Chapter 75

As we stepped out of the Library of Records, a cold breeze greeted us. It felt like a week had passed, even though it hadn’t even been a day. Probably because we had just been in the Record Room. I wasn’t the only one feeling this way, as the others started to speak up one by one.

“Wow, why does it feel like so much time has passed since we stepped outside?”

“Right?”

In my case, it was even worse. Unexpectedly seeing the records of the first round must have messed with my sense of time. Honestly, I still hadn’t fully calmed down. The scenes I had witnessed were that shocking.

“…Let’s head back to where the carriage is.”

Just as Yoo Ju finished speaking, something flew toward us.

“Lee Yun-seong!”

In an instant, Wi Ho-yeon, who was standing next to me, pulled me aside. Just one second.

“Huh?”

– Sssk.

A thin line was drawn across my cheek, and a bit of blood trickled down.

‘Ice?’

At a glance, it was clear that what had grazed my cheek was an ice spike.

The magic and weapons that followed were deflected by Yoo Ju.

Ting—

As I stood there dazed, Yoo Ju shouted at me.

“Yoon Seong! Get back…!”

Wi Ho-yeon and Yoo Ju stepped back, and everyone began to assess the situation. They immediately went into combat mode.

‘What the hell are these guys?’

In my line of sight were about ten people. One of them spoke up.

“Damn it… They said it was year zero? How did they dodge that?”

One thing was clear: we were under attack. And for some reason, these guys knew about us.

More ice spikes, likely magic, came flying at us.

Yoo Ju spun her spear, deflecting the ice spikes, and immediately charged in the direction the magic had come from. Wi Ho-yeon also followed, rushing toward the attackers.

In a hurry, I checked their status windows. There might have been someone dangerous among them.

After checking, it seemed they were all about the same level. Their stats weren’t bad, but thankfully, none of them looked particularly dangerous.

One of them swung a sword at Yoo Ju and shouted.

“You rookie bitch, don’t know your place…!”

But Yoo Ju wasn’t one to just take it. She blocked the sword and immediately counterattacked.

Clang!

“What the…?! You damn bitch…!”

The guy looked utterly shocked, probably because Yoo Ju’s skills far exceeded what was expected of a year zero.

“Shut up.”

Yoo Ju’s cold voice rang out, likely because she was angry that I had almost died.

“Guh!”

Soon after, one of them was impaled by a spear.

‘What about the others…?’

Wi Ho-yeon had also taken down one of them. Looking at the others, they seemed to be struggling a bit.

No one was seriously injured yet, but it looked like someone might get hurt if this kept up.

Yoo Rim seemed to be in danger, so I immediately activated a spell. It wasn’t meant to hit the enemy but to help Yoo Rim by creating a distraction.

The man swinging a dagger at Yoo Rim suddenly stopped his attack when a wall of fire appeared and stepped back.

‘My mana…’

One spell had drained a third of my mana, but I was satisfied with the result of saving Yoo Rim.

Suddenly, a spirit’s attack came from behind, taking advantage of the enemy’s focus on me.

Sssk—

“Gah…!”

One of the attackers lost a leg and fell to the ground.

“Damn it! They said this was the new batch?! Why are they like this?!”

A voice came from the two fighting Ho-won and Hyeon-jin. It seemed they had attacked us thinking we were easy targets because we were year zero.

‘Are these guys… outlaws?’

I had been thinking that for a while now. Their attire didn’t look like that of proper adventurers. Especially since we were attacked right after leaving the Library of Records.

Also, there was no reason for another clan to attack us. Our clan was a declining one, so there wasn’t much to gain from messing with us.

‘They’re probably the outlaws who’ve been around here.’

My guess was that they were outlaws who had been lurking around this area. They probably approached because of the strange building that had suddenly risen from the ground.

One of them seemed annoyed by Kang I-seo’s arrows and charged at her. The others were too busy fighting to help.

“Damn it…!”

I had no choice but to activate another spell. My mana took another hit, but Kang I-seo and I were terrible at close combat, so I had to stop him before he got close.

Flames flew toward the guy, forcing him to stop his charge.

“Damn it!”

Boom!

For a moment, I hoped the spell would hit him, but of course, it didn’t. Sadly, all it did was singe his clothes a bit. It was clear he would close the distance soon.

Seeing me cast the spell, he changed direction and started running toward me instead.

Thud!

“Guh…!”

“I’m sorry, Lee Yun-seong.”

‘Phew… that was close.’

A sword suddenly pierced through the chest of the guy who had appeared in front of me. Thankfully, Wi Ho-yeon had taken him down.

Wi Ho-yeon bowed her head and spoke to me.

“I apologize for leaving your side despite being your guard. It was my mistake.”

“…No, thank you for saving me, Ho-yeon.”

It seemed she had taken down two of them and then rushed over when she saw I was in danger.

“Understood. I’ll go support the others now.”

Since the battle wasn’t over yet, she seemed intent on helping the others. Looking at the situation, Ho-won and Hyeon-jin were also starting to look like they were in trouble.

‘We’re still weak.’

“Alright, Ho-yeon, go ahead.”

As soon as I said that, Wi Ho-yeon rejoined the fight.

‘Four left.’

Six of them were dead, while our clan had no casualties. Some were injured, but with no serious injuries or deaths, the tide had clearly turned.

The remaining attackers seemed to realize this too and started cursing.

“Damn it! What the hell is this?! Why are we losing to a bunch of rookies?!”

“Did that damn coachman lie to us? Damn it!”

‘Did these guys get our info from the coachman?’

It seemed something had happened to the coachman.

“Gah…!”

As Wi Ho-yeon took down another one, two of the remaining three started to run. Of course, we couldn’t just let them go. They might come back for revenge, so we couldn’t let them live.

Whoosh—!

“Ahhh…!”

One of the fleeing attackers was hit by my spell and started burning, while the other was struck down by an arrow.

“Ah… ah…”

The remaining female mage immediately collapsed. Her future must have flashed before her eyes.





It must be because of that.

‘The mage who first shot ice magic at me.’

“P-please… save me… please…”

As Yoo Ju approached her, the mage clasped her hands together and continued to plead.

“I-I’ll do whatever you say. Please, please spare me. I was wrong. Please…!”

The sight of her begging with tears and snot running down her face was pitiful. It seems she never thought she’d be on the receiving end.

‘Funny, did she think she’d be safe?’

Yoo Ju opened her mouth to the mage.

“Alright, if you answer my questions properly, I’ll spare you.”

“R-really…?! Yes, yes! Ask me anything! I’ll answer everything!”

“You’re an outlaw, right?”

“Ah… that, that is…”

As the female mage hesitated, Yoo Ju moved her spear and spoke.

“…I guess I’ll have to cut off a finger to get you to answer properly.”

“N-no, don’t! Y-yes! I’m an outlaw!”

“Good, it’s so much better when you answer properly. Now, the second question. You ambushed us as soon as we came out. Did you know about us?”

It seems Yoo Ju had the same question I did. We definitely needed to clarify this.

“Ah… yes, that’s right…”

“…How did you know?”

“Well… through the coachman…”

“The coachman?”

“Yes… we found the carriage… and heard from the coachman. He said… you were 0-year players from the Eternity Clan… and when a tower suddenly rose, we saw you all going in…”

It seems they found the carriage and got our information from the coachman. Hearing that we were newbies, they decided to ambush us.

“What did you do with the carriage and the coachman?”

“Ah… the carriage is still there, and the coachman… we just tied him up…”

‘They must have planned to take the carriage after killing us.’

“…Really? Then where’s the money you’ve been saving?”

“M-money?”

“What? Are you stingy? Is money more important than your life?”

“N-no, no! The money, it’s here! The money I have… and over there, if you search the bodies, you’ll find more!”

Honestly, I was quite surprised by Yoo Ju’s demeanor. It was the first time I’d seen her so skillfully deliver threatening lines.

Yoo Ju took the pouch the female mage handed over and spoke.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes! Really! I swear… gulp…”

“Alright, got it.”

“…Gurgle… why, why… did you say… you’d spare me…”

“Have you ever spared anyone before? Funny, expecting mercy when you’re an outlaw.”

Except for Ho-yeon, the rest of the group seemed shocked by Yoo Ju’s actions. They must have thought she’d really spare the mage since she said she would.

Ho-yeon had a calm expression. No, she actually looked relieved.

‘Come to think of it, her title was Outlaw Hater.’

Yoo Ju shook the blood off her spear and addressed everyone.

“Everyone, remember this. There’s no need for mercy with outlaws. Just as we were taught in the training facility. Feeling pity for outlaws is a useless emotion.”

“Yes… unnie…”

“…Understood, noona.”

“Good. For now… let’s head back to the carriage.”

*****

When we returned to the carriage, thankfully, nothing was missing, just as the mage had said.

They probably planned to take the carriage after killing us.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

We saw the coachman tied up in the carriage. When he spotted us, he desperately looked at us with pleading eyes.

Yoo Ju cut the ropes with her spear, and the coachman thanked her.

“Th-thank you…”

“…No need for thanks. More importantly, we were ambushed by outlaws.”

“Ah…! That, that was…!”

The coachman seemed guilty. From his perspective, it was natural to feel uneasy around us.

Whether he was threatened or felt his life was in danger, that was his situation. From our perspective, he leaked our information to the outlaws, leading to the ambush, so we couldn’t look at him kindly.

‘It’s written in the contract, after all.’

The coachman leaking the employer’s information was a clear breach of contract.

Knowing this, the coachman’s relief at being alive quickly faded, and his face turned pale.

“I-I’m sorry. I had no choice…! They threatened me…!”

Except for Yoo Ju and Ho-yeon, the rest of the group seemed to understand the coachman. But Yoo Ju, the Returner, and Ho-yeon, with her experience, kept their cold expressions.

The coachman, perhaps hoping to appeal to the rest of the group, desperately spoke.

“They threatened to kill me if I didn’t give them information! I had no choice…!”

“No. That’s not our concern.”

It seemed like the conversation would drag on, so I stepped in.

“Yes, yes?”

“The important thing is that you breached the contract and leaked information, which almost got us killed.”

“Th-that’s…”

“We could take this matter to the law. If we do, you’ll lose your job no matter the outcome.”

What I said was true. No one would hire a coachman who leaked his employer’s information to outlaws.

The important thing isn’t the coachman’s situation. No one would care about his circumstances. They’d only focus on the fact that he leaked information.

“P-please show mercy! I-I was wrong! Please…!”

I glanced at Yoo Ju. Since I had taken the lead in the conversation, I left the final decision to her.

Understanding my intent, Yoo Ju spoke to the coachman.

“We don’t intend to take this matter further. But we’ll need the hiring fee back. And we won’t be paying for the return trip.”

“Y-yes…! Understood!”

Honestly, this was already quite lenient. Other clans might have demanded several times the fee or made even harsher demands.

Knowing this, the coachman bowed his head in gratitude.

Now it was really time to head back to the clan house.