episode_0073

“But how is the mercenary boss here?”

“Is that weird now?”

I heard this question from Ariando probably 30 minutes after we met.

For over 30 minutes, Ariando stretched out on the rock and rested with his stomach full.

While leisurely looking up at the sky, he belatedly remembered that this was a polluted area and asked me.

People who are not awakened cannot enter the contaminated zone.

“Of course it exists because he is an awakened person.”

“????”

The child cannot understand the situation at all.

“It’s really nothing. “I was only able to come in because I was awake.”

“So you’re not the mercenary boss?”

“You’re a mercenary, and you’re also the owner of a general store, right? “It just has a somewhat complicated story.”

To be honest, I’m a little embarrassed and my face is burning.

I came into the contaminated area because I was afraid that he would die, but in reverse, I almost died and was saved.

Still, I shamelessly decided to put an iron plate on my face.

Ariando also seemed to view the current situation as natural.

“Actually, I just woke up.”

“Huh? “Not long ago?”

What does this mean? Ariand tilts his head with a look in his eyes.

“I had an awakening at the age of 30. “I didn’t awaken at a young age like you.”

“Is that possible?!”

“I don’t know either. But I guess it can work because I’ve experienced it.”

“Wow. amazing! “Congratulations, mercenary boss!”

“Well, that’s fine. “This is not something to celebrate.”

“????”

“If you report yourself as an awakened person, you will be taken to the military at this age, right? “When I am discharged from the military, I will be in my 40s.”

“omg!”

Ariando’s eyes widened in shock.

“Besides, I’ve never been trained at an academy. “It hasn’t been long since I awakened my abilities, so I’m not yet aware of what abilities I can use.”

“Hiyak!?”

Ariando lets out a strange scream and teases his plump cheeks.

Because the baby’s cheeks were so chubby, the cheeks were shaking here and there, which was quite cute.

It’s very different from the cute look that saved me before.

“Then what should I do? You’re in big trouble! “Did you report it?”

“I haven’t done it yet. If you look at the situation on the front line right now, you’d be taken away as soon as you report, right? “I said the shield rolled back on its own.”

I don’t even have the slightest desire to end up like that.

I planned to hold out as long as I could without continuing to report.

I also planned to continue picking SSR characters to build friendships and rely on their power.

Even though the military is like My Way and shouts, “We are the best!”, it would be a burden to ignore the protection provided by high-ranking nobles and have me join the military.

“But the mercenary boss is a special case. “Wouldn’t that be the case?”

“I heard that a commoner with no background suddenly awakened, wouldn’t you think he should join the army and use his abilities?”

“……”

Ariando became sullen.

“Anyway, this is fine as long as you keep it a secret, so don’t worry about it. Let’s get out of here quickly. It took a lot longer than I thought. “How long will I be looking for you in your own home?”

My body was still shaking slightly.

Did Ariando really see the shadow?

If I had seen it, I didn’t think I could be so calm.

“You…no, no.”

“???”

It seemed like a careless action to carelessly mention the shadow.

Maybe you don’t know?

Will he secretly follow us just because we talked about him?

‘There is a high probability that you did not see it. At least if you saw that, there’s no way you could act so calm.’

What on earth was that shadow?

As I thought about the shadow, goosebumps kept appearing on my body.

It becomes stiff again, as if suffering from stiffness.

Now was not the time to think of shadows and tremble in fear.

I had to get out of here as quickly as possible.

Of course, you have to take care of everything before that.

“I have to take care of that by-product.”

“Ah…that’s annoying.”

The place I pointed to was the corpse of the monster he had killed.

To just throw it away would be to throw money on the ground.

“ah! I took this, so the mercenary boss should take that! “I don’t care.”

Ariando shows a novel bag(?) tied on his back using blades of grass.

“What kind of hair is that?”

I, who had already suffered a lot from the two-headed wolves, was disgusted by the two-headed wolf that appeared again.

“This is the head of the monster that tried to kill my sister!”

“Did you get any loot in the meantime?”

The monster’s face was almost as big as Ariando.

Shouldn’t I have packed my bags with that spirit?

“Hehehe, I was so surprised that I jumped out with this. “When I came to my senses, I was so embarrassed because I only had this in my hands.”

“Anyway, did you keep carrying that ugly thing around?”

“I was going to throw it away at first, but I thought I would regret it later if I didn’t take the loot, so I picked it up again. Plus, since I was holding this, monsters didn’t come close to me. Hehe, I kind of got attached to it.”

Hehe, Ariando, who was smiling, didn’t seem to be in any good condition.

It would have been even weirder if I had been fine since I had been wandering around the contaminated area alone for two days.

Let’s move on because the size of the head isn’t important.

“I roughly guessed it based on the traces. “Did you run into someone else?”

“Yes. I didn’t expect anyone to come nearby. I should have killed him before that. Ehyoo~”

Catching a monster means using a deadly weapon, and since hiding would have been broken, it would have been inevitable for people to see it.

What excuse did he give to those people?

It would have been better if I had just run away without saying anything.

When asked to explain what happened with those people, Ariando scratched the back of his head and said,

“Actually, I’m not sure about that either.”

“huh?”

“I don’t remember. I was so embarrassed that I told him not to come closer and ran away. Before that, I was covering my face with this.”

“…At least I couldn’t see what his face looked like.”

If you cover your face with that big thing, it’s natural that everything will be covered with that small thing.

“He said something strange, but I couldn’t hear it so I forgot.”

“It is enough that the face is not revealed. Anyway, I can eat this, right?”

“yes.”

Since he is exceptionally small, there is a high probability that he will be framed as a criminal(?), but his status as an academy student will protect Ariando.

Since Ariando found out that I had awakened anyway, I decided not to take a long time to collect the monster’s by-products.

[Sales price: KRW 1,250,000]

[Would you like to sell?]

The amount is crazy.

The 14 years I had saved as a mercenary were in vain.

Although it is understandable that the price goes up since the entire carcass is being handed over, it is absurd that this new baby costs only 1.25 million won.

Consider that Peronpa was 43,000 won.

When I pressed sell, the monster’s body disappeared in an instant.

“uh?! “The body is gone!”

Ariando is surprised.

“It’s my ability.”

“Wow! Interesting. “Is it something like subspace?”

“No, it’s over when it’s gone. “You can’t take it out again.”

“Umm??”

Ariando looks confused, as if he can’t guess my abilities at all.

There’s no way I could reveal details about my abilities just by making such a cute expression, right?

“Don’t keep telling me useless things and pick up your bag.”

A contaminated area that has only been around for a few hours.

Nonetheless, I was sick of this place.

Once I got the direction right and started to get out of the contaminated area, it seemed like I would be able to get out by the end of the day.

Fortunately, it seemed to be spinning around in a place that wasn’t very deep.

“Hey, that was the west.”

“Are you sure you came from there?”

“lol.”

“….”

“There were a lot of monsters. That’s why I hid.”

I think my agility stat has risen quite a bit.

“The further I went, the more monsters there were, so I thought I should change direction. But did I hear fireworks in the distance? When I heard that, I ran out of nowhere.”

He went west and ran all the way here…

I can’t imagine how fast he ran.

‘Is this what tier 1 is like?’

Even if I buff my body with scrolls, I can’t keep up with Ariando’s speed.

Actually, I felt this keenly while moving.

“Whoa, let’s take a break.”

“Yes!!”

Ariando, who came back to life after eating, answered cheerfully.

Everything seems to be good that I can finally get out of here.

He looks dirty because he can’t even wash, but it’s cute how excited he is.

After a short rest, we started moving again.

Although the day was almost over, I thought it would be better to go outside and make a bed than to spend the night in a polluted area.

“Hey! Look there! We’re finally out!”

Ariando cheered and ran forward first.

As far as I could see with my eyes, I finally saw the boundary line escaping the contaminated zone.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

If the scenario goes as planned, it is normal for there to be someone chasing Ariando.

No matter how early we started, we wasted two days in vain, so we needed to be careful.

I had to be especially careful from the moment I entered the city.

“Put on the hood. You’ll get caught.”

“Already?”

“Don’t look down on your family. I’m sure they’ve tracked you down quite close.”

“omg.”

Even though Ariando was wondering if that would be the case, he listened to me and obediently put on his hood.

Since he was short anyway, his identity would be suspected the moment he was seen by those looking for Ariando, but it was important not to reveal his face.

“Let’s just wash here, eat, and then move right away.”

“Not taking a day off?”

“There’s no time for that. Wash up as quickly as possible and come out. Even if you can’t, I’ll be leaving in two hours.”

Ariando wanted to leisurely enjoy the civilized life he had enjoyed for the first time in a long time, but I had no choice but to go in to wash up.

I, too, had not been able to wash because I had been living in the forest, so soaking in the hot water naturally relaxed my muscles.

“ha…”

It was my first time entering a contaminated area, so I couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Since I had to directly chase and fight with a monster, my body couldn’t help but feel nervous.

“When did you get hurt here?”

There were black bruises all over the body.

Yesterday, I got hurt and quickly took off the bandage, applied ointment, and bandaged it lightly.

Although the performance of the ointment was good, the awakening itself had a high regenerative power, so this could be considered a scratch.

It’s at a level where there’s no need to take potions.

There is a big difference between recovering from an injury when you are an ordinary person and recovering from an injury when you are an awakened person.