Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Dragon Badge Hunt (2)
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As Yuria flashed a smile, a boy appeared at the end of the passage.
Honey-slicked deep blonde hair, dark brown eyes.
An appearance that seemed ordinary at first glance.
And black attire just like what the reserve riders wore.
“Cough, cough... No way... I just ducked out for a second to avoid the dust, and what the hell is all this commotion?”
Brushing off the dust piled up from breaking through the traps, the boy grumbled nonstop.
Yuria, who had been silently observing the intruder, tilted her head.
‘A reserve rider?’
But he soon shook his head.
‘No, he’s different.’
The clothes were the same, but a yellow epaulet adorned the boy’s shoulder.
Moreover, the epaulet wasn’t new—it was stained and worn.
‘As if it’s been used for a long time.’
On top of that, the boy exuded some inexplicable air of leisure.
While Yuria observed him like this, the intruder stepped into the campfire’s glow and stared piercingly into the cave’s darkness.
“I know you’re all there.”
With that, the boy raised the sword he held.
A bizarre sword that looked like an enlarged awl.
Grinning as he aimed its pointed tip toward the darkness, the boy called out.
“Hey, if your senior’s here, you should come out quick to greet him. What rude little juniors.”
The intruder stood still, sword tip trained on the darkness.
A brief silence followed.
“Uh... um... not this way?”
When no reaction came no matter how long he waited, the intruder’s expression started turning awkward.
Whoosh—.
A sudden gust whipped through, making the campfire flames flicker wildly.
In that instant.
“Where’re you looking, you senior bastard?”
“......?!”
Startled by the voice right behind him, the intruder spun around dramatically, and the teetering campfire finally went out.
The cave plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Within it....
Clang—thwack—.
A metallic clash and a bursting sound rang out in succession, followed by perfect silence.
* * *
Time passed.
Inside the cave where the bonfire blazed anew.
Tremble—.
Jerry Bee’s eyelids, long shut in deep slumber, quivered faintly.
A sign that consciousness was slowly returning.
What greeted him upon awakening from the abyss was excruciating pain radiating from the back of his head.
“Urgh......”
Even before full awareness returned, a groan escaped him from the agony.
Thanks to that pain, Jerry regained his senses even faster.
Finally opening his eyes, Jerry blinked.
“Mm......”
The first thing that came into focus in his gradually sharpening vision was a ‘bloodstained brick’ right in front of his nose.
Blink, blink—.
“......”
Even in his dazed state, Jerry instinctively knew that bloodstained brick was the weapon that had smashed the back of his head.
But one problem arose here.
‘Why... does that look so flat?’
The brick on the ground appeared perfectly level.
Normally, upon waking from a knockout, you’d see the ceiling first.
Or if lying on your side, the world would look sideways.
Something like that.
But the brick in Jerry’s view lay perfectly horizontal on the ground.
Right in front of his nose!
It was as if......
‘If my head were severed and I was staring up from the dirt, that’s how it’d look?’
That thought snapped his foggy mind awake.
At the same time, realizing his body below the neck wouldn’t move, his face paled.
“N-No way?! My head’s really cut off?!”
But how could a headless man live?
Regaining a bit of reason belatedly, he fortunately sensed that feeling remained below his neck.
A few seconds later, Jerry realized his situation and smiled faintly.
“Heh... Guess I just got buried alive.”
Buried deep in the earth with only his face peeking out.
That was Jerry’s current state.
‘Lucky. Better than decapitation or paralysis.’
The Jerry from a year ago wouldn’t have been this calm in this situation.
But the year spent in the Dragon’s Cradle had elevated him to the point where he could call even this ‘lucky.’
That said, this was Jerry’s first time being buried alive.
‘Can I escape?’
Jerry wriggled his limbs and grimaced.
‘Damn... They didn’t just bury me—they tied me up first?’
Irritated but refusing to give up, Jerry thrashed desperately to escape.
Straining with all his might, moving his limbs.
Even using mana.
In the end, Jerry could only yell in frustration.
“How the hell do you bury someone so they can’t budge an inch!”
Despite all his efforts, the earth he was buried in didn’t even budge.
If there were a specialist in burying people alive, whoever did this to him was a grandmaster.
“Haa......”
Finally giving up on everything, Jerry let out a deep sigh.
Gazing at the ceiling, he muttered forlornly.
“......Where did it all go wrong?”
Where had things started unraveling to end up like this?
Jerry slowly reflected on the past.
‘Things were going great all week for sure.’
It happens sometimes.
Days when everything falls into place perfectly.
The past few days had been exactly that for Jerry.
He’d randomly picked up 500 points on the street.
A small epiphany had suddenly advanced his stagnant progress after months.
And get this?
As if knowing his body was in peak condition, word came that the Dragon Badge Hunt—long awaited—was moved up a day earlier than expected.
Everything clicking into place.
Jerry felt like the world revolved around him.
Carrying that unbeatable vibe, the Dragon Badge Hunt began.
Whooo—.
Gazing at the Forest of Beginnings after a year away, Jerry felt a strong hunch.
‘Somehow... feels like I’m about to hit it big this time?’
The string of luck over the past few days.
He sensed that luck would explode during this hunt too.
‘If things go right, maybe I can strip a Dragon Badge too!’
He couldn’t settle for the Silver Dragon Badge forever.
Time to swap it for a Gold one!
‘If not, at least let me score a huge point haul!’
Even better: a reserve rider with a Gold Dragon Badge loaded with points.
And a good feeling that it’d happen to him.
Jerry headed toward the Forest of Beginnings with light steps.
But the weather was the issue.
Dodging the worsening blizzard for a moment......
Splat—.
‘Huh?’
The ground where Jerry stepped suddenly sank, revealing an entrance to an underground cave.
As if inviting him in.
‘Whoa!’
Grinning at this stroke of luck, Jerry entered the underground cave.
Soon, his face hardened.
‘This... someone blocked it off on purpose.’
Discovering the underground cave was truly unexpected for Jerry.
In this vast Forest of Beginnings.
Of all places, the spot he stepped on.
A makeshift door of branches and leaves, barely a meter in diameter.
An entrance impossible to find unless seeking it, stumbled upon purely by chance.
Jerry channeled mana to his eyes and stared ahead.
The passage shrouded in darkness faintly came into view.
About two meters wide and high.
It stretched deep, the darkness thickening toward the back.
‘There’s a place like this in the Forest of Beginnings?’
It screamed “something’s here.”
Complete with a blocked entrance.
‘Oh ho?’
If that didn’t spark curiosity and anticipation, what would?
Plus, the branches in the makeshift door were still damp.
Meaning the cave’s occupant hadn’t been here long.
‘In other words, the owner’s one of the reserve riders who just entered!’
Shing—.
Drawing his sword, Jerry cautiously advanced into the passage.
And then.
‘Ugh, that scared me!’
The trap battle began.
Snap—clang!
Sudden flying stones.
Swish—thud!
Branches swinging at his ankles.
Bang!
Buried logs springing up.
Countless traps activated by unknown mechanisms.
‘Bit flashy, but nothing threatening.’
Jerry dismantled them at high speed, his excitement surging.
‘The owner of this cave... no ordinary reserve rider.’
Could a mere Yellow Dragon Badge holder set up traps like these?
No way.
Jerry’s eyes sparkled.
‘Definitely a Gold Dragon Badge holder!’
With a year of Cradle experience and peak condition today, he felt confident he could take down even a Gold Dragon Badge reserve rider.
Brimming with elation, he reached the end of the traps where faint light leaked.
And upon arrival......
[Where’re you looking, you senior bastard.]
Thwack!
His head was smashed clean.
Throb—throb—.
The pain at the back of his head revived with the memory, making Jerry grimace.
“That bastard, sneaking up like a coward......”
Cursing the guy who’d leaped from the darkness, Jerry suddenly flinched.
His face stiffened slightly.
‘If it wasn’t a sneak attack... could I have blocked it?’
He couldn’t pinpoint the exact position due to the darkness, but one thing was clear: the guy had been right in front.
Yet......
‘He got behind me in an instant.’
He hadn’t the foggiest when or how the guy had moved.
He’d completely missed the opponent’s movements.
‘A reserve rider slipping into my blind spot?’
Sure, he only had Silver Dragon Badge, but if thrown back to the Cradle exams now, he was confident handling Gold ones easily.
Yet even he—though he’d reacted late and blocked once—was subdued in a flash.
Jerry let out a hollow laugh.
“Damn, no wonder luck was good these past days......”
Guess his luck ended here.
Or maybe it was too good for his own good.
“Hah, Gold would’ve been fine, but I draw a White Dragon Badge holder in one shot.”
Though only one rank apart, the consensus was five Gold Dragon holders couldn’t take one White.
And that was as reserve riders.
The gap widened over time, turning White holders into untouchable monsters.
In short, White Dragon holders were a cut above from their reserve days.
Still, Jerry hadn’t worried about them due to their numbers.
Of those entering the Cradle yearly, at most five got White Dragon Badges.
Five at the very most.
What were the odds of running into one in this vast Forest of Beginnings?
Yet his luck was too good.
Running straight into what seemed a White holder.
“Hah... now even good luck’s a problem.”
A feeling something big was coming?
“Yeah, it hit big—my skull.”
As Jerry sighed in disbelief,
“Why? Something not to your liking?”
Suddenly, black hair cascaded down before his eyes, followed by an upside-down pale face.
No presence, a face popping up right in front inches away—who wouldn’t jump?
The startled Jerry screamed.
“Gahaaack!”
So shocked he rolled his eyes and convulsed.
If not buried, he’d have flopped like a fresh-caught fish.
Meanwhile, the black shadow passed over Jerry’s head.
Thud—.
Seeing the shoes appear before him, Jerry yelled.
“F-Fuck, thought my heart’d stop! Make some noise when you move!”
“Why should I?”
...Yeah, why?
Lost for words, Jerry replied lamely.
“W-Wouldn’t it be better for me?”
“Anyone who doesn’t notice that’s a retard, right? I’ve been behind you this whole time.”
“......Since when?”
“Since you yelled, ‘N-No way?! My head’s really cut off?!’?”
“......So you were there since I woke up?”
“Yeah.”
“......”
Detecting presence is skill.
Failing to sense someone that close meant no excuses.
Jerry clamped his mouth shut and instead eyed the one squatting delinquently before him.
Face half-hidden by dangling hair.
A mouth perfectly matching the posture—thuggish.
Feeling a chill, Jerry smiled awkwardly.
“Haha, that nameless junior?”
“Why, nameless senior?”
“Still, I’m your senior, so watch your mouth a bit......”
“You... really a senior? What kinda senior’s this frail?”
“I... am a senior.”
“Senior my ass. These days they call stealthy knife-stabbers seniors?”
“Th-That’s how it is in the Cradle....... And when did I stealth......”
He wanted to retort and assert senior dignity, but could he, buried after instant defeat?
Seeing Jerry’s dejected look, Yuria clicked her tongue.
“Tch, so what’s nameless senior’s name?”
“Jerry Bee.”
“What cohort?”
“......49th.”
“Second-year?”
“Yeah.”
“Really 49th?”
“For real......”
Facing Jerry’s pleading eyes begging belief, Yuria’s eyes gleamed oddly.
“I see.”
“......?”
“So what’s a second-year doing here? Not on a picnic, I assume.”
“That’s......”
At Yuria’s question, Jerry shut his mouth.
Getting owned by a reserve rider was embarrassing enough—couldn’t spill everything.
If his cohort mates knew, it’d be teasing fodder for life.
‘Especially that Humphrey prick if he found out?!’
Exam ended in two days anyway.
Escape by then or find another way.
Better than a lifetime of ribbing from Humphrey by a hundred—no, thousandfold.
With that thought, Jerry sealed his lips.
Seeing this, Yuria grinned.
“Aha? Too proud as a senior to spill that too?”
“......”
“Really?”
“......”
“Fine, whatever.”
Seeing no sign of Jerry talking, Yuria didn’t press further.
“Heh heh heh.”
Instead, she let out an ominous chuckle and vanished from Jerry’s sight.