novelraw Chapter 114 : Please Show Me the Way
Chapter 114 : Please Show Me the Way
Chapter 114: Please Show Me the Way
He went down underground, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy.
When he lit the way ahead with a torch, Sigbard stepped forward more proactively than before.
Since he had no intention of surveying the entire area, they only checked briefly and came back up.
“Whatever dangerous presence I felt inside has disappeared.”
“What exactly was that dangerous thing?”
“It’s hard to explain. It felt like a Demon Tribe, but it wasn’t one. If I had to put it into words, it was more like a monster.”
‘I didn’t sense any demonic energy in particular.’
He didn’t know what Sigbard had detected, but at least it wasn’t bad news.
Crackle. Crackle.
Once they lit a campfire, the chill that had been seeping out grew a little fainter.
Even Sigbard, who was accustomed to cold weather, agreed that lighting a fire was a good idea.
“From now on, I should be careful of humans I meet for the first time.”
“Somehow, that makes me feel embarrassed.”
While chewing on jerky, he retraced what had happened.
Maria’s group, who had lived by killing travelers and taking their valuables.
They had been paid back in exactly the way they liked to use.
‘Where did the corpses in the underground go?’
Had a ghostlike monster taken them somewhere?
Or had they struggled among themselves just to survive?
Either way, it wasn’t a choice that could be called good.
‘What on earth was this building built for?’
At first, it really seemed like a nice inn to rest at.
But the more he walked around the building, the more a different thought occurred to him.
‘Perhaps it was a large-scale healing facility.’
Robin was well-versed in herbal medicine.
Here and there in the building, he found tools that looked like they would have been used to treat patients.
The presence of multiple rooms of the same size resembled a church infirmary.
“What do you think this place was used for, Sigbard?”
“I don’t know.”
“I figured as much.”
“But one thing is certain.”
After chewing and swallowing a piece of hardtack, he continued.
“A lot of people must have died here.”
“How can you tell?”
“Didn’t ghosts come out?”
Sigbard was serious.
“And down below, it’s filled with resentment.”
“You mean the grudges of the dead?”
“That’s right. They must have suffered horrific things while they were alive.”
It sounded absurd, yet it wasn’t something that could be dismissed outright.
Robin had made a similar guess himself.
He wasn’t someone who believed the world was full of ghosts.
Still, the eerie chill rising from the underground carried emotion.
Just approaching it conveyed something closer to a curse.
Tap. Tap.
Robin and Sigbard turned their heads at the same time.
There was a knocking sound coming from the entrance they had blocked with a wardrobe.
Sigbard stepped back in alarm.
“G, g-ghost?!”
Robin stood up and slowly approached.
Tap. Tap.
He hadn’t misheard it.
As he reached out to move the wardrobe, Sigbard shouted.
“Wait!”
“Why?”
“I need to prepare myself.”
Sigbard suddenly started stretching.
He rolled his shoulders in circles to loosen them and stretched his legs to relax them.
Only after about thirty seconds of warm-up did he grip his rod.
“If I’m going to become a great warrior, I’ve got to beat up ghosts too. I’m ready, Robin.”
“…I’ll move the wardrobe.”
Robin kicked the wardrobe.
Drdrdrk.
With a scraping sound against the floor, the wardrobe slid back.
When an opening appeared from the underground, surprisingly, a person burst out.
‘No. Maybe that’s not surprising.’
One of Maria’s group scrambled up in a panic.
“S, save me!”
He was a man who looked one or two years younger than Robin.
‘His leg should’ve been broken—how did he climb up?’
The man was covered in scratches and tears, wounds all over his body.
It looked like he had been chased by something.
And his leg was perfectly fine.
When Robin immediately pointed his sword at him, the man begged.
“We have to get out of here!”
“I’m the one asking questions. How did you make it out alive?”
“There’s no time for that! If we stay here, we’ll all die—!”
The man couldn’t finish his sentence.
The monster from the underground surged up and grabbed the man’s ankle.
‘It can exert physical force?’
“Aaaah! Let go!”
The man flailed around, but it was useless.
Leaving scratch marks on the floor with his nails, he was dragged away.
Just when it seemed like this was the end.
Slash.
Robin swung his sword.
The monster’s body was cut diagonally.
Apparently not expecting to be cut by a sword, the man stammered in confusion.
“Uh, uh……?”
“Move.”
After cutting it dozens more times, it lost its form and vanished.
The man gaped in disbelief.
“Robin! More are coming!”
Sigbard shouted thunderously.
However, contrary to his voice, he didn’t step forward boldly.
The way he held his rod from far away was timid by anyone’s standards.
Kii hihihihihi.
It wasn’t just one.
More than ten monsters burst out at once.
And that wasn’t the end—they kept coming.
Sasasasasak.
Robin’s sword swept through in an instant.
Another one disappeared, but the speed at which they were coming up was faster.
Boom! Whooom!
Sigbard swung his rod, but it didn’t reach them.
Rather than proper swings, it was more like flailing wildly.
Even so, perhaps judging that being hit by the rod would be dangerous, they didn’t approach Sigbard.
‘They’re all swarming toward me.’
Without meaning to, Sigbard had herded the monsters toward Robin.
Robin’s sword moved without rest, but the numerical disadvantage was obvious.
“U, ugh… I don’t care anymore……!”
The bandit, who had been hiding behind Robin and watching, tried to flee.
‘Where do you think you’re running off to alone.’
He took a deep breath and released his fighting spirit.
The fighting spirit that had been drawing a line instantly became a plane.
When Robin’s front was temporarily blocked, the monsters immediately chased after the bandit.
“D, damn it!”
Just before he was caught for sure.
The bandit pulled out a glass bottle from his clothes.
Clear water sloshed.
“I’d been saving this… drink this and die!”
When he popped the cork and splashed the water, the monsters writhed and melted away.
Their ghostlike, semi-transparent forms vanished completely.
As a refreshing scent spread through the area, the aggressive creatures hesitated.
‘Holy water?’
He inferred the identity of the liquid the bandit had sprayed.
Thanks to that, things became noticeably easier.
“Sigbard!”
Sigbard, who had been swinging his rod with his eyes closed, cautiously opened one eye.
“Run!”
Seeing the monsters retreat around them, Sigbard immediately took off.
Robin also began to move his feet little by little.
‘This time, I should take it.’
Before fleeing, he snatched up his backpack.
His eyes met those of the bandit who was trying to run away.
When the bandit averted his gaze.
Screeech.
A thick line was carved into the floor as fighting spirit brushed past right in front of the bandit.
Robin opened his mouth toward the bandit who had come to an abrupt halt.
“Got any more holy water?”
“Uh, n-no… u-up! There should be some spare upstairs!”
“Lead the way.”
Without any complaints, the bandit went ahead.
From the second floor to the third.
From the third floor to the fourth.
By the time they reached the final fifth floor, there were no monsters chasing them.
“Huff, huff… I really thought I was going to die.”
“This place shouldn’t be safe either.”
“No. It’s fine here.”
When Robin looked at him with suspicion, he hurriedly continued.
“I, I’m telling the truth!”
“I don’t care. Just find where the holy water is.”
Robin’s sword flashed.
The bandit swallowed hard and started walking.
“My name is Duncan. I’ll do anything, so please spare me, sir knight.”
Robin didn’t bother clearing up the misunderstanding.
He simply stared at him coldly.
“How did your leg heal?”
“Well… Maria had a potion.”
‘She hid it in that situation? Clever.’
Duncan watched Robin’s expression and announced their arrival.
“Th-this way…….”
The place Duncan led him to was an ordinary room.
It was similar to the other rooms, but there was something he hadn’t seen before.
After rummaging through a drawer in the corner, Duncan pulled out a bundle he had hidden.
Valuables that looked expensive spilled out.
Among them were glass bottles filled with holy water.
“Explain. Everything.”
Duncan steadied his breathing and began to speak.
Bandits gathered around Maria as their core.
They had taken part in banditry for three years.
There were times they had directly stained their hands with blood.
But there were also travelers who were difficult to deal with.
They were no different.
Once dragged into the underground here, no one ever got out.
It was all Maria’s plan.
“You called them ghosts, but what we saw just now were monsters called wraiths.”
Robin looked at Sigbard as if to say, ‘See?’
“So you’re saying they weren’t ghosts?”
“Yes… and as you saw, they can be driven away with holy water.”
The holy water Robin had secured amounted to three bottles.
He hesitated.
Even with a sword wrapped in fighting spirit, he could exterminate wraiths.
The problem was that method was inefficient.
If holy water were applied to a weapon, it could damage wraiths even without fighting spirit.
‘It seems like we could somehow get out.’
If they ran, the wraiths probably wouldn’t chase them to the very end.
What made Robin hesitate was Duncan’s next words.
“I heard they previously conducted experiments connected to the Demon Tribe.”
“Be specific.”
“It’s just a rumor, but… experiments to combine humans and the Demon Tribe.”
If that were true, he couldn’t just pass it by.
He might be able to obtain clues related to the Demon Tribe.
If he could enter a city, make thorough preparations, and then return, that would be even better.
“I… I think it’d be better to get out of here quickly…….”
Duncan’s uneasy voice told him.
That wraiths were continuing to emerge below, moment by moment.
He didn’t know where or how so many monsters were coming from.
That was why his worries only deepened.
If they retreated here, there might not be a ‘next time’.
‘This whole area could become completely inaccessible.’
Robin was neither a knight bound by duty nor a sheriff.
He had no obligation to resolve problems occurring within imperial territory.
Most people would pretend it wasn’t their concern and pass by.
‘In the Mercenary King’s journal, it said things exploded one day because people stood by like this.’
In this peaceful age, it was hard to imagine a monster wave occurring from a dungeon.
‘Yet that thing that must never happen is unfolding right before my eyes.’
Rushing to a city and informing the guards would be the correct course of action, but…….
His feet wouldn’t easily move.
As Robin agonized, Sigbard spoke to him as if in passing.
“What are you thinking so seriously about.”
“Going to the city is probably the right choice, isn’t it.”
Sigbard raised his eyes wide and slammed his rod into the floor.
“A great warrior! Does not avoid a crisis!”
Caught off guard by the sudden forcefulness.
Sigbard picked up one bottle of holy water.
“Robin, why are you trying to go to uncharted lands.”
There were many reasons.
To keep a promise.
Because he couldn’t suppress his desire for revenge.
Curiosity about the unknown was also one of his motivations.
“Once you leave the Empire, hardships like this will come at you as naturally as breathing! Will you avoid them then too!”
Robin sensed what Sigbard was getting at.
A small laugh slipped out.
“This situation is an opportunity to build achievements! Are you really going to run away from a place like this!”
Duncan alternated his gaze between the two with the eyes of someone looking at madmen.
He waited to see what Robin would say.
At the answer that followed, Duncan’s face crumpled.
“Alright. Let’s do it.”
“I knew you would!”
Duncan realized a beat late what the two of them were trying to do.
They were going to go down underground with just the two of them.
They had to be insane.
As he was trying to think of a way to escape on his own.
Sigbard grabbed Duncan by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up.
“Guide us.”
“Y-yes… p-pardon……?”
“You’ve been wandering around for over an hour. You should know the paths better than we do.”
“T-that may be so… but I won’t be of any help…….”
Sigbard lowered his voice and brought himself to eye level with Duncan.
“You have no choice, bandit.”
“Eek……!”
“Quietly light the way. Otherwise…….”
At Sigbard’s next words, Duncan turned deathly pale.
“I’ll tear off your limbs and carry you in my backpack.”
Trembling, Duncan had no choice but to nod.
“We’ve got ourselves a guide.”
“You didn’t have to scare him that much.”
“Robin, your problem is that you’re too soft.”
Robin gathered up the remaining holy water.
‘Seeing the holy water really changed him completely.’
Either way, it was good that he was fired up.
He jerked his chin toward Duncan, who was on the verge of panic.
“What are you doing. You’re not going?”
“Y-yes… I’m going…….”
No one knew what awaited them down below.
Anything was fine.
Whatever emerged, he would use it as nourishment for growth.