The Blade of Misunderstanding (0)
"Yoo-cheon, danger... So, I killed them all."
I felt as if I'd been struck on the back of the head. Normally, I wouldn't have cared, but this wasn't a solo raid. Don't tell me... those people too?
"...You killed them all? Every single one?"
"Over there, there are weak mana signatures too. Three of them. I left them alone."
Fortunately, my worst fear hadn't come to pass. Still, explaining this to my party members was going to be just as much of a headache.
In any case, I didn't scold Arin. Her intentions, at least, had been for my sake, and above all, she simply hadn't known any better. Besides, while the situation was a bit awkward, I couldn't exactly blame her for killing kaijus.
"Thank you, Arin. But next time, could you talk to me first before taking a life?"
Arin nodded, her face pouting. I patted her head and placed the necklace around her neck.
"Go play for a bit, and I'll be right there. We're going to meet a friend today, too."
"...You're not coming with me?"
"Yeah, I still have some work left to do. But thanks to you, I'll be able to wrap things up quickly."
"..."
Perhaps because I had given her the necklace, Arin accepted it surprisingly easily. She began walking toward the golden gate, glancing back at me repeatedly as if reluctant to leave.
Then, she suddenly dashed back to me and grabbed my hand.
"...Refill."
The previous water droplet vanished, and a fresh blue droplet materialized, enveloping me. Only then did Arin glide swiftly over the snow and back through the gate. I smiled and waved.
Crackle. Once Arin was through, I severed the connection to the golden gate.
How on earth was I going to explain this to the party...? A sudden wave of helplessness washed over me, but for now, I hurried my pace. There was no time to waste. Once the Magic Core was destroyed, the gate would close.
We had roughly two hours. However, explaining the situation to the party and finding the core's location didn't leave us with a particularly generous margin. How absurd would it look if the guy who just went to "look around" suddenly came back and told them he'd smashed the Magic Core, so it was time to leave?
I walked fast enough to leave myself breathless, racking my brain for a plausible excuse. Yet, by the time I rejoined the party, I still hadn't come up with anything convincing.
"...Where did you go in such a hurry?" Seeing me panting, they all stared at me with bewildered expressions.
"Well... I was looking around for a bit, and I happened to stumble upon the Magic Core."
"...?"
"I broke it. Let's head out."
"Excuse me?"
A dry, concise explanation. It was the best I could do. Of course, objectively speaking, it wasn't very convincing.
But surprisingly, just like Arin, the party members accepted it rather calmly.
"...I see. So we've failed just like that?" the swordsman murmured. The other party members nodded, their faces filled with deep regret.
"Even when opportunity knocks, we can't grasp it..."
What on earth were they talking about? For me, it was just one baffling statement after another. Just as I was about to urge them to move, the swordsman spoke with a bittersweet expression.
"Understood. But we're just low-lifes who live hand-to-mouth... Would it be alright if we at least gathered the fragments of the Magic Core before we leave?"
Oh. That was something I hadn't even considered. Even though I had come here just to observe other Hunters... in the end, the point of a raid was to make money. I had almost turned today's raid into charity work.
Since this was my first proper raid, my mind had been all over the place. In any case, I was still just a hand-to-mouth low-life myself. Unable to give up the reward either, I spoke calmly to the admirable swordsman.
"Well, if that's what you want, follow me."
Fortunately, I had a rough idea of the direction. I walked toward where Arin had pointed. Behind me, the party members followed hesitantly.
Why are they acting like that? Whenever I frowned and looked back, they froze like stone statues, swallowing hard. Well, I suppose it made sense given that I had supposedly just destroyed the Magic Core.
We walked for twenty minutes in a bizarre, tense silence. This was definitely the right direction, but there was no sign of the Magic Core anywhere. ...Is this really the right way? Even I was starting to doubt myself. I wasn't sensing mana like some elite tracker; I was simply walking in the direction Arin had pointed.
And perhaps my hesitation showed, because a voice thick with tension drifted from behind me.
"...By any chance, do you have no intention of letting us leave here alive?"
I turned around to see the party members poised to bolt at any second. Honestly, it was a bit absurd. Still, I couldn't exactly snap and ask what kind of crazy nonsense they were talking about when they looked so utterly terrified.
"...It's nothing like that. I just have a terrible sense of direction. We'll be there soon."
The party members exchanged wary glances before nodding. It was a strange feeling. I felt a bit offended, but at the same time, I could understand them. Even back when I was just an ordinary citizen, I had often heard news about crimes committed inside Gates.
In here, you couldn't just trust anyone, and you had to be extremely wary of anyone acting suspiciously. But what must they be feeling right now? The sheer dread of a mediocre D-rank party encountering a highly suspicious B-rank. Forget being wary—they were probably just praying to make it out alive.
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I resumed walking. The only way to clear up this misunderstanding was to find the site.
Fortunately, the location wasn't far. A foul stench assaulted my nose, and as I drew closer, I saw the carcasses of five kaijus alongside the shattered fragments of the Magic Core.
Only after seeing the scene with their own eyes did the party members finally approach me.
"...Heavens, so you didn't just destroy the Magic Core?"
The scene was grotesque. The warm blood of the kaijus had melted the snow, soaking the ground. Scattered across it were the corpses of White Foxes, each dead in a bizarre fashion.
One carcass had strangled itself with its own tail; two others lay dead with their jaws locked around each other's throats; another had its spine snapped backward at an obtuse angle; and one looked as though it had climbed a tree and fallen, its limbs completely shattered.
Witnessing this horrific sight, the party members stared at me with eyes full of terror. I had nothing to say. With such damning evidence right in front of us, what excuse could I possibly make?
"...Don't look at me like that. Obviously, to destroy the Magic Core, you have to kill the kaijus first."
I decided to just play it cool. If I was supposed to be a B-rank, surely this level of confidence was normal.
The swordsman swallowed hard. "In that brief moment, you found this place and took down five kaijus..."
The swordsman wore a highly complex expression. Fear was evident, yet there was also a look of firm resolve, as if he had reached some sort of conclusion. However, we didn't have much time to spare.
"Let's gather the Magic Core fragments first and get out of here."
Pitch-black darkness had settled over Yugi's territory. Stroking Yugi, I lost myself in thought for a moment.
I recalled what the swordsman had said to me after we gathered the Magic Core fragments and exited the D-Grade Gate.
I had been so utterly dumbfounded that my mouth had literally twitched. Yet, even as he watched my reaction, the swordsman had simply said, "I have overstepped my bounds," before vanishing. What on earth was he misunderstanding? Whatever... I'd just clear it up the next time we met.
"Yugi, remember what I told you last time? That you're getting a new friend."
Yugi bobbed his long neck up and down. It was the result of my training him to nod.
"Since you're both kaijus, don't fight, okay? Even though you're younger, don't bully her. Got it?"
Yugi nodded again. Currently, Yugi's equivalent age was thirteen. Even after feeding him three Rank 8 kaijus, his age had only increased by a single year. It seemed the requirements for his growth were on a completely different level now.
Thirteen-year-old Yugi and twenty-one-year-old Arin. Looking at Yugi's growth rate, his equivalent age seemed to be a significant indicator of his combat prowess... but still, if they actually fought, I had a feeling Yugi would win.
"You really mustn't fight, okay?"
Yugi nodded once more. Why was Yugi always so well-behaved?
"...Hmm, but then again, don't you guys need to establish a pecking order? Maybe a light spar where neither of you gets too seriously hurt would be fine?" I murmured softly. It was the result of my wild curiosity getting the better of me. But I quickly snapped back to reality. "...Just kidding."
It was hard to see in the pitch-black darkness, but I could feel Yugi's piercing glare. I cleared my throat and summoned the golden gate. "Alright, let's go meet her."
Steeling myself for a tense moment, I stepped through the gate with Yugi.
A land overflowing with vibrant life. Arin's territory. We stepped into an area close to the lake.
Arin was watching the golden gate with a bright, expectant expression. But that brightness froze on her face in real-time.
"...Why is that monster in my territory?"
Like someone who had just realized their impending doom, Arin let out a soft, sorrowful sob as tears began to stream down her face.