Chapter 20

Since they seemed to be looking for the Pope, it was only natural that eyes turned to Mr. Joo Yian next.

“Who’d you bring with you?”

Mr. Joo Yian shook his head at my words.

“No way. I snuck out.”

“?”

Then what the hell was that guy?

The moment we had our doubts, the answer rang out from afar.

“Slaughter the demonic beasts swarming this place! For His Holiness and the Shinshian Church!”

It seemed a devout noble from the Shinshian Church was out to exterminate some monsters.

His intentions were good, but in our situation? No thanks.

“Shouldn’t you two hide for now?”

So Yeri the hunter pointed at Shin Jae-heon and Mr. Joo Yian.

I agreed completely.

Of all people, a devout Shinshian Church noble would recognize both the Pope’s face and the Emperor’s.

“……!”

The two men’s gazes met. Mr. Joo Yian hurriedly supported Shin Jae-heon.

“Can you stand?”

“I can stand, but…”

Shin Jae-heon still seemed unable to move his body properly.

In the meantime, the sound of hooves began to echo.

“Advance! For Lord Shinshian!”

I clutched my head.

“The situation’s already over—why the hell are they advancing?!”

Meanwhile, Shin Jae-heon had gotten down from the bed and was staggering. Hiding in that state would be impossible.

“So Yeri Hunter, got any hiding skills?”

If anyone had miscellaneous skills, it was So Yeri Hunter.

Unfortunately, our party’s Doraemon, So Yeri Hunter, shook her head.

“No invisibility skill here. Not that there’s no way.”

She pointed at the ground.

“Want to both bury yourselves in the dirt for 30 minutes?”

“Pardon?”

While Mr. Joo Yian panicked, I clutched my head again.

“You think that’ll work?!”

Shin Jae-heon grabbed Mr. Joo Yian’s arm in the meantime. He seemed intent on moving anyway.

“Ah.”

Of course, his condition wasn’t cooperating. As he staggered again, Mr. Joo Yian poured a healing skill over his head.

“You can’t move like this, Shin Jae-heon Hunter.”

That left only one option. Without further hesitation, I opened the God’s Shop.

“Sorry, just one more time!”

What I pulled out was, naturally, the mini potion.

The bewildered Mr. Joo Yian, who was seeing it for the first time, and Shin Jae-heon, who was at least on his second dose, both had mini potion poured into their mouths in unison.

“It’s not poison!”

Gulp. The moment the two swallowed the mini potion.

A puff of pure white smoke rose before my eyes. The sound of the two shrinking.

I quickly scooped up Mr. Joo Yian and Shin Jae-heon and tucked them into my pocket. Of course, I was extra careful with Shin Jae-heon.

The panicking Mr. Joo Yian tried to climb out of my pocket. No!

After Shin Jae-heon’s chat, I could hear the two murmuring inside my pocket.

If I were S-rank, I might’ve heard it, but unfortunately, ordinary ears couldn’t pick up their conversation.

It was the moment I’d barely hidden them.

“Where are the wicked demonic beasts?!”

A majestic noble made his appearance. Trailing behind him were knights numbering in the hundreds at a glance.

All of them C-rank.

Oh, wild boar bento set?

“We took care of them.”

So Yeri Hunter said in a gentle voice.

I’d thought it many times before, but that public face and voice of hers were impossible to get used to.

“Cl, Clona Aisen?”

The noble flinched upon seeing her face.

Unlike when we’d met the Forlang knights before, So Yeri Hunter had returned to her red hair, making her stand out.

And thanks to that, the noble seemed to recognize her.

“What brings the Magic Tower here? No, have you come?”

The noble stammered in confusion.

Going straight for informal speech— if this weren’t an RP dungeon, So Yeri Hunter’s staff of justice would’ve flown.

“I heard there were monsters, so I came to take care of them.”

Fortunately, her words and chat didn’t swap this time. So Yeri Hunter tilted her head slightly.

“But this is Magic Tower territory…… Bringing soldiers along—does the Church have other intentions?”

Watch your words—no, your chat!

With me on edge in between, the noble panicked at her elegant barrage.

“N-no, His Holiness has been personally subjugating monsters lately, overburdening himself with duties, so I thought this humble body might help…”

As the noble began rambling at length, So Yeri Hunter’s brow furrowed.

Her true personality was showing!

I quickly inserted myself between them.

“Anyway, the monster’s gone. The beautiful Tower Master here just roasted it nicely.”

I gave him a sweet smile.

Unlike the Tower Master, my obscure face went unrecognized, and the noble glanced at me.

Then he looked behind us.

“Roasted…?”

Wondering what was so strange, I saw the broken, splintered trees—nothing like a fire had happened.

Oh crap.

“Chopped it?”

Does that matter?! I spread my hands.

“Anyway, I see how much His Holiness cares for the people. I’ll go make a donation out of gratitude.”

“If the Tower says so…”

Thinking I was with the Tower, the noble turned his horse around with a satisfied face.

“Ahem. The wicked beast has been purified by Lord Shinshian’s grace! Cheers to the front!”

“Waaaaah!”

Grace (physical). It was pretty physical force, but solved by grace all the same. Yeah, yeah. So hurry up and go.

I cheerfully waved goodbye to the retreating noble and knights.

Only after the high-spirited noble vanished into the distance did I slump my shoulders.

“Let’s head back and check on Shin Jae-heon’s condition first.”

I beckoned. As So Yeri Hunter nodded—

I absentmindedly pulled forward the system window I’d shoved aside.

My eyes went wide.

For now, we returned to So Yeri Hunter’s residence.

The moment we arrived, I placed the shrunken Mr. Joo Yian and Shin Jae-heon on the table.

“There’s a potion like this, huh. Can’t even dispel it…”

Mr. Joo Yian tried various skills, fascinated.

Shin Jae-heon, on his second mini potion, looked right at home lounging on the table.

“Any spare potions, Hunter Shin Yuri?”

“Got some.”

Well, not spares—I’d buy more.

I placed a mini potion—free anyway—in front of Mr. Joo Yian.

Mr. Joo Yian eyed the bottle the size of himself curiously, then tentatively reached out.

Shin Jae-heon, who had his eyes closed, cracked one open.

“Touch that vial wrong and it’ll shatter.”

“Ah.”

Mr. Joo Yian quickly pulled his hand back.

“It’d be fine if it shattered.”

Mr. Joo Yian shook his head at my words.

“Not that curious.”

Instead of the cautious Mr. Joo Yian, So Yeri Hunter snatched up the mini potion.

Her eyes sparkled.

“The God’s Shop has tons of stuff like this?”

“Everything you can imagine. As I said, you can even pull your original skills or items.”

Randomly, but.

“So you pulled the afterimage skill earlier?”

I nodded proudly at Shin Jae-heon’s question, holding up one finger.

“One-shot pull!”

“Ooh.”

I’d always had good luck with gacha anyway.

“Mana okay?”

But then Mr. Joo Yian looked up at me. Probably because afterimage skills guzzled mana.

His tiny face gazing up was adorable.

I draped a handkerchief over the two and said,

“It was close earlier, but I topped up on the way back.”

Thanks to So Yeri Hunter’s support skill.

Her Base Camp (A) skill slowly restored mana just by being nearby.

“But using it like before takes a ton of mana.”

Well, I had high mana for a dealer anyway.

As I spoke, Shin Jae-heon rolled himself in the handkerchief and lay down.

Then he abruptly asked,

“So what reward did you get that shocked you so much?”

He glanced sideways and quickly added,

“Yo?”

Then don’t drop the polite speech, you punk. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

But good news is meant to be shared!

I pointed above my head.

Is it here? Or here?

I frantically pointed around the spot above my head where the S-rank section would be, thinking of everyone’s heads.

“Around here—see it?”

At my words, all three sets of eyes widened round.

“F-rank?”

“You’ve awakened, Hunter Shin Yuri.”

“Ooh……”

Shin Jae-heon bolted upright, kicking off the blan—er, handkerchief.

Mr. Joo Yian dropped the haphazardly placed handkerchief blanket.

Even So Yeri Hunter, who was examining the mini potion, looked up in surprise.

“Awakened as a dealer, so building stats should be easier from now on.”

That was right. The system window I’d seen earlier showed an awakening screen.

[Senia de Forlang…… ‘F’]

I’d only seen S-rank before, so F-rank felt totally alien.

But seeing “Dealer” clearly marked below lifted my spirits.

Now awakened as a dealer, raising ability scores would be way easier than as a normal person.

The system had been revamped for “dealing,” after all.

“I got insane EXP. Solo kill bonus?”

Said Shin Jae-heon, tapping his system window.

“Probably. I got a ton of support EXP too.”

Mr. Joo Yian checked his system window beside him.

Their tiny faces peering around right in front of me were hilarious and cute.

“Right, I probably got rewards too?”

So Yeri Hunter belatedly checked her system window, having forgotten amid the excitement.

“Since when does So Yeri Hunter ignore rewards?”

She was usually the most reward-obsessed in our party.

So Yeri Hunter winked at me.

“Too shocking, that’s all.”

She pointed at the two guys on the table.

“They’re so tiny and cute!”

She leaned in and pinched Shin Jae-heon and Mr. Joo Yian’s cheeks, one each.

“Let go?”

Said Shin Jae-heon in a whiny voice, while Mr. Joo Yian cried out in distress.

“So Yeri Hunter……!”

“Okay, okay.”

So Yeri Hunter said she got it but giggled for a good while.

Then she pulled something from her inventory.

“I got a book I’ve never seen before.”

“A book?”

Shin Jae-heon and Mr. Joo Yian, clutching reddened cheeks, turned to her.

So Yeri Hunter took an old-looking book from her dungeon inventory and set it on the table.

“……Apoc……alypse?”

That was the book’s title. Apoc□□alypse.