Three Hours After the Villainess's Tumultuous Runaway
Three hours had passed since the villainess's chaotic runaway incident.
"Where the fuck is this, you piece of shit."
I was stranded.
How the hell did this happen?
Things had gone smoothly for a while after leaving the mansion.
The baron wouldn't discover the letter until tomorrow morning, so I had some time to spare. I'd packed my backpack with all sorts of useful stuff, too.
The goblin lair was about four hours away by carriage. Find a decent stable in town, rent a carriage, and head out.
Carriage rental fee? Pocket change for a noble lady.
I'd grabbed a few pricey-looking accessories from my room and traded them directly for cash.
"Nice weather."
The journey continued peacefully like that.
The chirping of grasshoppers in the grass had a certain charm, and the full moon visible through the carriage window made for a pretty, serene night.
"...Coachman uncle? Isn't the carriage tilting a bit?"
"..."
"No, fuck, why are your eyes closed, uncle?!"
Until the expensive coachman I hired fell asleep at the wheel and drove off a cliff.
Screeech—!
Boom!!
With sound effects straight out of a cartoon I'd watched as a kid, my body flew into the night sky lit by the bright full moon.
"Gahhh!! Fuuuuck!!!"
About ten seconds of free-falling down the cliff like that?
Drawing on my extensive experience with death-by-falling from all my loops, I figured it might be better to land headfirst and die painlessly—when thankfully, I crashed into a deep valley.
I somehow grabbed onto some rocks around me and climbed out. All I could see was pitch-black darkness and towering trees.
And just like that, I was stranded.
'Goddamn it.'
Visibility was shit in this situation, so climbing back up the cliff to return to the main road was impossible. I quickly gave up on that and looked for another way.
'This should be pretty close to the destination...'
Considering the time we'd traveled by carriage, it couldn't be far from the goblin lair.
"Actually, I don't even need to go straight to the goblin lair."
My plan from the start wasn't to head right there.
No matter that I'm a C-rank hunter and they're sickly goblins—even I couldn't take on a thousand monsters solo.
Even a hornet flees from a hundred honeybees. No way I could handle it head-on. Direct confrontation was out.
So my original strategy was to hide near the goblin lair, gather intel.
'If I can just find the cultists...'
The most crucial info was the cultists' identities. Catch them, and no more sacrifice rituals.
"Okay, decided. Gonna hold out here."
So I just spread out a mat and lay down right there.
Nothing but trees and cliffs around, hard to navigate, and if it's near the goblin lair, I'd notice any rituals or fights when the cultists got active.
The trees might even hide my position.
"My bag... Ah, there it is."
First, I found the bag I'd lost when falling from the carriage, scavenging around the valley. Pulled out the contents.
Water, food, firewood for warmth, a magic lighter, and even a fantasy-style tent.
I'd swiped them from the mansion when sneaking out at night. They were decent on external security but surprisingly lax inside.
'Good, nothing missing.'
All my packed items intact, no hit to the plan. Now it was just hunker down time.
Using my military tent experience, I pitched it a bit away from the valley floor and lit a campfire in front.
Smoke from the fire might give me away, so I activated a ventilation magic scroll I'd stolen from the mansion. Setup complete.
From now on, this dungeon raid genre was switching from political intrigue to chill survival.
"Hurry up, time..."
Already bored. Maybe go fishing?
Day 1 evening: The cultists' first sacrifice ritual began.
I rushed toward the massive mana surge and spotted three men with goblins' heads exploding. Observed from hiding, holding my breath.
Tried sneaking closer during the ritual to ID them, but the cloths wrapping their bodies foiled it.
Couldn't risk getting closer without detection, so I bailed that day. But at least I got the cultists' numbers and the goblin lair's location.
Day 2 morning: Dan-gun Guild's raid team arrived.
I scattered my stuff toward the goblin lair to lure them, but...
'Fucking asshole won't even come close.'
Watching from afar, Kim Minho really clenched his jaw and avoided the lair entirely.
I hadn't expected much anyway.
On paper, it was the baron's knight order under orders, but really, it was led by a raid leader who prioritized his own gains.
'This is fucked.'
Tried thinning the goblins for sacrifice, hit-and-run style solo, but failed. They extracted mana from corpses during rituals.
To clear the dungeon: Kill all goblins in 24 hours or catch the cultists.
Doable for Dan-gun's proper raid team, impossible for me alone.
'Find senior first.'
Kim Minho had no intention of raiding properly, and I had limits solo. Needed Hyeji senior at least.
A veteran association member like her, and Kim Minho wouldn't act so brazenly.
Goal: Locate Hyeji senior. Nothing else to do anyway.
'But how?'
Big talk, but no real methods from my position.
Need a clue to search, but she vanished like she never entered the dungeon. What could I do?
"Senior, where the hell are you...?"
Senior ditched her promising rookie.
Isn't this dereliction of duty?
Bzzz—
Mid-thought, the record device filming me suddenly approached.
"What? Why's it coming down suddenly?"
The record devices filming raiders flew around cloaked in stealth magic to avoid NPC notice.
No issue with just me around, but... no reason for it to approach unprompted?
Puzzled, I set it on my palm. A small hologram popped up above it.
Visual communication possible with unit α2. ε4
...So, video call with the device filming senior?
'Record devices had this function too?'
Senior said she'd explain functions inside the dungeon, so I didn't know details, but this was next-level.
Association tech was impressive.
"Uh... press this button?"
I tapped the blinking blue button on the device. Short loading, then a screen appeared.
The floating screen showed faint steam, water streams, and a smooth waist wrapped in a towel.
Hmm... showering, huh.
"Gyaaaah! I didn't see anything!!"
No, I'm a dude inside.
"Why answer while showering?!"
"I'm not okay..."
Discharged from military, hadn't even hung out with girls, and this was too stimulating. Towel covered the essentials, but the allure of what's hidden...
No, what fantasy? Focus on work.
"Just learned it had comms."
"Where are you now? Dan-gun's not raiding properly—big trouble!"
Cultists, goblins, Dan-gun Guild.
Too many problems for a newbie.
"Goblin lair here. Hurry—you need to come. Second ritual soon..."
"What? What do you mean?"
My panic fell flat as Hyeji senior calmly refused.
To put it more precisely...
"What?!"
She couldn't help—situation didn't allow.
"But why start so far away?"
"So you're fighting cultists?"
Thought she was holed up sucking honey somewhere, but she was working hardest.
But if the physical distance was that vast...
"So I gotta handle this solo?"
My worst fear confirmed.
No help from senior this loop, no matter the method.
"We're screwed."
My path of suffering was set.