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Chapter 49:In the Red Mountain Range (13)

The rescue team carried the investigation squad back to the Witch Association’s tent.

It was the 20th night since the investigation team had set out on their expedition.

Svena managed to stay conscious through sheer willpower. She gave the witches a detailed report on the events that had occurred underground.

The witches’ expressions grew grim.

“A Trogg?”

They were visibly shocked by Svena’s report.

“Are you certain it was a Trogg, Svena?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Its appearance closely matched the illustrations I’ve seen in books, and unlike trolls, it had many weak points at its joints. It was only about 7 feet tall, too,” she replied.

“We’ve already had reports from adventurers about sightings of Stonions, but a Trogg... and underground in the Red Mountain Range at that,” one of the witches murmured.

As the witches sighed, a muscular giant effortlessly held up a large spike with one hand—the same spike that even Ronnie, a powerful Tall-half with strength superior to that of a human, had needed both hands to lift.

The female swordsman standing in front of the giant gestured toward the spike with her thumb. She was none other than “Twin Blades Didi,” ranked 7th in the Platinum Tier.

“We found this while inspecting the tunnels on our way back from the rescue mission. There’s no way kobolds could drive in spikes of this size. Only something like a Trogg could do it.”

The individuals standing on either side of Didi, all in impressive stances, were seasoned veterans. They were members of the Platinum-ranked adventurer group, The Six Plum Blossoms .

This group was formed by six adventurers who wore a banner adorned with preserved plum blossom petals from the tree where they first came together. Over time, members left due to death, disappearance, or disagreements, but they always maintained their number at six, the original number of founders.

Hence, they were known as The Six Plum Blossoms.

Unlike Divine Guillotine, this group was known for its small but elite composition. Bigger groups weren’t always better; larger numbers led to internal conflicts and logistical problems. Each approach had its pros and cons.

Upon receiving the report about Lavabolds, Beth had used her authority as acting priestess to hire The Six Plum Blossoms at a high price.

“You witches must be pretty strong. You managed to take down a Trogg with just a Silver-rank and an Steel-rank helping you,” Didi remarked.

“I didn’t do much. The Silver-rank and the Steel-rank were incredibly powerful,” Svena responded modestly.

“Steel-rank?”

The members of The Six Plum Blossoms snickered at this.

“Hah, too much humility can come off as arrogance,” one said.

“Which Steel-rank could have possibly helped take down a Trogg?”

“Yeah, most likely just a pack mule, right?”

The chatter quieted as soon as Didi turned her body. Her team immediately stopped laughing and followed her lead.

“Where are you headed?” Beth asked.

Didi held up two fingers as she responded.

“First rule of our adventurer group: payment must be made upfront. Second rule: we complete our commissions faster than any other group. We’re off to fulfill those two rules.”

Svena slowly stood up.

“Wait... Take that spike with you.”

“And why should we?”

“It will act as a tracker… leading us toward the source of this whole ordeal. It’s best to take it. Also, the path we took is marked by glowstones at intervals. It’s not much, but it’ll be helpful.”

At Didi’s signal, the giant returned to the tent, grabbed the spike, and walked back out.

“Thanks for the help. See you around.”

* * *

By the time Svena opened her eyes, everything had already ended.

The tent smelled of mustiness, scorched by the sun.

Sunlight filtered through the seams of the fabric, twinkling like beads of light.

The sounds of rustling, clanking, and clicking echoed repeatedly.

Ronnie was seated on a bench outside the tent, disassembling her firearm to clean it.

Arzen slowly sat up.

‘This doesn’t feel like a chicken coop…’

The faint scent of cosmetics in the air hinted that this was originally a place used by women.

As he looked around, there were scrolls and Dragon Scriptures scattered about.

The Dragon Scriptures is a scripture interpreting the teachings of light through the language of dragons. This seemed to be the witches’ tent.

Stretching, Arzen pulled back the curtain of the tent and stepped outside. Ronnie greeted him with a wide smile.

“Ah, Arzen! You’re awake! I was really worried, you were in a coma for two days.”

“Two days? What about the investigation mission?”

Ronnie put down the oil-soaked cloth she had been using to clean her gun on the makeshift table and picked up a dust brush. Her expression was a mix of relief and disappointment.

“The mission is beyond anything we could handle now. They’ve deployed a Platinum-ranked adventurer group.”

“What?”

“I heard that ever since the information about the Lavagbolts was relayed to the Witch Association, they’ve been working behind the scenes to hire them. They arrived yesterday and immediately descended into the underground. You know of them, right? The Six Plum Blossoms.”

Arzen slumped down beside Ronnie.

‘I’ve never met them since we operated on different continents, but I’ve at least heard their name.’

Any adventurer, even after just a year of experience, would memorize the names of the Platinum-ranked adventurer groups. Whether it was for money or fame, they were the objects of admiration and envy.

Divine Guillotine was a garbage group that stood in complete contrast to that admiration and envy, though.

‘I would’ve liked to see firsthand what a Platinum-ranked adventurer group from the Akrad continent is like…’

For now, he had no desire to head back underground. Anyone who’d been close to being buried alive would hesitate, too.

Even the simple things like breathing the fresh air and feeling the warmth of the sunlight filled him with an almost trembling sense of joy.

‘The moment the Special Task Force got involved, things were already tense. But now that a Trogg has appeared, it’s no longer a stage where I can shine.’

Yes, it’s enough for me to have been involved this far. The real players would soon take charge of the investigation.

‘It means I’m still not strong enough to stand on the main stage of this era.’

Rather than feeling bitter about this, Arzen felt relief.

He had grown this powerful in just half a year since gaining the Power of the Void. If he was this strong in six months, how strong could he become in five years?

He needed time to grow stronger.

‘This is for the best. I’d rather avoid life-threatening battlefields like that for a while.’

Now, instead of fighting to survive by any means necessary, he only wanted to fight when victory was certain.

“And Svena?”

“She waited until this morning but eventually joined the investigation team.”

“And you, Ronnie?”

“I stayed behind to wait for you to wake up, of course.”

Ronnie reached into her pocket, fumbled with a money pouch, and tossed it to Arzen.

The sunlight caught the shimmer of gold coins as they glistened. Arzen, unable to catch it with just one hand, supported the pouch with both hands as Ronnie chuckled.

“Svena exaggerated our efforts quite a bit, so we got an extra reward. After taxes, it\'s a whole gold coin—a pretty sweet haul.”

“To the great Svena!”

“Let’s not toast like we’re mourning someone, it feels ominous. Anyway, I’ve handed over your share of the reward, so my job’s done. Besides, I just finished cleaning my gun, too.”

The way Ronnie swiftly assembled her gun made it look incredibly cool.

If there were a ranking of hobbies that attracted the opposite sex, this one could easily follow musical instruments without any problem.

Ronnie firmly secured her steam core to her back with a belt, holstered all four pistols, and stood up.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye. How long have we been working together on this request? About two months? I enjoyed it. And in the end, I’m really thankful. It’s thanks to you, Arzen, that I managed to escape.”

“I only did what I had to in order to survive.”

“If you had given up on trying to save yourself, then I wouldn’t have made it either. My dreams would have ended there.”

Ronnie gave a slight chuckle before starting to walk away.

It seems that the connections formed between adventurers who temporarily work together and then part ways are this fleeting.

Maybe I’ve been overly idealizing what it means to be part of a party, especially during my time under the Divine Guillotine.

“Oh.”

Suddenly, as Ronnie was about to disappear beyond the horizon of the mountains, she turned back toward Arzen.

“By the way, I have a message from Svena!”

“?”

“She said that she’ll soon become a big shot, so both you and I should hurry up and do the same! That way, she can assign us high-profile requests!”

Ronnie cupped her hands around her mouth as she shouted, then waved energetically.

Without even realizing it, Arzen waved back, almost instinctively, as if part of him had been hoping for a moment like this.

And with that, Ronnie left.

‘Maybe it’s better for parties to part ways without clinging too much after all.’

Arzen swung his legs back and forth as he sat on the bench, enjoying the late autumn sunlight.

Just being there like that made him happy.

Perhaps happiness in life isn’t so far away after all.

When the sun was covered by clouds, Arzen stood up.

His coat and belongings were neatly arranged next to the bed inside the tent.

For a brief moment, he worried that one of the witches had gone through their scripture and found something about the Void, but it seemed there was no problem after all.

He lightly packed his things and went out.

After exchanging a nod with the apprentice witch who was organizing the entry logs near the bench, Arzen descended the mountain.

The scenery at the foot of the mountain had changed quite a bit since he last saw it a month and a half ago.

With the discovery of danger in the mountains, the Witch Association had forbidden entry to the underground tunnels, and the area was no longer a ‘hot spot.’

The various peddlers had already disappeared.

Even more than half of the accommodations, like the chicken coops, were being demolished.

The temporary offices of the Adventurers’ Guild were no exception.

Though the place wasn’t entirely dismantled yet, they were still able to process paperwork.

“Hello.”

Half of the reception counters were closed, but since there weren’t many customers, Arzen’s turn came quickly.

The friendly older receptionist he had built rapport with wasn’t there.

She might have gone home, taken a day off, or perhaps even resigned.

With her fiery personality, it wouldn’t have been easy for her to endure this job.

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“I’m here to update my ID tag.”

“Sure, please hand over your tag.”

Since Ronnie had already settled the request here, all that was left was to collect the contribution rewards.

Ronnie had already received the payment and passed it on to him, so all that remained was for him to get his contribution points calculated.

The receptionist nodded and hummed, pulling out a few papers along with Arzen\'s updated tag.

“Congratulations. These documents are copies of the proof that you completed the request. The original is kept with the guild, so if you’d like, we can dispose of these for you.”

“Please dispose of it.”

Arzen had no intention of carrying around something that would just become a burden.

“And here’s a copy of your Merit Certificate for the subjugation. I see you were involved in the trog hunt.”

“Ah, yes.”

“A trog, and for someone at Steel rank... Whatever role you played, it\'s something worth bragging about. Trogs almost never appear outside of the demon realm, so very few people know about them. You could easily exaggerate your achievements and impress others.”

This woman... Her skill in bluffing made Arzen wonder if she should be an adventurer instead of a receptionist.

“And this is the report form. It\'s for recording your party’s performance.”

“!”

“Oh, and the reason it’s not blank is that there’s a rule requiring one report per party for smaller groups. What’s written at the top is the report and evaluation from the party leader.”

Ronnie had already written a very detailed report.

There didn’t seem to be any need for Arzen to add anything further.

What caught his attention was the evaluation section.

- A stylish summoner who never gives up until the end!

Seeing that comment made Arzen chuckle to himself. He picked up the quill and added his own.

- A Tolhaf sharpshooter who’s incredible with at least one gun!

The receptionist, after taking the completed report, handed him the final document along with his ID tag.

“Oh, and this document confirms that you’ve qualified for the promotion test to Bronze rank!”