novelraw Chapter 11 : The Mural
Chapter 11 : The Mural
Chapter 11: The Mural
Robin had considered bringing the fairy tale with him even now, but Jeremy stopped him.
Jeremy was wary of the men they had just met.
Robin didn’t argue.
There was something more important.
“Are you going to keep looking for Lina?”
Paul had said that he had cleared out the Monsters.
But that didn’t necessarily mean he had checked the Gnolls’ lair.
They wouldn’t know unless they confirmed it themselves.
“Yeah. If all the Gnolls were dealt with, their lair should be empty. Let’s go.”
Jeremy pulled on his cloak together with Robin.
They had taken Mr. Burt’s Artifact without saying a word.
If this got out, they might get kicked out of the general store.
The worry came late, but he pushed it aside.
For now, what lay before them mattered more.
‘Jeremy must have thought this through. He must have.’
They moved slowly toward the lair.
Robin secretly hoped the Subjugation Squad had searched the Gnolls’ lair already.
After experiencing a brush with death, he hesitated to step into a Monster den again.
Contrary to his hopes, the Gnolls’ lair was completely empty.
“Looks like the Subjugation Squad didn’t come all the way here.”
“But I don’t feel any presence inside.”
Suppressing the fear rising in a corner of his heart, Robin headed in.
Step by cautious step, they reached the place where they had first seen the Gnoll Leader.
Thankfully, there were no Monsters.
A passage continued deeper into the cave, catching their attention.
Robin and Jeremy quietly entered, making as little noise as possible.
The rancid stench of animals grew stronger the deeper they went.
Because of the darkness, they had to feel along the walls as they advanced, and Robin wondered if the tunnel even had an end.
“I see light over there.”
After walking through the long, long passage, they found stones embedded in the walls that glowed on their own.
They were rare and expensive minerals, but Robin could not appreciate their beauty.
“Urgh.”
A little farther in, they found a space about the size of a home, filled to the brim with human bones.
The rumors that Gnolls ate humans were proven true before their eyes.
It was Robin’s first time seeing human corpses, and he retched over and over.
“You okay?”
Jeremy patted Robin’s back.
He had already thrown off his cloak, seemingly convinced there was no danger nearby.
“I-I’m okay.”
“Looks like they’ve been eating people for quite a while. A lot of these bodies are old.”
Jeremy calmly examined the corpses and drew his conclusion.
His demeanor was natural, as if it were an everyday sight.
Steadying his racing heart, Robin searched the area thoroughly.
He hoped to find anything.
As Robin passed the mountain of bodies, he noticed a faint movement.
“Jeremy, help me move these bodies.”
“Ugh, why?”
“There might be someone alive.”
Jeremy started to say something more, then sighed and pulled gloves from his bag.
He handed a pair to Robin, and with gloved hands they strained to move the bodies one by one.
It was grueling work for the two children.
After moving about five corpses, a buried person emerged.
“There’s someone here!”
“You’re right.”
Robin pushed away the bodies tangled around the person.
Faint but alive, it was a little girl.
A child with braided brown hair on both sides and a yellow dress.
“Lina?”
He called her name, but the girl didn’t respond.
“It’s definitely Lina.”
“I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but she’s alive. Robin, let’s keep looking.”
They carefully laid her as far from the corpses as possible and continued searching for any other children.
They spent quite some time searching every corner, but there were no other survivors.
By the time they finished, the sun had long set.
“That girl still isn’t waking up.”
“We can’t help it. Let’s camp here tonight.”
They left the area full of corpses and moved to where the Gnolls had gathered.
It still smelled of beasts, but it was better than where the bodies were.
The girl was about the same size as Robin, but carrying her was no easy task.
Afraid of harming her, they laid her on a cloak and carried her like a stretcher, one in front and one behind.
“Robin, in the end you were right. Who would’ve thought Lina would be here?”
“We were just lucky. It was really dangerous earlier.”
“Still, it felt like we were real adventurers. Don’t you think?”
“I guess so.”
The two boys burst into laughter at the same moment.
They still felt so restless they couldn’t tell if it was reality or a dream.
In the end, since they had saved Lina, wouldn’t they be welcomed when they returned?
After building a campfire with flint, Jeremy looked toward the cave entrance and spoke.
“Robin, aren’t you curious about me?”
“I have a lot I want to ask.”
“Then why don’t you ask?”
“It seemed like you didn’t want to talk about it.”
Jeremy closed his mouth for a moment, then began his story.
“My mother was an adventurer. I still remember her tales about exploring uncharted lands.”
Robin was quite surprised by the unexpected story.
He had thought Jeremy was also an orphan like him, but he wasn’t.
“If you go to the far south, you reach a sheer cliff, and there are birds as big as houses. When the sun rises, they all take flight at once—she said it was spectacular.”
Jeremy’s eyes sparkled as he spoke of old tales.
“In the northern snowfields, there are white bears. They look cute, but they’re vicious, so you have to be careful. In the towering rocklands to the east, there’s a Dragon’s lair….”
Jeremy’s story sounded like the heroic tales a warrior told a child.
It didn’t suit the precise and grounded Jeremy; it didn’t sound realistic at all. But as he kept listening, Robin found himself intrigued.
Like a child boasting of his parents’ feats, Jeremy became increasingly excited.
Robin quietly listened.
“After traveling the whole world, my mother gained enlightenment.”
“What kind of enlightenment?”
“She didn’t tell me that part. Maybe she transcended life like you said, or maybe she learned something only she knew.”
“Do you want to gain enlightenment too?”
“Yeah! I’m going to travel the whole world like my mom. I hope you’ll come with me.”
Jeremy, who had been speaking innocently, finished with a serious expression.
“Become my knight.”
It was a heavy thing to hear from a child’s mouth.
“I do want to become a knight, but you mean to serve you?”
“That’s right. Become my hands and feet. Protect me while I explore uncharted lands.”
“What’s with you, Jeremy? The way you say it makes you sound like a noble.”
“You never know. Maybe I’m secretly of noble blood but was abandoned for some reason?”
Jeremy’s eyes were calm.
There was no trace of his usual playfulness.
“What? Are you really of noble blood?”
Robin asked, puzzled.
Jeremy’s serious expression gave no answer.
‘No way, really?’
Robin fumbled for words, unsure what to say.
Then Jeremy’s lips slowly curved upward.
“Pffft, I wish I were a noble. Then I wouldn’t have to work at the general store and could live in luxury, right?”
“You acted all serious so I almost believed you, Jeremy.”
Robin finally let out a breath.
Seeing Robin relax, Jeremy laughed for a long time, delighted to tease him.
“Still, if you insist that much. Once I become a knight, I guess it wouldn’t be so bad to visit the uncharted lands.”
“Right! Then it’s a promise, Robin. We’re going to explore the uncharted lands together!”
“Yeah. Who cares whether you’re a noble or not. We’ll go together later. It’s a promise.”
Robin held out his pinky to Jeremy.
Jeremy hooked his own pinky with Robin’s and pressed his thumb down like a seal.
It was a promise between the two boys.
“When I become a renowned adventurer one day, I won’t forget what you’ve done for me.”
“Aren’t you getting a little too excited already?”
“I’ve got everything planned out, Robin. Since we’re at it, I’ll tell you a few things. Listen carefully.”
The night was long until sunrise.
Jeremy talked endlessly about his dreams and ambitions.
Honestly, Robin hadn’t expected him to have such detailed plans.
Jeremy knew well about places Robin had never even heard of and the surrounding ecosystems.
As if he had been there himself.
‘He wasn’t just saying things.’
Jeremy’s dream was sincere.
It wasn’t simply about becoming an adventurer for the thrill.
Twenty years ago, adventurers had hidden a treasure.
Finding that treasure was Jeremy’s goal.
“It’s not such an absurd story after all.”
“Of course! Who do you think I am! If you just follow what I say, you’ll see the treasure with your own eyes!”
“What kind of treasure is it?”
“It’s… a treasure chest filled with enormous amounts of Gold!”
Jeremy’s voice trembled with excitement as if revealing a tremendous secret.
It sounded unrealistic, but the specific details that followed through the night made it hard to dismiss.
Robin dozed off in the cave.
By the time he woke up, the sun was rising.
When he opened his eyes, a pair of curious eyes blinked back at him.
“Lina?”
“Eek! You know me?”
It seemed Lina hadn’t expected Robin to wake up and stepped back in surprise.
Hearing the noise, Jeremy also woke.
“Yaaawn, good morning, everyone.”
“Wh-who are you two?”
“I’m Robin. This is Jeremy. We came to find you after hearing you’d gone missing.”
“Oh….”
Lina looked confused, as if she couldn’t believe two kids her age had come all the way into a Monster den to look for her.
Robin and Jeremy had already checked before waking that no Monsters were nearby.
‘Did these kids defeat them?’
“The Subjugation Squad defeated the Monsters. But since we found you here, it looks like they didn’t search for missing people.”
As if reading her mind, Jeremy answered Lina’s unspoken question.
They explained everything that had happened, but Lina didn’t seem able to fully believe it.
“I see… th-thank you.”
When Jeremy finished speaking, Robin wanted to ask Lina what had happened to her.
‘Was she traumatized? She seems unstable.’
She could communicate, but whenever Robin or Jeremy moved, she flinched noticeably and kept her distance.
‘She might have trauma.’
Robin didn’t press Lina about any painful memories.
“Lina, can you walk? The sun’s up. Let’s head back to the city. Your parents are worried.”
“I can walk.”
“Great. Then let’s go.”
Robin and Jeremy walked in front, and Lina followed from about ten steps behind.
The forest was quiet.
As if it were a lie that Monsters had ever lived there.
“Ah, let’s stop by the secret cave for a moment.”
“You’re still hung up on the money? Those men probably took it.”
“You never know. Lina! We’re going to stop somewhere briefly—are you okay with that?”
From afar, Lina silently nodded.
She should’ve been eager to return home, but she was calmer than expected.
‘It won’t take long. Just checking if the fairy tale is still there.’
Robin’s secret cave hardly qualified as a cave anymore.
With the ceiling broken open, it now looked more like a giant pit.
Robin found the chest where he had stored the fairy tales and ran to it, but it was completely empty.
“Don’t be too upset. You can earn much more than that someday.”
“Thanks for the comfort… I’m fine, Jeremy.”
“When you think about it, isn’t it strange? Those men seemed like they had been searching for this place for a while.”
At the time, Robin had been too panicked from almost dying to notice, but Jeremy was right.
They had moved as if this place were their goal.
Robin glanced at Lina.
“Lina, is it okay if we look a little farther inside?”
Lina quietly murmured and nodded.
The wall smashed by the man with the eyepatch—the one the Gnoll Leader had struck with his fist—opened into a huge space beyond.
On the wide wall were markings they couldn’t decipher, and even Jeremy couldn’t read them.
“Robin, come look at this.”
Jeremy, who had been examining the massive wall, had found something.
White lines and circles formed a figure of a person, and the long sticks in both hands represented swords.
“Whoever drew this was awful at it.”
There were dozens of similar drawings on the mural.
But all of them looked so sloppy it seemed like someone had scribbled them as a joke.
“I thought there’d be treasure, but I guess not. Ah, if there was, those guys must’ve taken it.”
While Jeremy sighed about their wasted effort, Robin studied the drawings closely.
‘Swordsmanship?’
“Jeremy! Lend me the iron rod you brought.”
“Suddenly? Did a Monster appear?”
At the joke, Lina inhaled sharply.
Feeling awkward, Jeremy handed the rod to Robin.
“Huuup.”
Taking a deep breath, Robin followed the movements depicted in the mural.
The drawings clearly showed a sequence of motions, but how to connect them wasn’t clear.
Robin filled the gaps with his instincts and imagination.
“Wow.”
Lina, who had been withdrawn until now, let out a gasp.
Robin moved lightly and gracefully, like dancing, his arms never stopping.
Sometimes slow, sometimes heavy as they cut through the air—more like a dance than swordsmanship.
When he finished the final motion, crossing both arms and swinging, Lina and Jeremy unknowingly clapped.
Clap clap clap clap.
“Robin. What was that just now?”
“I don’t know either. I just followed the drawings. I’m still far from getting it right, though.”
“You’re saying these scribbles were those movements?”
Jeremy looked back and forth between the mural and Robin, unable to believe it.
Lina also stared, her mouth hanging open.
“If you look closely, anyone could do it.”
“Are you messing with me? Who could perform swordsmanship like that from these flat scribbles!”
“I’ll explain. In each drawing, the arm and leg lengths are different, so if you imagine matching them to your own body….”
Robin’s interpretation of the mural continued for a long time, but Jeremy and Lina couldn’t understand a word.
“It’s really nothing….”
“Stop teasing us!”
As Robin muttered to himself, Jeremy shot back.
“Pfft.”
Lina couldn’t help letting out a laugh at the sight.