#026
All shame and irritation flew away. I shifted my gaze to where Carlisle was gesturing with his chin. My mouth fell open. Of course, this time it was from joy.
Finally, an exit had appeared. In the empty air beside the cliff with the waterfall, a hole the size for one person to pass through had opened, looking vaguely like a white whirlpool.
How many hours had it been since I fell into this dungeon! Being trapped alone with that bastard was also disgusting. I suddenly felt energized and vigorously ran toward the exit, then stopped short and turned around.
“Why?”
I nearly collided with Carlisle, who had somehow gotten right behind me. He frowned.
“Well…”
I looked around. It was pristine, unpolluted nature. The water, fruits, herbs, and mushrooms were all clean. From the abundance of sparkling stones, there seemed to be many useful things buried here. There was no guarantee I could come back here after leaving, so was it right to leave all this behind?
Carlisle snorted low as if he understood. I thought he’d kick my butt or grab my neck and throw me out the exit, telling me not to dawdle and get out immediately, but unexpectedly, Carlisle showed tolerance.
“I’ll give you 10 minutes.”
‘Stingy bastard.’
I grumbled inwardly, but thinking about it again, even 10 minutes was something to be grateful for. Honestly, I didn’t know how long the exit would last, and it was better to end the situation of being trapped alone with Carlisle in an enclosed space as quickly as possible. He looked fine right now, but who knew when that bastard would throw another tantrum.
“Wait a moment.”
Just as I was about to rush out to use every minute and second efficiently, Carlisle called me to stop. Hiding my slowly rising irritation and annoyance as much as possible, I turned around with a gentle face.
“What?”
Thwack.
Suddenly something pitch black flew over and covered my vision. For a moment I thought Carlisle was attacking me and was shocked. It was fortunate that I unintentionally swallowed my scream. What had covered me wasn’t a weapon but Carlisle’s jacket.
Holding Carlisle’s jacket that had been thrown over my head, I was bewildered. Why give me this? What am I supposed to do with it?
“Put it on. I don’t want to use another precious potion.”
So… he was worried I might catch a cold? Could it be because I was coughing earlier?
“Why are you standing there so blankly? Is time okay?”
Of course the potion prices didn’t look cheap… but still, the kindness from this guy whose true intentions I couldn’t understand was uncomfortable. However, I was definitely soaked down to my underwear, and while the surrounding air was refreshing, it was also bitterly cold. My body was trembling finely, and it was true that this was making my stamina drop faster.
Since I didn’t have the courage to throw the jacket away saying I didn’t need it just because I felt uncomfortable, I decided to just accept it and put it on.
‘Oh…’
Carlisle’s jacket was definitely warm and… despite him being a smoker, it smelled good too. It had a refreshing scent along with a somehow fresh forest smell. Since he was bigger than me, and the clothes didn’t have a function to automatically adjust to fit my body, the shoulders didn’t fit and the sleeves were long. Despite wearing an expensive suit jacket, I didn’t look good at all… but there was no one watching anyway. More than looking good or whatever.
‘This is an amazing item.’
While wearing the jacket, my wet clothes were quickly drying and even various stains were disappearing. Rather than feeling embarrassed, I felt envious first. I wanted to have an item like this too! Actually, this item didn’t exist in the game, but now that all the basic settings had collapsed, it didn’t make sense that there weren’t more items like this. Above all, even if not in the early stages, shouldn’t the player’s equipment be the best in the later stages?
‘I will definitely get something awesome too.’
Without losing attention on the exit and Carlisle, I started picking up and collecting everything useful around the waterfall as much as my inventory would allow (the small inventory capacity was my eternal regret!). I wanted to take as much water as possible too, but all I had was one unidentified glass bottle I’d gotten from the settlement box acquisition quest.
“5, 4, 3…”
Carlisle started a countdown with a bored face.
Don’t do that, you bastard. My seaweed trauma is about to revive!
While feeling disgusted, I hastily ran toward Carlisle, no, toward the exit. In both hands I was clutching wild berries I hadn’t managed to put in my inventory yet.
Finally, freedom!
***
The sunlight falling on my face was dazzling. Above ground, Wanderer’s Plains was already morning. Carlisle and I had spent a whole night in that underground cave below.
‘Wait, it was one night, right? Don’t tell me several days have passed?’
Surely not. If that were the case, I would already be a corpse with poison spread throughout my body.
“You like lying sprawled on the ground. Is it because you’re a farmer?”
Carlisle was looking down at me from the side with a crooked face.
As if that could be it? I just couldn’t keep my balance and tumbled down. After spinning around in the darkness and being spat out like I was thrown, wouldn’t you be the strange one for landing gracefully?
I grumbled inwardly while getting up and dusting off the dirt. His words were annoying, but he was my benefactor who had helped me in various ways and saved my life, so let’s endure it and let it pass. Even if I couldn’t endure it, there wasn’t much else I could do anyway.
“Anyway, I was really grateful today. I’m not just saying that… even if I say this now, it probably doesn’t have much credibility, but I’ll definitely repay this debt somehow later.”
I took off Carlisle’s jacket, shook the dust off it thoroughly (though functionally there was no need to), and returned it while offering my thanks.
Carlisle stared intently at me saying this. I couldn’t read his expression at all to understand what he was thinking. Feeling awkwardly embarrassed, I scratched my neck and looked around, then gestured toward the direction of the bus stop.
“Um…, if you have something to say, how about we talk while walking to the stop? To… save time too.”
“Nothing to say.”
“Then why…”
Are you staring like that? Could it be that he wants the hidden quest reward? I didn’t know about other things, but at least the fragment of the sacred tree seemed to be visible to Carlisle’s eyes too. But this seemed like an important reward – would it be okay for an NPC to take it?
As I tensely stared at Carlisle’s lips, he gestured with his chin toward somewhere behind me.
“I have someone picking me up.”
When I turned around, somehow a luxury car that didn’t match the desolate plains was parked there.
“Oh… really?”
A car – I was envious. Honestly, I was so tired right now that I wondered if I could even hold up until the shuttle came. As if reading my mind, the corner of Carlisle’s mouth quirked up. His voice was unusually soft.
“Want a ride?”
“Th… anks, but no.”
I unconsciously stepped back.
“I have some things to think through while riding the bus.”
His gentle tone rather triggered my wariness. No matter how much he was my life’s benefactor and someone who had helped me a lot, there were still many suspicious aspects to Carlisle’s behavior.
“Really? Well, suit yourself then.”
But unexpectedly, Carlisle withdrew cleanly. I stared blankly at Carlisle’s back as he walked toward the car.
‘He’s just leaving like this? Without demanding the reward?’
Then what was all that business in the mine dungeon about? Hadn’t he put me in danger because of the reward? Had his interest cooled because the hidden dungeon’s reward wasn’t as much as expected?
Or could it be that everything was my misunderstanding? That he hadn’t deliberately pushed me into danger but had just frozen up in panic too? Just as my expressions don’t show well because of the potion, maybe that guy gets misunderstood because of his natural personality…
‘But he did have a track record of abandoning me when I was dying.’
But on the other hand, he had saved me several times and helped me get rewards…
Just in case, I checked the favorability window, but Carlisle was still in an inactive state.
I don’t know. No matter how multifaceted humans are, isn’t that guy too extreme? My head became complicated. Whether due to lack of sleep, my jumbled thoughts wouldn’t organize easily.
‘Let’s go back for now.’
Let’s go back, get some sleep, and organize my thoughts again with a clear mind.
I moved toward the stop with drooping shoulders.
I hadn’t planned to sleep defensively on the shuttle, but my memory completely disappeared from getting on the shuttle until arriving at the guild. The depleted stamina and last night’s sleep deprivation were problems, but the fact that I’d been constantly tense while with Carlisle was also a big factor. Still, to fall so deeply asleep on the shuttle. I had relaxed my guard too much. It was extremely fortunate that my backpack hadn’t been stolen.
Maybe I looked so pathetic that I didn’t seem worth stealing from.
***
“You used the sap.”
Carlisle, who was opening the rear door, paused at the gentle voice flowing out. Someone he hadn’t expected was sitting in the inner seat.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
