Chapter 40: …Why the hell am I agonizing over something like this?

And so, we decided to split up at the three-way passage.

Marcel, Deneb, and me.

Hames and Glare.

And finally, Lilian.

There was some opinion that Lilian, being alone, was at a disadvantage no matter how you looked at it, but surprisingly, she accepted without a word of complaint.

I heard from Marcel that Lilian was close to a Rank Advancement to an S-Rank Hunter. That must mean she’s that confident in her skills.

Besides, she was the one who proposed this competition in the first place.

“The rules are simple. Whoever finds the Boss Room first gets to go in and subdue it. Until the boss is taken down, the other teams wait.”

Hames, the acting representative of Crescent Guild — the owner of this Gate — explained the rules of this competition.

“Well, it probably won’t happen… but if you give up on the boss, the turn passes to the next team that found the Boss Room.”

That remark seemed aimed at Marcel. Even though he’d apologized back at the Guild House, it seemed that once an impression was set, it didn’t change easily.

“Hmph, as if that would happen.”

Lilian was the same.

On the surface, her words sounded like she was saying, “Who in the world would do that?” but anyone with half a brain could tell.

That she was talking about Marcel.

Sorry to Marcel, but if I hadn’t known his circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have thought much differently from those two.

‘…’

I was behind Marcel, so I couldn’t see his expression.

But seeing his back, silent without a word, he didn’t seem to be in a great mood.

Marcel had lost to me, changed his mindset, and gotten back up. He wasn’t the deserter he used to be anymore.

He was about to prove that from now on.

But before that, I had something I wanted to say to those who were looking down on him.

Especially to the woman who’d been pissing me off even before my body changed.

“Hey.”

I called out to Lilian in a low voice.

Before we left, I needed to say something on Marcel’s behalf.

Yeah. I was going to confidently declare that we would win this match.

I could vividly picture Lilian’s face making an incredulous expression.

A laugh slipped out on its own.

“What’s up?”

“Ahem, this match—”

I was about to fix my expression and immediately declare victory to Lilian.

“Marcel’s little porter girl. You wanna switch sides?”

Lilian suddenly leaned her face in close.

“But it’s fine. I’ll make sure you don’t regret it. Or how about you become my porter right now and follow me?”

She smiled sweetly — what the hell was she talking about?

“…?”

Thanks to that, I couldn’t finish the words I’d planned.

“You’re really cute! It’s almost a waste that you’re Marcel’s porter. If it were me, I could spoil you even more.”

What the hell is she saying? Is she crazy?

‘No, did this woman read my mind?’

Was she making the first move before I could declare?

If so, that was a critical hit!

Because an unexpectedly intense headache was starting to kick in right now! Fuck!

“Ah… ugh…”

I was so dizzy a groan slipped out on its own. I needed something to lean on.

But there was nothing nearby to grab, so my hand just flailed in the air like an octopus’s tentacle, over and over.

“V-Verdi! Are you okay?”

If Deneb hadn’t come up beside me and taken my hand, I probably would’ve landed on my ass in a ridiculous way.

Nice one, Deneb… I’m feeling a bit better thanks to you.

“Oh my, are you alright?”

Lilian asked with an embarrassed face, so I just barely managed to nod.

‘Was Lilian always this type of person…?’

Before my body changed, the Lilian in my memory was… yeah.

—You’re trash! A selfish person who doesn’t care about anyone else’s circumstances, only thinks about yourself!

That’s what she said to me when our relationship with Royal Knights went sour over the Dungeon Break incident.

‘Other people’s circumstances? In this industry where you’re always risking your life, who has the leeway to think about that?’

Other than that… I don’t remember.

Back then, I wasn’t really interested in other people, so that’s all that’s left in my memory.

Unpleasant memories stick around a long time.

Thanks to that, my impression of Lilian hasn’t been very good up until now.

But now…

“If you ever change your mind, just say the word! I’ll treat you well.”

She’s showing me an almost boundless amount of goodwill.

Why the hell?

Is it because I’m a girl?

Come to think of it, she did call me cute just now.

Wait, is Lilian into that sort of thing?

‘No, that can’t be it.’

When I saw her at that negotiation table before, I remember the way Lilian looked at Wilhelm was definitely that of a girl in love. So that’s not it. Yeah, definitely not.

‘…Why am I even worrying about crap like this?’

Irritation suddenly flared up.

What I should be doing right now is hunting Demon Beasts, not guessing about Lilian’s attitude.

It’s not like I’m actually going to join her as a porter, and I won’t be seeing her often once I become an S-Rank Hunter soon anyway.

I shook my head left and right to scatter those useless thoughts.

I could feel other people staring at me weirdly, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to clear my head right then.

After shaking it, I felt a bit better.

“…Yes. I’ll think about it.”

At least I answered what she said earlier. Ignoring someone outright could put them in a bad mood.

Of course, Lilian ignored Marcel outright too.

But thinking about the future, I wanted to keep my relationships with other High-Rank Hunters as smooth as possible.

I probably won’t end up under Lilian, but when I rank up to High-Rank someday, I might run into her again.

In this industry, the higher you go, the smaller the circle gets.

In the end, once you become an S-Rank Hunter, you only meet the same people. And in this body, I didn’t want to make more enemies like before.

Ah, damn it. I never even got to say what I originally wanted to.

One way or another.

“So which way y’all headin’? I’ll let you pick first.”

Hames said in a voice dripping with leisure.

It was only natural that his attitude showed such ease.

In this situation, Hames had the biggest advantage.

And I thought Hames’s team was the most advantageous too.

The reason was obviously Glare. My instincts were telling me.

I’d never heard of her or seen her before, but Glare’s skill was probably on par with Lilian’s.

But Lilian was alone, while Glare had Hames.

Since this was a B-Rank Gate, speed mattered more than raw skill, so the team with two A-Rank Hunters would have the edge.

“…!”

I was discreetly observing Glare when our eyes met.

Glare turned her head away as if she couldn’t care less about a porter’s gaze.

I turned my head too. I wasn’t particularly offended.

If anything, Glare’s indifferent attitude made me reflect on my past self once more.

If back then, I had paid more attention and cared more about the people around me…

—Murderer!

—You killed them!

Wouldn’t there have been at least a few people to defend me?

Well, it’s too late for regrets now.

“Which one should we pick?”

“It doesn’t matter which one you choose.”

I answered Marcel’s serious question casually.

My experience as a former S-Rank Hunter was telling me.

No matter which path you take, you’ll reach the Boss Room all the same.

What matters is the method. Reaching the Boss Room in the shortest time.

The only variable was the number of Demon Beasts we’d encounter along the way.

I’d ignore them all anyway, but I had to protect Deneb.

At a B-Rank Gate level, even the Magic Stones dropped by trash mob Demon Beasts were worth a decent amount.

But if we got the chance to monopolize the Boss Room, that was a different story.

Let them take care of those trash mobs’ Magic Stones themselves.

‘We’ll head straight to the Boss Room and monopolize the boss’s Magic Stone.’

It was a truly perfect plan.

* * *

“We’ll go left.”

The first to choose a passage was Marcel.

In truth, Hames and Lilian had been waiting for Marcel’s choice.

That was the only mercy the two of them could grant in this competition.

‘Pick anywhere, he says.’

Lilian, who had first proposed this competition, was confident.

She was sure she wouldn’t lose to Marcel, even if she wasn’t sure about Hames’s side.

After all, Lilian hadn’t come here as a mercenary for the profit.

With her promotion to S-Rank Hunter confirmed and the frequency of Gates opening in Royal Knights’ territory decreasing, she’d had quite a bit of free time lately.

Even so, the reason Lilian—the second-in-command of Royal Knights, someone who could even act as Master in his absence—had suddenly come as a mercenary for Crescent Guild was…

‘That ungrateful bastard.’

Lilian’s gaze turned toward Marcel.

She’d found him insufferable ever since she heard he was joining the guild, and after he joined, it was even worse.

For one thing, he had no sense of the situation. While other High-Rank Hunters risked their lives closing High-Rank Gates, he leisurely collected Magic Stones from the porter squad.

Even when guild members shot him dirty looks and jeered at him as he left the Gate, Marcel brushed it off like it was nothing.

Lilian had no problem with Marcel working as a porter itself. The problem was the treatment.

Marcel was a porter, but because he was an A-Rank Hunter, he received the same treatment as the other A-Rank Hunters in the guild.

Even though the work he did was porter duty, which didn’t require risking his life.

The other High-Rank Hunters weren’t working as volunteers.

They could face those risks because the profit and honor that came with it made it worthwhile.

So she’d confronted the Master about it, but all she got back was an order to endure it.

Lilian, having even served as acting Master before, was well aware of the guild’s circumstances.

That was why she could understand Wilhelm’s reasoning when he spoke that way.

Among the Five Great Guilds, Royal Knights was on the lower end, except for Crescent, which was the smallest.

This wasn’t publicly known, but the executives of the other Five Great Guilds were clearly aware of it.

Of course, as one of the top guilds in the country, it was overwhelmingly stronger than other mid-sized guilds, but falling behind among these five meant being pushed out of the competition.

Moreover, considering that Crescent had the world’s strongest Hunter, “Moonlight,” it was no exaggeration to say Royal Knights was the weakest of the Five Great Guilds.

Though it wasn’t officially reported, the Dungeon Break had a huge impact. It wasn’t made public, but quite a few guild members had left because their pride was wounded by what happened back then.

That was why the Master, Wilhelm, was always desperate for talent and wanted to persuade Marcel to join the main subjugation team by any means.

So despite everyone’s opposition, he kept Marcel in the fold.

And what was the result?

Marcel ended up leaving the guild. Citing personal reasons.

But the moment he quit, he suddenly decides to challenge a High-Rank Gate?

Does that make any sense?

Lilian couldn’t stand it.

She didn’t care about anything else—she wanted to teach that traitor a lesson.

During the past month Marcel had spent in Royal Knights, Lilian had watched him closely.

The bastard had stopped training, lived lazily, and showed no sign of wanting to leave the porter squad.

What wind had blown him to suddenly challenge a High-Rank Gate now, she had no idea.

But there was one thing she was certain of.

Someone who’d once stopped could never stand ahead of those who’d kept running.

And so.

Lilian intended to thoroughly crush Marcel this time, so that he would never be able to get back up again.