I Am Coming to Rescue You Right Now (3)
I Am Coming to Rescue You Right Now (3)
Deep in the forest, as dusk began to fall.
After sending the charging monster flying with her shield, Katrin looked back.
"Is everyone okay?"
At Katrin's words, Leonel, who had been shoved against a tree, waved a hand.
"Ah, I'm still alive. If some of those monsters hadn't turned back just now, I definitely would have died."
Though injured, Mirisa and Hesus were still alive as well.
Even Leonel, whom she had thought dead or severely wounded, seemed able to move.
Until just a moment ago, she had thought they would all perish here. Fortunately, some of the monsters had withdrawn, giving them a chance to survive.
Yet the situation was still far from hopeful.
There were still plenty of monsters remaining.
When some of the monsters withdrew, the rest had paused their attack while keeping them surrounded. Now, though, they were getting ready to strike again.
Though their numbers had decreased, it still seemed overwhelmingly difficult for this group to hold off the remaining beasts.
Most of the students seemed barely able to fight, and Katrin was exhausted as well.
Katrin glanced down at her waist. Blood was streaming from the gash in her side.
It was no small wound. The more she moved, the more it would tear open. If that happened, fighting would become even harder...
But if she didn't move, they would have no choice but to die here.
Katrin gritted her teeth.
Agony coursed through her whole body, but she had to protect the students behind her.
She had already lost one student. She couldn't afford to lose any more.
Growl.
The monsters began to move once more.
Katrin steeled her resolve. Still, compared to before, there was a tiny sliver of hope—microscopic as it was.
If she sacrificed her life, she might at least be able to get the remaining students out alive.
Even if they managed to defeat these monsters, the path back was still daunting, but she decided not to think about what came after.
With that thought, Katrin raised her sword and shield.
Boom!
The monster at the front leaped toward Katrin.
And then,
Something jumped down from right above her head.
Crunch!
A thick blade drove deep into the monster's head.
As the monster collapsed, the other beasts charging forward halted in surprise.
Katrin stared wide-eyed at the person who had leaped down from above.
I pulled out the sword embedded in the monster and looked at Katrin.
"I'm not too late, am I?"
There were more monsters remaining than expected, and with so many injured people, dealing with the rest of the beasts was no easy task.
Still, as we fought desperately to fend them off, the monsters eventually gave up and retreated.
Fortunately, we managed to end the battle without anyone else getting hurt.
The sun had already set, and we were in the middle of the forest, but it was difficult to move right away.
I checked Katrin's wound first.
When I saw Katrin earlier, I was startled to see blood pouring from her side.
I had worried that I was too late, but fortunately, it was a wound that could be treated with a potion.
"This will hurt a bit."
"Ugh."
I poured the potion over her wound and wrapped bandages around her waist.
Katrin winced, but she endured it well.
After treating the most severe injury, I checked on the students.
Fortunately, no one was severely injured.
Everyone had survived, but their expressions were dark.
It was because Ride was missing.
Everyone was worried about Ride, but no one asked me—the only relatively unharmed person—to go look for him.
He had gone missing near the monsters' nest. Considering they had just been attacked by those monsters, it would be difficult for anyone to ask me to go back to the nest and search for him.
If they had asked, I might have half-heartedly looked around, but right now, protecting the people here took priority.
Katrin, who had been lost in thought as she endured her pain, seemed to reach a conclusion and forced herself to stand up.
"It's dangerous here. We need to find a safe place."
"Not yet. Your wound is severe. You shouldn't move right now."
I tried to stop her, but she shook her head.
"My wound is fine. Besides, I wanted to wait for Ride a little longer. But it's too late now. It's gotten dark, so it will be even more dangerous."
Pitch darkness had descended over the Forest of the Seal.
I couldn't stop her any longer. As she said, spending the night here would be difficult.
"I saw a spot on my way here. Let's head there first."
Katrin nodded at my words.
I called Bria over to help support Katrin.
Not only Bria but the other students also seemed a bit surprised as they listened to the conversation between Katrin and me.
It was because Katrin and I seemed far closer than they had expected.
I led the group from the front.
Out of the entire group, I was the only one currently capable of fighting properly.
I heightened my senses to the absolute maximum as I scanned our surroundings.
The monsters were gradually increasing in number. These were beasts that hadn't been visible during the day, and there was no telling where on earth they were coming from.
I moved cautiously, avoiding the monsters as much as possible. I made wide detours to the left and right, backtracked, and then pressed forward again.
The students were dissatisfied with the constantly changing directions, but since Katrin said nothing, they kept their complaints to themselves and silently walked behind me.
After taking more than twice as long as usual, we arrived at the cave where I had stayed before my death.
Since I had confirmed it was safe for at least a day, there was currently no better shelter.
I helped Katrin lie down deep inside the cave, then began gathering tree branches and foliage to conceal the entrance, just as I had done back then.
The other students also collapsed inside the cave from exhaustion, but Bria helped me carry branches.
As time passed, we succeeded in disguising the cave entrance with bushes and branches until it was hardly visible from outside.
"Thank you for your hard work."
"It's Young Lord Alex who worked hard."
After exchanging words of appreciation, we stepped inside the cave.
"You're exhausted. Get some sleep."
When I said that, Bria bowed her head deeply.
"Thank you. We survived thanks to you."
Her voice echoed softly inside the cave.
'Did she speak loudly on purpose so everyone would hear?'
It seemed everyone had heard.
The students who were lying down got up to express their gratitude.
"You should thank the Professor rather than me. She was the one who protected everyone."
I thought she was asleep, but Katrin's voice drifted over.
"No. It's only natural for me to protect my team members. Alex, you're the one who deserves their thanks."
Left with no choice, I accepted everyone's thanks.
Although I accepted their gratitude, honestly, I thought it would be much better if they gave me money or artifacts instead of words.
Lying down seemed to ease Katrin's pain, even if only a little.
Katrin frowned as she asked me.
"By the way, how did you find us? Don't tell me you got left behind?"
At Katrin's question, I told her what had happened today.
Hearing that I had come at the Princess's request, Katrin let out a sigh.
"It's something to be grateful for, but authority shouldn't be used like that..."
Even as she groaned from her own wound, she still seemed worried about the Princess.
"I'll apologize on her behalf. You must have risked your life coming here, so I'll make sure you receive proper compensation no matter what."
As expected, Katrin was a wonderful professor who truly understood my heart.
Katrin then worried about the search party.
"The search party must be looking for us right now..."
Oops, I forgot. No, I had deliberately pushed them out of my mind.
It would have been too difficult to rescue Katrin while keeping the search party in mind.
Feeling a bit guilty, I answered her.
"Should I go look for them?"
"No. Finding a search party at night is hard, and it's too dangerous for you at night."
I obediently nodded at Katrin's words.
I felt sorry for the knights who were searching, but unless it was to rescue Katrin, wandering around looking for a search party in the dead of night was out of the question.
Katrin's voice gradually grew quieter.
The students had already fallen asleep as well.
Unlike before my death, everyone seemed less traumatized.
Katrin continued to murmur her worries in a barely audible voice.
"And someone needs to stand watch..."
"I can stand watch tonight."
"And..."
As I answered her questions one by one, she finally fell asleep too.
Once everyone was asleep, I climbed over the branches stacked at the entrance.
Leaning my back against the rock face next to the cave, I gazed out at the dark forest.
Leaving the others behind in the cave to go searching for the search party was impossible after all.
Burying my feelings of guilt, I pulled out the pouch I had stashed deep in my bag.
It was the pouch I had snatched from Ride.
Because I had been moving so frantically, I hadn't had a chance to look inside yet.
On the outside, it looked like a plain, empty pouch. But Ride had worn it diligently. It couldn't just be an empty pouch.
I opened the pouch and looked inside.
The inside of the pouch was pitch black.
Even with the starlight and mana infused into my eyes, the inside of the pouch remained pitch dark.
It clearly didn't seem like an ordinary pouch.
I widened the opening of the pouch further and carefully slipped my hand inside.
'Are these coins? Feels like there's a ring or something too. And some folded sheets of paper.'
As expected, it wasn't a normal pouch.
When I inserted my hand, images of the items inside the pouch surfaced in my mind. Though they were only rough shapes, they were enough to retrieve them.
First, I tried pulling out the coins, which were the most numerous. As I pictured the coins in my mind, my hand grasped them.
I pulled the coins I had grabbed out of the pouch.
The coins I pulled out shimmered yellow under the starlight.
"Wait, these are gold coins?"
Unfortunately, they weren't ancient gold coins but kingdom gold coins—still, gold was gold.
"There are still plenty left!"
I eagerly pulled gold coins out of the pouch.
One handful, two handfuls, three handfuls...
Far more gold coins than the size of the pouch could hold piled up on the ground.
"Looks like around a hundred or so."
Looking at the mound of gold coins on the ground filled me with satisfaction.
An ordinary family's living expenses in this world were about one gold coin a month. A hundred coins meant ten years' worth of living expenses.
If I calculated it based on my past life, would it be around three to four hundred million won?
When I went to the dungeon with Katrin, I had also found decent treasures, but unfortunately, since I couldn't exchange them for currency, I had hidden them deep inside my room.
But this time it was actual gold coins. With this much money, I could live luxuriously while attending the Academy.
"Should I send some to my mother too?"
With a smile creeping onto my lips, I reached into the pouch once again.
The next thing I pictured was an object shaped like a ring.
'Please let it be an expensive gem ring.'
But to my disappointment, the ring I pulled out had no gem embedded in it.
"A stamp ring... wait, is it a signet ring?"
Instead of a jewel, a crest was engraved on the front of the ring.
"Surely it can't be a family signet ring."
Not knowing what it was, I pulled out the next item.
I pictured paper, but my hand grasped something like leather.
"Is this papyrus?"
Drawn on the worn papyrus, folded several times, was something resembling a map.
"Tsk, it's not even a treasure map."
Thinking it was another dud, I immediately pulled out the next item.
This one was paper too.
"This is just regular paper. No, is it a letter?"
Unfolding the sheet of paper, I read the letter.
As I read it, my eyes gradually widened, and my mouth fell open.
It was unbelievable.
I looked back at the ring and map I had pulled out earlier.
"Don't tell me... were these all real?"