I had encountered Krol just as I was about to leave.
I found myself wondering how I should take this situation.
It would not be hard to avoid him like this, but for some reason, that felt too passive, and I disliked it.
If the other party kept approaching me on his own, it would be better for me to actively control the situation.
I stopped the movement I had been making to leave and half-submerged myself in the hot spring, as if taking a half-body bath.
“How was it, following us around today? There really was nothing, right?”
I subtly probed him, wondering if he had of course followed us today as well.
Nothing had happened today, so throughout the entire time he followed us, he would not have obtained any material.
If he really had secretly followed us, at least a little sincerity born from disappointment would leak out.
Contrary to my expectation that he would feign ignorance, Krol honestly admitted that he had followed us today too.
“Today, you enjoyed a truly astonishingly peaceful hike.”
“Are you not even hiding that you followed us anymore?”
“I have given up on trying to use you as material. Please be at ease.”
“That is hard to believe from someone who secretly followed me.”
“Even wanderers have a certain credit of their own, you see. Dimension traveler material is great if obtained, but if handled carelessly, it is easy to face backlash.”
For someone who said he had given up, Krol’s words and actions were overflowing with confidence.
What was that confidence directed toward?
Confidence that he could obtain my permission to use me as material?
I remembered what Grenda had told me.
‘I know there are quite a few demons who were left behind in the human realm.’
What was the possibility that Krol was a demon pretending to be a bard?
Wanting to use me as material might be a lie, and in truth, he could be following me while looking for a chance to harm me.
The reason he had not attacked until now would be that Grenda was beside me.
However, this theory only worked if the premise that Krol was a demon was correct.
If only I could at least make clear whether he was a demon or not, I would be able to decide firmly how to treat Krol.
Was there no method of distinguishing whether someone was a demon?
Making full use of the current situation, in which we were bathing, I swiftly looked over Krol’s body.
Judging by appearance alone, his body was no different from a human’s.
While I was taking action to look for a clue that would let me gain certainty, Krol suddenly spoke in a light tone as if making small talk.
“More importantly, the person traveling with you. Her name was Miss Luna, was it?”
As I was looking at the surface of the water, I suddenly noticed it.
My face, wearing a frown, was reflected on the cloudy hot spring water’s surface.
It was fine for him to treat me as a subject of interest.
If I thought of it as a fee for the many benefits I enjoyed as a dimension traveler, I could generously accept a little annoyance.
But if he touched Luna out of curiosity, that was a different story.
Even while recognizing my own expression, I deliberately looked straight at Krol without managing it.
“Do you have some business with Luna?”
When I sharpened my tone, Krol changed his expression and tried to smooth things over.
“I did not mention her because I wanted to use her as material.”
“If not that, then with what intention did you mention her? Give me an answer I can accept.”
“While watching her, I felt a sense that something was off. Perhaps she is not human......”
I stood up in place and looked down at Krol.
“What are you trying to do right now?”
When I furrowed my brow, Krol waved his hands and showed embarrassment.
“As I have said repeatedly, I have not the slightest intention of troubling you.”
“Your words and actions have been different from each other this whole time. I can accept you annoying me directly. But if you drag Luna in while trying to use me as material, that is a different story.”
“I am only trying to help.”
“I will warn you one last time. Leave Luna and me alone. If you cross the line, I will respond forcefully as well.”
After snapping at him sharply, I left the bath without looking back.
To think I would act emotionally toward someone else.
Even I was surprised.
When was the last time I had been angry?
I remembered there had been none since I became a working adult.
I had lived quietly, without regarding others as enemies and without letting others regard me as an enemy.
Instead of entering the intersection of human relationships, I had also lived without the possessive desire to have such an intersection myself. That had been who I was until now.
Even in me, it seemed a little possessiveness still remained.
A question flew from Krol behind me.
“Let me ask one thing. What kind of existence is Miss Luna?”
With my back still turned to Krol, I spoke firmly.
“To me, Luna is a precious ‘human.’ Please refrain from any other baseless guesses.”
After snapping at him sharply, I did not look at Krol’s reaction at all and went outside, thoroughly ignoring him.
Was it trying to soothe my frayed nerves?
Just as I was drying myself and about to leave, good news flew in.
-You have relieved fatigue at the four main hot springs located on Volter Mountain.
-By repeatedly experiencing the hot springs’ effects, you have fulfilled the acquisition conditions for the region-limited skill ‘Recovery Acceleration.’
-Acquire Recovery Acceleration skill?
Recovery Acceleration, a region-limited skill.
It was another purpose for going around the hot springs.
The points needed to acquire it and raise its skill level were only 1 point.
Before acquisition, prior information flowed in to help me decide whether to acquire it.
-Skill: Recovery Acceleration
-Slightly increases stamina recovery speed.
-Recovery speed increases each time the skill level rises. When the skill level exceeds 20, an effect is added that reduces the stamina consumed each time a skill is used.
Acceleration of stamina recovery.
From a certain level onward, the stamina consumed each time a skill was used decreased.
If I raised the skill level, I could fire off skills in rapid succession.
The additional option appeared starting from skill level 20, and at skill level 20, if the stamina consumption only decreased by a very small amount, it would be hard to call it a meaningful option.
Only at skill level 40 would it reach a level where I could fire off skills freely.
For a local of this other world, they would have to spend most of the points they scraped together over an entire lifetime just to make one Recovery Acceleration skill meaningful.
In my case, on the other hand, I could turn it into a high-level skill without a great burden.
My current remaining skill points were 15.
I consumed 8 of them and acquired Recovery Acceleration.
-Recovery Acceleration (LV.40) registered in Mr. Jo Seong-jin’s skill window.
-Current remaining skill points: 7
-Owned Skills: Traveler Package (LV.1), Stabilizer (LV.20), Recovery Acceleration (LV.40).
Even after making Recovery Acceleration level 40, I still had 7 points left.
This was something to think about.
Should I use the remaining points to raise Stabilizer a little more?
But there was still a hidden exploration point left to explore in this region.
I might be able to obtain a new skill at the hidden exploration point, and if I encountered a monster too difficult to handle during the journey and needed power, it would not be too late to use the points then.
I decided to leave some strength in reserve, put on my clothes, and went out of the changing room.
The moment I left the changing room, I happened to run into Luna as she was coming out of the women’s bath entrance.
Her wet black hair told me she had just finished bathing.
My head tilted to the side on its own.
Tilt.
“Did you actually bathe on your own without me even telling you to?”
Luna raised her index finger and indicated the number one.
“One minute was my limit, though.”
“What is going on? The sun might rise in the west tomorrow.”
“I thought I might try obtaining the Recovery Acceleration skill as well.”
Using the forced(?) bath at the Eastern Volter Mountain Hot Spring as an opportunity, she had apparently decided that since she had already bathed anyway, she might as well obtain Recovery Acceleration.
So she had entered the Northern Volter Mountain Hot Spring yesterday too.
I had not noticed at all.
“Will your skill points be all right? I obtained it myself, and it seemed like the skill level needed to be quite high for it to be meaningful.”
“I have 1 point left right now, and I have nowhere to use it. I will learn it, and if it really is useless, I can delete it then.”
“That is not bad either. Then we will have to stop by the Southern Volter Mountain Hot Spring once more after the work is done.”
“We have to stop by anyway in order to receive the compensation for the purification work, so there should be no wasted movement.”
“It is fine to waste a little. It is not as if we must always move by the shortest distance.”
Luna reached out with both hands, gently took both sides of my head, and returned my tilted head to its original angle.
Carefully, as if handling a precious object.
Then she looked at me closely, as if appraising a relic.
“.......”
“Do not stare too hard. You will wear out my face.”
“Would you like to touch my fur when we go back to the room?”
“Oh~ You must be in a good mood today. You are more generous than usual.”
Luna tugged on my sleeve, led me toward the guest room, and spoke.
“Because to me as well, Master is a precious Master.”
For a moment, I wondered what she meant, but after I understood, I realized she had returned my own words exactly.
She had quoted what I had said to Krol in the hot spring.
So she had heard everything.
I had been snapping at Krol with such momentum that I had not paid any attention to my own volume.
It seemed the words I spoke had crossed over the partition.
Luna pulled me along, her wet hair swaying.
It was a rare sight, one hard to see.
A photo opportunity.
I positioned myself diagonally behind her at a forty-five-degree angle so I could capture Luna’s form fully and attempted Photo Capture.
-Photo Capture function used.
-‘Luna After Bathing’ photo added to Album.
-Rarity: High. Random skill level increases by 5.
-Stabilizer skill level increased from 20 to 25.
-Owned Skills: Traveler Package (LV.1), Stabilizer (LV.25), Recovery Acceleration (LV.40).
It was as if I had raised a skill level without spending skill points.
Even if my surface level was low, my substance had already reached the level of each region’s ace.
However, raising a skill level for free was only a secondary reward.
The main thing was Luna’s photo.
Even after I returned to my original world, I would keep looking at this photo again and again.
Valuing the monumental first photo more highly than skill points, I quietly followed Luna.
***
Day 5 of the Volter Mountain schedule.
Once we purified one more place, the journey on Volter Mountain would be over.
The problem was that the difficulty of reaching the final location was anything but ordinary.
Before leaving the village west of Volter Mountain, Grenda came carrying bundles of sleeping bags and blankets for Luna and me and distributed them to each of us.
“The final location is at an elevation of 2,500 meters. Unlike before, there is no proper road, so you should assume it will take about seven hours one way.”
Our current location was 500 meters above sea level.
The destination was 2,500 meters above sea level.
The time required to climb Hallasan was four to five hours one way, so considering there was no hiking trail, seven hours was a rather tight estimate.
After reaching the destination, performing the purification work, and starting down toward the southern village, night would fall along the way.
No matter how quickly we moved, it was a schedule where we had no choice but to camp.
And even that assumed the mountain climb proceeded without incident.
Grenda expressed that it was unlikely everything would go according to schedule.
“From 2,000 meters above sea level onward, large numbers of level 50 to 60 monsters appear. Depending on the situation, something may happen where I cannot protect you, so if that happens, leave me behind and flee first.”
I dismissed Grenda’s worries as needless concern.
I thought she was worrying needlessly because she did not know my specs.
The monsters that appeared were only level 50 to 60 at best.
Grenda was 70, Luna had recently gone up one level to 63, and then there was me, who could exercise the same combat power as a level 75 hunter.
With the three of us, we should be able to handle most variables as much as needed.
However, when we actually climbed the mountain and reached the 2,000-meter elevation point, my expectations were beautifully proven wrong.
In the highlands at an elevation of 2,000 meters, what awaited us were entities that should not exist on Volter Mountain... a pack of level 80 high-level monsters.