Chapter 6: Dungeon Agales
Recent buzz among adventurers at the Leventen branch of the Adventurer's Guild in the border city of Tronen Kingdom. The top topic is the fallen princess, Bellatrix.
Her name was already fairly well-known among adventurers and mercenaries. That was largely due to her origins. As the princess from the Mountain Kingdom, people imagined beauty and grace at the mere mention of her title—just as one might with any princess. Even those who'd met her in person found her quite striking, despite not matching their fantasies exactly. With her looks alone, Bellatrix was more than enough to set men's tongues wagging. Add to that her status as one of the guild's rare Platinum-rank elites, on par with top special mercenaries. Beauty, overwhelming skill, a bold and loyal personality—she was the kind of woman who became a hot topic whether she wanted to or not.
So when she was recently expelled from the mercenary guild and joined the adventurers, it was only natural that she'd dominate conversations.
The second big topic was the woman who'd joined the guild just three months ago and skyrocketed straight to Platinum rank: Tiger Butterfly Ju Cheong-ah. The black-haired beauty from the eastern Yuldo exuded a mysterious yet pure aura that had already drawn subtle glances from guild members. With skills to match her allure, her rise was inevitable. The one lingering question on everyone's minds: why had she chosen "Tiger Butterfly" as her Platinum title?
In Yuldo tongue, hojeop meant tiger butterfly. But neither her appearance nor her swordsmanship seemed to fit. Online speculation ran wild, but inquiring with guild receptionist Karen—who was somewhat close to her—finally yielded an answer amid a sigh: someone very dear to Cheong-ah had strongly recommended the name.
And the grand finale. This one wasn't so much a hot topic as a full-blown mystery among adventurers. Most couldn't wrap their heads around it. The man at the center was named Ian.
Black hair, black eyes, seemingly from Yuldo like Cheong-ah. Neither handsome nor ugly, just utterly unremarkable. No standout talents either. Three years as a guild adventurer, and he was still scraping the bottom at Iron Badge rank. It was so bad that he'd already earned a title at that lowly level: "Incompetent Ian," as everyone called him.
So why the mystery? His lack of skill? His persistence after three years? Nope, nothing like that.
The reason Ian had become the talk of the town: those two women—the fallen princess and the Tiger Butterfly—were in his party.
He was, as described, a total washout. Adventuring skills? Laughable. Yet for some inexplicable reason, those two powerhouse women had teamed up with him. And Tiger Butterfly Ju Cheong-ah had boldly declared herself his wife. Adventurers dubbed it "Ian's Mystery" and scratched their heads over what connected them.
(Excerpt ends)
"...That's the gist. What do you think?"
In the inn's dining hall where Cheong-ah and I were staying, Bella shoved a newspaper article right in my face during our late breakfast—our day off. Where the hell did she even dig this up?
I snatched the paper from her hand.
"What do I think? What is there to think?"
"I'm asking for your take. Hell, even I'm curious. About you and Ju Cheong-ah."
"Jesus..."
Riiip.
"Aaah! Hey, you bastard! Why the fuck did you tear it up?!"
I shredded it to pieces and crammed the scraps into the trash bin under the table. Bella jumped in shock, slamming the table with one hand and half-standing.
I shrugged it off and scooped another spoonful of soup into my mouth.
"You think we're the type to giggle over this shit? Eat your damn food before it gets cold."
"Fuck. We've been partying together a whole month already. Can't we chat about stuff like this? Shit, from the royal capital here—that's two months total."
"The article calling you 'loyal' is bullshit from the jump. Why bother reading?"
She pouted and slumped back into her seat at my jab.
"Hey, I am pretty loyal, you know."
"Bullshit. A loyal friend takes an assassination request on their buddy and ambushes them?"
She flinched, deflating completely.
"Th-that... I told you, I had no choice. The payout was too huge to turn down."
"Bullshit."
I dismissed her again, tore off a chunk of the bread that came with the soup, dipped it, and shoved it in. Savory as always. Never gets old. Damn, it's been two months with her already. A month since returning from the capital. The three of us—me, Cheong-ah, and Bella in front—had been running quests as a party. Nothing major. Cheong-ah got her official Platinum recognition, though. And yeah, I suggested the "Tiger Butterfly" title.
People asked why, but I brushed it off as "tiger butterfly" in Yuldo. The real reason? No need to spill bedroom secrets.
Only Cheong-ah and I needed to know. Otherwise, we'd just knocked out minor local quests to kill time.
Soup bowl empty. I glanced around for something to wipe my mouth—then a pale hand appeared. Cheong-ah's. She pulled out her ever-present handkerchief.
"Let me wipe that for you, dear."
"Oh, uh. Th-thanks."
As she gently dabbed my mouth, Bella shot us a disgusted look.
"Ugh, fuck. You two are so goddamn mushy. Figures for a married couple. Gotta do that shit right in front of someone eating?"
"What?"
I played it cool, but yeah, I felt a bit embarrassed too. Never done stuff like this before, so Cheong-ah doting on me still felt awkward. But agreeing with Bella might embarrass her, so I doubled down shamelessly.
"Like you said, we're married. Bound to happen."
"...Tch, whatever. Fine."
Bella sighed, waved it off, and stood, twisting her eyebrows into a frown as she stomped off.
"Where you headed?"
"What's it to you?"
I shrugged at her snappy retort.
"We're a party, right? Good to know."
"My room. Gonna crash. Mind your own business."
"Alright, then..."
With Bella gone, Cheong-ah and I chatted a bit before telling the innkeeper and heading to the back yard. Nothing fancy—just our daily run, now routine. To build stamina and health. Since I couldn't wield mana and stayed weak, Cheong-ah insisted on it so I could at least run if shit hit the fan. It'd boosted my endurance a ton.
"Kinda worrying, though."
"What is?"
She tilted her head at my mutter. I flashed a playful grin.
"Our Cheong-ah's already a Tiger Butterfly, but if I get even fitter here... what'll we do at night?"
"...Dear."
"Y-yeah?"
Her eyebrow twitched faintly. That cool tone calling my name sent chills down my spine. It was a joke, but...
Alarm bells rang in my head.
"Ch-Cheong-ah, I was kidding—"
"Looks like you've been slacking on training if you're cracking lowbrow jokes like that."
She smiled sweetly, eyes curving into crescents. Beautiful, no doubt. But pure terror prickled my arm with goosebumps.
"W-wait a sec—"
"So how about we run till one of us collapses today?"
This was about two months after Bella joined our party. And the day I finally hit my fourth year as an adventurer.