Ch.5353. Recruiting Soldiers

Sunlight shone on the pure white ceiling.

After a moment of confusion, a familiar sensation brought an automatic feeling of displeasure.

‘Shit.’

I groaned in pain briefly before adapting not long after.

It doesn’t hurt as much as I expected.

‘What’s going on?’

It feels like I’ve been given painkillers.

Anyway.

I tried to quickly gather my wits and look around… but I couldn’t turn my head, so that was on hold.

For now, I decided to lie still and focus on the sounds around me.

The mana density was quite low, and it seemed there was no one around as it was extremely quiet.

I must have made it out of the Labyrinth at least.

“…”

By the way, I could sense someone’s presence under the bed.

“-“

-Crack.

I tried to utter just one word, but an unnatural sound came from my throat.

‘Am I screwed?’

It wasn’t just that my muscles wouldn’t move—my entire body seemed completely stiff.

It’s a miracle I haven’t collapsed into convulsions right now.

“Hey, you-“

I managed to force out a voice with all my strength.

It was a dying voice, as if I were leaving my last words, so whoever heard it would surely come to help.

-Rustle.

Fortunately, as I predicted, something began to emerge from under the bed.

I slightly shifted my eyeballs and saw a familiar figure.

Golden hair with pitch-black eyes.

“…”

“Adel, are you alright?”

Lady Ainer was standing before me.

‘Why is she here?’

I could only stare at the lady looking down at me with cautious eyes. Even though I had questions, I simply couldn’t open my mouth.

“…It seems you can’t speak. No matter how much healing I try, you just won’t get better… I’m sorry, it’s because I’m incompetent.”

The lady continued speaking alone.

She’s probably here because she awakened as a priest after the coming-of-age ceremony, so she has a role to play, or maybe she just came because she was worried.

‘Hmm.’

Where is this place? What happened? Why are you here?

I wanted to ask many things, but it was still impossible in my current state.

If I had to describe my current condition, it felt like having taser guns attached to every joint in my body.

There’s no pain, but my muscles won’t listen to me and keep trying to move on their own.

Moreover, there was another similarity with taser guns—a suspicious energy was circling around my body.

‘Strangely, I’m overflowing with strength.’

Something different from mana was forcibly infusing vitality into my body.

Of course, since my entire body’s muscles were moving on their own, figuring out what this was would have to wait.

“First, while you were collapsed, the Labyrinth expedition ended, and now I’ll explain what happened outside in order.”

I listened attentively to the lady’s words.

***

Purple eyes looked down at me.

“Can you move your mouth?”

Silver hair blocked my peripheral vision.

In front of me, I could see Shiro holding an apple.

“…Yes.”

I opened my mouth and slowly chewed the apple.

After waking up and a few hours passing, I could now manage such minor movements.

‘Seems like I end up lying down every time I enter the Labyrinth.’

While it’s true things have been going well since I became an explorer, the frequency of me ending up in bed seems to have increased just as much.

I’ve become so accustomed to seeing a white ceiling when I open my eyes.

Anyway.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Mr. Adel.”

Priest Airi,

“Yes, I’m really relieved.”

Lady Ainer.

“…Adel, eat.”

Shiro, bringing an apple to my mouth.

There were three visitors in the hospital room where I was lying.

‘I understand why Airi is here.’

This was a hospital room in the Polaris Guild building.

They let outsiders use the room for free, and no one would complain about guild members coming in.

But.

“…”

Lady Ainer, looking at me with gleaming black eyes.

Why is she here?

“I was really surprised though.”

Just as I was wondering, Airi spoke proudly.

“Mr. Adel completely purified the Demonic Blood contamination on the fifth floor. I can’t tell you how happy I was when I first heard the news.”

“…I see.”

For reference, right after I caught the Watcher, they said all the Demonic Blood on the fifth floor had been purified.

Then the operation team moved up to the next floor and encountered another Watcher.

However, Kyle defeated the Watcher using the maze mechanism I had taught him, completely purifying the sixth floor as well.

“I truly mean it.”

“…I see.”

It seemed my contributions to this operation were being highly praised.

Airi must be unable to contain her dopamine seeing her investment target rising day by day.

And finally, she added one more thing.

“Yes! I think it would be good for me to join Mr. Adel’s party now. Despite appearances, I was originally in a leading party on the sixth floor. I won’t be a burden.”

“…I see.”

It might seem insincere to keep responding with the same phrase, but in my current state, this was the best response I could manage.

In my heart, I sincerely welcomed Airi’s participation in the party.

‘I needed a priest anyway.’

Unless I had someone with exceptional talent like Shiro whose growth tree I could completely control, it made sense to bring in a fully-developed talent from the 7th-8th floors.

But such high-level priests take too long to find, and mid-level priests don’t differ much in skill.

‘And there was someone who used “Regeneration” before.’

Resurrection magic, usually exclusive to high-level priests, that doesn’t live up to its name.

When used on someone half-dead, it could extend their life like emergency treatment.

It might seem useless, but when you’re wounded beyond what healing can handle, it’s the only solution to save your life.

After consuming two 3rd-grade Sources, I couldn’t expect such dramatic healing amounts anymore.

‘Absolutely necessary.’

A high-level priest presumed to be affiliated with the Polaris Guild.

It would be fine to travel together until I could bring that person along.

Though it sounds cruel, if Airi didn’t grow, I would have to abandon her.

After all, what she wanted when investing in me was to advance beyond the 9th floor. It was an unavoidable choice.

“Mr. Adel’s influence has grown so much that you no longer need to be concerned about other guild members’ opinions.”

Feeling guilty for thinking such thoughts, I saw Airi continuing with a brighter expression.

“It’s not just anyone backing Mr. Adel, but the deputy commander of the Imperial Second Guard!”

“I didn’t hear about that?”

I blurted out in surprise.

“What? You didn’t know they were from the Imperial Second Guard?”

She asked with confusion.

“No, that’s not it… why would they back me…?”

That was what surprised me.

If it was just a brief encounter, that would be one thing, but why would they care about me?

‘We fought so messily.’

I didn’t show overwhelming strength or use superior intelligence to defeat monsters.

I just got hit, got back up, and kept getting up to hit back.

“If it weren’t for you, Mr. Adel, there would have been many casualties, and the operation might have ended in failure.”

“I… see.”

After I responded, Airi walked to the door.

“Well then, you can bring them in now.”

As she said that, someone entered as if they had been waiting, pulling a cart stacked with all kinds of documents.

“No, not documents…”

“Yes. Letters.”

There was a pile of letters that seemed to number well over hundreds.

“Most are guild recruitment offers or letters from noble families. Oh, of course, I didn’t check the contents. I’m just telling you what I saw on the outside while organizing them.”

“…Why all this?”

Despite my physical pain, I couldn’t help but speak as my mind grew dizzy from this development.

“The commander of the Imperial Guard has been spreading tales of your heroic deeds everywhere.”

“At least in Plaza 2 where you’re staying, there’s probably no one who doesn’t know you now, Mr. Adel.”

This is dizzying.

***

Night had fallen.

Airi and Lady Ainer had left long ago, and even Shiro, who had insisted on staying and sleeping together, had returned to her room.

The bed was too narrow, and sleeping together would force our bodies to press against each other.

“Phew.”

After sunset, my body definitely felt better.

Getting up completely was still a bit difficult, but lifting my head or moving my arms was now as easy as eating cold porridge.

‘But there are so many letters.’

I wanted to go through each one and examine them, but unfortunately, the letters were too far away.

I tried to reach for them, thinking I could grab them if I just sat up a little, but ultimately realized my limitations and closed my eyes.

-Creak.

At that moment, someone opened the door and entered the room.

“Who is it?”

“You don’t need to know.”

A woman’s voice that exuded dignity from the first word.

“…I see. You’re someone I don’t know.”

“That’s right.”

She sat in the chair placed in front of the bed.

From the corner of my vision, golden hair and red eyes came into view.

“May I ask what business brings you here?”

“…You speak at length.”

I immediately incorporated her feedback.

“What brings you here?”

“I came to deliver a brief message. It’s nothing too important, so don’t be tense.”

“I understand.”

She took one of the letters from the cart, opened the envelope, and handed me the contents.

It was the most luxurious letter paper I had ever seen in my life.

…It bears the imperial emblem.

“Read it slowly.”

“Yes, I will.”

I did my best to read the letter the princess had handed me.

Overall, it contained ordinary content.

You did well, your contributions are good, your abilities are good. I’ll acknowledge you.

It was that typical WWE stuff, so I was reading it with a fairly light heart.

“…”

But then I came across a part I couldn’t quite understand, so I read it several times.

“…I don’t think this is the case, but I’ll ask just in case. Are you repeatedly reading because you don’t understand the words?”

She seemed to find it strange that I was reading one section multiple times.

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then why?”

I couldn’t bring myself to continue speaking.

‘The Imperial Guard, what the hell.’

I was being scouted for the Imperial Guard.

And not just any guard unit, but the one directly responsible for escorting the princess.

“…”

Not knowing how to react, I looked up at the princess, and—

“You must be confused, wondering what intentions this woman before you has, and what she’s thinking right now.”

She showed a faint smile.

It wasn’t the kind that showed affection or anything like that.

“Rather than the Imperial Guard… Yes. I want to make you my personal soldier. Not someone who serves the imperial family, but someone I can use personally, and if we take the types of orders to the extreme—”

It felt like information I shouldn’t hear, but it was already too late.

“—such as assassinating someone of imperial blood, for instance.”

A benevolent smile formed on the princess’s face.

“Well, it’s not something that will actually happen, so don’t worry. Anyway, what do you think?”

“…”

The princess seemed to be recruiting for a coup.