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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“…”
“Daniel? We’ve arrived.”
“…”
“Daniel?”
“Oh, did you call me?”
“We’re here.”
At Hayun’s words to get off the carriage, I tried to snap back to reality and disembarked, but my expression must not have looked too good, as both Rin and Hayun looked at me with concern.
“Are you okay?”
Rin came closer to me than usual, showing concern, and it made me feel a strange emotion.
‘…’
It’s not Rin’s fault.
In fact, Rin is a victim.
I know that, but the words Eris said to me with a bitter smile as I was leaving last stuck in my heart.
‘It seems like you have things to do, too much for me to keep you tied down.’
Yet, she whispered softly in my ear at the end.
‘Once everything is over, ask me again.’
A polite refusal.
Though she said so, it wasn’t lost on me that she, too, had feelings for me, subtly making it known.
But a rejection is still a rejection.
It was surprisingly shocking, leading me to often gaze blankly into space.
“Sigh, snap out of it. If she asked you to talk again next time, it means she doesn’t hate you.”
Hayun whispered into my ear so Rin couldn’t hear, offering support regarding my relationship with Eris, and indeed, Hayun was good at stabilizing my mental state.
“Thanks.”
Right, there’s no need for me to be shaken like this.
I am Daniel McLean, a Sherpa who conquered the Demon Forest.
It felt like I was back to being the pre-return Daniel in the unknown territory of love, but it was time for a change.
Perhaps my mindset had shifted slightly.
Hayun, pleased, patted my shoulder.
“What will you do now? Are you going back to your hometown, Daniel?”
“I don’t particularly plan to, but… if Rin goes, I will too.”
“What about me?”
Having only planned to visit Yggdrasil, we found ourselves without purpose once that was over.
School break was still far from over.
Caught in this awkward situation, we entered the kingdom of Frisia again, but since it was getting dark, we decided to stay in a city called “Bethel,” right next to the border.
Although we had passed by Bethel on our way to Yggdrasil, entering the city was a different story, and it turned out to be cleaner than expected.
Being a border city, there were quite a few accommodations, but we ended up choosing a somewhat old but decent three-story hotel recommended by a guard.
Naturally, we split into two rooms: one for the girls and one for the boys. Finding myself alone in a spacious room, I settled down on the bed with satisfaction.
“…”
Lying with my eyes closed, thoughts of Eris kept coming unbidden, so I shook my head to focus on something else.
That’s when.
Whirr.
Only a gentle breeze and the quiet of the room filled the late night as it turned into dawn.
“Hm?”
A breeze?
I immediately got up to check the window.
It was closed.
Moreover, this wasn’t the sound of wind slipping through a crack from outside.
Closing my eyes and listening carefully, I could hear people moving in the room next to mine.
The problem is, my room is at the end of the second floor.
In other words, where there should be the outside, there was “someone” now.
Unless they were floating in mid-air, it meant there was a hidden room in this hotel.
“Quite the situation, huh?”
I had chosen this hotel because the landlady was kind, and the price was fair despite its age, but to think they were up to this?
Whatever their intent, it seemed better to be active than to be disturbed by needless thoughts. I immediately got up and grabbed my sword.
“Hmm.”
What to do?
I found what seemed to be a passage, but I couldn’t open it from my side, or there was some mechanism I was unaware of.
Waiting around for them to make a move wasn’t an option, as Rin and Hayun could be in danger.
“No, they’d probably target them before me.”
Two beautiful female students sleeping together.
Such professionals at assault were seldom up to any good.
“Tricks are for the weak.”
I simply kicked towards the suspected passage.
With a loud crack, the old hotel wall shattered.
Behind it was a staircase leading between the first and third floors, where I found men crouched and playing poker.
“Huh?”
“What, what is this?”
To the men who were even more surprised to see me, I greeted them with a smile, somewhat amused.
“Let me join.”
After delivering a kick to the face of the guy sitting on the stairs, they all tumbled down together to the bottom.
“This is rather underwhelming?”
As they had made a big deal out of their card game, I pocketed the substantial amount of money they wagered and quickly headed down to the first floor.
The men had rolled down so hard they were already knocked out.
The exit came out behind the hotel counter, and although it was too dark to see clearly, I could easily deflect a thin poison dart that flew at me through the air.
“You deflected that?”
The voice of an old woman.
The voice belonged to the hotel owner, the kindly grandmother who had handed us our keys with a smile.
“Kid, you’re not ordinary, are you? To accurately deflect my hidden weapon in this darkness.”
Though she said this, the old woman was clearly scoffing at me with undisguised scorn.
“Hmm.”
I couldn’t sense her presence.
No matter how much I sharpened my senses, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the old woman was.
I tried to locate her by sound, but her raspy voice echoed from all directions, making it impossible.
Ching ching.
“You deflected this, too?”
But something seemed off, especially her skill with the hidden weapons.
“Your ability to conceal yourself is first-rate, but your skill with hidden weapons is below third-rate. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
“The kid has a sharp tongue!”
“Have you slowed down because you’ve aged? Or did you gain some ‘other’ kind of power?”
Though she didn’t respond, more hidden weapons kept flying at me.
Strangely, except for the wall behind me, the weapons came from all directions.
For this to happen, she must be moving at an incredible speed or there had to be many people.
“It’s just the old woman.”
That much was clear.
It was just me and the old lady here.
So, how was she managing this?
As the sounds of numerous hidden weapons flying at me filled the air, one stood out with a different force and sound as it sliced through the wind.
“Got you.”
Deflecting the weapon, I leaped upwards.
Reaching the ceiling, I found the old woman, hanging upside-down like a spider in the darkness.
I grabbed her head and slammed her to the ground.
Crack.
The floor of the old hotel broke, and a dull sound accompanied the old woman’s scream.
Despite this, hidden weapons still flew at me, but I easily deflected them and lit a fire.
“Wow, I didn’t know because I’ve been living in the forest, but the tools have really advanced these days?”
In a corner of the counter were crossbows automatically firing hidden weapons.
Apparently enchanted to follow my position, they could be easily deactivated with the press of a button above.
“I didn’t notice because it was dark, but you’re quite hideous, aren’t you?”
I thought she was just sticking to the ceiling, but that wasn’t the case.
The old woman’s back had four flailing giant spider legs attached, preventing her from escaping while pinned to the ground.
“How did you know? It’s impossible! Even the kingdom’s knights and elves can’t detect the stealth of a Devil Spider!”
“All the weapons flew with the same force and timing, except one. Naturally, I assumed you were there.”
“You figured that out?”
I smiled at the flabbergasted old woman.
“I have a keen sense, after all.”
I wanted to say that playing with beasts in the forest could make her as capable as me, but.
“You’ve become a real monster.”
This wasn’t just playing with beasts; she was a beast herself.
And the Devil Spider, as the old woman said, was a predator of the dark that even knights and elves sensitive to presence couldn’t detect.
“A beast living in the Demon Forest”
She was a beast that lived at the entrance of the Demon Forest.
Watching the giant spider’s legs squirm and try to escape was irritating, so I teased her a bit.
“Where did you get this? It doesn’t seem like something you just bought and attached.”
“Shut up! What makes you think I’d tell you anything? Once my comrades arrive, a brat like you will be…”
Snip.
“Aaaaah!”
Cutting off one of the spider legs, the old woman screamed.
She was quite vigorous for her age, perhaps thanks to being a Devil Spider?
“Um, the fact that cutting it caused pain means you’ve truly become one with it.”
“You, you madman! You cut it just to find that out?”
Snip.
“Aaaah!”
Now frothing at the mouth and showing only the whites of her eyes, the old woman was beyond reaching. The thick, dank smell of blood from our descent still sharply pricked my nose.
It was clear how many people had cruelly closed their eyes within the secret of this hotel.
“With two arms and now four legs left. You still have plenty left.”
Once again, I swung my sword towards the spider-like old woman.
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