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HELHEIM SCANS
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Chapter 112
The risk increases.
But the pay increases proportionally as well.
For me, this was more than enough.
Meanwhile, the porters exchanged uneasy glances.
It was fine to come this far, but it seemed that accidents during expeditions weren’t uncommon.
Of course, the chatty dwarf, who had informed us of this, was the first to raise his hand.
He mentioned he had two children back home and needed to take on jobs like this to feed them.
They said they were looking to recruit about two more people.
Since there was no reason to refuse, Luna and I volunteered.
"Lady Misha, please stay here."
"But I must attend to you..."
"We have a place to visit together. And... I wandered around this area a bit yesterday, and I got an odd, unsettling feeling. If this place becomes dangerous... please protect the others."
The people here are cheerful and kind-hearted.
Though they may look rough, not a single one of them seemed bad.
I hoped it was just paranoia, but the feeling of unease was strong enough that I couldn’t ignore it.
"I’m just a mere maidservant."
"I have never considered someone who can draw a sword with such skill to be ‘mere’ anything."
At my words, she flinched slightly and narrowed her eyes, looking somewhat disheartened.
"Understood."
Misha offered no further objections.
After that, each of us carried a large backpack filled with supplies for the expedition’s battles.
Normally, some of the group would carry the supplies, but since it was likely that all hands would be needed for combat, a few of us had to follow with the bags.
Once most of the expedition was ready, leaving only a minimal number to guard the camp along with the porters, we slowly began moving deeper into the violet mist.
The moment we entered the mist, the air itself felt different, as if it were announcing that we had entered the true depths.
"Stay alert. We’ll protect you, but if you panic and lose control, we won’t be able to help you."
At Rebecca’s words, the chatty dwarf chuckled.
"Don’t worry. It’s not my first rodeo. Besides, these young ones have sturdy nerves; it’ll take more than this to rattle them."
"True... they are rather unusual, after all."
At the same time, a chilling sensation shot through me.
Somewhere here, the catalyst was present.
It seemed I had found what I was looking for.
Carrying a large bag, I followed the expedition.
The atmosphere was far more tense and controlled than before.
Unlike earlier, all the expedition members had anxious expressions.
The moment we entered the violet mist, the monsters' energy became noticeably more menacing.
"Don’t let your guard down. From this point, even I can’t guarantee your safety."
This meant there was no such thing as a 100% safe zone.
Those protecting the rear, including the girl named Rebecca, were likely trainees or part of a secondary group observing from the back because they weren’t yet qualified to join the main force.
If protecting porters by dealing with stray monsters was considered training, then the arrangement made some sense.
BOOOOM!!!
"Rebecca! Three at the rear!"
At the shout from the mercenary leader Albion, Rebecca immediately prepared for battle.
As if waiting for this moment, giant worms erupted from the ground around her, flames trailing in their wake as they lunged to attack.
"Don’t leave your positions, no matter what!"
The rear team, including Rebecca, was clearly less skilled than the vanguard, but they managed to fend off the monsters targeting them from behind.
However, their inexperience in dealing with the situation was obvious.
Their spirit magic may have been decent, but they definitely lacked situational awareness.
Screeeeeech...
Just then, a mole-like monster broke through the ground behind the chatty dwarf, aiming at Rebecca.
None of the rear group, including Rebecca, noticed the creature, too preoccupied with the other monsters.
If things continued like this, someone would die.
Even if his chatter was exhausting, I couldn’t let a good man die.
The monster flinched when it locked eyes with me.
It shrank back instinctively, hesitating under my gaze.
For a monster, its instincts were sharp.
Squeak?
"What are you staring at?"
Get out of my sight already.
Thud!
I silently kicked the monster’s head, crushing it in one blow.
When I glanced around, I saw the chatty dwarf staring at me, wide-eyed.
"You... you..."
He was speechless with shock.
The monster I had just crushed was the same type that several members of the vanguard had to gang up on to take down.
Its speed, stealth, and sharp claws were enough to terrify even seasoned fighters.
Compared to the krakens and 7th-circle liches I’d dealt with, it seemed weak to me.
"Shh."
I put a finger to my lips, signaling him to stay quiet, then returned to pretending I knew nothing.
Once the skirmish ended, the exhausted mercenaries of the Hercules unit collapsed to the ground, panting and groaning.
"Ughhh... I’m dying here."
"Quit complaining. The rewards have been lousy since the start."
They seemed dissatisfied because the monsters were numerous but not valuable.
The mole-like monster I had crushed, however, was found to be an energy core just shy of becoming a usable catalyst.
It would take a few months to fully form, but I could retrieve and finish it myself.
With the catalyst taken care of, all that remained was to quietly retrieve Luna’s ring.
"Hey, great job, Rebecca. You’re really stepping up as part of the rear guard now."
"Hehe. I’ve been training a lot."
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HELHEIM SCANS
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Rebecca, drenched in sweat, grinned as the senior mercenaries praised her.
Mercenaries, huh...
Some of them seemed more like fallen nobles than rough commoner mercenaries.
Among them were also mages and priests, so it would be inaccurate to dismiss them as simply rough and uneducated mercenaries.
“Oh? This is brutal.”
At that moment, a man who seemed to be one of the officers let out an exclamation as he looked at the corpse of a mole-type monster with its head blown off near me.
“Rebecca, did you take this one down too?”
“Huh? What? When did this happen?”
Of course, she had no idea.
I played dumb and joked around.
“Amazing, the Hercules Mercenary Corps is impressive.”
“Haha, indeed. Though we call ourselves a mercenary corps, we operate more at a guild level, so this is expected.”
A guild is a more specialized organization compared to a mercenary corps.
However, unlike organizations established as guilds from the start, beginning as a small mercenary corps and rising to this level is proof of their skill.
“Are any of you injured?”
“Nope, I’m fine.”
“Same here.”
The leader smiled softly at my response.
“But that woman over there…”
“She’s just anxious about something right now, so don’t worry about it.”
Luna’s expression had turned even paler than before.
“What’s wrong?”
“The direction changed again… this time, it’s reversed.”
This is frustrating.
At least one thing was certain.
Spatial displacement was intermittently occurring within this rift.
“What do you want to do?”
Then, I overheard the Hercules Mercenary Corps discussing their situation.
“At this rate, we won’t even break even. We need to take down something big.”
“True. We spent a lot preparing for this expedition…”
“And we barely trained the rear group…”
It seemed like things weren’t going as they had hoped.
I spread my necromantic mana outward like a wave and then retracted it to get a better sense of the situation.
There were far fewer monsters than expected.
The ones we had just taken down were likely most of them.
One of the scouts in the mercenary corps had probably scouted the area and reported the situation.
“Captain, we have no choice. We have to go for the boss.”
“The risk is too high.”
“But if we leave things as they are, we’re really screwed.”
“Ha. Captain! What’s there to think about? We trained hard for this. Are we not capable?”
It looked like there was a split between the younger and older members.
The experienced ones seemed hesitant to advance due to past experiences, while the younger members were ready to push forward with youthful bravado.
“Captain, we’re confident. We can’t just go back empty-handed, can we?”
“There’s more than just us. We didn’t anticipate this situation, which is why we brought porters. We can’t ignore their opinions.”
At his words, a young elven man smirked.
“Then why not just ask them?”
As the discussion continued, a talkative dwarf approached them and started chatting.
After some contemplation, he then walked over to us.
“Hey there. Would you be willing to take on an extra pay offer?”
Pay wasn’t my area of interest.
The other mercenaries’ gazes shifted to us at the dwarf’s question.
There were probably multiple reasons why they hadn’t proceeded further, but it seemed likely they’d go if we agreed to move forward.
Instead of answering, I subtly spread necromantic mana in all directions.
I swept it over the path they intended to take.
I couldn’t discern much, but there was a strange sense of déjà vu.
It was the same feeling I’d had the previous day while exploring the swamp with Luna.
Something seemed to be there, but when you looked directly, there was nothing.
And then there was the periodic spatial displacement of the Fate Lord.
This…
It would be best not to go.
“I don’t think it’s a good choice. You didn’t plan for this in advance, did you?”
Some of the younger mercenaries frowned at my comment.
Depending on how you interpreted it, it could sound like I was accusing them of being reckless and unprepared.
But what did I care?
That’s exactly what I meant.
My intuition wasn’t wrong.
“Hey, porter! What do you know to—”
“Repel! I told you to watch your mouth!”
“Ugh…”
The one who was about to speak harshly lowered his gaze.
“I apologize. The youngsters seem to have spoken out of turn.”
It was rather likable that the leader of such a large mercenary corps would be so courteous to a mere porter.
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HELHEIM SCANS
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