episode_0042

The next morning.

Jeong Yu-sin entrusted the store to Silva and went to the Monster Dismantling Site.

When he returned after finishing his third trip to the labyrinth, Darmonde said that the head of the Monster Dismantling Site, who had been away, had returned.

The reckless head of the Monster Dismantling Site who once reigned over the back alleys of the eastern district.

An elf who was beaten like a dog by the spirit teacher Simus and reformed.

Although he had quit his reckless life, he still had influence in the eastern district, so he was likely to have information about the slave hunter group.

He entered the western district and walked for a while before arriving at the Monster Dismantling Site building.

It was the smell of blood that he had not smelled in a long time.

As he entered the dismantling site, Marlon recognized Jeong Yu-sin.

“Oh! Aren’t you that Barbaroi?”

“Yes. Where is the director?”

“I’m here.”

An elf with an eye patch walked out from among the dismembered monsters.

The elf wearing baggy work clothes exuded a decadent atmosphere.

Head of the Monster Dismantling Site.

Aldaine Ashwood.

“What is it?”

Aldaine put his hands in his work clothes and approached slowly.

“Do you know anything about the slave hunters?”

Aldaine chuckled at Jeong Yu-sin’s question.

“I know. Did Darmonde tell you about me?”

“What are their names? Where are they?”

Aldaine came closer and stared intently into Jeong Yu-sin’s eyes.

Jeong Yu-sin frowned.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Aldaine grinned.

“It’s nothing. I’ll help you. It’ll take a day. But there’s a condition.”

“What is it?”

“Help me with some work.”

Jeong Yu-sin’s expression crumpled.

He was in charge of managing Darmonde’s inn. He wanted to go back quickly.

“Are you talking about now?”

“Yes. That’s my condition.”

“Hoo. I understand.”

Jeong Yu-sin changed into work clothes and worked with Marlon.

Thanks to his increased level and insight, he was able to dismantle monsters easily.

As soon as he started working, he concentrated instantly.

All distracting thoughts disappeared, and he poured all his mind into cutting, chopping, and tearing.

His anxious mind calmed down quietly.

Evening came.

The people who finished work gathered in the dismantling site’s yard and started grilling meat on iron plates.

Jeong Yu-sin declined the people’s offers.

He had been away from the inn all day today.

Silva must have done everything alone, and he felt sorry for that fact.

He strongly felt that he should go and show his face.

Aldaine said from behind Jeong Yu-sin as he left.

“I’ll go tomorrow evening. Stay put.”

“Yes.”

He hurried his steps and arrived at Darmonde’s inn.

The inn was quiet. Silva was already done with work and was probably sleeping, as she was not on the first floor.

Jeong Yu-sin looked around the inn once, scratched his head, and went up to his room on the second floor.

He dragged his tired body to his room and threw himself on the bed. Darkness came.

* * *

The next day at dawn.

Feeling sorry, Jeong Yu-sin woke up early and helped Silva clean the inn’s hall and did the dishes in the kitchen.

Jeong Yu-sin and Silva worked frantically from morning to evening.

Night fell. They let out the last customer and cleaned up the inn’s hall completely.

Jeong Yu-sin and Silva sat on the stairs at the inn entrance, holding bottles of alcohol.

Silva took a sip of alcohol and sniffed.

“It looks like it’s going to rain.”

Jeong Yu-sin looked up at the sky.

It was a dark night sky, so it was difficult to tell.

He felt moisture in the night breeze that brushed past him.

Is it the first rain of early summer?

His heart was in turmoil.

‘That’s right!’

Weapons. Equipment was needed. The longsword broke on the 5th floor of the labyrinth. The light armor was also completely tattered.

The only usable weapon was the slave hunter’s dagger he had in his possession.

It was taken from Dito’s son.

“I have to stop by the blacksmith for a moment. Silva, please go in and sleep first.”

Silva tilted her head at Jeong Yu-sin’s words.

“At this time? Of course, there are places open, but how about going tomorrow?”

“I have something urgent to buy.”

Jeong Yu-sin got up and ran to the blacksmith in the western district.

Boron’s smithy was closed.

“What is it?”

He grabbed a passing dwarf and asked.

“Ah? Boron, that friend? The new assistant swung the hammer and accidentally hit him in the head, and he’s laid up.”

It seemed that the Einhopper with the hand tremor engraving had finally done something.

Jeong Yu-sin turned around and returned to the inn.

He couldn’t go to another blacksmith.

The problem was that he didn’t bring much money because he expected to buy equipment at a low price.

‘Damn it.’

He felt frustrated, and nothing went as planned.

He shouldn’t have gone to the blacksmith late in the evening in the first place.

Jeong Yu-sin walked quickly.

His head became hot, and his heart started to beat faster.

Rain started to fall, one or two drops at a time, under the dark night sky.

‘Why is this happening.’

Jeong Yu-sin swept back his increasingly wet hair once and slowed down his walking speed.

He walked for a while and arrived back at the inn.

Thump!!

He opened the inn door and went inside.

The dark inn was quiet.

Most of the lodgers had gone to the labyrinth, so it was always quiet at night.

But this silence was different.

Jeong Yu-sin’s head slowly turned.

A wooden box was placed on the table. The seat Jeong Yu-sin often sat in. The seat closest to the counter.

Jeong Yu-sin approached the box as if possessed.

A strong smell of blood flowed from the box.

With trembling hands, he opened the box.

Squeak.

The entrance of the box slowly opened, revealing the contents.

One head of a middle-aged female gnome.

Three heads of small gnome children.

One of the small heads was a face he already knew.

The eyeballs of all four heads had been gouged out.

The corners of their mouths were stretched to their ears.

Their mouths were filled with silver coins and mashed food.

The children’s faces were severely distorted, as if they had suffered until just before their death.

“Uweaaaak!!!”

Jeong Yu-sin bent over and vomited.

The reason Dito betrayed the useless party.

The reason Dito tried to kill him.

That reason was contained in the box.

Thump!!

The inn door opened.

Jeong Yu-sin raised his head.

Aldaine was standing there.

“It’s suddenly raining. I knew the weather was bad.”

Aldaine, wearing baggy work clothes, glanced at the box and said.

Thud. Thud.

Aldaine shook off the moisture from his work clothes and approached Jeong Yu-sin.

Squeak.

Thump.

Aldaine closed the box placed on the table.

Jeong Yu-sin stared blankly up at Aldaine.

“Why are you staring blankly like that?”

Aldaine bent down and put his hand on Jeong Yu-sin’s shoulder.

“Get a grip.”

Aldaine patted Jeong Yu-sin’s shoulder.

“He can’t get a grip.”

Slap!!!

Jeong Yu-sin’s face turned. His cheek was burning.

Light returned to Jeong Yu-sin’s eyes.

Aldaine grinned.

“I’ve got information. Do you want to hear it?”

Jeong Yu-sin nodded.

Aldaine stood up and shouted.

“Hey, come in.”

Several people entered the inn entrance with formality.

There was a boar beastkin, a cat beastkin, and a lizard beastkin, and there were also elves and dwarves. There were some familiar faces from the Monster Dismantling Site.

“Check if there are any ambushes here. Clean this up.”

Aldaine covered his nose and pointed to the vomit.

Aldaine’s subordinates scattered and entered the second floor and the kitchen.

One of the subordinates brought a mop and broom from the warehouse and cleaned up the vomit.

“Sit down.”

Aldaine sat at a nearby table.

And pointed his finger at the opposite side.

Jeong Yu-sin sat silently in the seat Aldaine pointed to.

Aldaine took out a piece of paper from his pocket and shook it.

“Can you read?”

“Not well.”

A hoarse voice leaked from Jeong Yu-sin’s mouth.

“I’ll read it to you.”

Aldaine began to read the note.

“The name of the slave hunter group is Crimson Hunters.”

“They came from the Western Empire, laundered their identities in the Southeastern Lionel Kingdom, and gathered in the Labyrinth City.”

“These bastards have a lot of money. They’ve been kidnapping people from the Eastern Union and making a decent living. Karin is trying to stop them, but frankly, it’s not enough.”

“…30 low-level executives, 1 mid-level executive. That’s it.”

Aldaine read all the words written on the note, rambling, and then yawned.

Jeong Yu-sin looked at Aldaine.

“Where are those bastards now?”

“In the eastern district.”

“Why are you leaving those bastards alone in the Labyrinth City?”

“Those guys are just bottom-of-the-barrel scum who only care about money. These guys are not the only ones. The high-ranking people of the Labyrinth City have more to do than that. The guards are busy too.”

“Why on earth…”

“Did you come to appeal to me?”

Aldaine’s head tilted to the side.

“Did you come to say that the laws of the Labyrinth City are wrong and there is no justice? You pathetic mixed-blood Barbaroi, get a grip. You seem to think you’re something because you’re grinning among good people?”

Jeong Yu-sin glared at Aldaine.

Aldaine raised his finger and scratched his eye patch.

“Darmonde, Karin, Mion, Simus, Luke, Ashur.”

“Director, we found a wolf beastkin in the backyard warehouse. It looks like a strong drug was forcibly administered.”

The cat beastkin who came out of the kitchen interrupted Aldaine’s words.

“I’m talking now. You bastard.”

Aldaine glared at the cat beastkin, his one remaining eye flashing.

“I’m…I’m sorry. Director.”

The beastkin trembled and lowered his head.

Jeong Yu-sin gritted his teeth.

‘Silva.’

The face of the beastkin who smiled quietly flashed through his mind.

Aldaine tapped the box.

“Can’t you tell just by looking? The slave hunters don’t touch the powerful. They touch the weak, the ones without backing, the city’s vermin. Look at that white wolf beastkin. He’s only drugged, but his limbs are intact, right?”

Aldaine leaned back comfortably in his chair and continued.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to snuggle into Mion’s skirt? Are you going to run to your swordsmanship teacher and grab his trouser legs? Can’t you stand alone without the people around you?”

The urge to kill surged.

Not only are they aiming for his life, but they are also giving a few pennies to a starving child and making them commit murder.

Those bastards who gouged out the eyes and tore the mouths of the child and their family he had shown kindness to.

Jeong Yu-sin raised his head.

“I’ll kill them. All of them.”

Something dark flickered inside Jeong Yu-sin’s eyes.

Aldaine stared into Jeong Yu-sin’s eyes for a while and then grinned.

“That’s right. You’ve returned to the same eyes you had when we first met. No, it’s even better. Good eyes.”

The subordinates who had searched the inn thoroughly stood behind Aldaine.

“Take it out.”

Aldaine said nonchalantly.

“Yes.”

The elf answered and took out a set of clothes from a leather bag and placed it on the table.

A black coat.

“You don’t have any equipment, right? Wear it. It’s made of monster leather, so it’ll block most sword strikes.”

Jeong Yu-sin looked at the coat and nodded.

Clatter.

Aldaine unsheathed the sword he wore on his waist and placed it on the table.

“This is the sword I use. Try drawing it.”

The bodies of the subordinates standing quietly behind him twitched.

They didn’t say a word, but their eyes were as big as saucers.

A long sword with a reddish hue.

Jeong Yu-sin grabbed the sword.

Aldaine watched Jeong Yu-sin’s every action as if he wouldn’t miss a single moment.

Swoosh.

The sword revealed its form under the inn’s dim lighting.

It was not a typical double-edged sword.

A thin single-edged sword.

It seemed easy to cut flesh, but difficult to cut armor.

“It cuts well even though it looks like that.”

Clack.

Jeong Yu-sin put the sword back into its sheath.

“…Why are you doing this for me?”

At Jeong Yu-sin’s question, Aldaine rested his chin on his hand and pondered.

Not even the sound of a needle dropping could be heard in the inn.

Aldaine’s mouth slowly opened.

“If work is needed, I give work. If advice is needed, I give advice. If there’s someone full of murderous intent, I want to put a sword in their hand. In a word, it’s my heart.”

Aldaine got up from his seat.

“This is all I can do. Those slave hunters are deep in the eastern district, so be careful. I’ll give you a guide. I can’t fight with you.”

“…”

“Big Nose, stay here and be this friend’s guide. If you don’t want to go, just come back. Take this box and take that wolf beastkin too. We’ll protect them until the work is done.”

“Yes.”

The boar beastkin bowed his head and answered.

“I’m going.”

Aldaine got up from his seat and walked away, then stopped abruptly.

Then he returned to Jeong Yu-sin again and put his hand on his shoulder.

“I forgot to tell you this.”

The one eye of the head of the Monster Dismantling Site curved like a crescent moon.

“Welcome to the Labyrinth City.”