14. O Sole Mio (4)
14. O Sole Mio (4)
If Lemia was like a wildflower that had bloomed but was never tended, and Sonia was a bud that couldn't fully blossom because she lacked health,
then Maria was a flower in full bloom.
The two before her were certainly beauties, but they couldn't match a true beauty who knew she was beautiful and had begun to cultivate that beauty.
Of course, even she paled before the allure of Scarlet, who was a succubus, but that was simply a different category altogether.
'Though right now, even she has wilted.'
Lemia through death, Sonia through the depression of loss, and Maria through the loss she had just learned of.
The three beautiful flowers had all wilted from the great shocks they received.
Yet their beauty remained, and there was a good chance that two of them might bloom again. Though whether the flower that bloomed again would be a lantern flower, a sunflower, or a poisoned rose was still something no one could know.
Even so, they were still flowers.
'Such devoted sincerity.'
Perhaps because of that, a presence—whether butterfly or bee, one couldn't tell—had already attached itself to her, the one already in full bloom.
The green-haired man who introduced himself as Daniel.
His eyes never left Maria the entire time. Outwardly, it was worry, but what was rooted at its core was adoration.
Truly, such a fresh and tender love.
"Don't forget to prioritize your own health."
"I told you not to worry. Miss Maria will arrive not long after we reach the city anyway. They said it's only about a day's distance from here."
"Right. I suppose so."
That love was not only watering the wilting Maria but seemed intent on making her bloom even healthier.
Whether she would truly be able to bloom again properly depended on the future, but...
Anyway, for the moment, it was a pleasant sight.
"..."
Daniel, who had been talking with Maria, looked at me again, so I pretended not to know anything and lowered my head. The man flinched and turned his head away, just as before.
In terms of skill, he was high-rank, but he didn't seem to be a veteran yet in terms of experience.
Well, he was still young.
Though I hadn't paid it any mind, it seemed Maria couldn't let it go.
"Please forgive his rudeness, Lady Anjelita."
"Pardon?"
"Adventurers and mercenaries often have experiences where they've been burned by people, so they don't trust easily."
"Ah. It's fine. I don't mind."
"Even so..."
"Really."
"...Thank you."
When I casually took her hand and smiled as if to console her, Maria bowed her head in thanks and then moved away.
Her shoulders still looked utterly drained of strength.
Trudge, trudge...
The journey to Solemio, thus resumed, was far quieter than when it had been just Sonia and me. With two out of the five keeping silent the whole time, it was only natural.
That must have been why.
The next day, the voices of the two adventurers who had come with Maria sounded unusually loud.
"But doesn't this mean the request is a failure?"
"No, it's a success. Just escorting that young lady here counts."
"Ah, I see."
Maria, at the head of the group, simply kept walking as if pretending not to hear, but there was no way she hadn't heard the words that reached my ears so clearly.
I was a dungeon lord, and though I had become considerably stronger than at first, I still fell short of a high-rank adventurer.
Yet she kept walking steadily.
Until these words reached her.
"This is just an act of god. In a dungeon that appeared in such a backwater, and not even that long ago, it's rare even for novice adventurers to get killed. You'd have to say they had the most rotten luck imaginable."
"Is it okay to say that?"
"Uh, um..."
"Both of you. Watch your mouths."
"Yes, ma'am!!"
The two adventurers stopped their chatter only after Maria stopped in her tracks and warned them.
She said nothing more at that moment, but, more than one might think, keeping your mouth shut can greatly affect your professional reputation.
Though that was merely my experience from Earth, it likely wasn't much different here.
"Sigh..."
"Damn..."
Fortunately, it seemed the one who appeared to be an apprentice adventurer would learn a lesson from his senior's slip of the tongue—that in the adventuring trade, it was best not to open your mouth too freely.
The mouth is the root of all evil; a truly golden realization.
On the other hand, the full-fledged adventurer seemed to hold a half-hearted grudge against Maria.
Likely, being someone who had lost kin, he thought he ought to be understood. Though he gradually calmed down, the way his eyes had flared up a moment ago suggested he was quite angry.
I spoke to them.
"You two."
"Uh... are you addressing us?"
"Yes! Lady Mage."
Still, the gap in experience was undeniable; while the apprentice adventurer replied somewhat blankly, the full-fledged adventurer answered my call with a sharp snap to attention.
The latter probably knew that many mages were eccentric. This world's perception of mages was roughly that of eccentric quasi-nobility.
In the end, he was wary of me.
Knowing that, I still smiled and spoke to the two, holding out some sweet-and-salty jerky that Eve had made.
"Have you two been in Solemio for long?"
"Ah... I haven't been an adventurer for long. About half a year?"
"I've got a real solid grip on this area! I've been here for a good five years."
As I thought.
Just by looking, it seemed he had been drifting around this frontier for quite some time. Now that I considered it, there was a reason it couldn't be otherwise.
It was a trait easy for me to use, so I was glad, though.
"Is that so? That's good. I have a few questions, you see. I haven't been here long myself."
"Ask anything you like! I'll answer whatever I can."
"Thank you. Let's talk while you eat. My hands are aching."
"W-well, I won't refuse then..."
The senior of the two seemed to glance at Maria for a moment, but soon approached me, bowed deeply, and accepted the jerky.
Food was precious to an adventurer. He wouldn't want to pass up a chance to eat something out of the ordinary.
"This is delicious! I've never tasted anything like this."
"It really is!"
As I simply watched without asking questions, his eyes, which had been checking my reaction after he put a piece of jerky in his mouth, widened slightly. The apprentice adventurer beside him, who had followed suit, did the same.
"Really? That reaction makes it worth having made."
"You made this yourself? As expected of a mage..."
"No, this is just a hunting skill."
"Whoa... you do your own hunting too! I thought your bow looked unusual for a reason."
"It's nothing special."
"Nothing special, you say! I've never tasted anything like this, even in my hometown."
Narrow-minded, yet slick and obsequious to the strong.
It was a personality that clearly foreshadowed a fate of being discarded while clumsily trying to seize an opportunity to rise among the strong, but there was no need to point it out.
Not unless he came to owe me a favor.
"May I ask your names?"
"Ah, we haven't introduced ourselves yet! My apologies. I'm Gyeonghan. A tracker."
"Velvet. An archer. Apprentice, though."
The full-fledged adventurer Gyeonghan was from the Western Continent—that is, a man of an Eastern style by Earth's terms—while the apprentice adventurer Velvet was a man of solid Western build.
A tracker specialized in detecting the presence of monsters or beasts rather than traps, and an archer who operated primarily as a long-range sniper—both were bow-wielding professions common among adventurers and mercenaries.
In the game, they would have advanced into things like hunter or ranger, but now that it was reality, they probably hadn't made such precise distinctions in titles.
Still, roughly gauging by their appearance and talking in game terms, Gyeonghan was likely a 'hunter' using a short bow and dagger, while Velvet was probably a case of choosing 'archer' to eventually become a 'marksman' using a longbow.
At any rate, perhaps because both were bow users, they were sending looks full of curiosity and friendliness toward me, a peculiar mage who also carried a bow on her back.
"Earlier, I saw the bow you carry looks like a Gakgung. Would you mind if I took a look?"
"You know about bows?"
"I'm no expert, but I'm confident I have an eye for them! The bows of the south here are excellent too, but still, they can't compare to those of our continent."
Beside him, Velvet shot Gyeonghan a displeased look.
But seeing as Gyeonghan brushed it off like it was familiar, he must have often spoken with such pride about the bows of the Western Continent.
However, since I knew that the Western Continent of this world had a culture that incorporated elements of Earth's East Asia in its own way, I inwardly agreed.
The Korean Gakgung is indeed a point of national pride. Though my bow wasn't that Gakgung, of course.
"This is a truly well-made bow!"
"You think so?"
"Yes, truly. Perhaps because you lacked materials, the adhesive and finishing are a bit rough, but... the center of balance and the essential elasticity are both perfectly captured. Without the right materials, achieving this level would have been truly difficult."
"..."
At Gyeonghan's words after he drew the bow and took aim a few times, I found myself thinking about Eve anew.
It was Eve who had made this bow and helped me practice my Fate. It was also she who had recommended a bow when I said I would likely need a weapon.
His praise of the bow's quality must have been sincere.
Gyeonghan's eyes had distinctly glistened after handling the bow just now, and he had even smacked his lips before falling silent.
Whether it was greed, or truly the pure admiration of an archer seeing a fine bow, it was a rather immediate reaction.
"However, you won't be able to use it for long as it is. When you reach the city, you absolutely must stop by a workshop."
"I was planning to."
"I needn't have worried, then. Truly a wise judgment."
The flattery was a bit much.
Still, thanks to growing friendly in this way, I was able to comfortably ask various questions about Solemio.
Famous people in the city, what sort of person the lord was, whether the territory had any specialties, whether there were other cities nearby, and so on.
All of it was, in the end, thanks to the bow Eve had made. When I returned, I'd have to give her more head pats.
"A dungeon rampage, you say?"
"Yes. That's why the south has been noisy lately. I suspect an expedition force will be dispatched from Solemio before long as well."
Among all of it, the most valuable information was this.
A rampage by one large, long-established dungeon that had been in the south.
'Looks like someone is in great pain.'
A dungeon rampage was not something that ordinarily happened.
It occurred when one of two conditions was met. Those conditions were 'when the dungeon core was stolen out of the dungeon while the dungeon lord was alive' and 'when only the dungeon lord died while the core remained intact.'
The core and the lord were closely Fated in terms of each other's vitality, but the death of one did not necessarily mean the destruction of the other.
Of course, if the core was destroyed or moved too far away, the lord's power would be halved, and if the lord died, the core would fall into a state of doing almost nothing until a new lord appeared. That much was true.
However, in any case, if both were not sealed or destroyed without a significant time gap...
One side or the other would begin to rampage madly.
Whether it was a lord who had nothing left to protect or had to reclaim something, trying somehow to seize another powerful lifeform to make it a lord, or a core that needed to secure additional mana that the lord couldn't provide—in such cases, it never ended with negotiation or threats using the core. Because rampaging madly meant exactly that.
"How did such a thing happen?"
"Some greed-filled fellow managed to lure the dungeon lord away and succeeded in stealing the core. I hear Count Byeongyeong is grinding his teeth trying to find out just what bastard did it."
"Is that true?"
It was Maria who suddenly interjected into the conversation.
Her face was set in grave seriousness. It must have been because she knew very well what this information meant to her.
"Miss Maria... Yes. It's true."
"How could..."
Judging by how she seemed to be hearing it for the first time, it appeared she had been too preoccupied with thoughts of her siblings to investigate the circumstances when heading to the dungeon.
The Solemio Adventurers Guild had not sent an additional search party despite the disappearance of the novice adventurers, and had not been very cooperative even when a high-rank adventurer came in person.
And the chaotic state of Solemio, plus the news of the dungeon rampage just heard now.
All the information pointed to one thing.
The city of Solemio was planning to dispatch a support force for the rampaging dungeon soon. That was why they had no intention of sending additional personnel to search for 'mere' novice adventurers.
This news was poison to Maria, but medicine to me.
"Lady Anjelita."
"Yes. It looks like obtaining significant cooperation will be difficult."
"Haa..."
It meant that gaining the city's support would be hard going forward.
And ahead of us, the walls of Solemio gradually came into view.
"Damn..."
The emotions contained in the eyes of Maria and me as we looked upon those walls were opposites.
To my eyes, the sight of the walls with the sunset at their back was exceedingly beautiful, but in Maria's eyes, as she looked at the city that had been the base for Sonia's party, there was only irritation and resentment simmering thickly.
Thus ended the roughly six-day journey on foot, greeted by the setting sun.