The thick hemp ropes violently bit into my bruised shoulders with every step I took out of the dense forest as I dragged the massive, whole carcasses of the boars and stags onto the main dirt path leading into the basin, fighting the burning exhaustion in my legs despite the Ice Reinforcent.
After all, I couldn’t just pull these out of the inventory right in front of everyone.
The sky above the Hollow Cinder Mine was already bleeding into a dark orange.
I stopped right at the periter, keeping my head low and letting my eyes sweep the area.
The camp was going into full lockdown mode. Dwarven miners were scrambling around, hauling crates and yelling orders.
While Garek and his Iron Vanguard squad weren’t anywhere near the entrance.
They were all the way at the back of the basin, standing right at the base of the mountain as they helped the miners heave the massive, reinforced blast doors of the actual mine shut for the night.
He was distracted.
-Thud.
Seeing my only window of opportunity, I abandoned my bloody haul at the entrance and veered sharply off the main path, making a fast, silent beeline straight for the Shrine of Amaterasu sitting on the left side of the basin.
I took the wooden steps two at a ti, slipped inside the quiet sanctuary, and firmly slid the door shut behind , cutting off the chaotic noise of the camp outside.
The interior of the shrine slled of burning sage and clean linen. Mitsuki stood near the central altar, dressed in her pristine, formal white and red robes, carefully arranging a set of wooden talismans for the upcoming ritual.
She turned around at the sudden noise, her gentle smile instantly vanishing the second she got a good look at .
"Nico?" she asked, her voice tight with imdiate concern as she quickly stepped away from the altar. "By the Light, you look entirely exhausted. I knew that solo hunt would be too much for even you."
I didn’t smile. Didn’t offer a polite, exhausted greeting.
"Mitsuki..." I said, my voice deadpan and flat as I kept my back pressed against the doors. "We need to talk. It’s deadly serious, and I need you to trust implicitly right now."
She stopped in her tracks, clearly taken aback by the sudden, intense shift in my deanor.
"W-what is going on?" she asked, her hands nervously gripping the edges of her sleeves. "Did... you find bandits or sothing?"
"Worse, actually..." I replied, taking a slow step forward. "I need you to listen to very carefully. I am not an F-Rank adventurer. Accepting that replacent quest for the Iron Vanguard was a carefully orchestrated cover."
Her brow furrowed in deep confusion. "A cover? What are you talking about?"
But I saw her hand slowly reach behind her back.
"I am a covert operative working directly for Fūgen’s secret service," I lied straight through my teeth, keeping my expression entirely unreadable. " I was here to confirm a very dangerous rumor regarding Entropy."
Color instantly drained from Mitsuki’s face as she stumbled a step back, her eyes going wide as her back hit the wooden edge of the altar.
I could see her brain refusing to even process the word.
"E-entropy?" she whispered, her voice trembling. "No. That is impossible. The terror cult was entirely eradicated from Fugen by our Lord Crusader. You... you are lying. You are just a Tier 1. Why would Fūgen send soone like you?"
Mitsuki was neither naive nor stupid. She needed proof.
So, instead of arguing or trying to persuade her with flowery words. I just tapped into my System.
And the very next second, a distinct shimr of bright blue light rippled directly in front of .
Mitsuki gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth.
In this world, spatial storage wasn’t just a neat magic trick. It was an impossibility for ninety-nine percent of the population.
Spatial storage artifacts were priceless, limited relics forged by the Demon God, hoarded by empires and untouchable elites.
So when that shimr of blue materialized into the clothes I was wearing when I went into the Nexus, my entire lie was instantly validated.
It was, after all, an undeniable display of massive national backing and wealth.
A second later, my shredded, blood-soaked, and acid-burned clothes dropped onto the pristine floorboards of the shrine with a wet, heavy slap.
Mitsuki stared down at them, completely paralyzed by the sight of the relic’s power and the sheer brutality of the damage.
"I went deep into the Nexus today," I explained, pointing down at the pile of ruined fabric. "And inside that tunnel, I found human footprints."
"Human..." she choked out, unable to tear her eyes away from the clothes.
"Look closely at the fabric, Mitsuki," I urged, keeping my voice low and steady. "Look at the black stains. That is the viscous goo exclusively produced by the Outsiders."
She swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling in rapid, panicked breaths as the horrifying lore implications began to hit her.
"I have confird that Entropy worships the exact sa Eldritch God that cursed the world with Outsiders," I continued, laying out the ugly truth. "... That ans the invisible horde isn’t a threat to the cultists. They’re in fact using them as guard dogs. And that Nexus is probably their ho base."
"This..." Mitsuki stamred, shaking her head in pure denial. "This information is world-shaking. If Entropy is truly rebuilding their forces right here in the Nexus... why are you telling all this?"
"Because of where we are currently standing..." I replied, crossing my arms. "Think about it... Funding a massive terror cult requires vast, untraceable resources. And a high-yield, completely legal Orichalcum mine sitting right on top of their base is the absolute perfect corporate front."
"But they still attack us!" she argued desperately, grasping at straws. "Every full moon, the Outsiders attack us! Why would they slaughter the miners if they are on the sa side?"
"To sell the lie..." I shot back without missing a beat. "If a highly profitable mining site sitting right on the fringes of Outsider territory suddenly stopped getting attacked, what do you think would happen? The Guild and the military would instantly get suspicious. They would send high-level inspectors to dig into the anomaly."
I watched the realization physically strike her.
"Entropy intentionally leaves Hollow Cinder Mine off the Outsiders’ safe list," I explained, driving the final nail into the coffin. "What are a few dead Adventurers, miners, and so lost ore if it guarantees the Guild never looks closely at the real operation buried underneath?"
Mitsuki let out a choked sob, pressing a hand against her chest as her knees visibly weakened.
The implications were crashing over her all at once. If the mine was a front, then the dwarven manager controlling the logistics was a cultist. And so were the miners swinging the pickaxes in the dark.
"By the Light..." she breathed, her voice cracking as panic completely overtook her. She abruptly pushed off the altar, her eyes darting toward the heavy wooden doors. "We need to tell Garek about this!"
I shot forward, my hand snapping out to tightly grip her wrist as she passed by , stopping her dead in her tracks.
"Mitsuki," I said, my voice dropping to a harsh, dangerous whisper. "I can’t let you do that."
She violently yanked her arm, turning to glare at with wide, terrified eyes. "Why?!"
I didn’t say a word. I just stood there holding her wrist and gave her the look.
The deadpan look was completely devoid of any comfort or reassurance. I just stared straight into her eyes, forcing her to confront the one unthinkable variable she was too completely terrified to admit.
Garek was the Leader of the Iron Vanguard. He was the one securing the camp. He was the one who controlled who ca in and who went out.
The silence in the shrine grew deafening as Mitsuki stopped pulling against my grip.
The anger in her eyes slowly lted away, replaced by pure, unadulterated horror as the logic finally clicked into place.
Her hyperventilating spiked into short, ragged gasps as she stared at my face, her free hand instinctively dropping down to tightly clutch her stomach.
"Nico..." she whispered, tears instantly welling up and spilling over her pale cheeks. Her voice was so fragile that it sounded like it was going to shatter into a million pieces.
"I am three weeks pregnant... You cannot just tell ..."
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