Ch.39Chapter 39 – Assault (1) (Revised)

“I get to eat meat after months!!!! Delicious!!!!!”

I made a mistake.

I felt unnecessary pity for Christina.

It was fine when I brought Christina to the restaurant, we placed our orders, and Sera selected dishes for everyone.

I had asked her for a favor, and her pitiful mumbling had bothered me.

Lastly, Sera had also given permission.

There should have been nothing to worry about, and this moment should have been an enjoyable mealtime.

And when the food arrived, Christina shouted joyfully and began eating.

“Every day it was just gruel… To have a proper meat dish…”

People around us began to stare at the nun who was cutting her meat and praising it enthusiastically.

She wasn’t just expressing admiration—she was eating while shedding tears.

‘What kind of life has she been living?’

As I sighed watching this miserable scene, Sera muttered to me with a serious face.

“…I think we made a mistake.”

“Indeed.”

It’s not that I don’t feel sorry for Christina.

I just didn’t expect her to overreact like this.

I never knew that treating someone to a meal could feel like torture for the one paying.

If I had known she would be like this, I wouldn’t have brought her to this restaurant.

“Let’s pretend we don’t know her.”

Sera nodded and carefully moved her chair closer to mine.

We pretended to be unrelated customers who happened to be seated together.

“Benefactoooor! Lady Seraphiiiina! Thank you so muuuch! I’m so glad to be aliiive!”

Sera and I desperately turned our heads away from Christina, whose excitement had skyrocketed after tasting the meat.

I silently prayed that she wouldn’t acknowledge us.

+

“Thank you for the meal! I’ll take care of the task you requested!”

“…Yes.”

Am I doing the right thing?

Seeing Christina like this honestly made me quite anxious.

“Ah, where should I deliver it to? The guild?”

“Sera and I will be at the guild early in the morning, so check there first. If we’re not there, please leave a message with Nina.”

“Yes! Leave it to me!”

Christina walked backward energetically, and Sera and I waved goodbye, then quickly lowered our hands.

‘I want to rest.’

That was my first thought after watching Christina leave, her eyes slightly crazed from tasting meat.

“Next time, we should just go by ourselves.”

“Agreed.”

I agreed with Sera, who looked equally exhausted, and we returned to the inn.

The darkened streets were lit by streetlamps, with people heading home visible between them.

After walking for a while, Sera spoke up.

“Kay?”

“What?”

“Earlier, what did you talk about with Eve?”

At Sera’s question, I recalled the excuse I had prepared.

“She gave me information about the undead situation. She must have heard about it somewhere.”

“Is that all?”

“That’s all.”

I answered Sera’s question.

For a moment, Sera said nothing.

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not.”

“You’re lying.”

Sera firmly denied my denial.

“After you came out of there, you’ve been constantly watching your surroundings.”

Sera was right.

Since then, I had been constantly checking for any potential test subjects or Emiris Order people who might be around.

Of course, being vigilant didn’t mean I could catch them, but there was no reason not to be cautious.

‘She noticed well.’

I thought I was acting normally, but this girl had seen through me.

Sera was silent for a moment.

She seemed to be choosing her words.

But then she shook her head and said with a smile:

“If something happens, please tell me.”

“It’s my business, isn’t it?”

“We’ve been together for more than just a day or two, you know?”

Sera looked at me.

Like Eve, she was looking at me with a very worried face.

“Alright.”

After that, neither of us spoke further.

We walked quietly and soon arrived at the inn.

After entering and wishing each other goodnight, we went to our respective rooms.

‘So there are people who worry about me.’

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

All the more reason not to make them worry.

+

The next day, I headed to the guild with Sera, who was somehow already awake early in the morning.

As usual, we opened the door and entered, passing by an adventurer reading a newspaper in the corner and a woman who appeared to be part of his group, when we were checking the request forms.

“Kay, I’m sorry, but could you come over here?”

Nina called me separately.

“It seems to be about the previous incident.”

“This might take a while.”

After parting with Sera, I headed toward Nina.

Nina guided me to a reception room inside the guild.

“First of all, I’m glad to see you don’t seem to be injured.”

“Were you worried about me?”

“You’re my assigned adventurer, of course I’d worry.”

Nina smiled and handed me two pieces of paper.

One was a certificate confirming the completion of the previous request.

And the next one.

As I checked it, Nina spoke.

“Congratulations.”

I heard Nina’s words as I confirmed the paper.

“You’ve been promoted to D-rank.”

I asked the smiling Nina who was congratulating me.

“Already?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t expect to be promoted so soon after my last rank-up.

“Aren’t there interviews or other procedures?”

“Due to your consistently good attitude, we decided to promote you quickly based on previous records.”

In other words, it was a special exception.

“We’ve decided to approve D-rank promotions for both you and Christina, who had been stuck at E-rank for a long time.”

I had heard that Christina was also E-rank before.

Suddenly, we became promotion buddies.

But as they say, nothing in this world is free—there must be a catch.

“In exchange, I must participate in the large-scale subjugation, right?”

“That’s right. Actually, this subjugation was planned to be for D-rank adventurers and above.”

It seems my guess was correct.

I just nodded, and Nina smiled slightly and said:

“But you know such special exceptions are rare, right?”

“Yes.”

It feels a bit like she’s showing off, but a promotion is a promotion.

Since it’s connected to my future income, I decided to let it go.

“Unlike the subjugation team that will eliminate the undead outside, we need people to enter the columbarium that appears to be the source. Since you and Christina are the only ones who have been inside, we’ve been asked to ensure your participation.”

Nina added, “I hope you understand.”

“The entry team will have powerful individuals dispatched from the church, so it might be relatively safe?”

That’s what Nina thought, but it was impossible to know for sure.

Test subjects from the Emiris Order would be coming too.

Since Eve had witnessed the scene, a confrontation between them and me was almost certain.

‘What should I do?’

Following this flow, would the test subjects also be in the entry team?

“…Mr. Kay? Hello?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something else.”

I was briefly lost in thought about how to deal with them and didn’t hear Nina calling me.

Nina sighed and said:

“I know you’re happy, but please listen until the end.”

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

She must have thought I was distracted because I was happy about the promotion.

“So, tomorrow morning, representatives from another church will be coming to the guild…”

“Are they asking to meet me?”

“Yes. They said they want to check your character in person.”

Since she mentioned a church, I needed to confirm something first.

“Is it the Emiris Order?”

“No. That order doesn’t pay much attention to the guild.”

Nina denied it.

Fortunately, it seemed I wouldn’t encounter the Emiris Order here.

Then I’d have to be careful about leaks elsewhere.

“Then which church is it?”

“It’s a request from the Jeolei Order.”

It was an order I’d never heard of before.

“Can I refuse?”

“Huh, why?”

“Recently, I’ve had some unpleasant experiences with churches.”

Perhaps if I met with that person, something might leak through them.

I thought it would be better to avoid meeting church people, except for Christina, regardless of their denomination.

“I’m sorry, but I’d like to decline…”

-Knock knock

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of the guild reception room.

“Huh? I put up a sign saying it’s in use…”

As Nina stood up and approached the door, I sensed killing intent.

‘Already!’

I quickly pushed Nina aside.

The door was roughly pushed open, and a woman entered the reception room.

Pink hair, red eyes.

Very light clothing with a lot of exposure.

Judging by her posture, she seemed to have kicked the door open.

She was holding a small hammer in her hand.

Without hesitation, she swung the hammer at me, so I crossed my arms to block her arm.

“Oh my?”

The woman’s arm was lifted in the air, and the hammer didn’t touch my body.

I raised my leg and kicked her in the stomach.

“Ah, that’s not a good idea.”

-Thud!

I ignored her and kicked anyway.

And then I realized why the woman had been so relaxed.

“Does it hurt?”

The woman asked with a leisurely smile.

I jumped back and shook my leg.

I had kicked her while wearing greaves with metal guards, but my leg hurt more instead.

This was despite the woman not wearing any armor.

“Now it’s my turn?”

I dodged the woman swinging her hammer again.

‘She’s only targeting me.’

She wasn’t even glancing at Nina, who was almost defenseless and didn’t know what to do.

‘So I’m the target.’

Continuously dodging her attacks, I eventually found myself backed against a wall.

“Nowhere to run now?”

If there’s no way out, make one.

I jumped backward to avoid the woman swinging her hammer.

Then I kicked off the wall, grabbed her from behind, and seized her waist.

I jumped toward the window.

“Huh? Wait, hold on”

As the woman tried to resist with a surprised voice, I quickly lifted her up.

I had already confirmed that this woman’s skin was tough.

Using her as a shield, I broke through the window and fell outside the guild.

“Hey, wait, stop, stop!”

-Crash!

Breaking through the window, I released the woman and used her as a cushion, rolling over her to escape.

Following the law of gravity, the woman fell to the ground, and I stepped on her as I moved away from the spot.

Stepping on her felt like stepping on a stone rather than a person.

-Crack!

“Damn… Looks like I broke something weird again.”

The woman complained.

It seemed there had been a cart or something, as wheels and wooden sticks began to roll around.

But I didn’t have time to worry about that.

The woman got up as if she felt no pain at all.

“Isn’t this a bit too much?”

The woman stood up without a single injury.

Glass fragments fell on her.

-Pitter-patter…

“It’s fine because it’s me, but normally people would be seriously injured by this, you know?”

The woman moved away from the spot, casually receiving the glass fragments as if they were rain.

Her lightly worn clothes were slightly torn by the glass fragments, but not a single drop of blood appeared.

The woman placed the small hammer on her shoulder and stood in front of me.

“Well then, what’s next?”

At her words, I drew the sword from my waist instead of the greatsword.

The greatsword was too large to face that one-handed hammer.

“Oh my, I thought you’d try to cut me with the greatsword”

Without answering, I rushed at her with the sword.

The exchange between the woman and me was almost entirely my offensive.

It was mostly me attacking and occasionally dodging when the woman counterattacked.

The woman just took the hits and occasionally counterattacked.

And I was at a disadvantage.

‘What is she made of?’

Even when cut with a sword, it didn’t seem to cut.

Rather, the sword seemed to bend slightly.

After attacking like that several times, the woman suddenly stepped back.

“Ah, you’re quite excellent, but your weapon is lacking. The weapon.”

Since it was true, I had nothing to say.

I was considering how to somehow incapacitate her and escape when I sensed someone behind me.

“I don’t think I can see everything by myself?”

“I suppose not.”

I quickly twisted my body to dodge, and a staff passed through where the back of my head had been.

The pink-haired woman whistled and said:

“Good reaction speed”

It was the adventurer who had been reading the newspaper earlier.

I hadn’t seen his face because of the newspaper, but now I could see he was an old man with white hair and beard.

I dodged the old man swinging his staff and counterattacked with my sword.

After fighting like that for a while, my sword flew away.

“Ah, he lost his sword.”

The woman added annoying commentary.

I jumped backward to avoid the swinging staff.

‘…That…’

I saw a cart wheel that seemed to have rolled here from the cart I had broken earlier.

I kicked it up and grabbed it.

“Fighting with a cart wheel? Is his head…”

Ignoring the woman’s words, I deflected the staff with the cart wheel a few times, then caught the staff in the wheel spokes.

I intended to twist it and disarm him.

“Not bad!”

The old man shouted.

And then something bizarre happened.

‘What now?’

The staff suddenly shrank dramatically and transformed into a sword.

Of course, my strategy failed, and the cart wheel spun in the air.

I kicked the wheel toward the old man, who cut it with his sword.

Then, moving only my legs, I picked up a wooden staff.

I carefully dodged to avoid the sword and aimed for the old man’s head with the staff.

However, the old man had no intention of getting hit and dodged lightly.

He was smiling slightly, as if enjoying himself.

‘This won’t work.’

Fortunately, during that time, I was able to reach where my sword had fallen.

I threw the staff and picked up the sword this time.

Then I fought with the sword.

However, even after one or two exchanges, it didn’t seem like the match would be decided.

‘This man is no ordinary person.’

Cold sweat ran slightly down my back.

“Hup!”

As the man lightly deflected my sword upward, I rotated my body and tried to punch his face.

The man dodged lightly, but fortunately I had bought time and regained my stance.

Then the man’s weapon transformed into a halberd.

‘What the hell is that weapon?’

Barely dodging the swinging halberd, I tried to get close to the man, but then his weapon changed to a dagger and began to deflect my sword.

Meanwhile, the woman seemed content to watch and didn’t intervene.

After exchanging several sword strikes and creating distance, I thought:

‘A ridiculously tough woman and an old man whose weapon transforms.’

After the old man intervened, the woman didn’t join in.

So I had managed to escape somehow, but I wasn’t sure what would happen if they both attacked at once.

Feeling cold sweat from tension, I pointed my sword.

The old man slowly looked at me and said:

“…Could you be…”

The old man seemed to be searching his memory, then spoke as if he remembered:

“A holy knight of the Emiris Order?”

“Not at all.”

I answered verbally, but I was surprised inside.

I knew that my fighting style was based on the techniques of that order’s holy knights, but I didn’t expect him to notice after seeing me for such a short time.

‘He’s no ordinary person.’

I gripped my sword more tightly.

And the pink-haired woman, seemingly surprised, began questioning the old man:

“Huh, Grandpa Rudger, was that person a holy knight?”

“Didn’t you hear him say he wasn’t, Aria?”

“Are you getting senile?”

“Did glass fragments get in your ears?”

Rudger and Aria.

I tensed my muscles as I watched the two approaching me.