Chapter 168 – Thieves Guild

A forest located 2 hours west of Kalita.

A place where bugs, monsters, and wild animals roam like a front yard.

I am currently climbing

“It was cut cleanly. So? Haven’t you been an adventurer for less than a year?”

With a silver rank adventurer named Allen.

He put the sword that had just decapitated the boar into its scabbard. The cut off part of the boar’s head was neat and clean.

“Yes. That’s right.”

I resumed my footsteps where I had stopped. Allen walked beside me.

“Awesome. It’s an exceptionally fast promotion rate.”

“Is that so.”

“Okay. Because Juana and Varian came up after staying in the same rank for several years. Oh, do you know who these two are? We shouldn’t have worked together not too long ago.”

“Yes, I know.”

The four quests the Adventurers Guild gave me for a silver rank upgrade. Two of them have already been completed. As Allen said, while with Juana and Varian, respectively.

“How did those guys perform in your opinion?”

“You were very good. To be honest, I barely did anything.”

The quests the two of them took together were subjugation of the goblin king in the sewers and subjugation of the basilisk found in the nearby mountains, respectively.

Juana matched the eyebrows of the goblins on patrol with precision every time. It’s a bonus that he correctly pierced both testicles of the Goblin King during mating.

Varian moved quickly to dodge the basilisk’s attack, crushing its scales with a heavy blow from his axe.

The skills of the two silver-ranked players were not negligible. It’s not like they were singing silver rank or silver rank songs in the guild or around them for no reason.

“Yes. Those guys aren’t even silver for nothing.”

Allen nodded her head. She then looked at me with an interesting look.

“So. Do you think you will lose if you fight them?”

I narrowed my brows. As if for some reason you are asking such a thing. But Allen looked at my face without saying anything and urged her to answer.

“As I said earlier, both of them are strong. If we end up fighting, it just won’t end.”

Allen’s gaze continued.

As if that’s the truth.

Persistently.

I sighed. He drew his dagger and threw it to the left.

-Yikes!

The dagger pierced the forehead of the wolf who lowered his stance and peeped at him. I stumbled and pulled the dagger from the fallen wolf.

“…Not likely to lose.”

“Okay?”

Arlen smiled and looked at her.

We headed towards the inside of the mountain. All the while, Allen asked me every detail. How did she become an adventurer? I mean, where did you get your skills from?

I moved while answering roughly as before.

The further we went, the thicker the tree and the darker the color. You have reached your destination. Allen scanned the outside of the tree with his hand.

“There is no sign of claws. It seems that this is not the territory of the bear. Go a little further.”

The commission that Allen and I have taken on is the subjugation of a man-eating bear that eats people. If it was originally a bear, it would be fine to subdue it with a group of the same rank, but these man-eating bears are said to be larger than normal bears.

Because of this, silver ranks were dispatched to reduce the damage.

Allen and I followed the trail through the trees one by one. Soon, I was able to find a large claw mark carved on the top of the tree.

“…It’s higher than I thought.”

A thick, large tree. A claw mark larger than a human face was carved on the tree at a height of about 5 m.

It’s an unusual size.

“Will this be okay?”

“Well, it is bigger than I thought. But what, wouldn’t it be okay?”

Allen laughed like it was nothing. We started the search again and a few hours later came across a hungry man-eating bear.

“Uuuuu!”

It was a great size.

* * *

Bear.

It is a collective term for bears and animals belonging to the order of carnivores, and is one of the candidates for the king of animals on Earth.

A bear’s jaws are strong enough to break a human’s bones, and its arm strength is enough to break a human’s neck. There are differences between individuals, but there is no disagreement that they are usually stronger than humans.

But that’s a story from Earth, and this is a fantasy world.

In this place where all kinds of monsters run rampant, I thought that the bear’s status would not be the same as Earth, but…

– Wow!

Kwajik-!

My thoughts change when I see a tree that has become a rag in one shot of swinging my front foot. How many guys can stand up to that? Even the basilisk I met a while ago seems like it would just go after it if it was hit properly.

I straightened my back, which had been bent to avoid the bear’s paw. Right in front of me, I see the head of a bear the size of my upper body. My image was projected into the ferociously distorted eyeballs.

I do not like it.

I stabbed a dagger into one of my pupils. There was no time to crush them both. It’s because he’s quite agile for his size. Well, if it was dull, it would have been weeded out already.

– Quong!

The man-eating bear stumbled and threw his body back. His right shoulder twitched. I immediately threw myself to the side and rolled.

Quaang!

The man-eating bear’s right forepaw slammed the spot where I had just stood. It hit so hard that a small pit was made.

I clicked my tongue and turned my head back. I see Allen watching the situation with his hands behind his back.

He asked me to face a man-eating bear alone, and I’m really just watching. If that’s the case, why did you come with me?

I drew a new dagger and straightened my posture. Even though the man-eating bear lost one of his eyes, instead of taking me out, he howled even more ferociously. Tree branches and leaves swayed at his great voice.

And before the shaking was gone, the bear pounced on me.

The man-eating bear stared at him until he was about to attack. Should I say fortunately, the man-eating bear was quite stupid instead of being quite fast.

All I know how to do is believe in my physical ability and attack randomly.

His movements are large and his attacks are monotonous. That means it’s easy to avoid. Digging towards his body avoiding his forepaws. I cut the tendons of the bear’s right hind leg.

The bear hesitated for a moment. I spun half a turn without stopping and threw the dagger into the tendon of the opposite leg.

The tendons in both legs are now severed.

-Kuong!

The bear brought both front paws together and struck him on the ground. Quaang! Dust rose with a loud impact sound.

I raised my senses and waited for the dust to dissipate in the wind.

5 seconds… 10 seconds…

Time passed and the dust disappeared. Bear was not there. Realizing he couldn’t win, he chose to run away.

Should I be smart?

However, with two legs with damaged tendons, there was a limit. After following the footprints with my eyes, I was able to find his back without difficulty.

I turned my gaze to Allen.

With eyes asking if I have to do this alone.

Allen shrugged her shoulders and I slowly followed the bear. It is already injured prey. There was no need to rush.

* * *

Allen watched Meteor hunt a bear. Dodge her paws and cut her body. They’re probably trying to hunt slowly by inducing blood loss. If you want to catch that giant with a short dagger, that method is the most effective.

But it wasn’t what Allen had hoped for.

It’s good to have quick body movements and no superfluous movements. But not as much as he had hoped.

‘That’s probably not all…’

Allen recalled the traces he had seen in the dungeon. The traces of the fierce battle were engraved on the orc’s body and on the dungeon’s walls. It must have been a life-and-death fight, and there was no way he could have survived with such a move.

‘There’s no way the report was wrong.’

The report was posted by Orca, not by anyone else. There was no room for doubt.

‘Is he hiding it?’

This skill.

Well, even if they are the same adventure team, they are competing in the end. There’s no easy way to show off your skills. Allen decided he had taken it too easy.

And his judgment was only half right.

It’s true that Yoosung is hiding his skills, but it wasn’t as much as Allen thought.

Thud-!

The giant collapsed. Allen erased his serious expression and approached Yoosung with a smile.

She thought as she watched the meteor sigh.

How far is the bottom of that chair?

Is it really deeper than you?

* * *

After the cannibal bear hunt, I returned home.

“Wow… What kind of leather is this?”

“It’s spoils.”

Seris accepted the bear skin. There were other parts besides leather, but I gave up because it was heavy to carry.

“I’ll use it later when making armor, so put it in.”

“Yes. All right.”

Seris began to fold her hide carefully. Meanwhile I took off my coat. Kara sneaked up to her and spoke to her.

“Brother, when will that… End?”

“There’s only one left, so why? Are you itching to go on a commission like it did last time?”

Kara nodded her head. I smiled lightly and stroked her hair.

“It’s really the end now, so wait a little bit. When we’re done, let’s go out together.”

“…Don’t do that, and like I said before, can’t you go back with your sister and me? My sister and I are not as weak as before.”

“No. It’s true that you guys are better than before, but something unexpected could happen.”

“Cheese…”

Kara pouted her lips in regret.

I stroked her hair and turned her body.

Hehe~”

Ceris, humming her song, is seen tucking her hide under her bed.

“Seris? Why do you put it there?”

“Yes? Put it here or where?”

She asked Seris as if she were talking about something. I looked around the room.

‘I don’t have anywhere to put it.’

There is a closet, but it is already full. Even if it’s not, it’s going to be hard to put leather in that size.

This is why I should have bought a house sooner.

“Ceris, how is the house? Haven’t you chosen yet?”

“Yes? Yoosung has to make the decision. Were you waiting for that?”

“What are you talking about again? It’s a decision Is this the first time I’ve heard of it?”

“Yes? No, that can’t be… Ah…!”

She clapped her hands as if Celis remembered something of her. Gently bringing her hands together, she began to look at me. She mumbles.

“That… I was going to say it, but it turned out that that day was the day Kara got caught reading a book…”

“Ah.”

I remembered. At that time, I just gave notice and left the house.

I sighed and sat down on the bed.

“What house did you choose? Talk.”

“Ah yes! You know that…”

Seris came over and sat down next to me. She talked about the house she visited with a bright smile.

* * *

The next morning, I headed to the Adventurer’s Guild as usual.

When I went to the reception desk, Orr introduced me to an adventurer with whom I would work today.

A different person than I thought.

“Belita? Why are you here?”

Appearing next to Orr was Belita, a long-legged woman with bobbed red hair.

“You said you were preparing for a silver grade upgrade? Because of that, Orr asked for help, so I came out.”

“No, I understand that, but why are you coming out? You are not on the silver level.”

“What the fuck. I came to help at best, so is that a complaint? This bastard hasn’t even been ranked, but he’s already bragging about it.”

“It’s not like that…”

I sighed. The person coming out today expected her to be an orca. I thought that working together would solve the awkward atmosphere.

“Shut up. I have to do this too, so if you don’t like it, you’re out.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Why are you a climber?”

Belita made her circle with her thumb and forefinger.

“For money, of course.”