Chapter 41. We Returned.

Kwaang!!

The flail, swung with all my might, struck the wall.

Broken stone fragments poured down and rolled underfoot.

Pol quickly cleared away the debris and made space.

Perfect division of labor.

Thanks to it, the work to escape the cave went smoothly.

We advanced at a pace that was visible moment by moment.

“Brother- I- I'm going to die! Please slow down a bit!”

As I got used to swinging the flail and my speed increased, Pol, who was clearing the debris, gasped for breath and whined.

It would have been better if he had used the stamina he had spent swinging his sword earlier for this.

“You said you had a bad feeling earlier.”

It was something Pol had said during the excavation work.

That he had a strange feeling, that it would be better to hurry.

“Yes. That's true, but.”

“And now?”

“……It's gotten a little worse.”

We had to hurry even more.

The fact that I didn't know how much farther it was to the outside made me even more anxious.

If the hole had been drilled in a straight line, I would have been able to check how much was left to the outside, but all I could see through the hole was darkness.

It seemed there was some kind of device in place, as if the hole were left open, foreign substances could get in or beasts could come and go, blocking it.

“Move. We'll rest when we get out.”

As I increased my speed even more, Pol, despite making dying sounds, ultimately followed my decision.

The work proceeded in silence.

Sweat flowed without rest.

With the sole determination to escape the cave, I squeezed my stamina to its limit.

And soon, that effort bore fruit.

Pasaak-!!

The flail broke through the thinned wall and flew outside.

With that, whatever had been covering the hole seemed to fall off as well, and light seeped in.

“Phew. Finally.”

It had been a long time.

There was no need to insist on using the flail anymore.

I swung my sword, filled with all the frustration I had felt until now.

The wall, split into dozens of pieces in an instant.

When I kicked the wall, which was barely holding its shape, it collapsed outwards with a rumble.

“Keuu. Brother- I can't move anymore-”

“Tsk.”

After grabbing the exhausted Pol by the scruff of his neck and throwing him outside, I also came out of the cave.

No matter how well-ventilated the inside of the cave was, there was a limit.

A smile naturally formed on my face at the feeling of the refreshing outside air filling my lungs.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to escape safely.”

I expressed my gratitude to the Queen, the number one contributor to our escape from the cave.

The Queen's response to that was passionate.

[@#$%@%@!!~!%*!#!]

Oh dear.

Is she broken?

Of course, that didn't mean I was thinking of leaving her behind.

Who knew if she would come to her senses after a while and run wild again?

I dismantled the flail again and put only the crystal in my pocket.

“Pol.”

“Yes?”

When I spoke to Pol, who was spread out in a star shape, he turned only his neck with difficulty to look at me.

“Do you still have a bad feeling?”

“Hmm. A little. It's not as bad as before, though.”

Pol's answer was subtle.

If the problem had been being inside the cave, it would have been natural for it to be resolved upon coming out.

The fact that the ominous premonition had not disappeared even though we were already outside the cave meant that the danger still remained.

Like someone was chasing us-

But I soon realized that wasn't it.

Kuruuurung-

A sound like thunder echoed.

However, the direction was not from above my head, but from under my feet.

Everything around me shook.

Dust was ceaselessly spewing out of the passage we had just escaped from.

“Keup-!”

All I could do was lower my stance and endure.

Kudududu-

The roaring sound continued.

In reality, it was probably only a few seconds, but it felt like several minutes.

The vibrations gradually subsided.

And, only after the vibrations had completely stopped did I finally let out a breath.

“Haaa-”

What Pol had felt must have been the signs of this earthquake.

After calming down to some extent, I checked my surroundings.

The ground, cracked open.

Pol, who had been rolling on the ground, was half-buried in a pile of dirt.

And what was most shocking of all- was the mountain that had held the cave.

‘This is absurd.’

The mountain had collapsed.

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief at the unbelievable situation and looked again, but even at a glance, the shape of the peak was crushed and it was noticeably lower.

It seemed to have shrunk by the space the cave had occupied as it collapsed.

‘That was dangerous.’

A cold sweat ran down my back.

The passage we had painstakingly created by swinging the flail had also completely collapsed, making it difficult to even find a trace of it.

If our escape from the cave had been even a little later, we might have been crushed to death.

Chased by people, tormented by monsters, and now even natural disasters were tormenting me.

Living in this world was just this difficult.

I missed the inn in Dejong, where I could at least feel relatively at ease.

I should probably lock myself in my room for about two days.

“But…… where is this?”

Having come out of a different place than where we had entered, I had no idea where we were.

* * *

The side we had broken through the cave to come out of was, as luck would have it, in the opposite direction of Dejong.

When we followed the road, a completely different city appeared.

We spent a day there, and it was a full day later that Pol and I, after many twists and turns, arrived in Dejong.

“Phew- finally.”

The city walls of Dejong were a welcome sight.

Damn it.

If only I didn't need to leave a trace of my activities in Dejong, I could have gone straight to the Imperial Capital.

“Keuh. Now I can finally get some proper rest.”

I could sympathize a little with Pol's theatrics.

A night in an unfamiliar city had not been very comfortable.

The reason was that we had been tense, hiding our identities.

It was because we had been at a loss for an explanation for heading to another city after telling Grainy we were going to Dejong.

It was right to reduce the chances of being caught in a lie as much as possible.

After all, I was a wanted man.

If my identity were to be revealed while being investigated for some other reason, the situation would become complicated.

But this place.

Dejong was different.

“Hmm. ‘Green’ and ‘Bloodstained’? Pass.”

The guard let us through as soon as he checked our mercenary passes.

There wasn't even the common demand for a toll.

“Having a mercenary pass is convenient, isn't it.”

Pol said, jingling his mercenary pass after passing through the city gate.

“It's probably not just because of the mercenary pass.”

The guard's reaction was as if he had recognized us.

I didn't know about myself, but in Pol's case, the guards knew his name even though he had left Dejong as soon as he received his nickname.

I suppose it was because the incident itself was quite big.

You'd come to know the names of the main characters who had solved an incident that had shaken the entire city, even if you didn't want to.

Limited to this city, Pol and I had become celebrities in our own right.

‘Fame is a useful shield. Not bad.’

It was a psychological thing.

The prejudice that a person who has committed a crime and is on the run would avoid standing out.

A structure where the more famous ‘Ben the Mercenary’ became, the safer ‘Luke Ivers the wanted criminal’ would be.

However, if I became too famous and met many people, the possibility of meeting someone who knew Luke would increase, so I had to walk a fine line.

Or I had to get a means to hide my identity.

-I believe the nickname you earned as a mercenary was ‘Green,’ wasn't it? First, let's dye your hair green.

Simon's words echoed in my head.

……Green dye was really not it.

Well, this wasn't an urgent matter yet.

“Let's go to the guild first. Whatever we do, let's rest or whatever after we've finished talking with the Guild Master.”

After that, whether we left the city or holed up in our room and played, there would be no problem.

* * *

The guild we arrived at to meet the Guild Master was in an uproar.

Several people were gathered at the entrance, murmuring, and the sound of a physical fight could be heard from inside the guild.

“Aigoo, please calm down!”

“Let go of me!”

I don't know who it was, but they had some guts.

This was a mercenary guild, of all places.

Any idiot who caused a disturbance in a place full of people who had a knack for brawling would not know they were in for a world of hurt-

“I have to go right now!”

When I entered the guild, the Guild Master was causing the disturbance.

“…….”

What on earth was this situation?

What was I supposed to do when the guild manager was running wild?

As I was watching for a moment to grasp the situation, one of the mercenaries greeted me cheerfully.

“Oh. Green. You're back? Haven't seen you for the past few days.”

“I was away for a little while.”

This was perfect timing.

Let's hear about the situation from this person.

“So, what on earth is going on?”

“Ah. So-”

The mercenary who had spoken to me had a surprising talent for explaining.

He quickly and accurately explained to me why the current situation was a mess.

“……So he's doing that because he thinks his lover is in danger?”

So, he meant Grainy?

I roughly understood.

It seemed the news that the Arachne had attacked the city had just been delivered.

Even if the city had blocked the Arachne without much damage, Grainy's safety, who was running a ranch separately outside the city, could not be guaranteed.

So the Guild Master's argument was that he would go to check on her himself.

The problem was that the structure of the guild was such that authority was concentrated on the Guild Master, so the Guild Master could not leave his post carelessly.

So he had found someone to act as the Guild Master's substitute, and that person was on their way now…….

And he was making such a fuss, not listening to the words to just wait a moment, hand over the authority when the substitute arrived, and then go.

‘The Guild Master was a romantic, too.’

It seemed Grainy's affection wasn't one-sided.

I hope the two of them live happily ever after for a hundred years.

And I'll be taking my leave from between them now.

In any case, it meant that if I confirmed Grainy's safety, I could resolve the situation.

“Excuse me. Please move aside.”

I pushed aside the people blocking the way and approached the Guild Master.

The mercenaries who were blocking the Guild Master desperately requested help from me and Pol.

“Hey-! Green!”

“Bloodstained is here too! Please stop this person!”

The Guild Master reacted to those words.

“Ben? Pol?”

The Guild Master looked at us with wide eyes.

He couldn't bring himself to speak, but he seemed to be asking me with his eyes.

“Please calm down. Ms. Grainy is safe.”

The Guild Master, upon hearing my words, seemed to lose his strength and collapsed on the spot.

“Thank, thank goodness-”

I felt embarrassed myself at the sight of a grown adult mumbling in a tearful voice.

“Now, everyone, please disperse! The situation is over!”

For the sake of the Guild Master's honor, I chased away the onlookers.

“Tch. What a letdown.”

“I thought they were going to fight a bit more spectacularly.”

The onlookers grumbled as they dispersed.

The Guild Master couldn't calm down even until the onlookers had disappeared, and then he grabbed my hand with a trembling hand.

“Thank you for letting me know.”

“Don't mention it.”

If I had arrived a little earlier, this commotion wouldn't have happened, so it was embarrassing to receive thanks.

I slowly explained to the Guild Master what had happened at Grainy's ranch.

Leaving out the story of going deep into the cave.

As the Guild Master listened to my story, his trembling subsided.

Once he was sure of Grainy's safety, the Guild Master regained his usual composure.

“Heaven's fortune was with us.”

“I suppose so.”

The fact that no one lost their lives or was seriously injured was thanks to several coincidences overlapping.

“But-”

The Guild Master, having regained his composure, scanned us with his eyes.

“Wasn't there anything Grainy asked you to give me?”

……Look at this guy.

He said he liked meat so much.

As soon as he confirmed Grainy's safety, he immediately looked for the meat.

The proverb about asking for your bundle back after being saved from drowning wasn't for nothing.

The warm atmosphere would be shattered if I told him we had eaten it on the way.

“Ah, that-”

“Master. Weren't you worried about us?”

I cut off Pol, who was about to answer naively, and changed the subject.

The Guild Master asked back blankly at my words.

“What?”

“You obviously knew we were at Ms. Grainy's ranch, so were you only worried about Ms. Grainy? We're, a little hurt, you know?”

We couldn't be compared to the person he loved.

But shouldn't he at least have been worried?

As a human being.

“No, that's.”

“You're the one who introduced us to her, so shouldn't you feel a sense of responsibility?”

I was the one who asked the Guild Master for an introduction!

I was the one who orchestrated the situation!

And it was also true that we had overcome a dangerous moment because the Guild Master had told Simon about Grainy's ranch!

In any case, if the Guild Master had a conscience, he wouldn't be able to turn a blind eye.

“I was worried about you guys too. Of course. Of course.”

The Guild Master, at a loss for an answer, averted his gaze.

Talking about meat to someone who had been on the verge of life and death would be a direct hit to the Guild Master's reputation.

Meat, or reputation!

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