Chapter 11 – The Mysterious Girl (1)
“Yes, your identity has been confirmed. Ms. Rina.”
Registering as an adventurer wasn’t particularly difficult. No matter what one had done in the past, the only requirements were a name, hometown, and the weapons handled.
After that, Rina officially became an adventurer under her own name. Although anyone could become one, being formally recognized came with a responsibility.
The registered identity remains unless changed, so if one were to cause trouble, there would definitely be consequences.
“What if someone recognizes me?”
“There are many adventurers with side jobs… and I heard you’re from another city, right? You can just play it off like that.”
Rina still seemed uneasy, but I thought her concerns were excessive. Since she had come from another city to settle her debts that Ethan had left unpaid, she hardly knew anyone in this city anyway.
“Let’s go now. Time to hunt.”
All preparations were complete. We passed by the throngs of other adventurers and headed out of the city to hunt for monsters.
‘It’s gotten more dangerous.’
Even in my time, there were sections outside the city where one could find sparse human presence. Now, without cars or streetlights, it was even more pronounced.
The magical civilization, referred to as magical civilization, rivaled modern Earth in some aspects, but the disparity was immense.
This area was technically owned by the city on paper, but most of the land outside the city was essentially wilderness.
People gathered in the city and villages, creating farmland around them, and any land that remained uncultivated became the territory of monsters.
Monsters inherited the brutality passed down from their ancestors, undoubtedly far more fearsome than mere bandits.
“If there had truly been no monsters in those days, it would have been peaceful itself. Amazing…”
Rina expressed her admiration when I shared this story. It must have been far more peaceful than having to prepare thoroughly for travel as we do now.
“Once, that was the case.”
I couldn’t deny it. While the world I knew wasn’t completely peaceful, at least I didn’t have to worry about being attacked by monsters while traveling on the road.
Such concerns only arose after the Tower appeared. People today have been living with those worries since the moment they were born.
“By the way, I wonder if we’ll find monsters right away. I heard that adventurers spend most of their time looking for prey.”
As we walked along the road outside the city, Rina muttered while surveying the surrounding forest. Since we had deviated slightly from the open road to a quiet fork leading to a nearby village, it was serene without any other people around. After all, it wasn’t like monsters were swarming to the point of being tripped over.
“Don’t worry.”
I chuckled at her concern. A spirit of the earth suddenly popped out from the ground and pointed somewhere with a short arm.
It indicated the location of an enemy making contact with the earth. With this all-purpose navigation, we could pinpoint our targets in this vast area.
“This way.”
I took Rina’s hand and led her into a rougher and narrower forest path than the fork.
However, unlike Rina, who quickly started breathing heavily, I didn’t feel as tired. In fact, as we delved deeper into the woods, I felt clearer in mind and invigorated.
‘It’s thanks to absorbing natural power.’
The abundant nature surrounding us was granting me strength.
Having spent my entire life in the city, the bustling crowds weren’t too bad, but the environment my reborn body desired was indeed this kind of place.
It wouldn’t be too bad to occasionally come out for a forest retreat as if it were a picnic. Communing with spirits would certainly yield far better results here.
“Is that a monster?”
Before long, we encountered an enemy. A particularly grotesque creature emerged from a burrow, growling at us.
The monster, with a pale, emaciated body devoid of fur and disturbingly long arms, revealed razor-sharp teeth and was one of the common monsters they referred to as Lake.
“Eek! It’s coming!”
As it approached, eyes glinting from the shadows, Rina staggered back, her face one step away from tears, but I had expected no more than this from her.
“Kill it.”
The moment it lunged, I commanded the earth. At the same time, the ground beneath our feet trembled, and something exploded outward, covering the creature from all sides.
“—!?”
The creature was pierced through its chest, abdomen, and back by sharp stone spears that erupted from all directions before it could even let out a scream. The difficulty level was a bit harder than the tutorial slime. A very appropriate challenge.
I smiled as I felt my connection with the spirits rising much faster than when standing still. It seemed this method was truly the right one.
“Let’s collect the loot. They say they’ll recognize performance only if you take something with you.”
At the moment Lake’s breath ceased, the stone spears returned to the ground, and the disturbed earth settled back to normal. Only the horribly torn corpse lay bleeding on the floor.
“I had heard that elves are masters of archery…”
“The elves of this era seem to be like that.”
Rina looked at me blankly, stunned that I could be this strong. I felt a proud lift in my shoulders as I watched Rina collect the loot from the creature’s corpse.
Since we could easily search a fairly large area for where enemies might be, we continued to quickly find and slay monsters afterwards.
‘They said there would only be weak ones, and it seems that’s true.’
With several large cities, including Su’an nearby, there were many weak monsters, and excluding them, all the others were prioritized for elimination. This area was just the right difficulty for beginners like us.
“–, —.”
“Hmm?”
The earth spirit informed me of an approaching presence that wasn’t a monster just as it was time to wrap up today’s training and start heading back.
I turned my head in the direction the earth spirit was pointing. My ears, hidden beneath my hood, twitched involuntarily.
Someone was approaching us, attempting to conceal their presence.
*
“Don’t move! We are the city guards!”
“We’ve come to retrieve illegally restored artifacts! Open the door!”
“Uagh!?”
A group of guards suddenly overran the mansion. As they yelled for the door to be opened, they broke in, swiftly apprehending everyone inside and slamming them to the floor.
They were there to track down relics sold on the black market, acting on orders from Mayor Wirlun, ambushing the owner.
“What is the meaning of this?! Didn’t you already retrieve the artifacts?!”
“…What?”
However, the knight Rakum leading the guards was taken aback when the mansion’s owner, also the leader of the trade organization, cried out while being held by the scruff of his neck.
“A day ago, someone claiming to be a knight sent by the mayor showed their identification and took the artifacts! They said if we didn’t comply, they would take us to the headquarters for interrogation, so I handed them over! If I had known how valuable those artifacts were, I wouldn’t have bought them!”
“No way. We… damn it!”
Rakum frowned, flustered by the merchant’s plea, as if he were truly outraged. The thought that they were a step behind crossed his mind.
“I can’t understand it. Who on earth knew in advance and took the artifacts?!”
“No idea. It seems someone appreciated the value of the artifacts. For now, take the suspect away. We need to interrogate them thoroughly to find out what happened on the black market.”
With a sigh at his flustered subordinate, Rakum ordered them to take the merchant away.
The sensational artifact that appeared in the black market had vanished without a trace.
“…”
And there was someone watching the city guards, who were late to apprehend them, from a nearby building’s window. He observed the scene as the weeping trade leader was dragged off to the knight headquarters and slightly turned away.
“What are the chances the guards will catch up?”
“Not non-existent, but slim.”
“Good, the items made it out of the city safely.”
He reported what he had seen and heard, and his superior nodded with a satisfied smile.
“Then, is this mission concluded?”
“No. There’s still one more task. The leader wants to know who restored that artifact.”
But his superior then issued a new order.
“It’s an item that can only be restored by a force that has held it for over twenty years. Do you really think such an item would suddenly pop up in the black market with no signs?”
“Then, who on earth…”
“Finding that out is the mission. We will spare no support within our means, so investigate all possible traces, however slim they may be.”
From beneath the hood, slit eyes gleamed.
He lowered his head silently at the sight. Once orders were given, there was no choice left.
