to observe the map.

Fair enough.

I would've used my phone if there was a GPS signal that would directly show me the path I had to go...sadly such a thing didn't exist. So, I just chose to use a map as that was what I used to use back on earth.

...I guess old habits never die.

"Let's see"

Crouching down on the ground and placing the map on a rock. I squinted my eyes and made sure I was still on the right track.

'If I'm not wrong, we are actually headed in the right direction, and all we needed to do is walk for a couple of more kilometers until we find a river...'

Turning the map slightly, I traced a blue line on the map stopping until a certain point.

'Thereafter, we are to walk along the river all the way until we find the largest tributary and from there go hike up until an oddly bent tree can be found. The cave of the dungeon should be right behind the tree...'

"Alright, I've got it, follow me"

Cross-referencing with the map a couple of more times, I nodded my head and urged Kevin to follow me.

"You've figured things out?"

"Yup, if nothing goes wrong, we should be able to arrive there in about half a day"

"Alright..."

...

"So this is the place?"

"Yep"

Standing in front of a large bent tree, Kevin and I sat down on the ground and recuperated some energy.

The sun had already started to set and night was quickly arriving.

Taking a couple of energy bars from my dimensional space I handed one to Kevin and opened another one for myself.

"Here"

"Thanks"

Taking the energy bar, Kevin quickly opened it and took big bites out of it. Looking at the cave hidden behind the tree, he couldn't help but ask

"So is this the place"

"Munch...munch...Yep"

Scarfing down the energy bar in my mouth, I quickly nodded my head. After walking for half a day and following the instructions that I had written in my novel, I was quickly able to find the right location. Moreover, now that Kevin was here, using my book as a reference point, I was able to correct any mistakes I made.

Regarding the book. I had to say, future me was really smart. Whenever I went in the wrong direction I would always just shout 'Wrong direction' and with me seeing this in the book, I was able to discard that path and quickly find the right path in no time.

Hats off to you future me.

"Alright, let's go"

After resting for ten minutes whilst recuperating some of the energy we spent hiking all the way here, standing up, I urged Kevin to follow me.

Patting his pants, Kevin nodded his head and stood up.

"Okay"

Thus, the two of us walked through the cave.

The formation was perfect. Kevin at the front and me at the back. With Kevin's overwhelming abilities, he should be able to take care of any monster that showed up before us, and I, with my sword art, could swiftly deal with the mob-like monsters present.

...Well, that was if I was planning on doing anything. In reality, there really shouldn't be much for me to do.

Patting the book in my hand, I couldn't help but smile.

'What's the point of wasting time-fighting monsters when you can just skip them?'

...

After walking for a while, we stopped at a fork road. There were eight paths to choose from and they each looked identical. Turning around, Kevin glanced at me as he asked

"Which path should we take?"

Without hesitation, I immediately pointed towards the fifth pathway.

"The fifth one"

This time I was confident with my answer as from the moment we entered the cave, I knew exactly where to go.

Moreover...

"Stop"

"huh?"

After walking for five minutes, placing my hand on Kevin's shoulder to stop him, ignoring the confusion in his face, I placed my finger in my mouth and quietly whispered

"As soon as you turn left, two-horned sheep will immediately attack you..."

Pausing slightly and glancing downwards, towards my red book, I continued

"There is one male and one female sheep, the female sheep will wait from behind whilst the male sheep will be the one that will attack you first...the safest and most efficient way to get rid of them would be for you to immediately duck down and stab towards the male stomach, and whilst the-"

Cutting me off midsentence, Kevin couldn't help but look at me weirdly.

"Wait, wait, what are you talking about?"

Raising my brow, I nonchalantly said

"Hm? I'm just telling you what will happen and what you should be doing to quickly resolve the upcoming danger?"

"Yeah I get that part, what I don't get is how you know all of this...moreover, what are you doing with your hands?"

Tilting my head, I glanced at Kevin in confusion

"I'm reading?"

"...how can you read when there's nothing in your hands?"

"huh?"

Glancing at Kevin in confusion, I waved the red book in his face.

Although for obvious reason I wasn't going to show him the contents of the book, I wasn't going to hide its existence...After all, I was going to use it quite often whenever he was around. I mean, it's not like I could hide a thick red book in plain sight?

I, of course, didn't need to use the book as Kevin could probably finish the dungeon alone, but, why would I not want to exploit this cheat if it saved time?

If you have cheat use it.

That was my motto.

Still, although one should use their cheat, they shouldn't do it carelessly as that could lead to bad consequences.

Especially if it was a book that allowed someone to see 10 minutes in the future...things could get quite messy.

mhhh, actually, considering that it only displayed Kevin's future, I guess it wasn't that tempting for others...

...Either way, as I dangled the book in front of Kevin's face and seeing the blank look on his face, I realized that something was wrong

"Hmm? Can't you see this?"

"See what?"

Squinting my eyes, I was taken aback for a moment.

'He can't see it?'

Surprised by this discovery, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

Interesting.

I didn't know that the book had this other function.

...I guess it made sense if you thought about it. After all, this was an item that wasn't supposed to belong to this world. It wasn't strange that Kevin couldn't see it.

Still, this made things much easier for me.

"...so?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Kevin's confused voice. Realizing that I was looking like a complete fool, smiling at Kevin, I brushed my behavior off as a joke.

"I'm kidding...was just messing around"

Frowning slightly, Kevin didn't bother asking anymore.

"Alright..."

"Though I wasn't joking about the horned sheep part..."

"huh?"

"Didn't I tell you I had a skill that enabled me to see in the future?"

Taken aback for a moment, and recalling the conversation I had with him a week prior, Kevin nodded his head slightly.

How could he forget?

One of his biggest secrets was exposed because of this.

"...yeah? so you're telling me that you just used your skill"

Nodding my head, I quickly pushed Kevin forward and urged him to follow my instruction

"bingo! so quickly do as I told you"

*Sigh*

Sighing out loud, taking out his sword, Kevin nodded his head.

"Okay..."