Episode 042.
“Kieeeeeek!”
“Grrrk, grrrrrk!!”
Half goblin, half air—
that was the current state inside the gorge.
“Fuck this!”
“What the hell is going on?”
The adventurers who had been cutting down the endlessly pouring monsters finally stopped, cursing.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
“Gold coins or whatever, my arms won’t move!”
It was a situation that even veteran adventurers and mercenary companies were sick of. If these had been dragonkin, orcs, or undead instead of goblins, they would have been wiped out long ago.
Of course, not everyone was like that.
“Kyahoo!”
“Gran, that bastard’s excited thinking about buying a mansion.”
A few still looked as if they were having the time of their lives.
Opening the path together with Prisia, I shouted.
“This way.”
“Move quickly!”
“Hurry!”
So far, so good.
At least thanks to the weight of my name, I had gathered this many people and made it this easily to the depths of the gorge.
At the end of the gorge,
we stopped before a massive cavern visible between towering rock walls.
In its center was the entrance to a dungeon, plain for anyone to see.
“Everyone, halt!”
Kael, the official leader of this expedition, raised his hand and stopped the march.
At the same time, Baros, the mercenary captain who had been holding up one side of the formation, dragged his huge body forward.
The deep scar carved around his eye twitched; it seemed he, too, was starting to get irritated by the flood of goblins.
“Listen here, Expedition Leader. Isn’t there no reason to stop here? We push in there and smash that dungeon core or whatever in one go, and it’s over.”
Baros narrowed his scarred eye and pressed him.
The mercenaries following behind him, blinded by loot, drew their swords as if ready to charge at any moment.
Kael, too, seemed equally blinded by the desire for glory, and nodded at Baros’s words as he moved to draw his sword.
“Indeed, there is no reason to delay. I only meant we should make one final adjustment before entering. Today, with our own hands, we shall secure Artem’s pea—”
“No.”
That short restraint cut off their conversation.
In an instant, every gaze fixed on me.
“Who dares…”
The mercenary captain Baros’s face twisted savagely.
Normally, he would have long since ignored the words of some nameless adventurer rabble,
but after meeting my eyes, he soon frowned and stopped.
“……”
I was the “recipient of the oracle,” absolutely supported by the holy knights,
and the informant who had helped them make a fortune this time.
On top of that, rumors were spreading that I was a hero or an apostle,
and he had heard that I had helped establish Artem’s mercenary branch,
so instead of getting angry, he quietly smacked his lips.
“…Tanas, what’s the reason? Aren’t they just goblins? Wouldn’t it be better to concentrate our firepower now and quickly sweep up anything worth money?”
Baros asked bluntly, but there was clear wariness in his tone.
“First, we need to set up a barrier.”
I pointed at the ground near the cavern entrance and added.
Others might not know, but I could see it.
The black aura that polluted the mind was flowing out without pause.
It was one of the most troublesome parts of this scenario.
Things like this had to be blocked in advance.
“You two may not be able to see it, but a terrible miasma is rising from the dungeon entrance. This isn’t something that will end just because we charge in. If the entrance gets blocked while we’re inside, we’ll be isolated. We have to seal the entrance first.”
Kael furrowed his brow and asked back.
“But to deploy a large-scale technique like that would take far too much time. Why are you, who received the Goddess’s oracle, being so passive…?”
“Sorry, but I prefer to trust something certain over baseless faith that the Goddess will protect us.”
At my dry reply, the holy knights were startled and let out awkward coughs.
The mercenary captain Baros, on the other hand, seemed to like those words, and chuckled as he shrugged.
“Khehe… Just as the rumors say, you’re refreshingly blunt. I don’t believe in gods and the like, either. Then do as you like!”
With Baros agreeing,
Kael, blinded by glory as he was, eventually let out a sigh and nodded.
“Very well. But finish it quickly.”
Once the agreement was settled, I moved immediately.
From my chest, I took out the magic stone I had obtained by defeating the monster of Inbium.
A gem as clear as a mirror.
Since the guildmaster had finished purifying it, at a glance it looked like a diamond.
“Let’s begin right away.”
At the center of the magic circle, white radiance spread across the floor like a spiderweb.
Wooooong—
With a massive vibration, a translucent silver curtain covered the cavern.
Now, even if a variable appeared, it should hold out to some extent.
After that, together with the mages, I installed several more traps and barriers.
“Amazing… What on earth is that transparent gem…?”
Because they knew how much mana was required to maintain a barrier, the mages continued to pour out their admiration.
Do you have any idea how much hell I went through to get that?
Maintaining a few dozen barriers is nothing.
“Let’s install one over there as well.”
“Understood.”
Kael stared intently at Tanas.
“……”
Until now, not a single person had objected to anything he, Tanas, had said.
Because the sweet fruit he had offered—the Treasure Goblins—was filling everyone’s mouths.
But after arriving at the target location, the dungeon entrance, “too easily,” a slightly different thought occurred to him.
Even if it was the Goddess’s oracle, isn’t this easier than expected? Thoughts like that.
‘At this rate, I’ll become nothing more than a supporting actor.’
Expedition Leader Kael glanced at Tanas’s profile and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
He was grateful that Tanas had quickly broken through the gorge and raised the morale of the adventurers and mercenaries by using the Treasure Goblins as bait,
but honestly, he could have done that much too.
He simply hadn’t thought of it.
He was a renowned adventurer and the person in charge appointed by the guildmaster.
But so far, all the achievements belonged to that man alone.
In his eyes, Tanas was a man with an almost obsessive hunger for fame.
Otherwise, how could his name have spread throughout Artem in such a short time?
‘Even so, he’s still a greenhorn. There are rumors that he’s the Goddess’s apostle and a hero, but I can’t let him do whatever he wants.’
Kael believed that he had to become the true protagonist of this incident.
The one who proved the Goddess’s oracle and was recorded as the kingdom’s savior
had to be “Expedition Leader Kael,” not some outsider of unknown origin.
“Hmm…”
The mercenary captain Baros, too, rested his chin in his hand as he looked at both Kael and Tanas, lost in thought.
They had made quite a bit of profit from the Treasure Goblins on the way here, but Tanas himself had not stepped forward.
Of course, that might have been because of the contract, but with that level of skill, he could have swept up far more money.
To Baros, that did not look like Tanas’s fastidiousness, but like an enormous greed.
‘This bastard didn’t even touch the small fry… So he was aiming for something big after all.’
Instead of petty coins, he must be calculating how to monopolize the Treasure Goblin King hidden deep in the dungeon, or some legendary artifact.
As a professional mercenary, handing such an opportunity over to someone else wholesale was something he hated more than death.
“Captain Baros, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. More importantly, tell everyone to get ready.”
Whether he knew of these thoughts or not,
Tanas, who had finished installing the sacred magic circle and barriers, walked over and opened his mouth.
Behind him, Prisia followed along like a puppy.
“The preparations are finished. Now let’s get ready to go inside.”
Leaving a few adventurers in Milene’s care,
I was just about to move into the dungeon with the holy knights, Gareth, Prisia, and the others.
“……”
Then, feeling a strange gaze from somewhere, I suddenly stopped and looked back.
“Hm? Master, what is the matter?”
Prisia, who had been clutching the hem of my clothes tightly, tilted her head and asked. My gaze passed over her and turned toward Kael and Baros, who had been looking at me with strange eyes until just a moment ago.
The instant our eyes met, the two men subtly looked away as if by agreement.
“……”
Where had I felt a gaze like this before?
This unpleasant, strange sensation…
“Mm? What is it? Why did you suddenly stop?”
Kael asked, putting on a solemn expression.
“Why stop halfway? Tanas? Don’t tell me you’re scared?”
Baros let out a cackling laugh and tossed out a provocative joke.
At that moment, a scene flashed through my mind.
‘Ah, right. It was the kingdom’s courtroom.’
The eyes of my former party members who had tried to send me to the execution ground.
Those disgusting gazes were similar to the eyes of the two leaders in front of me now.
“Stop.”
I raised a hand and restrained them.
I won’t fall for it twice.
**************
Meanwhile,
at that time, in the treatment room of the royal capital.
“You mustn’t, Lady Seria. Moving around in that body…”
“That goes for the rest of you as well! Please, everyone, go back!”
The priests were horrified and tried to dissuade them, but Seria shook her head from side to side.
“No. There is no time.”
Seria spoke in a grave voice.
Surprisingly, this was not acting.
Because they had to leave this place quickly.
They had obtained information about Tanas, but the most dangerous thing was—
“We haven’t even begun the detailed examination yet… If something goes wrong, the demonic energy of the Four Heavenly Kings could permanently damage your divine power!”
“You must receive full treatment before you leave!”
—the examination that would soon begin.
For now, they had glossed it over as an attack by the Four Heavenly Kings, but who knew when they would be found out?
To begin with, the only one who had been directly injured was Arshe.
“Please step aside. As a member of the hero’s party, I cannot stop over something like this.”
When Seria put on a convincing act as a saintess, the priests and nearby knights held their breath.
“It’s dangerous! If magical backlash overlaps with your injuries, it would be no different from suicide!”
“I know. But…”
She briefly looked out the window, her eyes reddening with tears.
Of course, it was thoroughly calculated acting.
“In the east, there are people who have thrown themselves into the jaws of death in my stead. The omen of destruction that the Goddess told us of has appeared there. As a member of the hero’s party, I cannot lie comfortably here.”
“Ooh… Lady Seria!”
Exclamations burst out around her.
“As expected of the church’s next saintess, to think she would put the continent’s safety before her own body!”
“Lady Arshe, too, thinking of going into battle with those injuries…”
Of course, not everyone looked at them that way.
Some seasoned high priests
said, “She can barely walk. Does that make any sense?”
“Something is strange.”
They sent displeased gazes their way, but they did not make any particular attempt to stop them.
“Do not block us any further.”
“That’s right. The peace of the kingdom comes first for us.”
“If you go so far as to say that, then we cannot bring ourselves to stop you…”
Seria exchanged glances with the party members standing beside her—Lurain, Arshe, and Rain.
“Let’s go. To the east.”
If they went now, they could safely join the subjugation force.
Endless desire bloomed in the girls’ eyes.
‘Wait for us, Tanas.’
##