40th Chapter
Hassan of the Marshlands
Problem.
What in this world is both cold and warm, and both firm and soft?
The answer is none other than Hippolyte, drenched in stream water.
Hippolyte, squirming in my arms, was surprisingly fragile and soft for a Silver Tier adventurer, beyond imagination.
The exceedingly soft pressure of her bosom and the strong presence of something solid sticking out among the softness was piercing into my body.
“Ugh-!”
{Name: Hippolyte Heavensinger, Lv. ?? 3
Condition: Burning bl**d} Moonlight Allergy} Severe Menstrual Pain} ????}
As the thought crossed my mind that I must prevent Hippolyte from shouting, my eyes rapidly scanned the floating words.
I thought my strength had grown because I had overpowered Hippolyte, only to realize that it was because Hippolyte had become weaker. sh*t.
Level 3 is exactly the same as when Luna was getting mauled by goblins, meaning that her strength, agility, and endurance stats are all at a mere level 1, about the same as an average adult.
I don’t know why her level has dropped so much, but it’s likely related to one of the factors listed below.
Boiling bl**d? Moonlight allergy? I have absolutely no idea what these things signify. However, regarding menstrual pain, I understand it well since I had a younger sister.
Whenever that time came around, my younger sister would go days without eating and become sharp and ferocious like a bear.
In any case, while I was observing this, I briefly let my guard down.
Crunch!
Hippolyte bit down hard on my finger, causing me to let out a small scream of “Aaah!” and instantly release my hand.
“sh*t, my finger hurts so much. I seriously thought it was going to get cut off.”
Hippolyte had jaw strength capable of chewing hard biscuits like they were nothing. I should probably thank my lucky stars that it didn’t get severed.
Still, the pain is enough to bring tears to my eyes. Fortunately, no bl**d came out.
“You… You dared to assault me. I’ve already pledged my chastity to the goddess Diana of the hunt and maidens…! Do you not know what happens when you violate a woman who has made such a vow? Idiot!”
“Wait, no, I wasn’t trying to assault you…!”
“Are you saying you weren’t trying to assault me? Then, what is this thing standing erect? It’s clearly proof of a man’s lust for a woman!”
“Anyone seeing a n*ked woman would react this way. It’s a misunderstanding. Do you really think I’d assault a Silver Tier adventurer?!?”
“Indeed, it seems you’ve fallen to such baseness after seeing my body…!”
“No, that’s not—”
sh*t, I’m so frustrated I feel like crying. Where should I even begin explaining?
“Among Samaritans, it’s heard that they conduct forced marriages by secretly assaulting and kidnapping the opposite s*x. You weren’t trying to do something like that, were you?”
“Neh!?”
Forced marriage through assault and kidnapping? I thought Samaritans were known for maintaining their chastity…
These Samaritan brats are turning out to be something else. They’re clearly barbarians. No wonder they’re despised everywhere.
I’ll have to reconsider being referred to as a Samaritan from now on. Of course, that’s assuming I get through this situation unscathed.
“Anyway, I will overlook this incident once, considering your performance earlier today. The arousal of bloodlust into lust is not uncommon. Take some cold water and cool your head, barbarian.”
Splash.
I thought a big commotion would arise, but Hippolyte composed herself, got up, gathered her clothes, and disappeared into the bushes by the water’s edge.
Can a Silver Tier adventurer forgive someone who tried to assault her? Or is it because she’s a Silver Tier adventurer that she has such a broad heart? There’s a world of difference between her and Elfride, who’s also a Silver Tier.
No, more importantly, she still didn’t clear up the misunderstanding. Did I really just get forgiven for a crime I didn’t commit? Should I be happy about this?
I hurriedly tried to follow Hippolyte’s trail, but her figure had vanished without a trace.
After many trials, I returned to the tent, where Luna was peacefully snoozing, breathing evenly in her sleep.
Even though moments earlier I had been dancing around on the brink of life and d*ath, watching her sleep peacefully reassured me the noose of d*ath had indeed loosened its grip, at least for now.
I lay down facing the wall like Luna, pressing our backs together. The slight sensation of her small back through the fabric made me feel something lump in my throat.
Indeed, a small, fragile girl has the power to stir a man’s emotions.
Thus lost in thought, I soon fell asleep without realizing it. When I came to, it was the fresh air of dawn filling the atmosphere.
Opening my eyes, I noticed Luna was gone from where she had been lying.
After hastily arming myself, I stepped out of the tent, finding several people already up and grouped in twos and threes, discussing something gravely.
“Man, what the heck… How could he do that…?”
“Bold move. You’d think he wouldn’t have considered the repercussions from the Guild, huh?”
sh*t, I don’t know what they’re talking about, but it’s making my chest ache, like I’ve got fire burning under my a**.
No, I’m innocent regarding Hippolyte! But, will the people listen? I’m Iron Tier—dirt level—while she’s Silver Tier. We don’t have equal standing or influence.
“Hem, what’s this serious discussion about?”
Pretending nonchalant, I joined the conversation, but the men’s faces froze momentarily. sh*t, are they really talking about me?
That fleeting fear subsided quickly enough.
“Apparently, there was an adventurer who fled in the night.”
“Huh? Fled?”
“Yeah! Cowardly bastards! Looks like the fear got to them when they realized they had to meet with Pluto’s cultists.”
Oh, they weren’t talking about me. Phew, good. With that sigh of relief out of the way, the men added a few more lines.
“Jacks the Blade and One-Armed Crag escaped overnight. They seemed uneasy all along.”
“Still, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions yet. Let’s wait for news from the pursuit team. A bunch of capable guys led by the constable are searching the area. We’ll surely hear something.”
The second morning began amidst the confusion caused by the mysterious disappearance of those two, hidden by dense morning fog.
I was relieved that my story wasn’t mentioned and that Hippolyte hadn’t denounced me, leading to my castration, but I couldn’t help worrying about it.
“What are you staring at, Samaritan? Smitten with me, Rene?”
“cr*p-, smitten?”
“Then look away.”
The members of the Maiden of the Sword gave me a cold shoulder. Had they heard anything from Hippolyte, they wouldn’t be able to ignore me like this.
Speaking of which, where’s Luna?
Scanning the foggy distance for her pink hair, I spotted her in the distance.
“Hey, look at this, Hassan! Toads!”
“I was worried about you. I thought you had disappeared too.”
“Disappeared? I just went to catch these. Anyway, Hassan, toads! These rascals were hard to catch, but I got them! They’re lighter than expected!”
Luna excitedly swung two creatures, roughly the size of her palms, caught by their hind legs.
“Chrrp.”
sh*t, what kind of toad makes a ‘chrrp’ sound? If there’s a god out there responsible for creating this world, they must’ve done a half-baked job and left it messy.
Despite all the earlier tension, hearing Luna’s cheerful voice has calmed me a bit.
“So anyway, I jumped when they leaped!”
“Yeah, good job. Do these creatures have any special effect? Are they potion ingredients or something?”
“Tree toads? No one uses these anywhere. I just caught them because it was boring during the night watch. We should probably let them go now.”
And thus Luna freed the toads she caught.
As soon as the two toads were placed on the moss-covered stone floor of the ruined shrine, they hesitated for a moment before leaping incredibly high.
“Grrp.”
“sh*t!”
I didn’t expect them to leap toward me. Startled, I shook them off my body, and Luna quickly spread her hands in front of me.
“Hassan! Don’t let them touch bare skin!”
But Luna, who had her hands on my body, hesitated and trembled slightly for some reason.
“Huff…”
“Grp.”
The toads quickly darted off to somewhere.
I heaved a sigh of relief when Luna, blushing red, asked me,
“Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah. sh*t, that was surprising.”
“H-Hooray… They have venom. It itches the skin if touched, but I’m used to it…”
“Venom?”
I felt itchy hearing that. But it’s probably just nerves. They only touched my clothes and didn’t make direct skin contact.
“Luma… I’ll… pray early in the morning…”
As I was checking myself for any swollen or itchy spots, Luna tried to say something.
“The vanguard is back!”
“The constable has returned!”
With shouts ripping through the fog, a half-n*ked man holding a massive hammer walked back among the tents. With a rather solemn and heavy voice, he reported the situation.
“Jack kn*fe and Crag. We found their tracks. But the fog’s too thick for further pursuit.”
“d*mn, they ran. Scaredy cats.”
“With fewer heads, we’ll get more of the share. That’s good!”
“Hush, the report isn’t over yet. At the last traces where the runaway adventurers disappeared, we found this. Look at this thing everyone.”
The constable held something aloft. Inadvertently, his armpit hair caught our attention, making me squirm uncomfortably. sh*t, why did you show us this first thing in the morning?
“Man, those are some gnarly armpits!”
“Look at those hairs. Is he even human? Maybe a centaur she-dog?”
“Seems the constable has some non-human bl**d in him. His strength has never been human-like.”
“No, look at this, not at my armpit. It’s in my palm.”
Once again, attention shifted to his palm, where a small trinket or brooch lay.
What on earth is that?
I have no idea what it is even after being instructed to look.
Might he have picked something pretty off the ground to show off to everyone?
Given that even I would want to flaunt such a find, and Luna showed off those useless toads, it seems everyone likes to boast about their discoveries to others.
“Th-Th-That’s…”
Yet, a strange tension was building among the adventurers, indicating it’s not an ordinary, common item.
At that moment, Hippolyte, fully armored with her arms crossed, finally spoke.
“A daffodil emblem. It’s a symbol of Pluto.”
“Yes, there’s likely a high probability that the Cultists are nearby. We’ll proceed with extreme caution from now on.”
“Milords, it seems we can’t go on with the carriage. The horses refuse to move forward. No matter how much we whip them, they won’t budge.”
The carriage driver looked troubled. Even after being whipped, the horses planted their hooves firmly in the marshland and wouldn’t budge.
Snort.
I know what it’s like to get whipped. If you don’t act even while getting whipped, it’s either because you don’t want to work, or you’re too weak to move, or because the command is so bad that you’d rather get whipped for disobeying than follow through.
In any case, these horses are striking. They have an excessively strong labor strike spirit.
d*mn.
In front of us lay such dense fog that we couldn’t see a foot in front of us. Without the carriage, imagining the hardships of walking out of here gave me a headache.
Snap.
Hippolyte was the first to step out of the carriage. She gently patted the black horse’s long forehead and casually remarked,
“Animals have keen instincts. They sense something undesirable ahead.”
“Let me speak for a moment as the driver. These aren’t sharp horses. They just don’t want to go forward. Consider they have to drag a heavy carriage through this muck. I wouldn’t want to move either.”
“This is something we’ll see when it plays out. Anyway, everyone out of the carriage! From here onward, we proceed on foot!”
With mutters and groans, the adventurers disembarked.
Of course, sitting on the stopped cart wouldn’t be productive, so we formed ranks per the Silver Tier adventurers’ instructions and decided to continue advancing into the fog.
However, trekking through mud that sucks your feet in and does so in a complete, sight-robbing fog, is a far more terrible ordeal than imagined.
And knowing there were cultists nearby was adding a weight upon weight of mental fatigue. At that moment, someone muttered,
“We don’t know what might pop out. If arrows start flying, we’re dead-.”
“Sticky ground and sightless fog. It’s like walking in the bottom of Hell, Tartarus.”
“sh*t, maybe we’re already walking in Hell in the dead of night.”
One or two adventurers threw in their jokes, but the atmosphere only grew increasingly bleak. The only one unaffected by this was Luna.
“Great weather today. It makes me think of Ideope. The damp, humid smell. The fog that doesn’t let sunlight through. The muddy ground.”
Luna’s sense of values seems quite different from the others. Is this what they call multiculturalism?
“Shhh- Quiet. There’s something nearby.”
At that moment, Hippolyte stopped at the front, walking unimpeded. All twenty-odd members halted instantly.
What’s there? Marsh goblins?
Just as I tightened my grip on my double swords in anticipation, suddenly,
“Ah-!”
“Urgh!”
Piercing screams erupted, and several men vanished into the depths of the marsh floor in the blink of an eye.
“d*mn, it’s too late! Everyone, unsheathe your blades!”
Erigerr…
Out from the marsh emerged something boasting thick leathery skin, a long tail, and sharp teeth, its green eyes glowing.
“sh*t, crocodiles! A pack of crocodiles appeared!”
