Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Ant Nest! (7)
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Once a thriving countess family.
But a few years ago, the family head's illness led to his death, and Hedi's household crumbled in an instant.
The savings they'd amassed were largely spent on his treatment.
And the royal advisors seized the business ventures the family head had been running, taking advantage of the moment.
For the family, every day became a hellish ordeal.
But Hedi didn't care.
She had long since cut ties with her family in her heart.
'Who cares what happens to my family...'
She had always been discriminated against.
Simply because she was a girl, her parents had showered endless love only on her younger brother, the second son, 'Rohan Merrigold'.
Even while raising her solely as a tool for marriage alliances with other families, claiming she had nothing but her looks.
They forced her to learn dancing through a tutor even on the day she sprained her ankle, insisting she had to shine at social gatherings.
Every day, it was etiquette lessons, how to captivate men, and the like.
They crammed her head full of men nonstop, without giving her a moment to even wonder what those guys were all about.
Of course, she had no freedom whatsoever. It was a given that she couldn't play when she wanted to.
Even during breaks, they handed her several thick books and ordered her to memorize them all for social studies.
'That dog of a family—it's far better off ruined.'
Even though the family fell and she had to turn to the Adventurer's Guild to make money.
She was much happier.
The freedom she tasted for the first time, away from men, felt wonderful.
The male students who took interest in her looks, only to get harshly rejected and then pick fights under the pretext of revenge.
Even that felt refreshing when she beat them senseless with the combat skills she'd picked up from adventuring.
And swinging her beloved sword in real combat like this, honing it, was pure joy.
Back home, they'd berated her mercilessly just for picking up a sword.
Out of rebellion, perhaps, that's when she realized it.
She wanted to become a Sword Master.
She had no intention of living the life her parents wanted. She didn't want to end up as some pitiful woman who married well.
She wanted to become a Sword Master, rise to a high position, and prove that a woman could thrive on her own.
With that resolve, just like always, she handled an academy field training request to earn some money.
Then, on her way to the ant nest labyrinth with her usual female party members from the Adventurer's Guild to hunt the bat monsters they were commissioned for.
"Huh? What's this? A magic stone?"
It all started when one of her female party members touched a magic stone embedded in the wall.
The moment she touched it, a massive vibration hit, and a teleportation magic circle activated, sending Hedi somewhere else.
The place she ended up was some deep underground labyrinth.
It was an accident.
While scouting around, the monster she encountered was no pushover.
From facing it, she estimated its rank at B or higher.
Realizing it would be too much to kill them one by one, she started avoiding the monsters when she noticed something off.
She'd seen goblins mixed in with a group of monsters she was hiding from.
Creatures that should have been in the forest.
And those goblins were even traveling together with a different type of monster, big spiders.
Different species of monsters fight to near-death if they invade each other's territory. But they weren't.
'...What's going on here?'
So she decided to track them.
She figured following their movements would uncover clues about this labyrinth.
She planned to uncover the truth behind the teleportation magic and report what was happening in this labyrinth to the Adventurer's Guild.
And so, after chasing the big spider packs for hours.
"Delinquent boss...? What are you doing here?"
She was stunned.
She'd run into a person. Someone she even knew by sight.
Someone she never thought would be here.
Jet-black hair and golden eyes.
The guy she assumed was the delinquent boss, the one she'd run into by chance after thrashing his gang of punks who kept picking fights with her at the academy.
She couldn't fathom why he was in this labyrinth.
He seemed surprised too, pausing before finally speaking up late.
"...I'm not the delinquent boss. I told you, I have nothing to do with those guys back then."
What did that matter?
She was getting impatient; dragging this out would make her lose the big spiders.
So Hedi shot back at him in a slightly hurried tone.
"Whatever, what does that have to do with anything? Why are you here?"
"It's a long story. We finished subjugating the monsters, and one of my party members touched a magic stone with a teleportation spell... That's how this happened."
They'd finished subjugating monsters?
So he was an adventurer? This kid?
...Someone around her age?
Hedi was puzzled.
She adventured to subjugate monsters herself, but she thought no one her age at the academy did the same.
...Guess everyone has their own circumstances.
Her family had earned the right to attend the academy for free due to contributions to the empire, but others paid tuition.
Maybe his family was struggling financially.
Whatever. It didn't matter right now; things were urgent.
Any more delays, and the big spiders would get away.
Hedi told him.
"Fine, got it, delinquent boss. Here's some advice: it gets dangerous from here, so I recommend you don't follow."
"No, like I said, I'm not the delinquent boss..."
Hedi entered the cave entrance before he could finish.
'The monster pack definitely went this way.'
Ignoring whatever he was saying behind her, she pressed straight ahead.
As she advanced.
"What the? Why are you following me?"
The delinquent boss was trailing behind her.
"I'm not following you."
"Then what is it?"
"I was just heading this way myself."
Not following?
Anyone could see he was tailing her.
What had she just advised him? How dense did you have to be to follow anyway?
Did he mistakenly think she knew the escape route or something?
"For your information, I don't know how to get out."
"Yeah, got it."
"You hear me? I don't know the way out."
"...? I said I got it."
"Then why are you still following?"
"I'm not following."
"...?"
He really wasn't following her?
Did this guy notice the monsters' odd movements too?
'Wait...'
Suddenly, it hit Hedi as she walked.
Come to think of it, this delinquent boss had occasionally locked eyes with her during academy classes.
'Could this guy be...?'
Hedi suddenly found the delinquent boss trailing her deeply annoying.
Scowling, she said to him.
"Hey. No matter how much you follow me, I won't give you what you want. So stop following."
The delinquent boss furrowed one eyebrow, looking baffled.
"What are you even talking about?"
Playing innocent, huh.
...The delinquent boss had no idea how dangerous it was ahead.
From here on, it was his problem, Hedi thought.
Follow and die for all she cared.
Hedi tried to ignore him and pushed forward.
"Hmm."
"...?"
But even trying not to care, his actions nagged at her.
This guy... something was off about him.
He was strolling through this dangerous labyrinth with a somehow relaxed expression.
Was it her imagination, or had he not encountered the monsters here yet, so he didn't know how perilous it was?
Swallowing her doubts, she continued until they reached a cave the monsters had passed through.
'...!'
Suddenly, a rotting stench assaulted her nose.
An unbearable foul odor she'd never smelled before in her life.
"Ugh... What is this smell...!"
Hedi staggered back.
But for some reason, the delinquent boss kept walking toward the cave.
'Wh-what? Doesn't he smell it?'
Hedi pinched her nose and approached the cave too.
Then peered inside.
"...!"
It was shocking.
Inside the entrance...
Lay a massive pile of corpses.
All seemingly human. Hundreds of grotesquely sprawled bodies stacked up.
Necks twisted, bellies holed and rotting.
Some appeared to have just started decomposing.
"Wh-what is this..."
"...This is weird."
The delinquent boss approached the corpses.
And began examining them closely, observing something intently.
The puzzled Hedi looked at the corpses too.
And then.
"Gasp...!"
She jolted in shock.
A familiar outfit poked out from the pile, so she lifted it tentatively.
The face she pulled from the corpse mound—she recognized it.
"Th-this can't be..."
Eyes staring blankly into space.
A neck twisted 180 degrees in a grotesque contortion.
It was one of her female party members who had teleported into the labyrinth with her.
The party member, who had been moving alongside her just moments ago, had become an unrecognizable lump of horrific meat, buried in the pile.
"Urk!"
The shocked Hedi reeled back, vomiting.
She tried deep breaths to calm her trembling heart.
"...Someone you know?"
"......"
Seeing her like that, he spoke to her with concern.
She had no room to respond.
The shock was so great her pupils shook.
To her, the delinquent boss casually remarked.
"Sorry to bring this up in the middle of the shock, but something's off here. Monsters usually devour humans on the spot when they hunt them... Why stack them up like this where you can still make out the shapes? Isn't that strange?"
"...?"
Hearing him, Hedi clamped her mouth mid-vomit and shared the doubt.
Now that he mentioned it, yeah.
Monsters lacked intelligence, so they had no concept of storage.
Yet stacking food like this on purpose?
She'd seen dozens, hundreds of monsters in this cave labyrinth... Why bother?
As she pondered that.
-Rumble rumble rumble...
Suddenly, the ground shook.
Rock fragments began falling one by one from the cave walls due to the vibrations.
'Wh-what? An earthquake all of a sudden...!'
As Hedi crouched in shock near the entrance.
"...Urk?!"
The delinquent boss suddenly lunged at her, sending her tumbling backward.
His face pressed against her stomach, his arms wrapped around her back.
"Wh-what are you doing?! So you really are...!"
"Shh-!"
"...?"
He suddenly looked serious and shushed her.
Then pointed outside, where they'd been just before entering.
"...!"
Perplexed, Hedi looked where he pointed and gasped again.
There was a creature.
Nothing like the big spiders or goblins she'd seen.
Spider-shaped, but its black-jointed body exceeded 10 meters.
Eight enormous legs and jaws like scythes that promised instant death on bite.
...High B-rank? No, probably A-rank or above, Hedi thought.
Its threatening form exuded an overwhelming pressure no ordinary adventurer could handle.
Holding his breath beside her, he murmured.
"Twilight Queen...?"
The queen of spiders faced off against the remaining spiders outside the entrance.