Sounds echoed.
Busy and chaotic sounds.
“...Confird fallen warrior Ritman Powell!”
“Confird fallen warrior Mildan Betimore of Squad 3!”
“Confird fallen warrior Garon Nilgrain of Squad 1!”
Grim voices burst out from all directions.
And then...
“Mister! Snap out of it! Hey?”
“Cleric, why isn’t he waking up?”
“Well, um... maybe if we wait a bit longer, he’ll co to soon...”
“He suffered a severe head injury. Is that why?”
“...”
Hearing the concern from my comrades right before .
Through that, I caught Misha mumbling.
“...If things go wrong... we’ll have to use it after all...”
What could she be talking about?
Maybe because I was just regaining consciousness, my ears were ringing.
I couldn’t focus properly.
“Well then... Baron, since you seem to be recovering, I’ll go tend to the others—”
“What are you talking about! He’s not awake yet, where are you going!”
“Tersia, stop it.”
“Stop it? You don’t even care about him—”
“No need. Looks like he’s waking up now.”
“...Huh?”
Busted.
I was just about to gather my senses and open my eyes.
Well, it was about ti to assess the situation.
“No, Chief!”
“B-Bjorn!! We were so worried!!”
“Hah...”
As I opened my eyes, my comrades beside breathed sighs of relief with intense expressions.
But before saying I was fine, I had a question.
“Is anyone among us... hurt?”
Though I hedged my words unlike myself, the core question was whether there were any casualties.
Alia understood perfectly and answered.
“Glow Ishius is dead.”
Glow Ishius.
One of the three mages in the Armin expedition team.
A thirty-sothing young mage who always jokingly complained about ti and budget whenever he saw .
So that ans he’s dead.
“...And?”
“No other deaths. Several injured, but except for one, all had minor injuries.”
“I see...”
I closed my eyes for a mont and exhaled deeply.
My comrades said nothing, allowing a brief silence.
Countless shards of thought swirled inside , but I °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° focused on one.
‘What must be done.’
...Let’s do what needs to be done.
“I rember my head being bitten off entirely, but what happened next? Tell everything, without missing a single detail, since I lost consciousness.”
For so reason, Alia seed reluctant but started explaining.
“...As soon as you fell, Tersia shot an arrow.”
By the way, at that ti [Focused Shot] wasn’t fully charged.
But...
“Kashan missed you because of the arrow, and Kalstein and I took that chance to rush and rescue you.”
That arrow created a brief gap allowing to survive dramatically.
But all the disasters started from there.
“...After that, everyone fought together against it, and many died. That’s all. Oh, and unfortunately, no essences dropped—”
“More details.”
Fought together and many died—that’s not a story that ends in one line.
I had to know.
“Hah...”
Sensing my insistence, Alia sighed and gave the answer I requested.
“Yandel, with you gone, a huge gap opened on the frontline. Soone had to fill that gap. Dozens of knights rushed out.”
“Jero Saintred? Was he just watching from afar then?”
“Surprisingly no. They said he was preparing for disasters, but the mont you collapsed, he was the first to run out. If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t have been rescued.”
“I see. Sorry to interrupt, go on.”
“The commander intervened, but the situation wasn’t good. Soon an order ca: all troops in the rear were to join and attack it.”
Troops assigned to protect fragile ranged units like mages, clerics, and psychics.
Even those troops were mobilized for the full assault.
I understood the judgnt well.
The strategy was nearly at the endga. They must have thought ending it quickly would reduce casualties.
“But that order had a fatal flaw.”
The problem was there was no one in the expedition capable of managing the monster’s aggro.
“Kashan prioritized threatening targets. Most attacks targeted the commander, but the situation was highly unstable.”
Each ti it lightly struck nearby knights like swatting flies, necks snapped.
When mages fired powerful shots, it ran at them crazily.
“Glow Ishius was taken down by it too.”
Thus, the three mages beca two.
‘No wonder they didn’t ntion the cause earlier...’
Did they think if I hadn’t fainted, he wouldn’t have died?
...Well, that’s probably true.
“After you passed out, for about three minutes we fought it, and finally the commander’s sword pierced its forehead deeply, ending everything. The gate closed then reopened, shining light. It’s been about ten minutes since then.”
“...”
“Feel satisfied now?”
“For now.”
When the conversation ended there, a familiar knight approached us.
“Baron! You’re awake! The commander is calling!”
“...I’ll be back soon.”
“The wounded are well cared for, don’t worry and go.”
Following the knight, I found Jero sitting, receiving healing from a cleric.
He had one arm missing and a hole in his abdon.
That bastard took quite a hit.
“Glad you’re safe, Baron.”
“You look worse than I do.”
Jero only gave an awkward smile without answering.
“Now that you’re here... Evost, begin the report!”
At the eting with the leadership, the deputy commander announced the battle results.
“The First Expeditionary Force achieved a historic feat today by defeating the Prophesied Wolf, Kashan. Unfortunately, no essence was found to report to the royal family...”
The report reminded again of the dangers of first-grade monsters.
“There were 27 lightly injured who have recovered, 4 moderately injured under treatnt, and a total of 28 dead.”
Twenty-eight dead.
Twenty-one died during the three minutes I was unconscious.
Only one mber from our Squad 4 died among the 28 fallen.
A miraculous outco no doubt, but actually, there was a decisive cause.
“I heard Baron Saintred ordered Squad 4 to the rear at the end.”
When I passed out and Kashan beca uncontrollable, the commander sent us relatively safely to the rear.
“Why that order?”
I had no complaint, actually grateful, but couldn’t help but wonder why...
“Because if the Baron dies, one of our expedition’s objectives fails. So I ordered all Squad 4 mbers to protect the Baron.”
“...What?”
“Baron, we didn’t co here just to hunt monsters. I’ve only ever failed a mission once.”
It was an unfathomable mindset.
Was a mission really that important?
“No matter how many die, as long as we finish the expedition and bring back the Baron alive, the mission succeeds.”
This guy’s hard to figure out.
When we talked before, I thought we might be friends if not for the situations we were in.
“I see. That answers my question.”
“Good. Shall we continue the eting?”
Nodding, the deputy commander stepped back, and the eting resud.
“The damage report is done. Let’s move on to the next topic.”
The next topic was very simple.
Since Kashan was defeated and no essence found, there was no need to discuss ownership.
So...
“As soon as Kashan was defeated, the stone gate opened. Mages confird that the glowing light had properties similar to a portal... In short, going inside that light likely leads to a new area.”
What lies beyond the wide-open gate?
When to start exploration?
The eting had many opinions, but I mostly let it wash over .
I already knew what was beyond.
‘...Who would have thought the door would open like that.’
We’d already been there via Hamsik.
Sure, it could be a totally different place, but I doubted that.
‘After killing the first-grade monster and finishing the library raid, the reward was probably inside.’
Various summon scrolls were decent rewards, and the main prize was likely a pen that guaranteed essence drops.
Hmm, or maybe the main prize was that golden book.
‘Anyway... I guess we intercepted the reward along the way.’
If we hadn’t t Hamsik first and taken the reward early, the pen would surely have gone to the royal family.
‘The library has a hidden piece that lets you skip the raid and enter the main reward room.’
From a player’s perspective, Hamsik’s role seed about that.
Though I suspect there are still more secrets.
‘Maybe that’s why they said I wasn’t qualified? Because I didn’t clear properly and enter the reward room officially.’
Just speculation, not confird.
So I’d have to et Hamsik again to gauge the reaction...
“Well then, this eting is adjourned. There will be no missions except patrols until 7 PM, so squad leaders, tend to your mbers. Also, personnel reorganization is planned, so be aware.”
Afterward, free ti was given.
‘Until 7 PM...’
I thought they were truly tough bastards.
After such a battle, they could have let us rest all day, yet they gave us only a few hours before resuming missions.
I sighed but went back to share the news with my comrades.
“...Five hours is a bit short.”
“Huh? Short? Isn’t sleeping enough?”
“Fnelin was right today. I guess I just have to sleep.”
“But I wonder if I can fall asleep. It still doesn’t feel real... My heart’s still pounding.”
Most were relieved to have so rest despite the misfortune.
“Do as you please. But first, there’s work to do.”
“What work...?”
“We lost comrades.”
“Ah... right...”
I then led all of Squad 4 to the place where our only fallen mber, Glow Ishius, lay.
Charlotte Amblett, the only female mage among the three, was sitting dazed in front of the body.
“You okay?”
“...No. Not okay at all.”
“Is this your first ti?”
Her tightly clenched fists trembled, but she didn’t answer.
After so ti, her brother Brian Amblett took the body away and began a simple funeral.
As usual, it was done very quickly.
“We will take his remains and belongings back to the city for his family.”
The funeral ended by removing belongings and applying distortion magic to the remains.
As I was about to leave, Charlotte approached.
“Baron... soday. Soday... will it get better? Like people say?”
That’s the thought anyone has after a first loss.
Sigh. What should I say?
After collecting my thoughts, I spoke.
“The aning of ‘getting better’ differs for everyone.”
“Yeah... I guess so. Sorry for saying sothing useless—”
“But if, when you recall, happy mories co before sad ones, and you call that ‘getting better’...”
I said firmly.
“Then soday, you will be okay. Even if you don’t want that.”
“...”
“Now rest.”
After saying that, I turned and soone approached—the only current comrade who shared my half-brained days, Misha.
“That was about Dwalke, right...?”
“...To so extent.”
After a cautious yes, Misha murmured softly.
“Those were... truly good tis...”
Her voice held a distant longing.
Of course, I felt the sa.
“Yeah... they were good.”
Now I’m a baron, with many followers, called a hero whose na is on the Stone of Honor.
But still, sotis I recall those days.
Worrying about survival day by day.
Fearful of raiders, stumbling around against fifth-grade monsters, looking up at the third floor’s sky together.
[Only the earliest explorers get to see this view. Quite a sight, isn’t it?]
I was okay.
At a rough camp with only a blanket to cover , a surprise visitor ca.
“Yandel, the expedition’s chief mage is here.”
“The chief mage...?”
“He wants to talk with you. What will you do?”
“...I can’t sleep anyway, that’s good. Bring him.”
Getting up and tidying the blanket, Alia returned with the old mage.
“Gahwyn Vesillus.”
“Baron, sorry to disturb your rest. May I talk for a mont?”
The mage glanced at Alia, who discreetly stepped aside.
“May I use voice-command magic?”
“Go ahead.”
“...Thanks. I’m ready now.”
“So what is it?”
Skipping the usual preamble, the old mage said sothing surprising.
“I ca to apologize to the Baron.”
“Hmm, an apology...?”
“Yes. I was wrong, and you were right. But because I couldn’t admit it, I almost made a huge mistake.”
More than the apology, I was curious about the change of heart.
“Why the sudden change?”
“Seeing what happened, it was inevitable. First-grade monsters are... truly monstrous. I had underestimated them. But the explorer Baron saw clearly, more than anyone.”
“I see.”
“To be honest... until you fainted, I didn’t realize their terror. I was arrogant thinking that if we summoned Leviathan as I said, not even a few would have died. But...”
The old mage’s voice sounded like he’d given up everything.
“None of that was thanks to . My knowledge, my magic didn’t affect anything. Even the hundred elite royal troops felt the sa absence you felt in those three minutes.”
“...”
It’s hard to respond to such blunt truth.
So I remained silent.
There’s always a chance to cut in later anyway...
“Ahem... I went on too long. Anyway, I have one thing to say.”
“Go ahead.”
“Our expedition needs your strength, knowledge, and judgnt. From now on, I’ll keep these old ears open, so speak freely.”
Simply put, he was saying no more opposition and let’s get along.
That was welco news.
“Good. Thank you, Gahwyn.”
“...Gahwyn?”
“Friends call each other by their first nas.”
“Oh, I see. Then... Bjor—”
“I’m fine with Baron. Nobility, you know.”
“...Haha, that’s fair. Thanks for making ti to rest. I’ll be off now.”
Afterward, I gathered with comrades for a al, the announced rest ti ended, and the expedition assembled before the stone gate, entering the portal sequentially.
「Character has entered the First Record Archive.」
Though I wondered if it would be so, the place beyond the library turned out to be the Hamsik House I’d visited before.
“An eerie place.”
“Like a typhoon passed through.”
Not the clean mini-library I saw first ti, but a ruined space.
However, neither Hamsik nor the golden book was here.
‘Well, they were outside last ti, so probably still hiding.’
Good that way.
If the golden book appeared here, ownership would have imdiately transferred to the royal family.
“A strange place, isn’t it, Baron?”
“Indeed. What on earth happened to make it such a ss... Tsk tsk.”
“If you find anything, let know.”
“I will.”
After confirming no threats, the expedition began a thorough search.
“There’s nothing intact. Is searching even aningful...?”
“What do you an? This is the very first place we set foot on!”
“There’s no way nothing is here. Search carefully!”
By the way, ‘carefully’ for royal soldiers differs from explorers.
They didn’t break anything.
They simply took everything, using overwhelming inventory space.
“This book’s completely blank...”
“Everything found here is royal property. Don’t leave even a speck of dust behind!”
It didn’t take long for the ruins to turn into a clearing.
“Search complete! No hidden items found!”
...Sorry, Hamsik.
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