Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Reunion with Gunter
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Having joined up with the group, I was able to hear the full story.
It seemed they had been searching for a missing person.
"Elon has disappeared!?"
Rudolph, having heard the details, cried out in a scream-like voice.
A man who appeared to be the village chief nodded with a gloomy expression amid the group.
"Yes. We were just starting the search thanks to some helpful folks arriving..."
The village chief turned his gaze toward me.
"By any chance, are you with the Elan Kingdom?"
"Yes? No, I'm not."
"Then are you with the Savior Alliance!? If it's not too much trouble, could you tell us your affiliation?"
"I don't belong to any group. I'm not part of the Savior Alliance either."
The village chief let out a deep sigh, clearly disappointed that I wasn't with the Savior Alliance, and spoke.
"We can talk about the rest later. Right now, searching for the missing person comes first. Elon is a hunter. He went up the mountain to check his traps for food supplies and hasn't returned."
"Village chief!"
A man who seemed to be the leader of the fighters demanded angrily.
"Why did you send people out at a time like this!"
"We had no choice. There was a limit to staying holed up in our homes with talismans plastered everywhere! The kingdom has abandoned us. The Savior Alliance rarely sends anyone to help! In the meantime, all our stockpiled food ran out!"
That must be why Rudolph had been at the fisherman's hut. Somehow trying to procure food.
"Hoo! I understand your feelings, but... that hunter Elon probably didn't survive. He must have been devoured by Hellhounds for sure."
I suddenly thought of the necklace I'd taken from killing that monster yesterday.
I showed it just in case, and the village chief's eyes widened.
"Th-that's...!"
"I found it inside the camouflage of a monster I encountered and killed in the mountains."
"Ugh, it's Elon's all right...! Elon... I'm sorry...!"
Now that we knew the fate of the missing person, there was no reason to linger here.
We turned our mounts toward the village.
The small village in the center of the island was filled with a somber atmosphere.
I quietly asked Rudolph.
"How long has it been like this?"
"It's been a whole month already. A month of this."
"A whole month...!"
That was long enough for food supplies to run out.
"It couldn't be helped. The mainland has its own urgent matters to deal with first. Only after that's sorted do they send people to outlying places like us. This disturbance seems to have been quite large-scale. The fact that support hasn't arrived yet..."
"What about those four over there? Come to think of it, didn't you say yesterday that people from the Savior Alliance would be coming soon?"
"Yeah. They said they'd be around here... but those guys don't seem to be Savior Alliance members—just regular mercenaries, I think. We were desperate, so we put out requests not just to the Alliance but to mercenaries too. They must have come after seeing that."
Rudolph let out a sigh laced with despair.
The village had already reached its limit. At the news of the missing person's death, the villagers began to sob.
"Is now a good time?"
It was the leader of the mercenaries.
The man, who introduced himself as Torres, proposed a joint mission to me.
"You seem pretty skilled. How about teaming up for this job? It won't be much, but we'll give you your share."
I had no idea why he was treating me like a skilled fighter. Of course, I wasn't weak, but there were easily over a hundred people on the continent stronger than me.
'No, thinking differently, being around 100th overall means I'm pretty strong, right?'
Maybe I'd grown numb to it because of all the monsters around me.
I shook my head to signal refusal.
"Sorry. I don't have the time for that right now."
Monsters this, dungeons that. I had zero interest. Right now, my priority was to ask around the village and investigate my acquaintances' whereabouts.
That said, I might need their boat to leave the island, so I decided to keep things open-ended.
"Could you possibly wait just a few hours? I have some questions for the villagers."
My words drew varied reactions from the other mercenaries.
"Torres, we don't have time to waste. We need to finish this today and get back to meet the deadline for the next job."
"Yeah. If we stick around longer, they'll start begging for our food supplies too. It's probably just the Hellhound leader at most—let's take it out quick and collect our pay."
The two men reacted that way, but the woman didn't.
"St-still. Just in case, wouldn't it be better to go together? This guy seems reliable enough..."
The men just sneered at that.
"Haa... Lena, really."
"You never can resist a handsome guy."
"Enough already—let's go!"
With that, the four of them geared up to conquer the dungeon and headed toward the island's mountainous region.
Left alone, I gathered information by questioning the villagers.
I finally got some useful info two hours into the questioning.
It was from a hunter who had gone to the mountains yesterday and returned. Like the hunter devoured by a monster, he'd been out gathering food.
He said,
"Come to think of it, I did run into a weird guy."
"A weird guy...?"
"This huge bulk came toward me. At the time, I thought it was a bear and bolted, but now I think it might've been a person. I heard some incomprehensible words or something."
"Could it have been someone from the village?"
"No one in the village has that kind of build."
If it was one of my acquaintances, there were only two candidates: Master Ilya and Gunter.
Master Ilya wasn't that tall at around 180cm, but his fierce impression and intimidating presence could lead to a mistake like that.
Gunter, on the other hand, had a gentle face but a massive build.
It might've been the hunter's mistake, but I figured it was worth investigating.
'Should I join up with those mercenaries now?'
But then—
—Kuoohhh—!
A roar that seemed to shake the entire island.
I felt a sharp tingle from deep inside my body.
"Kyaaah!"
"M-monster!"
The villagers turned pale and barricaded themselves in their homes. Those houses were plastered with the same talismans as the ones on the fisherman's hut.
'No helping it.'
For now, I'd track human traces alone. If I ran into the mercenaries along the way, I could join them.
I took some simple rations from the village chief and headed into the mountains.
*
*
*
I had quite a bit of experience with mountainous terrain.
I'd fought in three major battles in the mountains alone, and as a kid, I'd learned survival skills from my master.
Finding human tracks was child's play.
'Clear signs different from animals. These must be the monsters' traces.'
The footprints themselves felt alien. And their behavior seemed focused solely on slaughter and predation.
There was blood from normal animals everywhere.
'Actually makes it easy to spot.'
Those monsters devoured everything without discrimination.
Normally, when beasts hunt, they eat only what they can and leave the tough parts behind.
Other animals eat those remains, the fully rotted corpses become food for insects and soil, and nature cycles on.
But those things left no corpses. As if they could digest anything, they ate it all.
That made their tracks easy to follow.
'This!'
It was the bone of a small animal.
The cleanly picked bones showed signs of human work.
More importantly, there were traces of a campfire.
If it wasn't a village hunter, then it had to be someone else.
I didn't know who, but if it was an acquaintance of mine, I figured Gunter.
'The location matches too.'
At that moment when magic suddenly manifested. Gunter had been right next to me. Sophia was to my right.
Gunter had run to protect Sophia. Ironically, in the final moment, he'd been the closest to me.
'If this hypothesis turns out true, it'll be a big find.'
People who were close or clinging together ended up in the same place.
I desperately recalled the situation back then.
'Eowa and Ms. Bisceta were embracing each other not far from me.'
Beyond that, Aegert and Mother. Sister Yulia and Olaf. Master Ilya and Estelle had been together too.
'Tch, can't remember more than that.'
I sorted my tangled thoughts and followed the tracks deeper into the mountains.
I became even more convinced the person here was Gunter.
Master, who knew the mountains well, wouldn't have gone this deep.
"..."
The deeper I went, the thicker the blood traces became. An alien feeling like entering a demonic realm.
On top of that, I felt murderous gazes watching me from all around.
'About eight in number...'
Judging it wise to flee here, but since it was a number I could handle, I decided to take a gamble.
I steadied my breath and shouted.
"Gunter—!! I'm here!"
My voice echoed. Stimulated by it, monsters began surrounding me.
There were the wolf-type monsters I'd encountered before, and feline ones too.
Exactly eight.
For the gamble to succeed, I had to hold out here.
I drew my weapons and aimed at them.
"Come at me."
"Krooooh!"
Reacting to my killing intent, they charged all at once.
Pik! I severed the head of one lunging from the side with my spear, then swung its body wide while the spear was still lodged.
Thud! Thud! Two more got smashed to the ground.
Using that opening, I dealt with the one charging from the front.
Swish! Ducking low first, I slashed one with the sword in my left hand. Then, with a wrist snap, I yanked the spear from the corpse and thud! Thud! Took out the other two in one go.
'Four left!'
I charged at them instead.
As I switched to offense, they finally realized they'd messed with the wrong guy and scrambled to flee.
I cut down two with my sword and threw my spear to finish another, but the last one escaped in the opposite direction before I could get it.
'Tch, let one slip.'
The escaped one was likely to bring friends.
'No choice. Have to head back to the village for now.'
But then—
Thud! A burly hand grabbed the head of the fleeing monster.
The grip was so strong the monster writhed and whimpered.
Soon, crunch! The head was crushed purely by grip strength.
Only then could I clearly make out the man's appearance.
A monster-like build with a gentle face.
"Gunter! It was you after all!"
"Hoo! Me too. So it was you, Als."
Gunter exhaled a sigh of relief, looking like a weight had lifted.
Still not fully grasping the situation, he asked me for the details.
For now, I decided to move to a safer spot and explain everything to Gunter.
*
*
*
While Als was reuniting with Gunter, a new commotion was stirring in the village.
The village chief welcomed the guests with a mix of感動 and embarrassment.
A team of two men and two women.
"The Savior Alliance has finally...!"
"We stopped at other island villages on the way, so we were delayed. Can you tell us the situation here?"
"Well..."
The village chief awkwardly spilled everything, including how he'd desperately hired mercenaries too. Hearing that, they frowned.
"You hired mercenaries too? Look, we're not idle. If word gets out you wasted our time, the Savior Alliance won't help you next time."
"I'm truly sorry! So sorry! Things were just too dire! Please forgive us!"
"Sheesh."
The village chief bowed repeatedly begging forgiveness. When push came to shove, he could rely on the Savior Alliance more than money-grubbing mercenaries.
"Kelly, that's enough. Their situation is pitiful, it's true. Plus, don't forget the Alliance Leader's orders to be kind to Elan Kingdom people."
"Tch."
Kelly pressed the village chief.
"When did the mercenaries head to the dungeon?"
"About three hours ago. And along with them, a man with excellent skills..."
"Excellent skills? Hm. Probably another mercenary. Anyway, three hours is plenty—it's probably over by now. The monsters that appeared were just Hellhounds..."
Kelly clicked his tongue, annoyed at the wasted trip.
Then—
—Kuoohhh—!!
A furious roar shaking the island.
Kelly's expression changed instantly.
"What, what is that? No way, that sound...! Lunia!"
"Yes! Scanning!"
As the woman called Lunia chanted a spell, mana like vibrations spread from her staff.
After standing there feeling the vibrations for about ten minutes, the female mage opened her eyes and shouted.
"No doubt about it! A Rank 6 Designated Danger Dungeon! Mother of the Wilds!"
Kelly and the Savior Alliance members wore stunned expressions.
He yelled.
"Hurry and set up the Salvation Teleport! Every second counts!"
There was no more leisure in Kelly's face.
He was certain.
The mercenaries who'd gone to conquer the dungeon. And the skilled fighter the village chief mentioned. They were all dead by now.