Chapter 41
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: S-Rank Gates Have No Romance (6)
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We trampled the blackened soil and pressed forward. The utterly crumbly earth was being packed down by the first humans to set foot on it, hardening as it soaked up blood.
Various weapons were wielded in each person's hands. They slashed at the charging nameless horrors, stabbing vital points to sever their breaths. Cleaving through everything that obstructed their path, they advanced once more.
People's faces still brimmed with leisure. The labyrinth's maze from before and the monsters they encountered while marching on—considering it an S-rank gate, they all felt a bit too easy. Convinced this expedition would wrap up smoothly, they chatted among themselves.
- Team Leader, all the monsters that swarmed us have been cleared.
- Good. Then let's resume the march.
The voice came from the front of the column, quite a distance from us. The hunters, having sorted out the monsters they'd faced several times now, resumed their halted steps. I simply followed at the tail end of that procession.
Feeling a sense of dissonance amid the incongruous peacefulness, I glanced to the side. Yuna, walking alongside me at the rear, had a more vacant expression than anyone, simply following the heels of the person ahead like a zombie.
"Sleepy?"
"...Yeah."
Since they were handling everything up front without us needing to lift a finger, it was no wonder she felt drowsy. Maybe because it was a sight she often showed even on A-rank gates we cleared together normally, I should have nagged her, but instead, I just let it slide.
"Hmm, still, isn't this a bit too laid-back for an S-rank gate?"
"Whatever happens, they'll handle it fine... Worst case, you've got it covered."
"...You're saying they'll do everything even if I just sit back?"
"Dunno... I'm sleepy. I wanna sleep. Can you carry me...?"
Yuna dodged the question and subtly tugged at my sleeve. Her feigned blankness, avoiding eye contact—it was pretty damn annoying.
You said you'd do great, that's why I brought you. Did I fall for some devious adult trick?
"Carry me..."
I hadn't even agreed, but she climbed onto my back on her own. Her hands that had been pulling my clothes wrapped around my neck, her legs hooking around my sides.
"Ah... So warm. I'm off."
"Unbelievable."
Truly unbelievable.
The long march halted as time passed. Though this special space called a gate knew no day or night, the hunters who'd been advancing for hours naturally stopped and began setting up camp.
They pitched simple shelters for the night and lit fires. Watching the hunters move with disciplined precision, I just shook off the cheeky thing drooling on my shoulder to wake her.
"Hey, you little brat. Get up already."
"Mmm..."
Yuna shook her head side to side and hugged my neck even tighter. Having soaked my right shoulder, she now started wetting my left.
"Damn it. Stop drooling and wake up."
I grabbed her under the arms and hoisted her off. Yuna, dead to the world in sleep, felt her body lift and snapped her eyes open in uncharacteristic alarm—but I unceremoniously tossed her into a pile of gear.
Crash!
"Ow...?"
"What do you mean 'ow'? You've slept plenty. Time to get up, Miss Yuna."
"Wait, did you just... throw me...?"
Like I'd miss.
"Quit yapping and get up. Everyone's busy working while you're the only one sleeping. Feels good, huh?"
"You... just threw me out of nowhere... That's too much..."
Yuna stared at me with a world-weary expression. Like she'd been abandoned by someone she trusted—like back when she said she didn't want to hang out because of the scandal. She shoved that face full of grievance at me.
It was foul play coming from someone who rarely showed much emotion.
"Whoa, don't make that face. That's cheating."
She perked up her ears at my words for a moment, then looked at me with even more pitiful eyes.
No wonder she seemed overly pitiable. The kid was only learning bad habits and getting softer by the day.
"..."
I ignored the look and dragged Yuna along to help the others. Even as she was pulled by the hand, she muttered something dissatisfied.
"Tch... This doesn't work either."
As if it would.
By now, the camp was set, and meal prep was done. The hunters gathered around the large central bonfire.
Like friends on a retreat, they excitedly sat with their bowls, chatting away.
- Team Leader, this raid seems pretty easy so far, right?
- You gonna jinx it and get carted off injured again?
- Seung-hyun, what was that thing we ate last time? You know, that place in Sinchon.
- Gambas? Why bring that up out of nowhere?
- Nah, it tastes just like this.
- Not similar—yours just tastes bad.
Each one burned time with idle chit-chat with whoever was next to them.
- This raid's off to a good start~ No one's hurt yet, no issues.
- Why? There was one. Hunter Ansiu came out way too late, suspiciously so.
- Yeah, true. We waited four extra hours after everyone else. Honestly thought he was dead.
And just like that, talk turned to me. I didn't care much and just shoveled food into my mouth blankly, but Yuna beside me perked up her ears and glanced their way.
- Oh yeah~ Honestly, I thought we should've just left without him.
- Shh, quiet...!
- Huh? Why?
- Hunter Yuna's watching us...!
- Eep...! Sorry!
Yuna glared wordlessly, and spooked by the look, the clustered hunters shut up and averted their eyes. The friendly bonfire chat turned to chilly silence.
"Come on, why ruin their fun talk. Just eat."
"No, they're talking crap..."
"If one guy takes over four hours when everyone else is out in two, I'd think he was dead too. It's fine, everyone keep chatting~"
I stroked Yuna's head and smiled at the others. They hesitated, glancing at us, and I waved it off like it was really no big deal.
Yuna still looked miffed, alternating glares between me and them with a frown. To cheer her up, I started a story.
"Hmm, how about I tell you about something from the world I went to?"
"...! Yeah, sure."
She'd begged before and I never told her, so Yuna lit up with interest right away.
"Back then—no, I mean, I fell into a world called Pretoria."
"Right now, aside from you, I don't really have any other comrades, but there? I had plenty of folks I could call comrades."
Not just party members like Seren, but the knights and adventurers who followed us, the mercenaries who stuck close amiably. Bonds formed naturally from saving people and solving problems.
"So we traveled together, hunted monsters, camped like this. The journey was pretty long, so we'd been together quite a while~"
Connections from before crossing the demon realm had sustained us for a good long time. They propped up my back as the grueling path wore me down.
"Yeah, it was just like this back then. Big bonfire, everyone gathered eating. Chatting, someone whispering sweet nothings, laughs nonstop."
I thought of those who always followed respectfully yet kept a respectful distance.
As I spun the tale smoothly, eyes around us turned to me. Their own chats stopped, curiosity piqued by my story.
"Haha, everyone's paying attention—kinda embarrassing~ Anyway, to wrap it up. While traveling together like that, we ended up having to take down a monster as a group."
The Lord of the Dead subjugation. The endlessly spawning undead horde was too much for our modest six-person party.
"It was brutal. The parent monster was so tenacious, I remember it taking forever."
A full half-year. That's how long it took to smash through the relentless waves.
"Story's done~ Satisfied?"
I grinned to end it, glancing at Yuna, figuring it'd lift her mood.
"So you just left all those comrades behind?"
"Yeah, that's their homeworld. They're probably fine."
All dead, turned to stars—they're fine. I burned them all so they wouldn't become undead, sent them skyward. At least no postmortem suffering. That's what I figured.
"No regrets coming back?"
Yuna kept probing my tale.
"Hmm, well. Can anyone make choices without regrets?"
If I'd pushed harder then, dived deeper without holding back, given my life instead of theirs.
Would there have been no regrets?
No. Probably just different ones.
"Don't you miss them...?"
Did longing show on my face? If so, she saw right.
"I do."
I answered without hesitation.
Because I can't see them anymore.
"But it's okay. They told me to be happy."
As the hero, I can endure. Can't make their sacrifice meaningless. Can't trample the wish they held to the end—for my happiness.
"Mm, so shall we have a happy bedtime? I'm off first. See you in the morning~"
I beamed and bid everyone goodnight. Story done, heart light, I lay down, closing my eyes on memories of them long unseen.
Hoping to meet in dreams.
Three days, three nights.
The march dragged on through that time before finally reaching its end.
The hunters who'd cheered at the deceptively easy final monster now wore only weary pallor—much like this carefree journey till now.
My face, too, grew cold.
Things that shouldn't be here defiled my sight.
Beasts of the demon realm, the Lord's undead.
I scowled at the loathsome sight.