After hearing Soph’s story, I spoke at once.
“I was going to report it separately, but I should say it now. There are materials for building a barrier.”
At my sudden words, everyone looked at me.
“The footage from the ruins I visited contained information about other ruins. It said there was a place like a warehouse where materials for constructing ruins had been gathered.”
After hearing me, David’s eyebrow twitched.
He looked displeased again.
“Even if you think it isn’t important, information about ruins must be reported first. That remains true no matter whose command you’re under. Make sure you remember that.”
This time, it was because of me.
“Understood. I’ll be careful.”
When I apologized, Margreta crossed her fingers behind her back to make an X.
It probably meant she thought differently from David.
While I was looking at her signal, David asked again.
“Do you know the exact location?”
I nodded at his question.
“A lot of time has passed, so the terrain will have changed considerably, but finding it won’t be a problem.”
“Well, with your ability, I suppose it wouldn’t be.”
It wasn’t because of my senses.
Soph remembered the exact location.
“Next is how we bring it back... Is the box’s capacity all right?”
I patted the backpack containing the box.
“It’s increased a bit more than before. If I take out what’s inside, I should be able to bring back quite a lot. If it’s not enough, I can make several round trips.”
There was no need to take anything out.
I had filled it with plenty of corpses, but the inside of the box was roomier than before.
It was because the box had grown larger this time.
After I touched the shelves to repair the black stone, the box’s capacity seemed to have more than doubled.
[It’s not that the box’s capacity increased. Your maximum dark energy increased. For someone who doesn’t even know magic, you sure gobbled up dark energy just fine.]
If Soph was right, my other abilities should have risen too.
‘I’ll have to check that slowly.’
For now, I had to bring back the materials for building the barrier.
“You’re quite proactive this time.”
Unlike before, when I stepped forward actively, David looked at me as if he found it strange.
“I wasn’t planning to only do what I’m told every time. If I want to make money, I have to work hard.”
In truth, it wasn’t about money. It was about safety.
During the operation, many dangers had come without warning.
It was rare to know of a danger in advance like this.
If I knew of the danger beforehand and didn’t prepare, that would be truly foolish.
“We know the location, and transport is possible, but... unfortunately, we’ll put it on hold for now.”
After pondering for a long while, David finally shook his head.
“There’s a lot to do, and quite a few people died, so neither I nor Carlo can move right now.”
At David’s words, Carlo nodded.
“That’s true. Since Team Leader Park is dead, I’ll have to manage the rear party as well.”
“There is Huiwon, but it would be too much for her alone.”
Certainly, the base’s facilities were increasing day by day.
David couldn’t leave his post, and Carlo had no choice but to be busy with the hunting team and the rear party.
“For that reason, exploration will be difficult right away.”
That was troublesome.
But since the reason was valid, I had nothing to say.
When I looked troubled, Margreta spoke.
“Then we’ll do it by ourselves.”
“By ourselves?”
“There was a plan to create a second exploration team, wasn’t there? Let’s just make it ahead of schedule.”
David frowned and asked her,
“That was supposed to be made after all the rear party members came over, by adding in useful rear party members, wasn’t it?”
Margreta pointed at me.
“There’s a useful rear party member right here. And there are a few more rear party members who’ve obtained abilities too.”
David folded his arms and looked at me.
“It’s not a bad idea, but...”
“Then let’s do that.”
When David seemed to be hesitating, Margreta made the decision.
At her decision, David clicked his tongue.
After shaking his head once, he asked Margreta,
“The personnel will be you and Team Member Hyeon, and the rest will be filled with rear party members?”
“Give me just one person from the advance party.”
“...Fine.”
David allowed it with a disgusted expression.
Margreta asked me,
“Is there anyone you need?”
The advance party members passed through my mind.
There weren’t many whose skills I knew, and among the people I knew, there was only one person I needed.
“I need Tom.”
At my words, Margreta snapped her fingers.
“Ah, Tom. We need him. Give us Tom.”
“Tom is capable of healing...”
“There’s one more in the rear party, isn’t there?”
“Fine. Tom is the last one.”
After letting out a sigh, David asked again.
“Then will you be the leader of the new exploration team, Margreta?”
“You know I’m not suited for that kind of position.”
Margreta linked her arm through mine.
“There’s a good exploration team leader right here. One who finds paths well, finds traps well, carries baggage well, fights well, and has good luck.”
David did not refute her words.
He merely raised his hand and pointed deeper into the cave.
“Earth will have something to say about it.”
“I’ll cover that.”
David raised both hands.
“If you’re taking responsibility, I have nothing to say.”
And so, a new exploration team was haphazardly created.
It seemed I had become the exploration leader, and the current members were Margreta and Tom, two people.
“Then the new exploration team will go gather its members.”
After giving a light salute, Margreta dragged me out of the cave.
Once we were outside, she glanced at me and asked,
“You’re all right with me making you the leader, right?”
“You’re asking that now?”
“If we’d hesitated there, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything. In any case, it turned out the way you wanted, didn’t it?”
I stared at her.
Perhaps worried by my silence, she quickly continued.
“Other than reporting to Earth, I’ll do as you say too, Hyeon, so don’t worry.
And you have more secrets you haven’t told me or anyone else, don’t you? I also have things I can’t say because of security, so I won’t ask.
From now on, move the exploration team according to your own judgment. I’ll climb on behind you and take a little profit for myself.”
I understood why she had not asked after seeing the spear being retrieved.
And why she had stayed quiet despite looking at me meaningfully several times.
She wasn’t an intelligence agent for nothing.
She hadn’t trusted me.
Margreta had guessed that I had secrets.
She simply had no intention of digging them up.
“They say you’re not supposed to cut open the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
I couldn’t tell whether she was wise, or unlike an intelligence agent.
Still, if she was going to act like this, it seemed I wouldn’t need to take separate measures.
[She’s wise. Didn’t someone nearly die just now trying to cut open the goose’s belly?]
[I wasn’t going to kill her just because she tried to dig up my secrets.]
[As if.]
I really hadn’t been planning to kill her.
Soph did not trust my virtuous self.
‘Then from now on, do I have an exploration team I can move as I want?’
What Margreta had done was more than what I wanted.
The reason I had stared at her a moment ago was because I was grateful.
If you received help, you had to repay it.
It seemed I should think of something to return the favor.
Seeing my expression, Margreta seemed relieved.
She stretched and said to me,
“Then we should choose the rest of the members, shouldn’t we?”
“How many can we have?”
Margreta counted on her fingers.
“We can’t use too many people. Around five or six?”
“That’s enough.”
Six people would be more than enough.
Strictly speaking, the exploration team was closer to a scout unit.
Since we had the box as well, there was no need for many people.
“But is it all right for us to carry the box around? If we’re Team Two, Team One will need it too.”
“In truth, they dumped it all on us. Team One obviously won’t be moving for quite a while.”
Well, David and Carlo had been unable to move, to the point that they’d given up on going to the ruins.
As she said, it seemed difficult for the team those two belonged to to move until the base stabilized.
“Then do you know how many rear party members have obtained dark energy so far?”
“When I came in earlier, I heard it was around six... Does that matter?”
“Pardon?”
“The person we’ll choose is already decided anyway. If we exclude Team Member An Gyeongtae because he’s injured, can you pick anyone other than her right now?”
There was no way I wouldn’t know who Margreta was talking about.
Even now, she was sitting in front of the cave, looking at me with sparkling eyes.
“Leaving skill aside, if you pick someone else, I think your bed will become uncomfortable.”
With her watching me like that, I had no choice but to ask her first.
Moreover, even if we didn’t exclude Sergeant An, she was the most useful among the rear party members.
I walked over to Hanna.
Absurdly, she was hugging the rolled-up stretcher tightly.
If we were going to talk, it seemed I would have to get rid of that stretcher first.
“I’d like you to return that...”
The stretcher she was holding in her arms was my possession, one I had made.
After hearing my words, she hugged the stretcher even tighter instead.
Then, with her face flushed red, she stammered,
“C-could you give it to me?”
It was unlike her, who was always confident.
I checked once more.
“What you need is this stick, right?”
When I pointed to the tree branch, she nodded frantically.
“Yes. There’s a bright light from the branch... No, I absolutely need this stick.”
“Let’s talk about that a little later.”
I took the stretcher from her arms and put it into my backpack.
The stretcher slipped right into the backpack.
Now, even without taking the box out of the backpack, I could put in objects that weren’t too large directly.
“Ah...”
Hanna, who had been looking at the backpack with a regretful expression, finally came back to her senses.
“I’m sorry. I got a little excited.”
It hadn’t been just a little, but I didn’t say that out loud.
“It’s nothing else. A new exploration team has been formed this time, and we’re recruiting members.”
Margreta and I explained the situation to Hanna.
“...So among the rear party members—”
Before we could even finish speaking, we got her answer.
“I’ll do it! Please let me do it.”
Hanna raised her hand high.
“There’s still more to explain...”
“Yes. I’ll do it. I wanted to do it.”
It seemed no further explanation was necessary.
I could only shake my head as I looked at Margreta, who seemed triumphant.
With this, the exploration team had four members.
We could pick more, but we couldn’t just keep searching for people forever.
Four people were enough to go look for the ruins right away.
‘I can’t just end it here, can I?’
Hanna was the first member I had chosen.
Unlike Tom, who was American, and Margreta, who was tied to me by work, I had to make her properly into one of my people.
I put my hand into my bag.
Then I opened the box and grasped the tree branch in my hand.
The branch had been tied to the stretcher, but while it was inside the box, I could take it out separately.
When I took out the branch, Hanna’s eyes sparkled like stars.
I handed her the branch and said,
“I can’t give it to you, but I’ll lend it to you.”
For now, it was an item I had no use for.
If I could earn someone’s goodwill by lending it to them, that was a far wiser choice than leaving it buried in the box.
When I handed her the branch, Hanna smiled brightly.
Hugging the branch to her chest, she said to me,
“I’m fine with borrowing it. I’ll be following you for the rest of my life anyway.”
At the sudden confession, Margreta shook her head with a cough.
“I think we may need to reconsider accepting her as a member.”
As I began to wonder what on earth I had done wrong, Soph’s lecture poured into my ears.
[I’ll say it again: minors are trouble.]