“I see. There were two werewolves? Then it is fortunate you managed to deal with monsters like that. It is regrettable that Jason died, but......”
The Caravan Master’s stiff expression relaxed slightly the moment he saw the Ability Stone and Mana Stones I handed him.
Of course, he immediately schooled his expression again,
but even that tiny change seemed enough to tell me something about his character.
“......Mercenary, you said your name was Char, correct? You were a great help. Would you agree, Captain Kane?”
Kane had arrived late at the campsite after the disaster.
Whether because his injuries had not yet healed or because his subordinates had died,
his expression looked terrible.
“Yes. I agree.”
Even so,
the look he gave me was filled with trust.
That was only natural after we had fought side by side with our lives on the line.
Even I, despite knowing I would probably never see him again once this was over,
felt a sense of closeness toward him.
I suppose this was what comradeship felt like.
“What sort of reward should I give Char, then?”
“If you intend to retrieve the werewolf corpses tomorrow as well, I believe one of the Mana Stones would be appropriate for his contribution.”
“Is that so? Then I should give him two.”
The Caravan Master grinned and held out both Mana Stones I had brought him.
I glanced at Kane.
He smiled with his pale face and gestured for me to take them.
‘Only me?’
Was I the only one receiving a reward because Captain Kane already belonged to the caravan?
Perhaps the Caravan Master noticed what I was thinking.
“Do not worry about Captain Kane. I will reward him separately.”
“Ah......”
“There is also something I wish to ask of you, so consider this both a reward and payment.”
“......What?”
“It is difficult to believe the werewolves were controlling the wild dogs and even the Giant Bat Boar. I am asking you to put in some effort while we pass through the Magic Beast Forest.”
It was literally just a request.
And something I would have had to do anyway.
“......Of course.”
I happily accepted the Mana Stones and stepped out of the wagon.
‘An Ability Stone would’ve been even better, but that’d be asking too much, right?’
I licked my lips while looking at the Mana Stones,
then simply slipped them into my clothes.
Mana Stones dropped by monsters were upper-grade even without synthesis.
Even if I synthesized them until their Grade increased, they would normally only become worth around three times as much.
I had no intention of experimenting to see how many Mana Stones I would need to combine before their Grade rose.
‘Come to think of it, giving up on buying reject Mana Stones and printing money might actually be more efficient.’
There would probably be plenty of loot from hunting in the Labyrinth that was more worthwhile to synthesize and sell.
Which meant.
‘I should carry the Goblin Basket whenever possible too.’
I had left the Goblin Basket at home,
so right now I could do nothing but store what I found.
I could hardly bring a watermelon-sized basket into the Labyrinth when there was a chance it might break.
‘I need to get a Spatial Pouch soon.’
The problem was that even the smallest-capacity one cost around 100 gold.
Equipment that protected an adventurer’s life naturally came first.
But a bag that let you bring treasures out of the Labyrinth—
in other words, a Spatial Pouch—
was important in its own way.
‘If possible, I should buy a big one. Even if I have to save up more.’
Most importantly,
even if the Spatial Pouch itself was damaged,
the worst that happened was that it spat out everything stored inside.
Which meant it also served as a first layer of protection for whatever you placed in it.
Of course, expensive Spatial Pouches were difficult to damage in the first place.
And in that regard.
‘Cha Hye-ryeon. I’m so fucking jealous, bitch.’
That wallet-sized pouch she had used right in front of me to dump out enough junk to fill an enormous backpack.
The Royal Palace had probably given it to her.
‘Tsk.’
Just as I once again felt how different our starting lines had been,
I saw the caravan members and escorts busily cleaning up the aftermath.
Aside from the cargo wagon the werewolf had destroyed at the beginning,
the cargo itself did not seem to have suffered much damage.
But perhaps because so many people had died,
the atmosphere was grim.
“Those things were strange. They only attacked people.”
“They even kept trying to get at people who were hiding. Mr. Hans died trying to save me......”
“Animals usually go for food first. It definitely was strange.”
Every caravan member pointed out that the beasts’ behavior during the attack had been abnormal.
‘Well. That isn’t bad.’
It meant everyone already agreed that the attack had been unnatural,
so I did not need to step forward and start talking about a Demonized Human myself.
There was something else unusual, though.
“They especially kept targeting the wagon the Caravan Master was riding in. The boar charged there first too.”
“Yes. That’s right. I think almost a third of them were only aiming for the Caravan Master.”
The Caravan Master.
‘......It can’t be because he has more meat on him, right?’
In this case,
it seemed more reasonable to assume the Demonized Human had some specific target.
For example.
‘Maybe the Demonized Human has a grudge against the Caravan Master.’
Once you knew someone was behind the attacks,
that kind of deduction came naturally.
‘......He didn’t seem like the sort of person who’d earn that kind of grudge.’
Well, nobody truly knew what was inside another person’s head.
I decided I needed to keep a closer eye on the Caravan Master.
And honestly,
I was starting to feel a little nervous.
Because the time I had been given suddenly felt very short.
‘Two days to get through the Magic Beast Forest. Another day to reach that city called Edelin...... Three days at the longest. Realistically, two.’
Could I find and kill a Demonized Human somewhere in this enormous forest within that time?
‘There’ll be another attack. I have to find its trail then, no matter what.’
Another problem was that Captain Kane,
our main combat force,
was effectively out of action.
-I think it will take at least two days before I can properly swing a sword again.
If enemies stronger than the werewolf attacked while he was gone—
‘No. That can’t happen. The normal Quest is to escort the caravan. If something stronger than that comes, defending against it would be impossible from the start.’
I had no choice but to believe that would not happen.
Anything beyond that would exceed the difficulty expected of Floor 2 of the Novice-grade Labyrinth.
“All right, all right! Let’s butcher that boar and feast on some meat for once! Everyone, get yourselves together and move!”
“Whoa! Meat!”
“Meat!”
The atmosphere changed almost instantly at Kane’s shout.
‘Whoa......’
Apparently,
the people here were just as accustomed to death as those in Bartus.
“Come on, rookie! Let’s eat!”
The sudden change in mood felt awkward,
but I smiled and followed him.
There were no more attacks during the night.
Everyone enjoyed a boar barbecue party and gradually forgot about the dead.
No.
It would be more accurate to call it a loud, boisterous memorial.
They spent the entire meal telling stories about the escorts who had died.
And so that noisy, painful night passed.
The next morning,
the caravan gathered its people and cargo and set out once more.
Around an hour after we departed,
something strange happened.
TAP.
It began with a small pebble landing on someone’s head.
“Hm?”
The caravan member driving a wagon looked up into the tree.
At that moment,
a fist-sized rock came flying straight at his head.
CLANG—!
I was the one who knocked it away.
I had been keeping an eye on the Caravan Master’s wagon the entire time without making it obvious.
“Gasp!?”
“Caravan, halt! We’re under attack!”
I shouted while pointing toward the trees lining both sides of the road.
The caravan members and escorts moved quickly.
RUMBLE.
Starting with the lead cargo wagon,
they stopped and shifted sideways to form a wall.
The other cargo wagons and passenger wagons lined up behind it,
forming a defensive barrier in less than five minutes.
Yet during all that time,
no enemy appeared.
Only stones flew down from the trees on both sides of the road,
accompanied by strange cries.
Kyaaak! Kyak!
RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE.
CRASH—!
Most were small stones.
But mixed among them were rocks large enough to easily smash a human skull.
“Monkeys in the trees!”
“Careful! There are Monster Monkeys mixed in!”
RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE.
CRASH—!
We were quite literally taking a one-sided barrage of rocks.
Meanwhile,
THUNK.
Kyaaak!
THUD.
A few escorts armed with crossbows fired back,
and monkeys began dropping from the trees one by one.
But there were only a handful of crossbowmen.
“Everyone, protect the shooters! And rookie! Intercept them!”
“Yes!”
I had no complaints about Kane shouting orders at me.
Other than him,
there was not a single escort here with better combat ability than me anyway.
And I already had my eye on one particular target.
‘That one!’
It looked nearly twice the size of the other monkeys.
The creature the caravan members seemed to be calling a Monster Monkey.
Even hidden among the thick branches,
its large body was easy to spot.
‘Ignore the smaller monkeys.’
WHOOSH.
I stepped onto the roof of a wagon and leaped straight into the forest.
Volante Footwork had reached Lv.9 during the battle with the werewolf,
and now it let me lightly cross four or five meters of both distance and height.
In a single leap,
I landed among branches packed with monkeys.
And was immediately greeted by a shower of stones.
Kyaaak!
Kyaaak!
Kyak!
RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE.
Small rocks battered my entire body.
But that was fine.
The only one among them that could be truly dangerous
was the fist-sized rock being thrown by the Monster Monkey right in front of me.
CLANG—!
I knocked that rock away,
planted my foot on a thick branch,
and thrust out my spear.
Bluish Mana flashed at the tip of the vibrating spearhead.
SQUELCH—!
It easily pierced through the Monster Monkey’s head.
Kyaaak!?
Gyaaak!?
Every monkey around me flinched.
Then.
“Get lost!”
FWOOM—!
I swept my spear in a wide arc,
breaking and cutting through the smaller branches.
The monkeys scattered all at once.
“Rookie! One more to the north!”
Following Kane’s voice,
I raced through the forest toward the opposite side.
The sudden monkey attack ended after I killed just one more Monster Monkey there.
[Combat Ended]
[2 Monster Monkeys defeated.]
[Enemy level is low. No experience acquired.]
The System judged the Monster Monkeys as trash mobs not even worth experience.
‘Tsk.’
Without Volante Footwork,
it would have been difficult just to fight them up in the branches.
‘Well, that probably means I’m already beyond the level expected for Floor 2.’
I soothed my disappointment with a little pride.
But the caravan had grown restless.
“Why would monkeys do that?”
“Have they gone insane?”
“I’ve never heard of anything like this, even in the Magic Beast Forest.”
Apparently,
monkeys throwing fist-sized rocks was not normal here either.
But.
“We dealt with them. We move again!”
The Caravan Master,
his expression stiff,
gave the order to continue without hesitation.
Something that did not normally happen had just occurred.
Yet he showed no curiosity at all about why?
‘Does he have some idea what’s going on?’
It was hardly an unreasonable thought.
Not long after that occurred,
a swarm of wasps suddenly descended from every direction.
“Wasps!”
“Are you kidding me?!”
“Fire! Fire!”
A pitch-black swarm far too large to deal with by swinging a spear.
Ugh. FucX!
‘Fire!’
WHOOSH.
‘Haaah.’
I poured Mana into the fire spirit,
turning it into a ball of flame,
and swept it through the wasps approaching me and the people nearby.
But it was not very large.
‘Agh, damn it!’
Protecting my own body was already difficult enough,
but I could not forget the Quest either.
‘The caravan members absolutely can’t die!’
Maybe it was desperation.
An idea suddenly flashed through my mind.
“All right, fire spear!”
WHOOSH.
FWOOM—!
I wrapped the fire spirit around my spear and spun it in every direction as I moved toward the caravan members.
It worked surprisingly well.
I kept the spear itself from overheating by using the water and earth spirits to neutralize the heat,
while the wind spirit guided the flames wrapped around it.
WHOOSH.
“WHAP-WHAP-WHAP! Over here!”
“Aaaah!”
While I protected myself and the caravan members like that,
the situation among the escorts steadily worsened.
“Aaagh!”
“Bees! Bees!”
“My eye!”
Just as it seemed the escort group might be absurdly incapacitated like this,
FLASH.
WHOOSH—!
A huge burst of flame erupted from the Caravan Master’s wagon.
FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH!
The flames swept through the surrounding swarm all at once.
‘Magic?’
The fire was hot enough that I could feel it even from some distance away.
The attacking swarm was wiped out completely.
“Caravan Master?”
“Ah. You have been working hard, Captain Kane.”
The Caravan Master opened the wagon door and stepped outside.
His complexion was deathly pale.
Had that magic just now really been his?
“Caravan Master, something is wrong. If this keeps happening......”
“I know, Kane. And you there, rookie. Come inside for a moment.”
With a grim expression,
the Caravan Master called Captain Kane and me into the wagon.
Then,
“Ugh.”
“Caravan Master!”
“Are you all right?”
he staggered,
and we caught him.
‘Did he really cast that magic? What kind of person is he?’
The instant the question entered my mind,
HUMMM.
my Trait activated.
‘Huh?’
Could this Trait work on people too?
I had never once thought to try using it on a person.
‘Or is it because he’s a Labyrinth resident?’
Just as my Trait surprised me yet again,
the Caravan Master’s Status appeared.
[Name: Yamel]
[Mage (1st Advancement) Lv.11]
[Abilities 2/2]
-Scorching Heat. Mana.
[Caravan Master of the Yamel Caravan]
[Must properly transport the ‘treasure’.]