Chapter 132

…

So Yeri burst into laughter as she repeatedly toggled the skill on and off.

And finally, she gave a soft smile as she watched the hunter team raise the white flag.

But that lasted only a moment. Her narrowed eyes soon fixed on one spot.

There had definitely been a “Guardian of the Sword” skill listed there earlier.

She hadn’t noticed because it was such a familiar skill.

Thinking back, ever since the forest battle, she’d felt like the skill’s rank looked oddly familiar somewhere.

She hadn’t had time to examine it closely. And it had appeared so suddenly that she hadn’t spotted it easily.

“It used to be A-rank.”

…Hunter Shin Jae-heon’s skill rank had dropped.

So Yeri muttered to herself, arms crossed.

She was surprised, of course.

But upon careful reflection, it wasn’t hard to guess why the skill rank had fallen.

She knew that nine times out of ten, Hunter Shin Jae-heon’s impulsive actions were tied to the safety of the hunter team—especially Hunter Shin Yuri.

Moreover, the timing of the skill drop gave away the answer.

It was right around the time Hunter Shin Jae-heon had gone silent for a long stretch. And when Paris, the crown prince of the Eastern Empire, had gone missing.

If he’d taken a skill level penalty around then, there was only one possible reason.

“Sigh.”

Love was fine and all, but it required him to stick around for it to matter.

She peered into the party window before standing up.

In any case, she’d piled on Sound Barrier skills during the night watch to force the three hunters to sleep, so she had to take the watch herself.

If there was something bothering her…

She unfolded the invitation and checked the rules again.

This part was what bothered her.

Specifically mentioning sounds and telling them not to come out.

Put differently, it was like saying they were up to something suspicious outside, so don’t even think about coming out.

But no hunter would sit idly by knowing something shady was afoot in an SS-rank dungeon.

Everyone knew that, which was why they’d all insisted on taking night watch.

“And the stage is perfectly set.”

Something just felt off.

So Yeri hesitated with her hand on the doorknob.

Breaking the rules would trigger a warning.

But she wouldn’t know if that warning only applied when caught by the servants, or if the mansion’s master could arbitrarily slap on penalties for “indecorum” like damage, until she went out and saw.

Still, she had no time to deliberate further. She couldn’t predict when the SS-rank dungeon’s trap would come bursting into the room.

Click.

So Yeri boldly turned the doorknob.

The system window stayed silent even as she cautiously poked her head out to check the hallway.

Looks like you only get the warning if you’re caught?

So Yeri slipped out of the room.

“Oh.”

And the moment she stepped out, the system window popped up.

So Yeri flinched.

Does the debuff only trigger once you’re fully out of the room?

But it seemed different from a warning.

“Aha.”

Reading the description, So Yeri patted her chest in relief.

No warning yet!

Only then did the outside sounds reach her ears.

It was a world apart from the eerily silent room.

Clearly, the room had some device blocking external noise.

“Staying cooped up in a place like this would be idiotic.”

So Yeri silently closed the door and approached the hallway entrance.

Of all places, the four of them had been assigned to a dead-end corridor.

And there was only one way to access this hallway.

In other words, perfect position for an ambush from outside.

“Hmm.”

She couldn’t send out Hunter Shin Jae-heon with just one warning left, or our fragile Yuri Hunter, or Ian Hunter with no offensive skills, into the unknown.

She had to avoid detection as much as possible, but if someone had to take a warning, it might as well be her—now down to one.

Above all, she had a reason for venturing out despite the risk of a warning.

‘…’

That strange atmosphere she’d sensed since entering the mansion.

Especially “Rifen,” who seemed to oppose the lady of the house, another master of this mansion.

The servants were visibly split into two factions based on their loyalties.

And in a special dungeon with the mansion as backdrop, uncovering internal affairs was essential.

The one best suited for that was her, the support specialist.

The moment she activated the skill, So Yeri thought her eardrums would burst.

“You!”

A sharp voice pierced her ears.

“Mommy!”

So Yeri reflexively clutched her ears.

The voice was so clear she first thought someone was yelling at her from the hallway.

But no—it was carried from afar via the skill.

Which direction?

She glanced around. The “Ears Everywhere” skill didn’t have location tracking, so pinpointing was impossible.

But she could guess the direction.

“…Up?”

As So Yeri muttered,

“Again, bringing in more weird kids!”

Another sharp voice struck her ears.

“Eek.”

So Yeri nearly deactivated the skill.

She raised an eyebrow.

They hound guests to maintain decorum, but no one calls out someone screaming like this?

“No, wait.”

So Yeri looked up again.

This was the second floor. The mansion had five, and common sense dictated higher floors housed higher-status people.

So who could be yelling like this from here?

…The lady of the house?

The sharp voice belonged to a middle-aged woman, so it was almost certain.

She tosses her own decorum out the window but expects it only from us!

So Yeri narrowed her eyes.

Is that why they said not to come out at night—so they could have their marital spat?

The one who could yell at the lady of the house was obvious—

That was when she heard the reply.

“…They’re not weird kids.”

So Yeri froze.

An unexpectedly childish voice. It was a kid’s.

No way?

Her gaze involuntarily drifted upward.

“Last time you brought those utterly lacking in noble refinement, and now the same again!”

Sounds like they’re talking about us? So Yeri crossed her arms and listened closely.

“I heard the new ones had swords too! Just like you, probably wild colts running rampant!”

Wild colts? So Yeri’s eyebrow twitched.

Then came the child’s timid voice.

“Swords… are for nobles… too…”

Before the child could finish, the middle-aged woman barked.

“Swords aren’t for kids your age to learn! Just follow what I’ve decided, so why all this trouble? Is it that hard to obey?”

The woman sighed irritably and yelled again.

“Do you want to be called rootless rabble!?”

“Wow.”

So Yeri exclaimed unwittingly.

Scolding a kid all the way down to their roots?

But why was the kid getting scolded?

She listened again.

“…I’ll practice.”

The boy’s voice was even more subdued than before, pathetically deflated.

And a sniffle mixed in. So Yeri frowned slightly.

♪♪

Then piano notes rang out.

It sounded like the child was stubbornly pounding the keys—disorganized, rhythm completely ignored.

“Again!”

At the middle-aged woman’s shout, the piano playing restarted from the beginning.

Piano lessons, huh? Fitting for a mansion backdrop with all that noble refinement talk—learning an instrument made sense.

The problem was the child had zero talent for piano.

…Or maybe no interest.

“Rifen!”

After about five mistakes, the woman yelled again.

“Rifen?”

So Yeri’s eyes widened.

Didn’t the servants mention Lord Rifen earlier?

‘Lord Rifen’s guests.’

That’s exactly what they’d said about us.

So Rifen was a boy?

“Aha…”

Pieces started falling into place in So Yeri’s mind.

The servants who took the weapons.

We’d all handed over our swords, and they took them.

That info reached the ears of the mansion’s lady, Madam Maiden, Rifen’s mother.

And the mother preferred her son invite quieter, more cultured friends over “wild colt” types swinging swords he “wasn’t ready to learn.”

Forcing piano lessons was part of that too.

“Hmm.”

One thing clear: the mansion had a young master influencing things, at odds with the lady of the house.

Naturally, the lady’s influence was stronger than young Rifen’s.

“Maybe the Eastern Empire group got treated well because they were seen as Madam Maiden’s guests?”

Like with the carriage.

Of course, their pile of warnings showed it wasn’t easy, but in an SS-rank dungeon, expecting a free ride was trouble.

“The setup makes sense now.”

Having tackled special dungeons plenty, she pieced it together in seconds.

From the start, riding the carriage decided whose guests you were.

The Eastern Empire folks who took the carriage were naturally set as guests of the mansion’s influential lady, Madam Maiden—prim and proper types fit to be her son’s friends.

“But they didn’t look all that refined.”

Hence the barrage of warnings.

We, on the other hand, walked instead of taking the carriage.

Second-class treatment from the get-go because we were Rifen’s invitees, the kind who didn’t sit well with the lady.

“Got it…”

Now that she understood the situation, she needed to relay this intel to the hunter team.

As she organized her thoughts,

Clack, clack.

Muffled footsteps—clearly trying to be quiet—pierced her ears, thanks to “Ears Everywhere.”

And those steps were drawing closer to this hallway.

“…”

Not the heavy tread of someone in armor.

So Yeri hesitated, wondering if she should retreat to the room.

But she shook her head.

Better her facing whatever in open space than all four ambushed separately, even if it meant a warning.

Thud.

The footsteps’ owner soon entered her hallway.

“…!”

The butler, source of the steps, froze upon seeing her.

That instant.

Damn. As So Yeri narrowed her eyes,

Quiet down! Hunter Shin Jae-heon-nim, you’re not asleep? Go to sleep already, you shorty!

Meanwhile, the butler opened his mouth.

“The invitation clearly states not to come out at night…”

His narrowed eyes looked at her not as a guest, but an intruder.

Hm, he’s definitely one of the lady’s faction.

“The room windows wouldn’t open.”

So Yeri shot back shamelessly.

“Felt stuffy.”

The butler fell silent for a moment before saying,

“…I’ll have the servants fix it, so please return to your room.”

Pushy, huh? So Yeri raised an eyebrow slightly.

He seemed desperate to get her back inside, so she had no intention of complying.

“But what’s that? A gift?”

She pointed at the box in the butler’s hand.

Noble houses sometimes prepared scents for restful sleep at dawn for guests, but this didn’t look like it.

And even if it were, a male butler wouldn’t deliver to women’s rooms.

This hallway only had their four rooms, so something suspicious was definitely in that box.

“…Nothing special.”

As expected, the butler hesitated and hid the box behind him.

Ho ho.

“Weren’t you here on business?”

So Yeri spread her hands. The flustered butler replied,

“I took a wrong turn.”

The butler got lost in his own mansion?

Ridiculous, but So Yeri didn’t press.

Four S-rank indicators hovered over the butler’s box.

Front roll, check; back roll, check—definitely monsters.

He was clearly planning to leave it in one of the rooms.