Kumodesu

After unleashing his skill, the Vice Director sat heavily on the ground, panting for breath.

"Sir Loyral, I'm here to assist!"

Alger rushed over and began treating me. At that moment, I was covered in blood, my clothes torn, one arm completely limp as I lay collapsed on the ground. My internal organs had suffered heavy shock.

After examining me, Alger let out a sigh. "These injuries can heal. Luckily, they're not life-threatening."

Immediately, he used a healing skill, restoring me almost completely in a short time. As expected of a noble-born—his skills were truly impressive.

Though the wounds were gone, I was still exhausted. Every small movement sent pain throughout my body.

"You should rest. I'll go check on the Vice Director."

With that, Alger left.

I lay there, gazing up at the sky, reflecting on the battle we had just endured.

We… had won. I had protected Seryl.

A wave of fatigue washed over me as I closed my eyes.

But soon, pain surged through me again, waking me up. "Aa… Miss Seryl?"

When I opened my eyes, I saw Seryl's worried face.

"I told you to be careful!" she said, voice tinged with anger, though it only made me feel warmth.

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" I replied with a smile.

"You still dare say that..."

Seryl looked even more upset, but she held my hand tightly—something she didn't even seem to notice herself.

I said nothing more, silently enjoying this fleeting moment.

At that point, people began emerging from the shelter. Seeing the corpses scattered across the area, panic set in; a few of the more delicate individuals even had to walk away to vomit.

Not long after, soldiers returned from the front. The Commander led them, followed by the Vice Commander, both stained with blood.

"How's the situation?" the Commander asked the Vice Director.

The Vice Director gave a brief summary: the mutated one had been killed, but said nothing more.

"Vice Director Reo, you can't just gloss over things like that," the Commander scolded, though his tone carried no real reproach.

"I was busy the whole time with that giant one. Everything else—he handled it." He pointed at me.

Ah… that was the last thing I wanted, but under the Commander's gaze, I had no choice but to recount the events—leaving out some of my skills, of course.

"You took them all down by yourself?"

"With the others."

"The others, huh…" The Commander glanced at a group of uninjured people standing nearby, wearing smug expressions.

"You did well. It was lucky you reacted in time. Rest up now. Your contributions won't be overlooked when we return."

I simply nodded with a small smile.

Then the Vice Director asked, "What took you so long at the front?"

"It happened so suddenly. A large number of Gatisors suddenly exploded—we didn't even have time to react. After that, a mutated Gatisor showed up… and terrifyingly, it brought along a mutated Venomous Serpent and a swarm of smaller ones. Some people who didn't have [Poison Resistance] died almost immediately. We had no choice but to stay and fight. If we tried to retreat, we all would've died together."

"Did you kill them all?" the Vice Director asked again.

"The Gatisors were completely wiped out, but the mutated serpent only fled, injured."

Incredible.

Hearing that made me shudder.

In such a situation, both the Commander and Vice Commander had fought a mutated beast alone and still survived. Including Vice Director Reo, they truly were the monster trio of this expedition.

After some more discussion, we decided to rest here for a few days. Tents had been re-erected, and I was lying inside one. Though I had healed, I was still too weak to move.

A while later, Seryl entered with a bowl of food.

"Eat up. You really pushed yourself too hard this time."

"I'm sorry, Miss Seryl. I think just talking right now is already pushing my limits."

She seemed to recall how badly injured I'd been and softly apologized.

"Well then… let me feed you."

I didn't expect her to offer that. Honestly, I had hoped for it but was too hesitant to ask.

I didn't refuse.

Seryl, blushing slightly, gently fed me spoonful by spoonful.

If only things could stay like this forever.

But before long, someone else came looking for me.

It was the Vice Commander.

The Vice Commander—Charlot—was also a noble, though she possessed extraordinary strength. Still very young, yet she'd already attained her current rank.

I wasn't sure why she was visiting me.

"Vice Commander, is something the matter?"

"There's no one else around, and you're still so formal? Have you forgotten your old friend?"

Oh, right!

Charlot was the only one here who knew about my former life as an assassin. Back then, we'd crossed paths and fought several times, which led to us getting to know each other. Later, when I became a researcher, we'd run into each other again.

Charlot was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. She wasn't difficult to talk to. After some drinks and training together, we'd gone from enemies to friends.

"Sorry, I forgot."

I gave a sheepish laugh.

"So what brings you here?"

"Nothing much. Just checking up on you."

She shrugged casually, but her words made me uneasy. I glanced at Seryl, whose gaze had grown noticeably darker.

I internally cursed. This wasn't going to end well.

"I'm fine. Just need a few more days of rest."

Trying to brush things off, I gave a vague reply.

Charlot was strikingly beautiful and had a strong presence that attracted many admirers. Not that I was into her or anything… It was just hard not to notice.

Charlot finally noticed Seryl sitting quietly nearby and smiled. "Just checking in. If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

After she left, I turned to Seryl.

"Miss Seryl…"

"I just remembered something I need to do. You can finish the rest yourself."

And with that, she quickly left, not giving me a chance to explain.

I thought that would be the end of it, but Charlot came back not long after.

"Do you still have business here?"

She pulled up a chair beside my bed, her earlier playfulness gone. Her expression was now serious.

"What do you think about the events earlier?"

It was a vague question, but I understood what she meant.

"Any theories on your end?" I asked.

"I just discussed it with the Commander and Vice Director. This definitely wasn't normal. I'm afraid the route through the valley won't be peaceful anymore."

"What's the casualty count?"

"Nearly 150 dead, over 200 wounded."

A number that could make anyone shudder.

"Do you suspect a traitor?" I asked.

"It's possible."

"Should we change routes?"

But changing routes wouldn't guarantee safety either—on the contrary, it could lead to more unforeseen dangers.

Charlot sighed, her beautiful face now deeply troubled.

"Changing course would add another ten days to the journey. The longer we take, the more dangerous it becomes."

"What about sending for reinforcements from Rolat City?"

"The Commander's already sent someone."

I sighed too.

I'd said all that could be said. Now we could only wait and adapt as things unfolded.

But I noticed Charlot's worried expression hadn't changed.

"Something else bothering you?"

"Nothing important," she replied nonchalantly.

"Is it the other nobles?"

Charlot glanced at me, then chuckled.

"You're still sharp as ever. Those guys did nothing during the battle, but now they're all bragging to the Commander about their heroic deeds. I'm so tired of hearing their stories."

"This valley is dangerous."

I threw out a vague remark, but Charlot caught the underlying meaning and laughed again.

"Your thoughts are dangerous too."

I shrugged. "Just lightening the load."

"The valley is one thing, but the Great Dungeon will be far more dangerous," she said, smiling meaningfully.

I stared at her in surprise. "Your thoughts are just as dangerous."

Charlot flicked her golden hair, feigning nonchalance. "Those useless ones aren't worth worrying about. Besides Alger, I don't see anyone among the noble youth worth a damn."

"You've taken a liking to him?"

"He's capable and practical."

That was high praise from Charlot. She rarely spoke to others, let alone bothered with flattery.

"What about me?" I asked jokingly.

"Very handsome," she replied casually.

"Don't start messing around again."

Good thing Seryl wasn't here—there's no way I'd be able to explain this.

"Just teasing."

"Tch, always bringing me trouble."

"Well then, I'll be going. We'll need your help for the next leg of the journey."

Charlot suddenly turned serious again, catching me off guard.

What's with this girl and her mood swings?

Once she left, I lay quietly in bed again. But before long, someone else entered.

"Miss Seryl…"

I tried to sit up but winced halfway due to the pain.

"Don't move too much," Seryl said. Though her expression hadn't fully softened, she quickly came to support me.

I looked at her in surprise.

"Haha, I'm fine. Did you come back for something?"

"Can't I come back? Or am I disturbing your private time with the Vice Commander?"

I froze.

Realizing things could spiral, I quickly explained, "Nothing happened. We're old friends, so she just dropped by to check on me. There's absolutely nothing between us!"

I even raised my hand in a solemn vow.

"Oh? I didn't know you had such a close old friend."

"Haha, it's just old history, not worth mentioning."

"I'm quite interested in hearing it. Would you care to share?"

Her eyes pinned me down—there was no escape. So I recounted my relationship with Charlot, omitting the part about being an assassin.

"I didn't expect you to have such a background."

"That's all in the past."

I scratched my head.

"If you knew the Vice Commander earlier, why not join the army? Would've been easier than the research institute."

I shook my head.

"Fighting all the time is exhausting. The research institute felt safer. Besides, if I hadn't joined… I wouldn't have met you."

I stopped mid-sentence, glancing at her.

She seemed to catch on, her cheeks reddening slightly though she tried to act indifferent.

"I told you to finish your food."

She was clearly changing the subject.

Fine by me. The sooner we move on, the better.

"I'd love to, but my body refuses to cooperate."

"Why not ask the Vice Commander for help?"

"I bet she'd pry my mouth open and pour it all in. I'd much rather have your help, Miss Seryl."

"You really are impossible…"

After four days of rest, we had recovered fully. Reinforcements from Rolat City had arrived—300 troops and lots of supplies. Our numbers now exceeded the original force.

While I was in my tent reading, the flap suddenly lifted and Vice Director Reo entered.

"Vice Director, something you need?"

"The group's preparing to depart. We're having one final strategy meeting," he said calmly.

"Then you should be there."

"I should. And so should you."

I blinked in surprise.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Commander's orders."

Ah, I had a feeling Charlot was behind this.

"Alright then, let's go."

I put my book aside and followed him out. My body had fully recovered, so movement was no issue.

I couldn't help but wonder what awaited me next…

We didn't walk for long before we reached the large tent where the meeting was being held. Inside, quite a few people had already gathered—including the Commander, Charlot, and all the squad leaders.

Oh, Alger was here too.

It seemed he had earned the Commander's trust enough to be invited. He was likely the only young noble present.

Ah, I almost forgot about Charlot.

I glanced toward her.

Her expression was neutral, but when our eyes met, she quickly looked away.

…What's going on with this woman now?

"We're all here. Let's go over the situation again," the Commander began.

He pointed to a spot on the map and continued, "We're currently 103 miles from the valley, about a six-day journey if everything goes smoothly. The terrain ahead is forested, which will make travel difficult. If we're ambushed or attacked, it'll be even worse."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"First, we need to finalize our route. Safety is the priority. Even if the path is longer, that's acceptable. According to scouting reports, heading southwest would let us avoid the mutated serpents, but we'd likely encounter the Sorostious. If we go southeast instead, we'll face the Colletiae Wasps and need to cross a large river. We have two choices. Thoughts?"

After he finished speaking, the tent went quiet.

"Vice Commander, what's your opinion?"

Charlot stepped forward and examined the map.

"The Sorostious are fast and specialize in ambushes—especially in familiar terrain. Passing through their territory won't be easy. Their territory is vast, so we'd likely be fending them off the entire way."

"As for the Colletiae Wasps, their poison is extremely dangerous, even more so than the mutated serpents. If we're unlucky enough to encounter a mutated wasp, we may not have anyone who can survive its venom. That said, the Sorostious, while troublesome, are manageable."

Good analysis.

I'd never doubted Charlot's competence, but I rarely saw her working so seriously—this was a rare treat.

However, there was something she didn't know: Colletiae Wasps had a critical weakness—they feared fire. The reason this information wasn't widely known was that these wasps rarely left their zones, and humans usually had no reason to provoke them, leading to a lack of documented traits. But using fire in a forest isn't ideal either, so I figured no one brought it up for good reason.

"They're afraid of fire, right? We can use that against them."

That comment came from the captain of Squad Two—Kawo.

Everyone immediately looked at him like he was an idiot. Kawo seemed to realize he'd made a mistake and lowered his head, falling silent.

Moving past that awkward moment, the tent grew quiet again.

"Vice Director, what do you think?" the Commander asked.

Reo seemed lost in thought, but eventually replied absentmindedly. He too chose the southwest route, agreeing with Charlot.

"The rest of you, make your decisions," the Commander said.

The others gave brief comments and cast their votes. Out of the ten people, six chose southwest.

Surprisingly, the Commander voted for southeast.

To me, neither option seemed great, but we still had to choose one of the two.

"Loyral, what do you think?" the Vice Director suddenly asked, catching me off guard.

Now everyone was looking at me.

Annoying, but I had no choice but to answer.

"The journey ahead will be long, and getting through it unscathed is impossible. In my opinion, both routes are problematic. To the southwest, everyone seems to have forgotten about a species called the Aceres. When it comes to stealth and ambush tactics, they might even surpass the Sorostious. They're small, and that makes them even harder to detect."

"They weren't in the scout reports because they hibernate this time of year. But in three days, they'll wake up. If we get caught between them and the Sorostious, we'll be in serious trouble."

Some people nodded, seemingly recalling the Aceres now.

"The scouting team really dropped the ball," someone muttered, but no one responded.

I ignored the jab and continued. "As for the southeast route, the wasps are indeed a problem. Poison is one of the worst status effects to deal with, so that path is just as dangerous."

I left it at that, letting them decide on their own.

"What would you choose?" the Commander asked again.

Come on, don't put this on me.

I'm just a researcher, not someone who should be making these decisions.

"Don't worry—just share your thoughts for reference," he added.

Realizing I couldn't avoid it, I stepped forward and pointed to a spot on the map—the territory of the Wolf King.

Everyone stared at me in surprise.

"What do you mean by this?"

I calmly answered, "In the wild, unpredictability is often overlooked. So far, we've only analyzed which monsters are in which areas, but nothing guarantees we won't face unexpected incidents—like the last battle."

"But the Wolf King is said to be the strongest creature in this region. Its territory is unlikely to be disturbed by anything else."

The others began to understand what I was suggesting.

"Using the Wolf King to suppress unexpected threats—smart, but extremely risky," the Commander was the first to respond.

He seemed to be seriously considering it.

"The Wolf King is incredibly strong. It would take me, the Vice Commander, and the Vice Director just to hold it off. And its pack is also a pain to deal with."

"We don't need to hold it off—it'll let us pass."

Everyone looked at me in disbelief.

I understood—it was hard to believe. But they were underestimating the Wolf King's intelligence. Normally, it's aggressive toward other creatures, but with humans, it avoids contact. It's not just thinking for itself, but for the protection of its territory.

If a battle broke out, we'd likely lose, but the wolves wouldn't come out unscathed either. Worse, if the Wolf King got injured, its authority would weaken, and other creatures might seize the chance to challenge it. If it were just regular wolves, I wouldn't be this confident—but the Wolf King was different.

And if we offered a few tribute gifts, it might not even get agitated.

The problem was how to explain all this to them—it was mostly based on speculation and logic, hard to back up with hard facts.

Taking this path was undeniably a major risk.

"I see," the Commander finally said after a long pause.

"I get your point, but it's still a risky decision."

I let out a breath of relief. As long as he understood, I didn't need to say more. It was, after all, still their decision.

"What do you mean, Commander?" someone asked.

"This route could work, but it's dangerous. So let's take a vote again and go with the majority."

No one objected.

The second round of voting produced different results.

Strangely, four people chose my proposed route, another four chose the southwest, and only two chose southeast.

"We're evenly split. Then we'll divide the group," the Commander said.

He continued, "Moving as one large group through the forest is already difficult. If we can split into two, then even in the worst-case scenario, at least one group might survive."

Everyone thought for a moment, then nodded. No one raised objections.

And so it was decided—half the group would go through the Wolf King's territory, and the other half would head southwest.

Once the decision was made, everyone began preparations.

I quickly took the chance to escape the tent.

"Wait," the Commander's voice called out.

Now what?

"Yes, sir?"

I turned back stiffly.

Inside the tent, only four of us remained—the Commander, Vice Commander, Vice Director, and me.

"This time, you'll go with the Vice Commander through the Wolf King's territory."

Oh.

In terms of strength, the Commander was top, followed by the Vice Director, then Charlot. This meant the Commander was assigning Charlot and me to protect the riskier group—likely putting his faith in our ability to handle it.

"Understood," I replied calmly. With no further questions, I left the tent.

Since the day was nearly over, we decided to rest one more night and begin the journey the following morning.

I had a feeling things wouldn't be easy this time either.

I sighed, thinking of the challenges ahead—and then glanced over at a certain small figure still smiling brightly.

And my resolve surged once more.