83. Daily Life (2)
83. Daily Life (2)
C-rank adventurers left the city today, as always, after receiving a request from the Adventurer Guild.
This time, the request was to exterminate goblins, which wasn't as difficult as an orc quest.
Goblins have such an incredible reproductive rate that the population must be culled periodically, so requests for goblin extermination come in regularly.
A common misconception among adventurers is that goblins are weak.
If you were to face a single goblin, it would certainly be weak, but goblins never travel alone.
They move in packs and possess the intelligence of a young child, so they utilize traps and poison.
That is why there is a rule that goblin quests must be undertaken by a party of three or more.
The C-rank adventurer party did some quick preparation near the location of the goblin pack to exterminate them.
"I miss Amber-nim already."
The Healer Adventurer thought of Amber, whom she had seen a few days ago.
"She was truly beautiful... and strong too! How can a person be that pretty?"
"I understand, but are you done with your preparations?"
"Of course. What do you take me for?"
"Good. Then that's fine. Don't let your guard down, even if it's just goblins. There are still adventurers who suffer serious injuries from goblins because they get careless."
The Warrior Adventurer spoke sternly to the Healer Adventurer.
"Got it."
"Good. Let's go."
The C-rank adventurer party moved out to exterminate the goblins.
While the C-rank adventurer party, who were thoroughly prepared and not letting their guard down, were exterminating the goblins without any issues.
Sshiiiikㅡ!
A sound of something piercing through the air was heard.
The moment everyone heard that sound.
Bang!
"Aaaaaaaah!!!"
The Warrior Adventurer rolled on the ground.
The Healer Adventurer quickly grasped the situation.
One of the Warrior Adventurer's legs was gone. To be precise, it had been blown off by a powerful attack.
This was definitely not an attack from goblins.
Sshiiiikㅡ!
The sound was heard once again.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
This time, it was the scream of the Mage Adventurer who had been right next to her.
The Healer Adventurer turned her trembling head to the side.
The Mage Adventurer was clutching their blown-off leg and screaming.
The Healer Adventurer's eyes caught sight of the shattered fragments where the Mage Adventurer had been attacked.
Shattered wooden sticks, fluttering feathers.
It was an arrow.
And she thought of the being capable of such an attack.
"A, Amber-nim...?"
The Healer Adventurer realized that the battlefield, which had suddenly become noisy, was now silent.
"Huh?"
The goblins were not in her field of vision. Instead, there was a giant monster that had appeared from who knows where.
Countless legs, countless eyes, giant legs, terrifying eyes.
The Ners, a being that must never be fought according to the Adventurer Guild and an extreme entity labeled as city-destruction class, was in front of her.
"Ah..."
The Healer Adventurer slumped to the ground.
Urine flowed from between her legs.
All her strength had drained away due to immense terror.
Behind her, a familiar voice was heard.
"You can eat the male humans as they are, but take the female humans to the human farm, and I will take this female human."
The Healer Adventurer turned her head in the direction the voice came from.
There stood Amber, who had gone on the orc quest with them just a short while ago.
"Kiiikㅡ!"
The Ners began to move immediately at Amber's command, and the Healer Adventurer could not understand the current situation even after seeing the Ners moving at Amber's command.
To be precise, she did not want to understand.
"W, why on earth..."
Amber ignored the Healer Adventurer's words and struck the back of her neck hard, knocking her unconscious.
Amber, who lifted the unconscious Healer Adventurer like luggage, entered a nearby secret tunnel with the Ners and returned to the colony.
==
Dawn, before the sun had risen yet.
A man was walking through the city, which was filled with cool air and heavy fog.
A heavy, massive sword that didn't match his light attire showed that the man was no ordinary citizen.
The man was walking slowly and carefully, observing his surroundings.
That man was none other than Drake, the current Knight Commander of Mederon City.
Having succeeded Gwen, who was officially treated as dead, Drake was doing dawn patrols just as Gwen used to.
While Drake was faithfully performing his duties as Knight Commander, he was also cutting back on his sleep to find Gwen.
Gwen's disappearance. Not long after, they claimed the Knight Commander who ran away out of fear of the Ners attack, disparaged the decision to appoint a woman as commander, and eventually just declared her dead.
But Drake never believed it.
He knew that all of this was Albert's doing. But as time passed, Albert's power and influence grew stronger.
Albert, who gained not a loss but a massive profit from the Ners attack, seized power in Mederon City in an instant under the pretext of restoring and developing the eastern district.
Even the current Lord keeps an eye on Albert and approves everything he does.
The problem is that many people, including the citizens, support Albert.
Without seeing the dark side of Albert, that is.
The scary part is, if you asked, "Is Albert just a villain?" that wouldn't be the case.
'I need a justification to definitely drag such an Albert down.'
Finding proof that Albert is controlling the city's underworld is almost impossible.
But if he gave up because it was impossible, he would never find it for the rest of his life.
'If I keep looking without giving up, there will surely be a clueㅡ'
Drake's eyes caught the back of a woman walking.
It's not actually strange for a woman to be walking around at this hour. Even if it's dawn, it's not like people aren't walking around at all.
There are people who wake up at dawn to work, after all.
So, just as he was about to pass by.
Drake turned his head again to look at the woman walking.
It was definitely her back.
It was just a woman walking. But in Drake's eyes, it wasn't an ordinary woman.
A perfect, disciplined body with not a single strange point, and a gait that was restrained yet overflowing with dignity.
Just from her back, Drake recognized who that person was.
"Gwen-nim!!!"
Drake called out the name of the person he had been searching for.
Stumble.
The woman who was walking stopped.
And then she walked again.
Drake quickly ran to her, as if she were trying to run away, and grabbed her hand.
And he applied force, making her turn around.
"Gwenㅡ"
The woman in front of Drake was not the Gwen he had been searching for until now.
A completely different face.
For a moment, he was about to say he was sorry.
But Drake, who had spent a long time as Vice-Knight Commander by Gwen's side, did not miss any of the actions of the woman in front of him.
That expression, widening her eyes, blinking twice, and slightly opening her mouth in a dazed way.
No matter what anyone said, it was Gwen.
"Gwen-nim!!! W, what on earth is thisㅡ!"
Drake, convinced that the woman in front of him was Gwen, grabbed her shoulders and shouted.
"Y, you have mistaken me for someone else..."
Gwen tried to ignore Drake, who had been her subordinate, and shake off his arm to leave, but with Gwen's strength, having lost most of her life force giving birth to Stacey, she could not overcome Drake's strength.
"I have absolutely not mistaken you!"
Drake poured out his resentment at Gwen, who was pretending not to know him and trying to run away.
How long had he been searching for Gwen? How worried had he been?
And yet, she suddenly appeared in the city and was walking around as if nothing had happened.
Just as if she had tried to run away and live quietly, just like those trashy higher-ups said.
[ Shall I kill them? Should I kill them? Is it necessary to kill them? ]
Gwen was flustered by the sudden appearance of Drake, her former subordinate, but she was even more flustered by her daughter, who had murderous intent upon seeing Drake.
Stacey is her daughter, but she is also Lea's daughter.
Lea can see everything Stacey sees and hears.
If Lea were to see this situation right now, Drake, her former subordinate, could be killed on the spot.
Gwen tried to get away from Drake so that Stacey would lose interest in him, but Drake would never let Gwen go.
"Ughㅡ!"
The moment Gwen, who had lost her life force, felt pain from Drake's grip.
[ Kill. ]
Stacey, who was protecting Gwen's body, was enraged.
Chwaakㅡ!
Drake moved his head to the side in an instant.
A sharp hand was extended to the spot where Drake's head had been just a moment ago.
"W, what is thisㅡ"
Drake was flustered by the hand protruding from the clothes Gwen was wearing.
The clothes were moving like a living creature.
"Stacey, no!!!"
Puukㅡ!
"Ah—?"
Red blood flowed from Drake's mouth.