Ch.2020. Come with Me

“I hate spear-wielding bastards.”

I stared at them while holding my blood-stained sword.

If that guy had used an axe like in the old days, I would have contemplated murder about three more times before acting.

However, he was holding a spear.

There was no room for reconsideration.

“F-fuck. This bastard!”

The archer drew his bowstring.

They still didn’t seem to grasp the situation.

‘The priest first.’

I lowered my stance and blocked the arrow with my shield. Then I approached the defenseless priest and slit his throat.

Only the archer remained.

“H-hieek!”

He fell backward, trying to get away from me.

If he keeps going that way, he’ll reach a cliff.

“Even your arrow quality is garbage.”

I picked up the arrow he had shot. This guy claiming to be a Level 3 explorer was using mere iron arrows.

He didn’t even know how to imbue them with mana, and his physical abilities were ordinary.

At best, he was on par with a Level 2 ghost.

‘A one-man party, huh.’

When we were together in the past, they were all at Level 2, but it seemed the bald guy had hoarded all the resources.

I guess if looting was the goal, only one person needed to be strong.

That’s why he overestimated his strength and couldn’t respond to the ambush.

They all brought this upon themselves.

“Adel. What happened?”

Shiro approached and asked.

Finding the sight of corpses unpleasant, she stood on the opposite side of the bodies, using me as a wall.

“They were looters. They threatened to kill me first.”

“I see.”

“A-aack, aaaaargh-!”

While I was explaining the situation to Shiro, the archer’s scream echoed.

Stupidly, he had fallen off the cliff while trying to back away.

Falling from there wouldn’t kill him, but he’d enter the cold area called “Crystal Cave” that extends all the way to Level 4.

If you follow the cave all the way through, you reach Level 5, so it’s often used for speed runs.

Anyway.

“This is unpleasant, so let’s leave right away. I don’t think we need to deal with the corpses.”

None of their equipment was particularly tempting.

The spear was made of orichalcum, but…

‘…Unless it was solid mythril, I don’t care for spears.’

Taking things from corpses felt wrong, and the fact that the equipment was a “spear” bothered me even more.

Yes, morally speaking, it’s better not to loot corpses.

“Then let’s go-“

Suddenly, I sensed killing intent.

“Adel. There was something just now.”

Shiro called out to me while scanning the surroundings. So that killing intent wasn’t just my imagination.

-You. Stay still.

“!”

A voice echoed in my head.

“Shiro, did only I hear that?”

“I heard it too.”

Someone was using telepathy.

Considering that our pure magic resistance without equipment was close to zero, it meant the other party was a Level 5 or higher magician.

“…Let’s not move for now.”

Immense killing intent enveloped us from all directions.

I felt like a spell would pierce my head the moment I turned it.

In close combat, I might have a chance, but starting a fight without knowing the opponent’s location was reckless.

“Who are you? Why shouldn’t we move?”

I raised my voice to answer, and—

“I’m right beside you.”

A woman’s voice came from about 10 meters away.

Footsteps from two people. Both sounded light.

Are they both women?

“What is it?”

“I heard everything. You killed someone who used to be in the same party with you, and you have the audacity to act innocent?”

“It was self-defense. It’s unpleasant to even mention, but they threatened to rape the woman next to me.”

“…That’s absurd.”

They moved forward and approached us.

A magician with bright violet hair and blue eyes, wearing a pointed hat.

And an elegant woman with blonde hair and black eyes.

‘The Manis family.’

The blonde woman’s clothes bore the emblem of the Manis Count family.

Yesterday, Reneva said she was going to meet the young lady of the Manis family. Could this person be her?

“You defeated three people in an instant. You could have avoided killing them, right?”

While I was making these assumptions, the magician interrogated me.

She looked generally tired, as if she had used a bit too much mana on the way here.

“I haven’t been strong for long. I thought they would be difficult opponents for me, but they were weaker than expected.”

“…What flawless logic.”

Is that how it sounded from her perspective?

Well, I probably would have thought the same if I were in her position.

“By the way, are you guarding her alone? You look strangely tired.”

I asked out of genuine curiosity while trying to change the subject.

It’s a bit strange that a count’s daughter would have only one guard.

“…I have no reason to answer that.”

So she is alone.

“Shiro, let’s stop thinking about drawing weapons. I think surrendering would be more comfortable.”

“…Alright.”

I stopped Shiro, who was secretly preparing her “sword sheath,” and I also slowly placed my shield and sword on the ground.

I could probably win at this distance, but if she killed us because of a misunderstanding, we would truly become criminals from that point.

Besides, she’s a noble. Surrendering should be fine.

“Are you surrendering?”

The magician asked briefly.

“Yes.”

“Good choice. But just to be safe, I’ll cast a binding spell.”

Yellow strings appeared in the air and gradually tightened around our bodies.

This spell is typically used to capture unconscious beasts. It’s good once activated, but it’s too slow to be practical.

Moreover, my armor contains moonstone, so I could break free if I could tolerate some pain.

“Are you really okay with this?”

Shiro looked at me. She followed my lead, but was she uncertain?

I could tear through her binding spell if necessary.

Fortunately, this spell only hurts the person trying to break it.

“It’s fine. The person here seems to be the young lady of the Manis family, so nothing bad will happen to us. We just need to clear up the misunderstanding.”

But if she doesn’t like it, she should say so. Isn’t her trust in me a bit excessive?

“Alright.”

After about 20 seconds, our bodies were completely bound.

The young lady had been standing quietly behind the magician from the beginning and didn’t seem interested in speaking.

As a noble with a precious body, she probably didn’t want to get involved in such matters.

“What are you going to do with us now?”

“We’ll return to the base camp after camping. Of course, an interrogation will be necessary first.”

“Yes.”

With that, the magician took out an object from a spatial pocket.

“…!”

A glass orb the size of a fist.

Inside was an ultra-luxurious camp, a very familiar item.

-Click.

As she caressed the orb, the luxury camp inside appeared before us.

She even touched it once more, and protective magic was applied to the surroundings.

What an insane click show.

I have to take out a cheap tent from my backpack and unfold it piece by piece—this was truly unfair.

Moreover, I lost that backpack in the recent basilisk battle, so the one I’m carrying now is borrowed from the Polaris Guild.

“Come here.”

Without protest, we entered the tent.

Resisting orders while under a binding spell would be painfully unpleasant.

Anyway, the young lady had already settled into a single-person sofa, while Shiro and I sat on ordinary wooden chairs.

The magician sat across from us.

“I’ll ask questions one by one, slowly.”

I wasn’t particularly nervous. She wasn’t emitting killing intent anymore, which suggested she had lowered her suspicions.

But then.

“You’re using a scroll from the Polaris Guild. Did you loot it?”

-Boom.

Strong pressure was directed solely at us.

Even though it was just mana flow pressing down on us, its power was no joke.

‘So this is how she’s going to play it.’

Though slightly annoying, I had nothing to hide, so I told the truth.

“I received it from a priest named Airi at the Level 2 base camp.”

“…For what reason?”

Ah, damn. This is a long story. I guess I have no choice but to explain.

“Well, how it happened was—”

I began explaining everything, just for her.

“At first, on Level 1, I was in the same party as Shiro here…”

There was some useless information mixed in, but since it was all part of the narrative, I didn’t leave anything out.

“Then one party stole…”

“I realized exactly in the middle. Ah! They’re targeting my left arm. From that point on, I treated my arm with potions while deflecting attacks…”

And so, after about 10 minutes.

I finished the long story.

“…”

“…”

Why aren’t they saying anything?

“Um, is something wrong?”

“…You’re crazier than I imagined.”

The magician let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

“And you expect me to believe that? If such a thing had happened, it would have been widely known.”

“Why not? Which part don’t you believe?”

Is there really any unbelievable part?

In my opinion, there was nothing unrealistic about it. Actually, it’s strange to question unrealistic elements in a fantasy setting.

“Everything from beginning to end.”

The magician continued.

“I’ll grant that a creature called the Shade Predator appeared on Level 2. There have been similar legends.”

“Yes.”

“But the process doesn’t make sense. How could a person possibly do that?”

“What’s impossible about it?”

Apart from the appearance of the Shade Predator, everything was physically possible.

If this violet-haired magician’s common sense hadn’t been dulled by just “clicking” things from behind, she should understand.

“Haah… Fine. Let’s say I believe you deliberately offered your arm when fighting the Shade Predator. But taking a direct hit just because a priest appeared? That’s something no human could do.”

“…?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“…Haaah.”

The magician let out a deep sigh.

“I’ve already encountered so many monsters and I’m low on mana, and now this nonsense…”

As she muttered to herself in lamentation, the young lady approached her.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah. Yes, Ainer. I’m fine.”

The young lady, who had suddenly approached, patted the magician’s shoulder.

They’re even on a first-name basis. I thought she might be ill-mannered, but I was wrong.

“And you, shut your mouth. What nonsense are you spouting? Should I cut off your arm and reattach it right here to see?”

…No, her personality was just terrible.

‘That ring looks familiar though.’

A silver ring with a blue gem that emitted light.

For some reason, my eyes were drawn to it.

“Then cut off my arm now. If that proves it, I’m fine with it.”

I didn’t mind since I could reattach it with a potion.

However, Shiro’s eyes widened slightly at my words.

“…It’s hard to believe, but everything Adel said is true. Please believe us.”

“Hah? When one lie doesn’t work, the elf joins in. It doesn’t matter anyway. When we return to Level 2 tomorrow, I’ll tell Reneva and immediately—”

-BOOM!

A tremendous noise erupted.

It came from the ceiling of our tent.

‘It broke through the protective magic.’

Judging by the location and shape, it was undoubtedly a “Bird Strike” from a flying monster.

Flying mobs appear in boss zones, and they constantly crash into things and explode.

If guided well, they can even kill other NPCs. In other words, they’re incredibly annoying mobs.

“Ainer, hide behind me.”

Noticing that something was wrong, the magician hid the young lady behind her. Of course, she wasn’t protecting us.

‘What a bitch.’

-BOOM!

Anyway, that wasn’t the important thing right now.

Those monsters normally don’t approach from beyond the cliff. And their striking frequency was unusually high.

-BOOM!

Damn. Why did these annoying flying mobs appear here? And why are they crashing their heads every five seconds?

While I was wondering about this…

“…Young lady! The ring, quickly throw that ring off the cliff!”

The blue-gemmed silver ring that looked familiar.

That damn thing is an artifact.

“What are you saying? Don’t try anything strange and just sit still.”

“That’s an artifact that’s attracting monsters! If you want to live, throw it off the cliff quickly!”

Hearing my sincere words, she seemed to sense something was wrong and showed signs of trying to remove the ring.

The magician didn’t say anything either, which suggested she had some suspicion.

‘Of course she would.’

[Ring of Bewitchment.]

It had the effect of attracting monsters within 300 meters of the artifact.

“Quickly! Throw it!”

Just as she removed the ring.

-BOOM!

The tent completely collapsed.

Or more accurately…

“The ground is collapsing!”

It seemed a lot of monsters had fallen around us.

With Bird Strikes happening all around, there was no chance to escape. If we had to move, falling to the bottom of the cliff would give us the highest survival rate.

‘Damn it.’

I broke the binding spell with force and rushed to Shiro.

The pain of my limbs being torn apart was excruciating, but better than dying.

Before the ground completely collapsed, I broke Shiro’s binding as well and handed her a cold resistance scroll.

And then.

-CRASH!

Finally, the ground completely gave way, and all four of us fell off the cliff.

***

Cold.

No joke, it’s freezing cold.

My limbs were convulsing and dancing.

“Whew. Damn.”

Without even assessing the situation, I quickly tore the cold resistance scroll.

After that, my body felt a bit better.

Looking around, I found myself in a cave filled with mint-green to blue crystals, as expected.

‘It would be best if Shiro were with me.’

When people fall from a cliff simultaneously, they’re randomly assigned in pairs to the “Crystal Cave” map.

Random people, random locations.

Just like the Labyrinth of Aries, it behaves as unpredictably as a sheep.

Of course, I don’t know if sheep are actually that temperamental.

I looked around and soon discovered a beautiful girl trembling as she stared at me from a corner.

“D-don’t come near me! Criminal! You shameless person!”

The young lady of the Manis family.

Her name was “Ainer,” wasn’t it?

‘Hmm.’

After briefly assessing the surroundings, I understood the situation clearly.

This was the entrance to the Crystal Cave.

No one else was here besides the two of us, and monsters couldn’t even enter this area until we passed a certain point.

“Hmm.”

A half-barbarian in a confined space alone with a woman.

I slowly walked toward her.

The cold resistance scroll creates a blue circle with a short range, so we needed to be close.

“Excuse me, please come closer—”

“—I’m sorry for saying harsh things earlier! S-so please, don’t come near me, I’m begging you, don’t come!”

She kept backing away from me.

…This situation had become rather awkward.