Chapter 38: Farewell, Meeting (2)

Chapter 38: Farewell,
Meeting (2)

Looking
at the sun, it wasn’t too late. I looked at Diana’s watch and saw
that it was only 12 noon.

“We’re
going to meet the client, get paid, and then we’ll get together for a
drink tomorrow evening. What do you think? Do you want to go to the
temple first, now that you have received a blessing?”

‘The
temple.’

The
temple reminded me of Serif Adeline’s face, a woman who wore a
suspiciously suspicious, crazy vibrating cross necklace.

The
all-white cat who had given me a strangely favorable, sympathetic
gaze.

–
Head to the Labyrinth.

–
There you will gain experience, make allies, and grow stronger.
Strong enough to face whatever dangers come your way.

–
That’s my personal request.

She
offered to appraise the blessings herself, free of charge, as part of
her personal favor, but⋯

‘That’s
a pain in the ass.’

The
status window was better than the temple appraisal ability.

As
long as I had a status window, there was no reason to travel to the
temple on my own unless I was looking for a special miracle.

‘After
all, the reason I went to the temple in the first place was to
confirm the Blessing of the Question Mark, and the second time was to
confirm the Curse of Grumpy.’

I
was cut off at the entrance for a pacification ritual, but whatever.

‘I
suppose I should go, for the future, but…’

Priests
are quite a valuable resource.

Serif
is a high ranking priest in the Earthmother Order, and she’s even
favorably disposed towards me.

It
wouldn’t hurt to keep visiting and making connections but that was no
reason to go ‘right now’.

Can
I complain a bit? I’m honestly in a lot of pain right now. I want to
lie on the ground, stretch my legs, and sleep right now.

‘Two
weeks of traveling is exhausting enough, but two weeks in a
labyrinth, that’s horrible.’

I
didn’t plan to stay this long in the first place. I was just going to
do the second floor, but then I got stuck on the fifth floor and
things got out of hand.

‘I’m
sure Diana is worried.’

The
guy who said he was going to the second floor hasn’t been back in
almost three weeks, so I’m sure good, sweet Diana is worried.

‘And
I need to find out where Grumpy and Jeremy are.’

We’d
gotten separated on the second floor, and I was a little worried
about them, too.

I
decided to take care of the immediate task at hand, rest for a few
days, and then go see Serif.

“I’ll
go to the temple later. I need to get some rest today. Let’s meet up
for a drink tomorrow evening.”

“Kahaha,
sure!”

I
agreed and parted ways with the Joy Hog party. We agreed to meet
another time to split the reward.

I
watched them walk away, then approached the guards near the entrance
to the Labyrinth.

“Hmph.
Moo, what’s going on?”

After
standing there bored, I suddenly asked the angular guard a question.

“By
any chance, didn’t any explorers named Grumpy and Jeremy come out of
the labyrinth last week or this week?”

“Grumpy
⋯
Jeremy ⋯
ah. I don’t know who Grumpy is, but I do remember a bitch named
Jeremy.”

Indeed.
Good thing I asked the guard.

I’m
glad they weren’t wasting their time checking IDs at every doorway.
At least they have a good memory.

It
took me two weeks to get up from the fifth floor, so they must have
been-

“It
was pretty loud, that suicidal chick. The bitch who just got up to
the second floor got hired as a porter for the 15th floor
expedition.”

“What?”

What
the hell is this?

***

“Ah.
You mean Jeremy the Goblin Slayer?”

The
Explorers’ Alliance, where I went to inquire about their party
member’s whereabouts, had even more devastating news.

“She
applied for a position as a porter for the expedition to Eden, the
safe zone on the 15th floor, the halfway point, and I was quite
impressed with the way her eyes lit up with pride.”

Since
I’ve been transported to the fifth floor, Jeremy has left.

“Even
if it’s an expedition, the middle floor is where only one in a
thousand novice explorers make it back alive, and even if they do,
it’ll be at least half a year before they return. Oh, and by the way,
you said your name was Balkan? Jeremy left a letter and some things
for you.”

“Oh.”

I
dumbly took the backpack and a letter from the Alliance employee.

I
carefully broke the seal and unfolded the letter.

[If
you see this letter, it means that you made it back safely from the
fifth floor.]

The
letter started like this and I read it slowly.

The
more I read, the more my head hurt, but I made it to the end.

“Huh.”

I
laughed out loud when I finished. Oops, my head suddenly felt hot.

To
summarize the content of the letter

After
I fell into the trap on the fifth floor, the two of them worked
together to break through the second floor and get out of the
labyrinth safely.

My
sacrifice, however, must have come as a shock to them in more ways
than one.

–
You’re still alive. You’re still alive. Master, I need the strength
to protect you.

‘Denshi
muttered something like that and left for somewhere else.’

Jeremy
didn’t seem to know where she went after that.

Alone
afterward, Jeremy traveled through another labyrinth with another
party to reach the second floor.

After
three labyrinth runs, she had earned the name Goblin Slayer, but she
was having trouble progressing.

–
You. Be our porter.

Catching
the eye of the Aman Sisters, mid-level explorers, she was offered the
opportunity to join the expedition as a porter on the supply mission
to Eden, a mid-level base on the 15th floor.

‘I
apologize for writing to you in such a one-sided manner. I have felt
a great lack in my journey with you, and I cannot continue to follow
your back forever. I write this letter in hopes that one day we’ll be
together again.’

With
that, she left for the 15th floor, with the mindset that she
shouldn’t hold me back,

“PS.
I’m leaving you with the love of my life.”

I
stared at the backpack, mesmerized. Fuck. This asshole-

“Gahhhhh!”

I
pulled it out of the backpack, and the employee stumbled back in
horror.

It
was a natural reaction. Anyone would be surprised to see a
pale-skinned head with hair in a bun sticking out of a backpack.

I
was so startled that I almost dropped Anya’s head but I held on
tight.

If
I dropped it, I’d crack her skull.

‘PS.
They say you can keep it clean if you just splash water on the crown
of her head once a month. I’ll be back with good news, Jeremy Olim.’’

“Oh,
no. You crazy bastard-“

I
grabbed the back of my head and collapsed from the sudden rise in
blood pressure.

***

~The
fifth floor of the Labyrinth, a cave on the third floor of a
hobgoblin village~

Denshi
smiled wryly at the hobgoblins, all covered in axe marks.

‘As
expected, my master.’

She
pulled out the map in her arms and unfolded it.

This
is the right place. The place where my master fell to the fifth floor
and spent the most time. He had survived the fifth floor.

But
the map she was looking at now didn’t show his location. This meant
two things

‘Either
he’s dead, or he’s out of the labyrinth.’

Denshi
looked at the slave contract she always carried in her arms and
hugged it tightly with satisfaction. Her small chest heaved.

‘The
contract it’s still here.’

The
paper of a slave contract is specially treated so that when a party
dies, the contract is destroyed and the stamp on the paper
disappears.

But
his mark is not gone. It was proof that Balkan was still alive.

In
other words, he had made it through the fifth floor and out of the
labyrinth alive and well.

“Hah!”

A
sigh of relief burst out of her.

But
it won’t be easy to see him again. It will be at least two months
before they will have a chance to meet again.

Denshi
kissed her forearm without realizing it.

It
was like kissing his hand and a smile crept up the corners of her
mouth.

Denshi
immediately tugged at the leash around her neck.

Just
imagining the roughness of his gesture made her skin crawl.

“Stop.”

A
cold voice came from behind her.

Like
a doll, a four-armed woman stared at Denshi.

“You
have a long way to go. You can’t grow in a place like this.”

But
right now, Denshi’s immediate comfort was more important.

She
could have used this emotion to burn with joy that her master had
made it out of the labyrinth alive and unharmed.

Denshi
continued to enjoy a good time for a long while, squeezing her throat
and stimulating the back of her neck.

“⋯⋯”

The
four-armed woman, Inert, stared silently at Denshi, then silently
covered her face with her four hands.

“Did
[that person] really mark this perverted woman…? Seriously…?”

The
instructions Inert had received from [that person] were simple. Raise
Denshi to the level of a senior explorer.

At
first, she thought it would be a relatively easy task compared to her
previous assignments.

The
woman, Denshi, was talented. She had potential but most of all.

-My
master. I want the power to protect my own master. I will never lose
him again.

There
was a great deal of will and determination in her, and her venomous
eyes held the potential to reach great heights.

‘This
bitch will definitely be stronger than me,’ she thought.

Indeed,
when she focused on teaching her, she took to it instantly and grew
at an incredibly fast pace.

Up
until an hour ago, she hadn’t changed her mind but now, she backed
off a bit.

“⋯Haah.”

This
isn’t going to be easy.

***

“Denshi
⋯
Denshi ⋯
Hmm. I don’t recall any visits to the Explorers’ Alliance in recent
weeks.”

The
whereabouts of Grumpy were unknown.

“Oh,
that bitch? She packed up and left two weeks ago. I don’t know where
she was headed, but her eyes were glazed over, and she kept mumbling
something about her master.”

That’s
what the innkeeper at the inn where she stayed said.

“Heh.”

I
walked through the darkened streets of the Labyrinth City in a daze.

I’m
heartbroken. There’s no other way to describe my feelings.

The
party broke up again. One disappeared, and one went on an expedition
where it wouldn’t be strange to die at any moment.

‘Am
I really cursed to lose my party every time I enter the labyrinth?’

How
could something good not happen at least once?

What
made it worse was that I thought this party was going to last a
while.

Who
would have known that the two I bought at the lowest point after much
deliberation would explode in one go?

They
say that for every breakup, there’s a reunion, but this was so
fucking sudden that I was just dumbfounded.

I
just sighed heavily.

Do
I have to party with strangers again? Do I have to continue the
pointless emotional drain and boundaries? Do I have to stick my head
in the labyrinth again?

‘Yes.
Fuck it.’

I
have to head to the labyrinth anyway. This time, the thought was even
stronger.

‘Portal.
Fifth floor. Why does it feel like it’s pointed at me?’

I
had a feeling that none of this was a coincidence.

I
shook my head, ventilating my head as best I could.

But
just like the smell that lingered in the room, the remnants of Grumpy
and Jeremy floated around in my head. It would probably take quite a
while to forget them.

“Ha.”

It
had already happened. Instead of sighing, I looked to the future and
tried to think positive thoughts.

I
hear loud voices around me.

I
didn’t like the idea of walking down the street alone while everyone
else was busy eating, drinking, and playing.

When
times are tough, I need to cheer myself up.

I
decided to soothe myself with a cold beer tonight and start fresh
tomorrow morning.

‘I
miss Diana.’

I
couldn’t wait to heal, I missed her warm soup so much.

I
arrived at the inn to find it unusually dark and closed.

“It’s
closed. The curse has struck again.”

A
strange, all-black woman was muttering to herself in front of the
closed inn door.

Black
hair, styled in a high, flowing ponytail, red eyes and an
expressionless face.

Pale
brown skin with a subtle glow from the moonlight and a well-developed
muscular body without compromising her femininity.

She
wears a bold leotard with no eyes, and a black tail that tucks under
her cloak.

She
gives the impression of a black cat.

I
don’t recognize her, but I’ve seen her before. When was it?

‘Ah.
When we were lined up waiting to enter the Labyrinth.’

She
was the woman who the guards were nervously responding to.

I
remembered her because she had the same surname as Serif, Adeline.

But
now, with her cloak, she looked even more familiar.

[■■■■■
■■■Ne
Lv.7■]

The
status window gave me the answer. The suspicious duo had been
visiting Diana’s bar from time to time. One of them was unmasked and
looked quite strange.

‘The
other one was Zernier and this one is⋯’

Just
as I was thinking that, the woman in all black looked at me. Her red
eyes locked with mine from behind her helmet and in that moment, I
felt the world stop.

My
vision quickly faded away. The world plunged into darkness, revealing
only faint outlines.

I
instinctively drew my axe.

Crunch,
crunch, crunch.

My
hand broke out in a cold sweat.

‘What
was that? What did I almost get?’

I
was instinctively sure. I don’t know what the hell she just did, but
I almost died.

“Oh.
I’m sorry, I thought you were an enemy when you approached without a
sound.”

The
woman apologized profusely but I was suddenly very nervous, and my
head felt a little dizzy.

Her
face was expressionless, bordering on glaring, but her demeanor was
calm.

I
was momentarily wary, but she didn’t seem to have any intention of
antagonizing me.

‘Well,
there’s no reason to be hostile all of a sudden.’

I
remembered how Diana had treated the woman, and that alone made her
far more trustworthy than the rest of the people on the streets.

Carefully,
I tucked the axe into my waistband.

“It’s
all right. Are you a guest or⋯?”

“I
was hoping to be a customer, but I see it’s closed today.”

With
that, the woman gestured toward the inn with her chin.

A
piece of paper taped to the door said it was closed for the next
week.

Diana
had never closed the inn before, which was odd.

“You,
by the way. You have a pretty good instinct.”

The
voice came from right next to me. It was like she was whispering next
to my ear.

No,
it wasn’t a whisper.

There
was a hint of hot breath. It was really next to my ear.

The
woman had moved several meters to reach me in a split second, without
me noticing.

“You’ve
got a good sense of movement at that level. Your reaction time is
excellent. There’s a reason Diana recruited you.”

I
jerked my head around, and a pair of red eyes came into view,
glittering in the moonlight.

“Diana’s
deal too.”

The
eyes gazed at me as if she was gazing at a delicious meal, or a
coveted object.

“Would
you like to be taught by me?”

“⋯Yes?”

I
stiffened at the sudden suggestion. It wasn’t that I didn’t recognize
the offer.

‘Deal⋯what?’

She
was quite a difficult person to deal with.