Chapter 265

At that moment, Bram’s party members were anxiously waiting for Kurt to return.

They had succeeded in finding an adventurer willing to take on the request to rescue Bram, but that was about it.

Everything except the fact that the request had been accepted was a disaster.

The adventurer who took the request was only a D-rank adventurer, and even then, there was only one.

Moreover, the request was accepted a full week after they had barely escaped the mountains with their lives.

Logically speaking, the chances of entering that forest, avoiding the Demon’s Hand, finding Bram, and him still being alive were overwhelmingly slim.

The probability of the request succeeding was practically zero.

Bram’s party members knew this in their heads, but sometimes, even if you know something rationally, you can’t accept it emotionally.

And so, they continued to wait anxiously at the Adventurer Guild for Kurt to return.

“Now that the request has been accepted, why don’t we go in and rest…? It’s only been a day since we left.”

“Right. And… even if that Lizardman fails, the monster extermination team will be organized in a few days.”

Seeing this, adventurers who were friendly with them tried to persuade them to rest, but after a week of sleepless nights filled with worry, they weren’t about to listen.

Instead, they shot sharp glances at the adventurers who were concerned for them.

“A few more days? Bram is being chased by the Demon’s Hand at this very moment, and you want us to wait a few more days!?”

“Well, but realistically speaking, the chances of Bram still being alive are…”

“What did you say? What did you just say? Say it again! If you had just accepted the request earlier…!”

“What! That’s just a request in name only; it’s practically a death sentence! A gold-rank monster is no joke! How are we supposed to deal with a monster that even you guys barely escaped from by using Bram as bait!?”

“Who used Bram as bait!?”

“Hey, everyone! Calm down! You can’t fight inside the guild!”

Bram’s party members, though not as much as Bram himself, had been under immense mental stress for the past week, and the adventurers trying to comfort them were also exhausted from continuously consoling them and couldn’t help but react sharply.

And in the midst of this chaos, the receptionist, unsure of how to stop the adventurers from fighting.

And so, the Adventurer Guild quickly descended into chaos.

*Creak*

Perhaps because of this.

Even as the guild door opened and someone entered, no one inside the Adventurer Guild paid any attention to the newcomer.

“The guild is a complete mess.”

Only when the person who entered the guild spoke did Wendy, the receptionist who was mediating the fight between the adventurers, look at him…

“Mr. Kurt!”

At those words, everyone in the Adventurer Guild stopped fighting and looked at the man called Kurt.

“What? He’s back already…?”

“Did he give up on the request?”

At Kurt’s appearance, the adventurers in the guild started to look as if they had expected this, while Bram’s party members began to wear expressions of despair.

Because, a single day was far too short a time to complete the request they had made.

A day was only enough time to make a round trip to the mountains where Bram had gone missing.

However,

No, precisely because of that,

They soon confirmed Kurt’s appearance…

Some with tears welling up as if they were about to cry,

Some grabbing their opponent’s collar as if they were about to throw a punch,

And some watching the fight with a vulgar smile while sipping beer,

*Thud*

“Wendy. Please dismantle this guy.”

“Guh, guh…! If you could just put him down gently…”

As if putting down a backpack, Kurt lightly placed the monster, whose size including its wings was larger than a bear, on the ground, and on top of it, Bram, who was groaning in pain from exhaustion.

The female mage, who had been on the verge of tears, looked as if she had broken down, muttering “Huh…? Huh…?”

The man who had been grabbing the collar let go with a dazed expression,

The middle-aged man drinking beer didn’t even notice his shirt getting soaked with beer,

“Hey… guys. You doing okay?”

And so, silence fell over the Adventurer Guild.

.

.

.

“Waaaah! Bram! Bram!”

“You’re alive! I knew it!”

“Hey! Do you know how worried we were?”

“Sorry… I’m back.”

In one corner of the Adventurer Guild, Bram’s party shared a touching reunion, while the other adventurers glanced at me with awe-struck eyes at the grotesque appearance of the monster I had hunted.

Perhaps they had noticed the commotion in the guild and realized I had returned.

From the second floor of the Adventurer Guild, Mari, Karina, and Serena came down to greet me.

“You’re back early.”

“The job was simpler than I thought.”

“Only Mr. Kurt could say that after hunting a gold-rank monster.”

“Compared to the golems we faced last time, this one was easier.”

In terms of pure specs, the Demon’s Hand I hunted was certainly not inferior to the golems we faced before.

In fact, excluding its magic immunity, the Demon’s Hand was physically stronger.

But unfortunately for the Demon’s Hand, my original profession before becoming an adventurer was a hunter.

Unlike knights or mercenaries, hunters are more accustomed to hunting monsters than fighting people, and that’s what I had been doing for nearly 20 years.

In that sense, facing the Demon’s Hand was several times easier for me than facing a golem.

Moreover, when I faced the golem, I was unprepared, fighting bare-handed against a formidable opponent, but the fight with the Demon’s Hand was the complete opposite.

I had gathered enough information about the opponent’s characteristics from survivors’ testimonies and had time to prepare and counter.

Although I couldn’t prepare leisurely due to the rescue element, my years as a hunter allowed me to create simple traps by combining a few monster byproducts traded at the Adventurer Guild.

With the web of an intangible spider, the teeth of a flash squirrel, and a few other odds and ends, making a couple of wire-type flash traps was a piece of cake.

Knights might not know, but hunters always investigate their prey and prepare thoroughly before hunting.

And finally, the decisive factor that made the fight end easily.

The creature was a newly awakened species that had recently settled near Astram, essentially a rookie with no real combat experience, despite its gold-rank physique.

Compared to the preparation, the fight itself was relatively easy.

Most monsters, including wild animals, have highly sensitive senses of smell and hearing, but avian monsters, especially raptors, rely heavily on vision, just like their biological counterparts.

Raptors, which hunt by flying at high altitudes and diving down on their prey, have evolved to prioritize vision over smell and hearing due to their hunting style.

Thus, when their vision is temporarily impaired, their confusion is several times greater than that of land-based monsters.

So, I kept the flash trap hidden until the very last moment, using it only when the creature was about to deliver a fatal blow, exposing its biggest opening.

I had actually hidden a few more traps in the wreckage in case the flash trap didn’t work, but surprisingly, the creature, with no real combat experience, easily fell for the trap and collapsed.

If it had been in the Verde Jungle, such a trap wouldn’t have worked.

“Are you hurt?”

“As you can see.”

At my words, Serena smiled and said.

“That’s good.”

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.

.

As Kurt chatted briefly with the group, Bram’s party members, having fully enjoyed the joy of reuniting with Bram, came to find him.

“Thank you so much!”

“We really thought Bram was dead…!”

“How can we ever repay this debt…!”

“There’s no debt to repay. I just went because I needed to.”

At those words, Bram’s party members paused for a moment.

Kurt’s words reminded them of something they had forgotten.

It was the reward for the request.

They had each promised to give their precious items as rewards.

Originally, they had even offered to pay upfront, but Kurt had refused, so it was postponed to after the fact.

The reward Pin had promised was a magic sword with an auto-repair enchantment on its scabbard.

It was valuable as a sword, but it was also a precious item his father, a former gold-rank adventurer, had used during his active years.

The reward Ellie had promised was the various accessories she wore.

For Ellie, it was a shame to give them up as rewards, but she could part with them, except for one necklace Jackson had given her, which held precious memories.

Jackson’s reward was gold coins.

Though just gold coins, they held significant meaning as they were savings he had set aside for years to settle down and start a family with Ellie.

Thus, the three of them were momentarily shaken by Kurt’s words, stopping their expressions of gratitude.

Clearly, when they first made the request, they had been sincere in offering their items as rewards if Bram could be saved, but when it came time to pay, they couldn’t help but hesitate.

“….”

“….”

“….”

But

“Please accept this. The promised reward.”

“H-Here’s mine.”

“G-Guh… Thank you so much. Here’s the reward.”

Despite their conflicted expressions and trembling hands, they willingly handed the rewards to Kurt.

Each item was precious, but Bram’s life was more so.

However, Kurt, who received the items, looked at them as if to say, “What are you talking about?”

“What reward?”

“Of course, the reward for the request to save Bram.”

“But that wasn’t an official request made through the Adventurer Guild, was it?”

“Huh? Of course not…”

It was only natural.

Issuing a request for a D-rank adventurer to enter the territory of a gold-rank monster and rescue an adventurer being chased by it.

If they had done that, not only the receptionist who issued the request but even the branch manager of the Adventurer Guild would have been held accountable.

Thus, what they had made with Kurt was not an official contract through the Adventurer Guild but a verbal agreement.

“I just went hunting because I heard a rare awakened monster had appeared. Your companion was just someone I happened to find and bring back along the way.”

“That’s…”

“If you have nothing else to say, I’ll be going. It’s about time to finish dismantling the Demon’s Hand.”

Kurt stood up as he spoke, and Bram’s party members could only blankly watch his retreating figure.

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