Chapter 148

“Does it sound like someone’s coming?”

So Yeri the Hunter turned to look at us. The three of us nodded in unison.

Right after activating her skill, So Yeri the Hunter raised one eyebrow.

“They’re muffling their footsteps pretty well, but they don’t sound like knights.”

At her words, we exchanged glances.

Mages sneaking into our room in this mansion…?

Maids or servants wouldn’t have any reason to sneak in.

Which left only one conclusion.

Click.

Shin Jae-heon gripped Maletia’s sword, drawn from his inventory.

He moved silently to the door and peered out.

Sure enough, through the crack, there were mages from the Eastern Empire.

They were so focused on silencing their footsteps that they didn’t care about the rustle of their robes as they headed for the balcony.

And at the end of their gaze… only one thing.

…The painting Shin Jae-heon had drawn?

They weren’t secret fans of his, so there was only one answer.

Didn’t prepare a gift? Gonna steal ours to give?

No pride at all in the Eastern Empire?

I was briefly dumbfounded, but then shrugged.

Well, when your life’s on the line, who cares about pride… Those bastards…

“……”

“……”

Quick glances darted between us.

Taking those guys out would be easy, but even if the four of us had cleared a group in this dungeon, getting caught lounging around drinking tea so casually wouldn’t end well.

We wouldn’t be worrying about the ‘Mansion’s Guest’ dungeon warnings—we’d be stressing over the RP dungeon penalties.

As if sharing the thought, Shin Jae-heon raised his hand.

Meaning he’d go check it out.

“……”

I gave a slight nod. If anything happened, we’d rush in immediately.

With that settled, Shin Jae-heon opened the door and stepped out.

Sword in hand.

“What are you doing there?”

Killing intent laced his low, gravelly voice.

The Eastern Empire guys jumped in surprise.

“W-Western Empire Emperor?”

“How are you here?!”

The mages shouted in shock.

From our perspective as listeners, it was absurd.

This… is our room, you idiots…

“This is the room provided to us. Is it strange for me to be here?”

The mages faltered briefly at Shin Jae-heon’s words before yelling back.

“You being in this gate at all is what’s strange!”

“How did the Pope and Tower Master get in!?”

“As expected of you cunning Western Empire scum—conspiring to deceive our Vatican!”

What the hell are they blabbing about when they’re here to steal a painting?

Do they want a warning? Aren’t they getting one right now?

Maybe they’re getting leniency because they’re Madam’s guests with high favor?

As I raised an eyebrow, I could almost hear Shin Jae-heon getting pissed.

“You’ll all be buried underground soon enough!”

The Eastern Empire bastards kept spewing curses, oblivious or not.

“……”

Shin Jae-heon just listened silently.

“Western Empire dogs…!”

Emboldened by his silence, the mages’ mouths ran wild.

So Yeri the Hunter, Joo Yian the Hunter, and my gazes met in midair.

Shin Jae-heon… is pissed…

Should we intervene? But going out there means penalties, right?

We could make excuses if we’d just been in the same room, but if he starts rampaging, won’t we rack up a ton of warnings?

Shin Jae-heon stayed quiet, but I could picture his expression.

Then came his boiling voice.

“Every damn word… ‘dog’, ‘dog’…”

No, don’t curse! Hold it in! Warnings and penalties are hanging on your lips!

I clenched my fist in tension.

“Did honorifics and manners go underground with the dead?”

In other words: Was the most polite one among you the idiot who died doing stupid shit on the third floor?

Masterful—a single sentence dragging even the dead into the beatdown.

Our anxious gazes met again.

He’s… snapped! The disaster’s jaws have opened!

[……]

Fortunately, no warning popped up.

“W-what’d you say?”

“Get out of the room now, and I won’t execute you on the spot.”

Shin Jae-heon was really holding back.

Good job, Shin Jae-heon!

“We’re from the Eastern Empire! Think we’ll follow your lowly Western Empire laws?!”

With that, the Eastern Empire mage started cursing again.

I was starting to read Shin Jae-heon’s mind.

Eliminate the witnesses(?) before any warnings or penalties?

Just one strike to the neck?

Nooooo!

“No reason for us to follow Western Empire law! Idiot!”

The mage was a nonstop idiot-rant machine, his voice rising with fury.

Shin Jae-heon listened, then spoke.

“You entered this room because it’s a gate, didn’t you?”

His low voice continued.

Uncharacteristically, he was holding out for a while.

What’s up with him? I figured he’d unleash a curse or his sword right away.

No.

Thinking about it, if Joo Yian softly deflected, this guy was a linguistic magician who danced on the edge—tormenting minds without ever quite crossing the line.

“Put differently…”

His relaxed voice echoed through the room.

“No one from the Eastern Empire or Western Empire will know what happens here.”

Clear killing intent underlay the gentle tone.

He’d probably pressed his sword to their throats by now.

“Shall I make it an unfortunate accident?”

High-class way of saying: Wanna die without a trace?

“U-uwah!”

The mages snapped to their senses and bolted. No attempt to hide their presence this time.

“First time I’ve seen thieves sneak in that sloppily.”

“Where’d the knight go?”

Only then did we start chatting casually.

“Probably standing watch outside.”

“Infiltration’s physical work. Why send mages instead of knights?”

No one on our hunter team could comprehend that level of stupidity.

We were perfectly rational people, after all.

Click.

That was when Shin Jae-heon closed the door and came back in.

I waved at him.

“You actually held back without cursing. Impressive.”

He shrugged at my words.

“They’re dead men anyway.”

Seemed he’d still make that accident happen somehow.

Fair enough—no need for mercy toward those who’d drugged us and tried to steal the gift for Madam too.

That was when it happened.

A system window appeared. Glancing at the clock, it was just before midnight.

“Time to head out.”

Madam’s favor was at -30, but we had no choice but to scrape up some points somehow.

Otherwise? Full buffs and start by jamming Maletia’s sword into their heads!

As we steeled ourselves and stood…

“Huh?”

We’d all seen the same system window, and our four gazes locked together.

Both places?

“Doesn’t seem like it’s telling us to split up.”

It said ‘you’ were being waited for—not ‘guest’ or ‘team’…

Meaning both wanted me.

“I’m not the only one seeing both prompts, right?”

The three hunters nodded at my words.

This was getting serious. I rubbed my chin.

“Can’t split into two teams either…”

Whichever we skipped would surely tank our favor massively.

That was when Joo Yian spoke up.

“Then we should head to Ripen’s room first.”

He held up his hand.

“Ripen’s favor is at 55 right now, so prioritizing holding that steady seems best.”

He had a point.

Madam’s favor was already toast—better save what we could.

A mere 6-point drop would turn Ripen into an SS+ boss too, so preventing that was priority one.

The absolute worst in this dungeon was facing two bosses.

“Okay. Ripen’s room first it is.”

So Yeri the Hunter wrapped it up.

And so, with Shin Jae-heon’s Responsibility skill active, we stepped out into the fourth-floor hallway.

[Ripen de Maiden]

We headed down a hallway that hadn’t been there before, and there it was—a blatant nameplate.

The end of the hall had a slightly ajar door that looked like the mistress’s study.

Madam was probably in there.

Ripen first, though.

“……”

Exchanging glances, we opened the door to Ripen’s room.

What appeared before us was a narrow passage.

Barely wide enough for the four of us to squeeze through in two rows—and not much taller.

Designed for a child, it had Shin Jae-heon and Joo Yian—who were tall—nearly brushing the ceiling.

It felt suffocating even for me and So Yeri the Hunter.

“This is crazy narrow.”

This system window was at least good news.

But the ‘Mansion’s Strict Discipline (L)’ debuff hadn’t vanished, so we still had to watch our words.

As I narrowed my eyes…

A child’s voice echoed from deep in the passage.

Who are you? Did Mom send you?

An ominous debuff.

“We came to play.”

So Yeri the Hunter spoke up then.

The child went quiet for a moment before continuing.

Are you really my friends?

Can’t you tell by looking? No way to say that—there were no CCTV cameras here.

“Yeah.”

At So Yeri the Hunter’s reply, the passage began moving forward like a conveyor belt, pulling us along whether we wanted to go or not.

Letting us in?

As I thought that…

The child’s innocent voice rang out.

Then I’ll test if you’re real friends.

…It sounded extremely ominous.