“…You entered the dungeon, then fled after being chased out by Orcs?”
I sat on a hard chair and answered the soldier’s questions. Through the canvas of the tent set up as a checkpoint, I could see the shadows of people passing outside.
Some time had passed since sunrise, and plenty of people were already coming and going.
“Yes. There was a battle between the goblins and Orcs, and we fled in a panic from an Orc pursuing us. Fortunately, we managed to escape the dungeon through a portal.”
The soldier seated across a single desk questioned me while writing on a sheet of paper.
The soldier who had escorted me here had spoken politely to him, so he was probably an officer.
Who was he?
Was he some background extra who had never appeared in the game?
‘Still, I received decent treatment thanks to him.’
A splint had been placed against my broken arm, and bandages were wrapped around it.
The mage on duty at the checkpoint had also used healing magic on me. Unfortunately, unlike Rion’s spells, using the magic several times hadn’t produced a visibly dramatic improvement.
‘At least it hurts less.’
I couldn’t expect much from a mage who had only learned basic healing spells rather than a formally trained cleric or Priest.
Still, my wounds wouldn’t worsen, and the pain had faded.
When I fought the goblins and kobolds attacking us last night, my broken arm had hurt so badly that it felt more likely to kill me than their attacks.
“We received reports that the movements of the goblins inside the dungeon were unusual. But you say the small monsters held a gathering…….”
Honestly, even I wouldn’t have believed someone who claimed that small monsters had gathered on the grassland to hold a meeting.
Still, the officer seemed uncertain rather than completely dismissive. The people here apparently weren’t fools and already understood something about what was happening inside the dungeon.
“Excuse me, but what happened to the Druid who came with me?”
“Ah. She was unconscious, so we summoned a cleric and asked him to treat her separately. She is currently resting in another building.”
The soldier interrogating me was somehow different from the soldiers I knew in this world.
‘He’s addressing me politely.’
The soldiers I had encountered in the game spoke informally by default.
The moment they decided someone looked like a commoner, they immediately spoke down to them, even if that person was elderly.
Depending on the situation, they sometimes drew their weapons too.
For example, when monsters attacked the walls, they abandoned the civilian NPCs who had failed to evacuate. They closed the gates and cursed at them to get lost.
“So, roughly one week ago, the carriage bringing you here was attacked by Rebels, you were stranded, and after entering a dungeon, you fled all the way to the territory while being pursued by Orcs. Is that correct?”
“Yes. That’s roughly what happened.”
“Understood. We will conclude the investigation here. If there are additional matters to investigate later, I will visit you.”
Was there anything else to investigate?
I had already said I fled from an Orc.
Or had he noticed that I was hiding several facts?
I had concealed troublesome details, such as the Golden Goblin, the mutant spiritual body Rion had absorbed, and the Mak’gora—an honorable duel—I had fought against an Orc.
“Where will you be staying while you are in the territory?”
“I’ll be staying at the ‘Rainbow Bridge’ Inn.”
The ‘Rainbow Bridge’ Inn was where Rion lived while staying in the territory.
I had learned that while talking with her over dinner at the goblin observation post. She said the innkeeper was a distant relative and the teacher who had taught her spirit arts.
“Yes, understood.”
I soon went to the neighboring building where Rion was resting.
I followed a soldier to her room and opened the door. Rion had regained consciousness and was sitting on the bed.
Fortunately, healthy color had returned to her face.
“Are you all right?”
“…Yes. I’m fine.”
“That’s a relief.”
Rion continued in a dazed tone.
“We survived. I thought we were going to die.”
“We nearly did.”
I wanted to tell her that I had fought the Orc named Taisan in single combat to save her.
‘But saying I became friends with an Orc would only cause a misunderstanding.’
More precisely, he had acknowledged me as an honorable warrior.
Still, I doubted the soldier standing behind us would react well if he heard about it.
After a little while, we left the building.
But if they had a separate three-story brick building, why had they interrogated me inside a tent?
Clop. Clop.
While I wondered about that, a carriage passed beside us.
Behind it, soldiers were dismantling the tent.
Was it something they only set up at night?
“I’m glad you survived.”
Rion, who had been walking beside me, pulled me beneath a tree as she spoke.
We were on a street between the checkpoint and the market.
The city was more peaceful than I had expected, even though the mountains beyond the walls were filled with Rebels and monsters.
‘There isn’t a single shadow on their faces.’
The citizens walking through the streets looked calm, without a trace of gloom.
If anything, the city felt lively.
Was this the atmosphere unique to a trading city?
Everyone seemed to believe that whatever happened outside the walls had nothing to do with them.
“I can’t fix a broken bone immediately. But instead…….”
Only yesterday, Rion had nearly died from a concussion and Mana Backlash, yet now she looked healthier than I did.
Was she actually healthier?
Green light bloomed from Rion’s staff and sank into my face. The swollen eyelid Taisan had beaten and the tears inside my mouth visibly healed.
“…I can treat minor injuries like these.”
I stared blankly up at Rion while she healed me.
I couldn’t tell whether the mage at the checkpoint was incompetent or Rion was unusually capable.
I had never met a proper mage before, after all.
“W-Why are you staring at me like that?”
Rion asked, curling her fingertips as her cheeks reddened slightly.
What?
Had her heart just skip—
“Purr.”
“Cough. Kehek.”
Miyu poked her face out from Rion’s arms and purred happily.
Ah.
Her allergy was acting up.
Rion’s face flushed red as she coughed.
“Come here.”
I grabbed Miyu by the scruff and lifted her from Rion’s arms.
Hanging from my right hand, she looked like a doll that had been run through a washing machine and then hung from a clothesline.
I supported her limp body with my bandaged left arm.
SMASH—!
Rion accepted the Purification Jar I handed her and immediately shattered it with a headbutt.
I stared in surprise at the unexpected feat of strength.
“W-Wasn’t that what I was supposed to do?”
Rion looked at me with an innocent expression completely at odds with the headbutt she had just performed.
I brushed the jar fragments from her hair, reminded of Puss in Boots.
“You only need to break it near your body.”
“Then why did you throw it that time?”
“There could’ve been a trap.”
“…Ah. Right.”
While Rion brushed the remaining fragments from her bangs, I handed her a pouch.
She gave me a questioning look, but I spoke when she loosened its opening.
“The loot. Silver, copper, and other things we obtained in the dungeon.”
“…I’ll be right back.”
Rion nodded and walked toward an exchange office with a massive sign depicting a coin.
Even that design was exactly the same as in the game.
You could tell it was an exchange office from far away.
‘There aren’t any traveling merchants arriving by land.’
Aside from those leaving to work the wheat fields outside, none of the territory’s residents passed beyond the walls.
Perhaps because this was now the world where I would live, all kinds of thoughts came to me.
What quests had taken place in the territory of ‘Parque’?
I remembered the major ones, but not the smaller details.
I couldn’t remember my conversations with the NPCs who gave the quests.
All I clearly remembered was where I needed to go and whom I needed to beat up.
‘That was enough for the low-level regions.’
I had only cared about the game’s scenario during the first year or two after I began playing.
The punks I recruited as companions lied and stabbed me in the back so often that ignoring them and using them as chess pieces was better for my mental health.
There had been a young mercenary who claimed he had an elderly mother waiting in his hometown.
Trying to raise his affinity, I gave him one extra Gold Coin after every expedition.
It turned out he had even sold his own family into slavery.
During a pirate subjugation quest, he colluded with the pirates and betrayed me, so I killed him.
‘Was that here? It might’ve been another region.’
“…I’m only going to level up quickly and leave anyway.”
I didn’t know how long I would remain here, but after obtaining what I needed and finishing what had to be done, I needed to move on to the next chapter.
As Kain, a person who had played the game—as Kang Seung-woo—I knew that this world was a sinking ship.
I had two choices.
Either escape the sinking ship or kill the sea monster dragging it beneath the water.
What irritated me was that whichever choice I made, the things I had to do remained the same.
“You’re lucky. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Purrrrr.”
When I scratched Miyu’s forehead in my arms, she purred happily.
Her eyelids soon began drooping as she grew sleepy.
A light breeze brushed my cheek.
It was peaceful.
Only a few hundred meters away, a forest teeming with monsters that wanted human lives waited beyond the walls.
“I’m back.”
Rion returned from the exchange office and handed me the pouch.
It contained currency with a different appearance from the Copper Coins and Silver Coins we had obtained by killing monsters inside the dungeon.
This country apparently had a fairly developed understanding of economics, because the metals obtained from dungeons and the currency actually used in transactions were different.
‘She told me this too.’
Rion had explained this fact as well.
In the past, people had directly used the gold, silver, and copper obtained from dungeons.
But in the Prenol Kingdom, where I would now be active, the First King had completely overhauled that economy.
Currency obtained from dungeons couldn’t be used in trade.
Instead, exchange offices converted it into kingdom currency of equal value.
‘Do these really contain the proper amount of metal?’
After being stabbed in the back so many times since falling into this world, I suspected even these coins were part of some trick.
They were supposedly minted by melting down the gold, silver, and copper obtained from dungeons.
So why did I suspect they had mixed in cheaper metals and skimmed off some of the gold and silver?
“Here. Take this.”
“Thank you.”
“It was your share to begin with.”
When I handed Rion her portion, she opened her own pouch.
I could see only a few Silver Coins and Copper Coins inside.
I took her share from the exchanged money and added it to her pouch.
Nine to one.
Since she couldn’t immediately pay for the summoned beast, we had agreed to divide the value of our loot nine to one for the time being.
Of course, I was the nine.
‘Even everything we earned this time doesn’t come close to paying for the summon.’
Beginning with the loot from our next expedition, I would gradually collect payment for the summoned beast.
After giving Rion one Silver Coin and five Pennies as her share, the exchanged pouch still contained thirteen Silver Coins and five Pennies.
“…Thank you for not running away.”
After handing Miyu back to Rion, I muttered quietly.
I had considered the possibility that she might decide the nine-to-one split was unfair and simply disappear.
After all, money was the reason people went exploring.
That was one reason I had kept Miyu with me while Rion visited the exchange office.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
The Jar Warrior had originally possessed two Gold Coins and fifteen Silver Coins.
After adding the money earned from this expedition, I now had four Gold Coins, eight Silver Coins, and five Pennies.
In the game, one week of ‘inn lodging and meals’ had cost one Gold Coin.
‘That’s tight.’
After treating my injuries and purchasing the supplies needed for our next expedition, this amount wouldn’t leave much room.
‘Let’s rest first.’
After considering it, I decided to go to the inn and rest.
Once I sold the swords, axes, and other loot in my bag and exchanged the money I had gathered separately, I would probably have more funds to spare.
If that wasn’t enough, I could share a room with Rion.
‘We’ve already seen every kind of mess from each other inside the dungeon anyway.’
I followed Rion as she walked ahead.
I liked the voices of people coming from every direction.
I had never realized how reassuring it could feel to know there was no one nearby trying to kill me.
The voice that had kept stirring my anxiety inside my head was gone as well.
“We’re here.”
After walking for roughly forty minutes, we arrived at the ‘Rainbow Bridge’ Inn.
Its sign displayed a rainbow that looked as though a child had drawn it in a sketchbook.
What unusual taste.
“I’m back.”
I followed Rion inside the inn and learned one astonishing fact.
One week of ‘inn lodging and meals’ didn’t cost one Gold Coin.
It cost one Silver Coin.
Then where the hell had the other nine Silver Coins gone all this time, you companion NPC sons of bitches?