Ancient Minotaur Habitat (2)

The cutscene ended on a kiss at the wedding.

Sweet love stories were all well and good, but a dungeon still needed clearing.

The aftertaste of that sweetness hadn't vanished in an instant, though, so while I disarmed traps the rest of the party made small talk.

"Gokturk, you were married, right? How did you propose?"

"Ah… I booked a restaurant. Timed it for my wife's birthday."

"Tell us everything!"

Elderin had clearly taken a real shine to Nianbach's proposal. She fussed and gushed for ages over married-man Gokturk's story.

To me it all felt like the distant world of popular people; there was no room for me to jump in. Still, other people's love lives are usually fun to listen to.

Right up until the spark landed on me.

"Come to think of it, Daeun—how much dating have you done?"

"Uh… uhhh?"

"Boyfriends. Have you ever had one?"

A question that came out of nowhere. I'd half expected it, and now it was real. And a boyfriend, of all things.

No matter how open-minded the world had gotten, I was unmistakably heterosexual. At least, as long as I'd been born a man, other men were… wait.

Which side was I even supposed to date now?

If I dated a woman as I was now, was that gay? Or straight? And if I dated a man? Wait.

My head started spinning. It was a subject I'd never seriously considered, but once the thought took hold, my mind got sucked into it without end.

No. I've taken too long to answer. It's going to look like I'm dodging.

I forced my mouth open and stumbled over the words.

"I-I never had anything like that."

"Come on, no way. There's no chance guys just left you alone."

"It's true. Not even once."

"Did you go to all-girls schools the whole way through?"

"Uh, well. Something like that."

That's fine, right? It's not completely wrong.

I'd taken the all-boys middle school, all-boys high school, and physical education college route, so contact with the opposite sex had been almost nonexistent. In context, it wasn't a lie. The part about never having a partner was true, too.

Back then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my head had been so full of kendo that I never had room to think about girls. You hear plenty of stories about athletes whose skills fall off the moment they start dating. Some people call that an excuse—plenty of people date and still do everything they need to do—but I don't know. At the very least, I was never that type.

Once I started something, I had to throw my whole self into it. If I'd started dating during my competitive years, I never would have been able to focus properly on kendo. So I didn't.

Not that I couldn't. That I chose not to.

…Really.

"Were all the guys around you just blind?"

"Maybe you just never noticed? You've seriously never gotten a single confession?"

"I told you, nothing like that ever happened! Anyway, let's keep moving."

"Weird. I feel like you would've gotten confessions from girls, too."

"……."

I clenched my jaw and ignored the flood of questions. Dating. I'd tried thinking about it seriously, and I still couldn't land on an answer. It all felt too vague.

Could I even love someone? It felt like I might fall into it with hollow ease—or like I might never manage it at all. You had to be able to give as much as you received. Right now my heart only knew how to hunger for what other people had; it wasn't ready to offer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any part of itself. I didn't want anyone seeing the ugly insides of me. I had to be careful—so careful—that none of that filthy, rotten pus leaked out.

Fortunately, something came up that could cut the thoughts short.

"Up ahead. Two axes, two spears. Four total. Want me to dribble about two of them?"

"You going to be okay?"

"Yeah. I'm confident I won't die."

"Then I'm counting on you."

By the way—was the boss of this dungeon going to be a living creature, too? I really hated that. Large mobs bled so much.

After clearing several packs of minotaurs, we came face-to-face with the dungeon's mid-boss.

A chimera of grotesque design.

It had been a brutal fight. In exchange for the bizarre patterns and instability unique to composite creatures, it had overwhelming hardness. Outside its weak points, blades wouldn't even sink in; the clear had been a real struggle. Not that anyone in the party had died. Thankfully, we took the boss down without a single casualty.

If the mid-boss was this bad, the final boss was all but guaranteed to be far worse. The worry was real—but for now, it was fine to just be happy.

And more than anything, once you kill a boss, there's one thing you absolutely have to do.

"Loot! Shall we check the loot?"

Elderin called out brightly. She was so pleased her voice even went a little nasal. I was looking forward to it myself, so I trotted right up to the boss's corpse.

This was the whole reason RPG players formed parties and challenged high-difficulty dungeons. And this was a story dungeon on the new continent. Even for a mid-boss, you had every right to expect something good.

The moment the whole party gathered, BoozeBun checked the rewards.

Drop items rose on pillars of brilliant light. We'd sort the miscellaneous materials and gold later; the five items that looked most valuable made the shortlist.

Two of them had obvious owners. Only MountainBird could use the Mark of the Ancient Kingdom, and Gokturk took the greaves because of the penalty. I'd been eyeing the gloves… but the moment I put them on, they were far too stiff for my strength. Even closing a fist felt tight. High defense was tempting, but it meant nothing if I couldn't use my weapon properly. In the end I yielded the gloves to BoozeBun, leaving two items.

I didn't know what it was for yet, but that core was clearly a rare material. A market price would form one way or another over time. Pocketing gold this round didn't seem like a bad idea either.

So let me be clear: I never once claimed ownership of the Rabbit Ears. Not a shred of desire for them until I read the item description.

"Then I'll take the core."

"The Rabbit Ears are obviously going to Gawol, right?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"……."

What was this. Why did a cosmetic piece have a rarity that went all the way up to Unique? Items like this were supposed to top out at Advanced at best, with some useless option slapped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on—half a percent movement speed in town, that kind of thing. I'd never seen anything in this form. Post it on the community boards and you'd get a serious reaction. In an RPG, a "rare cosmetic" was always worth a fortune.

Sure. Sell it outside and the money would be nice. But right now it was nothing but an eyesore planted on my head.

"Cute. You're so cute!"

"Gawol. Look over here and smile once."

"Urgh…"

I was the party's scout. But Assassin wasn't a class designed to replace the Thief's role. My base kit had limits in all kinds of ways—which meant I had no good reason to refuse when they told me to wear this… no. That wasn't it. I just couldn't bring myself to ruin the sparkling looks on my two unnies' faces.

"V~ Come on. V~"

"V-V."

Ah. I want to go home. I'm already home, though.

Wine cups lay scattered across a lavish banquet hall. Meat that had once given off a rich aroma had fallen beneath the table, and broken plates were strewn carelessly across the floor.

Step. Step. Calm footsteps echoed.

Fallen Nianbach barely managed to stretch out a hand. A shoe-clad foot came down on it. The scattered shards were sharp enough that blood ran—but what stained him redder than blood was his rage.

A sound like a beast growling. Nianbach asked,

"Your Majesty Dalnerion. Why… why would you do this?"

"I thought you were clever, but it seems you have a rather dull side as well. Isn't it obvious? At this rate a half-breed was going to swallow the kingdom whole. The chosen bloodline must save the nation."

"I never had any interest in the thr— khuh!"

"A pity. Those raised in the palace come to prefer a sure path. This will be a journey with no return—but your wife and children will follow soon enough. You won't be lonely."

The deadly poison that had been in the cup was devouring the mage's body. A drug that turned blood into toxin. A drug that altered the nature of mana to kill a mage. Something compounded for the sole purpose of ending him.

A flash of red showed at the corners of his eyes. Nianbach no longer knew whether what ran down his cheeks was blood or tears. But he was honest about the sob that burst from deep inside him.

"U-Uaaaaaaaaah—!"

"Pointless thrashing. Just rest quietly and—what, what is this!"

The mage's fury wrapped itself around the palace.