"Then, just as I promised, I'll show you the way!"
As we rose to our feet, that damned fairy spoke up again. Apparently, there was a secret forest in this kingdom that only its citizens could enter. Beyond it, there might be the exit we had been searching for. After all, "they" had come through that forest as well.
"Them?"
When one of the raiders asked, the fairy answered.
"Giants."
The fairy shuddered as though the very thought frightened it.
"They're terrible creatures. Giants like to eat fairies. And their skin is incredibly tough! Our light doesn't work on them at all."
The "light" it was talking about was probably the magic missile we'd seen earlier—the same attack that had pierced Seonwoo Yeon's abdomen.
"Seriously? You're calling the giants bad? Hey! Damn it, you're doing exactly the same thing! You've been capturing us and hurting us, and now you have the nerve to spout that nonsense?"
At that moment, one of the analysts could no longer contain his anger and shouted in disbelief. The fairy blinked its almond-shaped eyes rapidly.
"Are you saying fairies and giants are the same? But what we do is only a game..."
"Shut up!"
"Isn't it the same for you? Don't your games have rules where the loser gets hurt?"
"If they do, it's just a flick on the forehead or a slap on the back! Seriously, you're insane—!"
"W, wait, calm down. Provoking the fairy too much might not end well for us."
The fairy still seemed unable to understand what the analyst was saying, even after another raider stepped in to stop him.
"Is it just a cultural difference? Is it really that different?"
However...
"Then I'm sorry."
A moment later, the fairy unexpectedly offered a sincere apology. We all stared at it in surprise.
"I didn't know our guests disliked that sort of thing."
"H, huh...?"
"If you don't like it, we won't do it again. Really."
The fairy lowered its head, its face looking almost as though it were about to cry. At the sight, the Awakened exchanged awkward glances. None of them had expected a dungeon monster to behave like this... 𝔯𝘼𝐍ŐᛒΕs
"I'll take you to the forest now. It's a little far!"
And from that point on, the wingless fairy behaved in an unexpectedly considerate manner throughout our journey to the forest.
"By the way, aren't you thirsty? I have some fruit. It's sweet. I'll give you some."
Are you hungry? Are your feet tired? It genuinely seemed concerned for its guests, constantly checking on those following behind and offering one kindness after another.
"Hmm."
The analyst who had been furious just moments earlier eventually spoke in a hesitant voice.
"If I'm not mistaken... the fairies living here seem considerably friendlier than most dungeon creatures."
I had to agree with that.
"E, excuse me, Fairy... There's something I'm curious about. May I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"Do you happen to know what a gate is? Since you live here..."
But in the end, that was as far as it went. Perhaps because of his scholarly disposition, the analyst tried to extract some useful information from the fairy. As expected, however, the inhabitants of this place knew nothing beyond the setting assigned to them.
"I don't know."
Whenever the fairy spoke about anything outside the kingdom, it simply repeated the same phrases. I'd known this would happen the moment I realized the true nature of this dungeon, so I didn't bother asking pointless questions.
"You all talk so much. That's why I like you."
Prrrr.
The wingless fairy chirped cheerfully as it watched the raiders fire off question after question.
At last, the forest it had mentioned came into view.
"T, this..."
"Do you recognize this place?"
"It's the place we passed on the first day. There was some kind of barrier blocking it, so we couldn't get inside."
I listened carefully to Seonwoo Yeon's explanation as I looked ahead.
A strange boundary saturated with dense mana surrounded the forest. It certainly looked difficult to penetrate by ordinary means.
"You need fairy dust to pass through here! I can give you some."
But just then, the fairy, which had been floating high above us, descended and abruptly fell silent.
Fairy dust or whatever—just hurry up and use it.
Why had it suddenly frozen up like that?
"Umm. But..."
Just as we were beginning to wonder what was wrong, the wingless fairy finally spoke after a long silence.
"I've shown you the way, just as I promised, but... could you please reconsider going inside?"
"What did you say?"
"Like I told you before, this is the forest where the giants live. Giants are really scary. I'm worried about all of you."
The fairy lowered itself, its expression tinged with something resembling sorrow.
But no matter what it said, we couldn't abandon the investigation.
Our home was somewhere beyond that forest.
"That's enough. Just take out the powder."
I'd rather leave before I get any more exhausted.
Determined to escape this gate as quickly as possible, I pressed the fairy for an answer.
Soon, it replied.
"You're very determined."
Why did its eyes suddenly seem to brighten?
"Aren't you afraid of the giants?"
Before anyone could answer, the fairy delicately clasped its tiny hands together and continued.
"You all seem very brave. Alright. Then I'll gather my courage too and do my best to guide you all the way through the forest."
"Yeah."
"In return, I have a proposal."
"What?"
"If you have enough strength, I'd be grateful if you could defeat the blue giant that lives inside. But you don't have to if you don't want to."
"..."
"But if you do, I'll be very happy, and I'll definitely repay you."
It was another request.
The C-rank Hunter at the back looked horrified and insisted that under no circumstances should we accept another request from a fairy.
I, on the other hand, quietly decided to fulfill it.
"Defeat a giant? Do you even understand what that means...?"
"If it's a monster that eats fairies, doesn't that mean it's even stronger than they are?"
"Oh my... Then what are we supposed to do...?"
Despite everyone's concerns, the fairy's natural enemy was actually an absurdly easy opponent.
It felt a little embarrassing to say that after we'd just struggled so badly in a game of tag.
Still, the soul inhabiting this body was that of an archmage.
Even without setting foot inside the forest, I could already sense the mana of the creatures living within.
"It's around D-rank. Besides, the request to hunt it came directly from one of the villagers."
Struggling to maintain my image as an S-rank Hunter, I shamelessly reassured them that there was nothing to fear with a top-ranked Hunter present.
The survivors were immediately moved.
"Oh."
"Hunter-nim..."
"If they're this easy to fool, I almost feel guilty for taking advantage of such innocent people."
"Hmm."
Fortunately, the discomfort didn't linger.
A short while later, coated from head to toe in the white powder the wingless fairy had given us, we took our first steps into the forest.
And right at its entrance, this was what we found.
"T, this, this... Could it be...?"
A warped suit of plate armor.
A broken staff.
And other remnants like them.
"The giant did this. It looks like it left behind only the clothes it couldn't eat!"
Before long, we discovered a heap of magical equipment that had presumably belonged to Hunters.
Seonwoo Yeon examined the items and quickly confirmed what had happened.
"This is the equipment of the missing treasure hunter team."
"It seems the advance party was wiped out somewhere around here."
"What's this? Everything's broken beyond use."
After confirming that there was nothing of value among the remains, I clicked my tongue.
Then Seonwoo Yeon quietly addressed me from beside me.
"Giryeo-ssi."
"Yes."
"Don't you think that's strange?"
"What is?"
"The fact that the treasure hunter team entered this forest means they must have been guided here by that fairy—the only one in the kingdom who knows how to get in."
But then why had Asa claimed it had never met the treasure hunter team?
Seonwoo Yeon noticed the contradiction and immediately grew tense.
Even after hearing that, however, I merely shifted my posture while supporting her.
"I'm not sure. Could that fairy have betrayed the Hunter team that came before us?"
In an ordinary gate, something like that might have happened to provoke fear.
But this place operated according to a special set of rules.
"A scenario-type gate would normally try to avoid killing its prey, wouldn't it...?"
It was probably nothing more than a minor inconsistency.
I shrugged and changed the subject.
It wasn't as though we could get an answer right away.
"By the way, how are you feeling? If you're alright, try walking on your own for a bit."
"Ah, yes."
We gathered what remained of the advance party and continued our investigation.
In other words, we followed the completely white fairy as it led us deeper into the forest in search of the exit.
"What planet did that fairy originally come from?"
Of course, just as our guide had warned us, we hadn't gone far before we encountered the so-called "giant."
"Huh?"
"Is that a giant?"
"Yes. It's a giant!"
Despite its grand name, the fairy's natural enemy looked anything but imposing, which was fitting for such a low-ranked monster.
Its body was rough and blocky, as though it had been molded from clay.
And it stood only about a head taller than an Earthling.
Its overall bulk wasn't particularly impressive either, making it seem rather small.
"It's so, so huge! Isn't it terrifying?"
Well, from the fairy's perspective, I supposed it really did look like some enormous beast.
Anyway.
"Seonwoo Yeon-ssi."
"Yes?"
I pointed toward the giant with my chin.
"Please take care of it."
"Yes?"
"Now that I've seen it up close, I'm certain. It's a D-rank monster. You can see that clearly too, can't you, Analyst?"
At my words, one of the survivors with an appraisal ability nodded.
The monster that had seemed so terrifying from outside the forest turned out to be nothing more than a low-level creature.
Swoosh, swoosh!
After hearing us, Seonwoo Yeon activated her awakening ability.
The wind she summoned sliced effortlessly through the giant's body.
Cheers immediately erupted behind us.
"It's weak!"
"That's right! It's a weak monster!"
"Well, this is an EX-rank gate, so of course there should be something like this...!"
The mood brightened in an instant.
For the moment, our strategy seemed promising.
However, there were still matters on my end that needed to be dealt with, so I couldn't afford to relax completely.
"Hunter Seonwoo Yeon, I'm sorry, but could you continue handling the giants from here on?"
To conceal my falsified rank, I needed to avoid unnecessary displays of power.
Of course, I could kill a monster like that with [Hybrida], but it would look strange for an S-rank Hunter to rely exclusively on deadly poison.
If I kept doing that, sooner or later the question of "Why doesn't he use anything else?" would pile up until it turned into suspicion.
"For now, I'll have to deal with this Earthling carefully. Hmm. Maybe I can make up an excuse and say I want to see whether she's properly applying the techniques I taught her..."
I wanted to leave the giant hunting to the B-rank Hunter beside me.
But her response caught me off guard.
"Ah... Is that why?"
"Yes?"
"You mentioned before that your awakening ability is dangerous to use around other people, Giryeo-ssi."
Whisper.
Seonwoo Yeon lowered her voice, making sure no one else could hear.
"And there are definitely a lot of people here who are barely above the level of ordinary civilians, so I understand why you'd want to be cautious."
"Hmm."
"Some of them might even faint just from being exposed to the mana of an S-rank."
She nodded as though confirming a promise to herself.
"Anyway, I understand what you mean, Hunter-nim. I'll take the lead from here on."
Huh?
I hadn't even said anything yet...
Did she just figure the whole thing out by herself...?
For a moment, I felt relieved.
But that relief quickly sank into unease.
Suddenly, I found myself wondering just how much I had exaggerated things up until now for the misunderstandings to have reached the point where they could keep rolling forward all on their own, even when I said nothing.
"I don't even remember when I told the lie Seonwoo Yeon believes right now."
For a brief moment, I contemplated the vague sense of doubt that had followed me throughout my life.
Author's Thoughts
Hi, from now on, I will update this novel 3 chapters/week. Thank you for all your support so far:)