Chapter 62: Mage and Alchemist (Rare)

M E M O R I Z E

<Flashback>

“I won’t say I’m sorry. I had no other choice.”

“I’m not crazy.”

“You still believe in me? Really? You trust me?”

“If you really trust me... then trust me... and let my spear hit you. Please.”

“Will you... die for me?”

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Waaah... sniff...”

An Sol was still sobbing in my arms, tears streaming down her face. After hearing the whole story, An Hyeon’s face was flushed with anger as he glared at Yu-jeong, looking like he could burn a hole right through her. If I hadn’t been there, he might have swung the spear in his hand without a second thought. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then clamped it shut, merely seething.

“Sob... hic... R-really... Oppa... me... bait...” (Did you really tell her to use me as bait?)

She couldn't form a proper sentence through her hiccups, but I could roughly guess what she was trying to say. I immediately shook my head and told her I knew nothing about it. To be honest, I had a general idea, but Yu-jeong hadn't told me the truth either.

My answer seemed to reassure her a little, and she finally stopped crying. Of course, she was still hiccupping and sniffling, but I figured it was enough. I stopped stroking her hair and tried to gently pull away, but she immediately looked like she was about to cry again. I hurriedly hugged her close and resumed stroking her head. The tear tracks on her face and the way she wiped her eyes were truly heartbreaking to see.

Yu-jeong was kneeling before An Sol with her hands raised in surrender. The thought of her doing something so ridiculous inside a dungeon made something churn within me. I, too, had been swept up in the kids’ atmosphere. But for now, An Hyeon’s anger was so immense that I decided to just pretend I didn't notice.

Yu-jeong hung her head low, her face crestfallen. The expressions on both my and An Hyeon’s faces were grim, and the mood was heavy. She usually goofed around all she wanted, but in moments like this, she was just like a cat, cautiously testing the waters.

“Well then. At least make an excuse.”

At An Hyeon’s sharp words, Yu-jeong pouted for a moment before quickly schooling her expression. She glanced at An Sol, then began to speak in a hesitant voice.

“So... the reason I did that was...”

“Ah-buh-buh-buh...”

I soothed An Sol, who was rubbing her face against my chest, as if she couldn't contain her sorrow. I saw sparks fly in Yu-jeong’s eyes as she watched, but perhaps because of her guilt, she just grit her teeth and continued in a repentant tone.

“You said... Sol has good intuition. Since there are four holes... I thought... she could use that intuition to tell the safe ones from the dangerous ones...”

So that was the real reason she’d brought her to the holes. Hmm. It wasn't a completely ridiculous idea, so I stroked my chin and nodded. However, at that moment, I felt An Sol fidgeting and whining in my arms, and I started patting her back again as if calming a baby. What on earth am I doing right now?

Luck was the least researched of all stats. The only thing I knew for sure was that it had a greater effect on magical abilities than physical ones. There were a few other minor details, but they were all just unsubstantiated rumors.

An Hyeon’s expression was ambiguous. But he seemed to have accepted it, nodding his head and tapping Yu-jeong’s head with the tip of his spear. That had to be annoying, but Yu-jeong didn’t seem to object.

“Then you should have just done that from the start. What’s this about bait? There are things you can say and things you can’t. Hyeong. You should say something to Yu-jeong, too. You’re always doting on her and letting her get away with everything, that’s why she’s so spoiled.”

“S-sorry... what?”

The moment An Hyeon finished speaking, both Yu-jeong and I wore expressions of utter disbelief. What kind of nonsense was he spouting now? Yu-jeong, looking deeply wronged, tilted her head and smacked her lips. Still, Yu-jeong was clearly in the wrong, and An Sol was staring at me with something akin to longing in her eyes, so I felt rather cornered.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

After settling the commotion, we were finally able to move forward again. Seeing An Sol with her reddened, swollen eyes, a sullen Yu-jeong, and a tight-lipped An Hyeon, I let out a low groan. Just when I thought we had built up some momentum, it had all gone down the drain.

“Oh. This one feels okay.”

In the end, we chose the second hole. On the principle of at least giving it a try, we had An Sol stand in front of all four holes, and the results were strikingly different. At the first hole, she trembled uncontrollably. At the second, she tilted her head with a subtle curiosity. Before the third, she wore a look of disgust, and at the fourth, she immediately tried to run away.

Having a rough grasp of the situation through my Third Eye and Perception, I couldn't help but be inwardly amazed. A priest’s most important stat was Magic Power, but I wondered what would happen if I invested just one point into Luck. Seeing that 100 points in Luck, while unreliable, could produce an effect somewhat similar to the Third Eye, I felt a slight temptation.

As if she heard my praise, An Sol, who was walking beside me, straightened her back. Her white, slender neck stood tall, but with her eyes all puffy, it was honestly hilarious.

I walked with a calm heart, sensing our surroundings. My gut told me that after walking this far, it was about time for more monsters to appear. Soon enough, my perception picked something up. When I stopped, the others flinched. We had fought a battle nearly every time I stopped walking, so it seemed they had naturally grown tense.

“We should be careful from here on out.”

As I uttered those cryptic words with a strange expression, their faces hardened as well. What I was detecting ahead were two types of monsters, numbering only three in total. One life form and two statues. Roughly guessing what was going on, I felt the need to give them a heads-up before they fell into confusion. Resuming my pace, I looked at the still-smug An Sol and spoke in a gentle voice.

“Sol.”

“Yes.”

Her usual gentle voice reached my ears, seemingly having forgiven me completely. As I looked at her beaming smile, I was about to continue, sweating profusely, when it happened.

“Save me! Help me!”

A delicate voice echoed through the air around us, and I frowned. Just as I was about to explain, the creature had made the first move. As expected, An Hyeon and Yu-jeong’s faces changed drastically at the voice coming from deeper inside.

“Hyeong. I think those are the other players the user we met earlier was talking about.”

“It seems they were kidnapped around here...”

“Enough. I was in the middle of talking.”

I cut Yu-jeong off with a stern voice, and the kids immediately fell silent. However, their anxious faces clearly expressed their frustration about why we weren’t rushing to the rescue. I clicked my tongue and was about to continue speaking.

“Is anyone there! Please! Help me!”

“...”

It was a pretty cunning bastard. And irritating, to boot. Honestly, I’d been fuming ever since we wasted time in front of the holes, but since I was partly responsible, I had been holding it in. It also didn’t feel right to take my anger out on the kids. But I couldn’t stand it anymore. At this rate, my old personality was about to surface.

I drew my sword, swung it lightly toward the front, and sheathed it again. I had sent out a sword wave imbued with mana, so subtle that the kids wouldn’t have noticed. If the creature had any intelligence, it would take it as a signal to shut its mouth.

“Save m—Kieeeek!”

After confirming that my sword wave had cleanly sliced off its right arm, I let out a sigh. The kids just looked dazed. I had performed the feat with such a high degree of control and ability that they hadn't noticed, but they seemed to have sensed something was off from the horrible shriek they heard at the end.

“Ahem. Let me start over. Sol, have you ever heard of a monster called a Lamic?”

“Eh... A Lamic? Ummm...”

Watching An Sol lost in thought, I smacked my lips. It clearly wasn't classified as a major monster, so it seemed she was having a hard time recalling it. However, the answer came from an unexpected direction. Yu-jeong, who had been dejectedly fiddling with her dagger, cautiously raised her hand.

“Oppa. Isn’t a Lamic... a variant of a doppelgänger?”

“Hmm?”

I looked at Yu-jeong with surprise. When I gave her a look that said, ‘go on,’ she seemed to gain courage and continued in a low voice.

“I heard that unlike a doppelgänger, it can’t perfectly change its appearance for a long time, but it can mimic voices. Its physical abilities aren’t that great, but that’s only against experienced players, so new players need to be careful. Especially since they often set traps and provoke a player’s emotions to lure them in, so you should never enter recklessly...”

“...Correct. But how did you know that? Lamics aren’t usually covered in much detail.”

“Just by chance.”

I gazed at Yu-jeong, who stuck out her tongue as she answered, with a look of pride. An Sol pouted and muttered, “I knew that, too...” An Hyeon shook his head with a stunned expression before turning to me.

“Hyeong. Then does that mean the voice we just heard was made by a Lamic?”

“That’s right. It probably ate the vocal cords of an intruder to mimic their voice.”

As expected, An Hyeon was the quickest when it came to assessing the situation and thinking on his feet. If only he had a bit more basic knowledge, he would be perfect. As I was lamenting this, An Hyeon swiftly aimed his spear at Yu-jeong. In that instant, without my realizing it, sparks flew from my eyes.

Clang!

Whirrr! Thud!

With a lightning-fast movement, I drew my sword and struck the spear. Before An Hyeon could even react, the weapon was knocked from his grasp. It spun violently through the air and slammed into a corner. It all happened so fast that all the kids could do was stand frozen, their mouths agape.

An Hyeon seemed particularly shocked. He glanced back and forth between me and his spear before speaking in a stuttering voice.

“H-Hyeong. It was just a joke...”

“What joke.”

“Well... I was wondering if Yu-jeong might be a Lamic...”

Normally, she would have spoken up by now, but even Yu-jeong was silent, intimidated by my murderous aura. The frustration I had been suppressing since the Obsidian Forest had finally exploded. And. Whether intentional or not, aiming a weapon at an ally was one of my traumas, one of the things I hated most.

“An Hyeon. An Sol. Lee Yu-jeong. Have you all lost your minds? Are you on a picnic? Are you going to keep acting like this? Is this what you want?”

“...”

My accusation left them speechless. But I didn’t stop there; I continued to lash out.

“Do you think I’m a pushover just because I smile and let things slide? You need to do what needs to be done. How long are you going to stay so relaxed? And An Hyeon. A joke? You point your spear at Yu-jeong as a joke? How could you, of all people, do something like that?”

“N-no, Oppa. I did the same to Sol. It’s okay. I’m not mad. So calm down~ Okay? Oppa~”

“Hyeong. I’m sorry.”

I saw Yu-jeong trying to act cute and An Hyeon immediately bowing his head, but my anger didn't subside. It was fine to have fun while working, but there was a limit. After the battle with the Rengas, their attitudes had become drastically lax. The deeper we went, the more vigilant they should have become, but somehow, they were doing the exact opposite.

If they remembered what I had warned them about in the Obsidian Forest, they would realize how out of line their behavior had been. I had never heard of a caravan like this, and even if one existed, I couldn't comprehend it. I rebuked An Hyeon in a cold voice.

“The prank you pulled on Sol was harsh, but it had some logic to it and was within an acceptable range, so I could let it pass. But. Right now, inside a dungeon. Not just anywhere, but in the middle of a real mission. You point your weapon at an ally? You think you were in your right mind when you did that? A joke? Want me to do the same to you, as a ‘joke’?”

An Hyeon, who had experienced my overwhelming pressure back at the inn, waved his hands in panic, his face pale. The look of remorse on his face suggested he had at least a vague understanding of what I was trying to say.

A moment of silence followed, but I just nodded my head with a cold expression. An Hyeon hung his head low and sheepishly picked up his spear. An Sol, who had been watching the whole ordeal, swallowed hard and gripped her staff tightly.

After staring at the three of them with a look of disappointment for a while, I finally let out a deep sigh and opened my mouth.

I'm posting this after just waking up from a nap, so my head is a bit fuzzy. I'll edit and upload a proper afterword and replies to comments within the day. I ask for your understanding.