Chapter 64: A-Rank Gate

After Mateo disappeared, I used gravity magic to lay Deneb and Marcel down on the bench, then mulled over what Mateo had said.

‘He said he knows who I really am.’

…I didn’t really need to think that hard about it.

The first thing the bastard did was pull that virginity and chastity crap on me.

Those two words imply the same thing.

Meaning, I… I hadn’t done *that*.

‘Fuck.’

What a blatant bastard. Is a cult leader supposed to say shit like that? So he doesn’t give a damn because it’s a fake religion?

Anyway.

That turned out to be a surprisingly big clue.

That bastard… he knows I used to be a man. He acted like he didn’t on the surface, but after saying that much, I had to admit it.

‘Clairvoyance, was it?’

Mateo said it. He said the power of Clairvoyance is the ability to see through to the essence of things.

‘There’s no bullshit ability like this one…’

It’s such an absurd ability that Incantationless Casting pales in comparison. Hiding my identity is completely useless.

A sigh escaped me naturally. Until now, I thought only Mr. Luca knew my true identity.

But I never expected it to be exposed so ridiculously.

‘…Come to think of it.’

That bandit I saw before… Vasquez, was it? That bastard also had a bullshit ability. It just didn’t work on me.

‘Mateo and Vasquez were connected. But.’

Mateo said he wasn’t interested in the egg. Instead, he said he was interested in the Saintess… me.

I don’t know what a Saintess is, and I don’t want to know, but anyway, that bastard has taken an interest in me.

What the hell does he want to do to me?

‘Don’t tell me he wants to do *that* kind of thing…’

Even I got chills just thinking about it. Just the thought of it is fucking disgusting.

But that doesn’t mean I’m the type to back down.

Even if I got delayed a bit because of Mateo, I still planned to clear a dungeon today.

Because I need to earn money. Putting everything else aside, I have to pay off my debt first.

“Ugh…”

“My head…”

When I’d been sitting on the bench waiting for about thirty minutes, Deneb and Marcel finally woke up.

“Ms. Verdi! Are you alright?!”

The two of them looked for me first as soon as they woke up. I nodded calmly as if nothing had happened.

“Thank goodness. Who were they…”

“It was scary… there were people I’d never seen before standing around with scary faces.”

“It’s fine.”

I said confidently to the two of them, who had uneasy expressions.

“Even if they come back, I can chase them away. Don’t worry too much.”

“Yes…”

“…”

I clearly said it like it was nothing, but for some reason Deneb and Marcel’s expressions were dark. I’m fine, so why are you two acting like that?

“Forget about what happened and let’s go to the Gate. We’re going to a High-Rank Gate today too, so stay sharp.”

I patted the two of them to help them muster up their strength.

Though it seemed like I was the one who really needed to muster up strength…

* * *

Deneb and Marcel, following behind Verdi, were both feeling ashamed of themselves.

‘I couldn’t do anything again this time…’

The two of them were thinking the same thing with dark expressions.

From the very first moment they started working with Verdi, they had always been the ones receiving help.

They were just there as members of the party.

Of course, it was Verdi who agreed to Deneb’s request to form a party, and it was Verdi who first proposed the party to Marcel.

But at the same time, it was also Verdi who had saved Deneb’s life several times, and who had pulled Marcel out of the mire.

The two of them wanted to repay that kindness somehow. If a threat ever came to her, they wanted to be able to help.

But they couldn’t do that this time either.

Deneb, ever since the Bandit incident.

Marcel, ever since the Earth Dragon incident.

‘When I was receiving Ms. Verdi’s teachings, I gained a bit of confidence…’

‘Over the past three days, when I participated in other High-Rank Gate subjugations and successfully cleared them, I thought I had changed…’

But contrary to their thoughts, nothing had changed at all. They were still only receiving help from Verdi. They wanted to be of some help, even a little, but they had only become a burden again.

Of course, despite her appearance, Verdi was an outstandingly skilled person. What she had shown them so far was probably only a fraction of her ability. It might even be arrogant for them, who were inferior to her, to be thinking this way.

Maybe Verdi doesn’t want that either. Like a mother who doesn’t want to see her child get hurt.

‘Next time…’

‘For sure…’

But that was exactly why.

Just like a child repaying the mother who raised them with everything she had, the two of them wanted to repay Verdi too.

That feeling was becoming the driving force that made them stronger.

* * *

And the place we ended up arriving at was—

“You’re here again!”

…The Crescent Guild, just like last time.

“Super Genius Pretty Girl, Miss Verdi!!”

The moment I ran into the guy I didn’t want to see, I felt a little nauseous.

I didn’t show it on the outside, but seriously, that guy’s always consistent every time I see him.

“Didn’t think you’d come looking for us again.”

Hames, still treating us… no, treating me with that same smug attitude.

“That’s because we didn’t get to do anything last time.”

Honestly, there wasn’t really anywhere else to go besides here. But I didn’t want to say that. It’d feel like giving him leverage.

And I don’t like owing anyone anything. Last time in the Gate, we competed, and the team that found the boss room first got to claim the boss.

As a result, Hames’s team won, claimed the boss, and were supposed to monopolize the Magic Stone. But Hames chose to split the reward instead. Lilian was a member of one of the Five Great Guilds, so that made sense for her, but we were unaffiliated, so he didn’t have to do that at all.

Thanks to that, we basically got paid for a High-Rank Gate without doing anything… Even if the earth dragon interfered, since we kept that a secret, we were as good as indebted to Hames.

“Hooh, so you do know how to repay a favor, you little brat. Our Miss Verdi is a good kid after all.”

“You’re mistaken about something. I’m a porter.”

Hames seemed to think I was the party leader instead of Marcel. He hadn’t said a single word to Marcel, who was technically the party leader. Only when I emphasized that I was a porter did Hames’s gaze finally shift to Marcel.

“Ehhh? This deser— ah, not anymore. I’ll apologize for that.”

At Hames’s words, Marcel just gave a slight nod as if he didn’t mind. He wasn’t a deserter anymore. He’d successfully finished his mercenary work for Crescent.

And according to him, during those three days off, he’d gone as a mercenary to a High-Rank Gate.

‘I should’ve asked him about that.’

Things had been so hectic since morning that I hadn’t had a chance to talk. I was going to praise him for being impressive.

And I had so many things I wanted to ask—how the Gate went when he went alone without us, whether his real High-Rank Gate comeback, without variables like an earth dragon, ended well…

“Well then, I’ll be in your care again this time.”

Hames held out his hand. Surprisingly, he extended it toward Marcel, not me. Was he acknowledging him after all? Marcel took his hand.

What a heartwarming scene.

“Tch.”

If only there wasn’t one person ruining the mood.

Off in the distance, Lilian was staring this way with a face that clearly showed she wasn’t happy.

“By the way, what brings Miss Lilian here again, eh?”

“Same as you. I just came for mercenary work.”

“Does Royal Knights not have that much to do?”

“Shut up! You’re the one who’s always short on people and hiring mercenaries!”

Hames and Lilian suddenly started bickering.

But honestly, I agreed with Hames.

What’s someone who’s practically second-in-command of Royal Knights doing in a place like this?

Once might be understandable, but this is already the second time.

“Hey, Ms. Verdi.”

While I was watching the two of them argue, Marcel leaned in from behind and murmured quietly near my ear.

“I think… Lady Lilian might be following me.”

“Huh?”

What’s that supposed to mean?

“Well, during my last day off, I visited another guild for a High-Rank Gate mercenary job, and she was there too. Even if the number of Gates opening in Royal Knights’ territory has been decreasing lately, running into her this often…”

That was far enough.

I reached out my hand, and Marcel stopped talking.

I understood enough from just that.

In short, she probably couldn’t just leave a runaway guild member alone.

Honestly, I was wondering why Lilian came last time too, but now it all made sense.

She’s trying to get Marcel to return to Royal Knights. But no way in hell.

Marcel is our party member now. Don’t you dare try to take our youngest away!

We were the ones who snatched him first, but either way, I have no intention of giving him back. If you’ve got a problem with it, come take him by force.

As I was glaring at Lilian like that, Hames handed a piece of paper to both Marcel and Lilian.

“Then if you’ll just sign here again, please.”

It was probably a contract for Gate entry or something. The two of them signed and handed the papers back, and with that, the mercenary registration was done.

But.

‘She’s not coming along?’

I looked around a bit, but I didn’t see Glare anywhere.

She was with us last time, but it looks like she’s not joining this Gate raid.

Or maybe she went to join a different Gate?

“If you’re lookin’ for Glare, she ain’t joinin’ this Gate. She’s got her own stuff to do, seems like.”

Whether he noticed me glancing around, Hames spoke up.

“I see.”

“What, you missin’ Glare, Miss Verdi? Want me to pass along a message?”

“No need for that.”

It’s not like I was thinking about missing her anyway.

And honestly, the fewer people there are, the better for us. That means more to split.

“Sadly, Glare ain’t here, but instead, our guild members’ll be joinin’ us this time.”

As Hames spoke and stepped aside, a number of figures who looked like his guild members came into view.

‘Hold on.’

What the hell, why are there so many? No way, my pay!! It’s gonna shrink!!

“I can see you’re wonderin’ why so many are joinin’. Well, it’s simple. The Gate we’re raidin’ this time is A-Rank.”

“Wait, A-Rank? The Gate we agreed to join was clearly B-Rank.”

I was about to say the same thing as Marcel, but I barely swallowed the words.

I was sure the flyer said it was a B-Rank Gate when I checked it.

Just in case, I shot a look at Deneb, who had brought the flyer back then, but she quickly shook her head in denial.

“Seems like the flyer was written wrong… but you don’t gotta worry that much.”

‘Written wrong, my ass.’

There’s no way the Five Great Guilds would make a mistake like that.

It’s obvious they’re trying to drag us into an A-Rank Gate.

Crescent may be one of the Five Great Guilds in name, but in terms of manpower, they’re smaller than a mid-tier guild.

So they keep hiring mercenaries. And now that Lilian’s shown up, and Hames already proved himself in the last Gate, they’re definitely trying to take on an A-Rank Gate. Fucking hell, they’re supposedly the biggest guild in the country, but they act like a damn startup!

“These folks here are all Crescent’s elite, so even without Glare, they can fill her role just fine. Mr. Marcel, you just focus on takin’ out the Demon Beasts around you.”

I feel kind of played. But whatever, if they’re going that far, it should be fine. Considering the profits from an A-Rank Gate, even after splitting it, I’ll still make way more than a B-Rank Gate…

‘Let’s do it.’