Chapter 147

Her stamina completely drained, she no longer had the energy to stand with any semblance of dignity.

In fact, considering how stubborn she had been until now, there was no reason she couldn’t be stubborn this time too.

After all, she had been running around the forest for two hours.

Normally, she would have easily caught the One-Horned Rabbit, but today, she wasn’t in peak condition, so she had no choice but to let it go.

She decided to just continue the assessment tomorrow.

If she threw a tantrum, she could drag it out as long as she wanted.

But instead of being stubborn, she quietly lay down in the forest and asked Kurt if he had noticed she wasn’t a hunter.

And Kurt’s answer was affirmative.

“Yeah. Where would you find a hunter like you?”

“Hehe. I see.”

If he had indulged her stubbornness not once, not twice, but three times, she couldn’t help but realize it.

The way Kurt treated her was like an adult silently watching a child who had done something wrong, hoping they would realize their mistake on their own.

No, it wasn’t just similar—it was exactly that.

She had tried to bluff and lie her way out of the situation, trying to become an adventurer without any plan.

And Kurt, accepting all her actions, had let her realize on her own how childish and foolish her thoughts were.

In the end, Yuri had no choice but to admit it.

She was a bit immature, but she wasn’t a stupid human.

She realized how carelessly she had thought of becoming an adventurer, how she had visited the Adventurer Guild while romanticizing the idea, and how she had underestimated what it truly meant to be an adventurer.

After the excitement of visiting the Adventurer Guild for the first time and the thrill of becoming an adventurer had passed, she lay quietly on the grass and laughed hollowly.

“Actually, this girl is not a hunter. She’s just a regular noble lady from a count’s family and a student at the academy.”

“I-I see.”

Kurt had guessed she was a noble from her demeanor, but he never expected a noble lady from a count’s family to act so recklessly. For the first time, he looked flustered as he replied.

But Yuri, oblivious to Kurt’s flustered state, continued her story.

“Actually, this girl came to the Adventurer Guild half as a runaway. The professors at the academy, classmates, even my best friend… So I thought, if I became an adventurer and made a name for myself, maybe I could change that situation.”

“…I see.”

Kurt nodded solemnly, his expression serious.

He thought she must have been suffering from some form of academy violence, like bullying, making her life miserable.

It seemed the problem of bullying among children never disappeared, no matter the era.

Kurt’s face darkened as he thought this.

In reality, it wasn’t academy violence but a rather pathetic story of her getting caught scribbling embarrassing fantasy novels during class, becoming a laughingstock, and even getting lectured by her best friend.

Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

After hearing her story, Kurt’s view of Yuri shifted from seeing her as a reckless noble girl who ran away from home to that of an unfortunate teenager driven to extreme choices by the unbearable pain of academy violence.

Of course, considering Yuri’s actual situation, the previous view was ironically more accurate.

“In the world, only the successful adventures of adventurers are told, making it easy to think of adventuring as a romantic and beautiful profession. But only less than 1% of adventurers can live such a glorious life.”

Kurt, who belonged to that 1%, continued in a serious tone.

“Adventuring isn’t as easy as you think. It’s not that romantic, and sometimes you risk your life only to fail the quest, get injured, and not earn a single penny.”

“Yes. Even though I only experienced it for a day, I can understand that now.”

Yuri’s voice was dejected, as if she had truly realized something.

“But don’t be too discouraged. You at least had the drive to charge in and become an adventurer. With that much determination, you can face the problems you’re dealing with now.”

Kurt said this to at least cheer her up.

And Yuri, hearing his words, seemed to realize something.

“…You’re right.”

She got up, brushing off her clothes, having recovered some energy from lying down.

“Thinking about it, this girl was wrong. Becoming an adventurer wouldn’t fundamentally solve the problem. It’s just running away from facing the problem. Running away won’t solve anything.”

“Right. As long as you understand.”

“The real problem was that this girl was writing fantasy novels during lectures instead of paying attention. Trying to solve that by becoming a successful adventurer was the problem! From now on, I’ll only write novels in my free time and focus on lectures during class!”

“W-what…?”

“It’s only natural that others would say something to this girl since she wasn’t paying attention in class every day! This girl didn’t respect the professor, so why would the professor respect her? It’s the same with classmates and best friends!”

Yuri stood up and shouted energetically, as if she had finally gained enlightenment.

Her face, now free of worries, was bright with a smile.

“….”

In stark contrast, Kurt’s face looked utterly defeated.

His expression seemed to beg for his worries to be returned.

“You. Your name is Kurt, right?”

“Yeah…”

“This girl truly thanks you from the bottom of her heart. Who would have thought I’d solve my worries in a strange Adventurer Guild like this? It’s true that just sharing your worries with someone else can be a great help.”

“…As long as it’s resolved.”

Yuri bowed sincerely to Kurt, but the completely drained Kurt just wanted to return to the Adventurer Guild.

“This girl will definitely repay this kindness in the name of the Blossom Count’s family!”

“Sure. Sure.”

And so, the reckless noble girl’s adventurer escapade seemed to end with a happy ending.

Although one of them wasn’t very happy and was just exhausted.

Just as the story seemed to be ending happily…

Kwaoaoa!!

Fssssss

A roar so loud it seemed to shake the forest.

“Kyaaaah! What is that sound?”

Hearing the ferocious roar of a monster for the first time, Yuri screamed and asked Kurt.

Rustle

Rustle

Soon, whether it heard Yuri’s scream or had been approaching them all along, a massive monster emerged from the bushes.

“T-that monster is…!”

Yuri, who often read adventurer stories, immediately recognized the monster.

The crescent moon pattern on its chest.

The long, crescent-shaped claws.

The crescent-shaped tongue sticking out.

The crescent-shaped eyebrows.

The crescent-shaped tail.

It was the Crescent Bear, a monster at the lowest rank of the Silver tier.

Though barely Silver tier, it was still Silver tier.

A dangerous being capable of wiping out a small rural village on its own.

The monster, a crescent moon itself, seemed pleased with its prey and smiled with crescent-shaped eyes.

Yuri’s legs gave out at the sight of the threatening crescent shapes.

She couldn’t even think of running and just sat trembling in the bushes.

‘T-this is a real Silver-tier monster…! This is the real fear adventurers face…! Such a threatening crescent shape…!’

“Damn it…! I messed up!”

Normally, Kurt would have been spreading threatening mana to keep other monsters at bay, and he had been doing so since bringing Yuri into the forest.

If he hadn’t been spreading mana, Yuri would have been attacked by monsters several times by now.

But, exhausted from Yuri’s ridiculous story, Kurt had neglected to spread his mana, allowing the Crescent Bear, the ruler of this area, to approach and hunt the two humans who had entered its territory.

“I-it’s all wrong…! That monster is a Silver-tier monster. There’s no way a regular Bronze-tier adventurer could defeat it!”

Kwaoaoa!!

“Kyaaaah!”

The Crescent Bear, smiling with its crescent-shaped, sinister grin, swung its crescent-shaped claws at Yuri, who couldn’t even think of running and just sat there.

Yuri, unable to dodge or block the deadly crescent trajectory, tightly shut her eyes.