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125
Entering Ifrit, Hanbit decided to send the others ahead first.
It was to quickly complete the preparations needed for the city’s defense.
“Your Highness, would you be able to pass on dwarven metallurgy right away?”
“Hmm.”
Gorik looked back and forth between the heirloom in his hand and Kim Jaeha’s face.
Then before long, he gave a nod.
“A promise is a promise. This man does show a hint of potential at least, so it’s not entirely without possibility. I will pass on our craft.”
“Ah…….”
With those words, Kim Jaeha’s gaze drifted off toward empty air.
It was not hard to roughly guess why.
“A hidden quest appeared, didn’t it?”
“…Yes. I’m actually going to see this.”
Eyes wide, he stared at the hidden skill quest that had appeared.
To think he would actually obtain the thing he had searched for so desperately in the past.
The emotions mixing inside were complicated.
“Don’t get excited. You’ve only just earned the right.”
Gorik was saying something like a scolding — but his true feelings were different.
Only those who are worthy can properly learn the craft.
That craftsman’s conviction had acknowledged Kim Jaeha.
“Hyung, please make the skill your top priority. Avantgarde, please check on how the dwarves’ preparations are going.”
“Got it.”
“Understood!”
After everyone went into the dwelling, Hanbit headed to the guild alongside Zenon.
The commission had to be settled first.
“The Snow Drake. Found it.”
Entering the busy guild, Hanbit made straight for the reception desk.
Staff member Grinkow stared blankly at the dark blue scale fragment placed on the counter.
“What…….”
A situation too bewildering to even form words properly.
Having run her hands through her hair, she snapped her head up and looked at the adventurer before her.
“You actually found the Snow Drake? Does that make sense?”
“The evidence is right here, isn’t it? Check it with a verification device.”
“That’s exactly the point! The fact that you obtained materials means you went up against it directly! I told you so many times that it was dangerous and to only do reconnaissance!”
At the composed answer, Grinkow erupted.
She almost felt wronged on behalf of her past self who had warned and warned again.
On top of that, the monster wave that had just struck the walls had her sense of crisis through the roof.
“Finding it in advance is a good thing in the end. A safe return is an excellent outcome…….”
“Zenon is even more of a problem! How could you betray my trust like this!”
“…I’m sorry.”
-Lol, all meek now.
-Snow Drake ⟨⟨ Grinkow.
-Hierarchy established.
Having received the full force of Grinkow’s grievance, Zenon averted his eyes and offered an apology.
“Phew.”
She let out a long sigh after raging for a good while.
Then she brought out a verification device and examined the Snow Drake’s reverse scale fragment.
A moment later, she handed the dark blue scale back to Hanbit.
“Verification complete. Either way, I’m glad you’re safe. What comes next is more of a concern, though.”
The patterns around Ifrit had become even stranger following the monster wave.
If that was connected to the Snow Drake’s appearance, the situation was serious.
“Does the guild now consider this a critical matter?”
Zenon, glancing around, raised the question.
He was worried about the guild’s lukewarm attitude.
Until now, Master Jinuk had deferred to his sister Pirnen’s word.
Whether the Snow Drake’s existence could overturn that was something he simply couldn’t predict.
“…We’ll have to make it that way. I intend to make this public, so the other adventurers will start taking it seriously first.”
Two monster waves that had struck Ifrit just a short while ago.
The soldiers and adventurers who had experienced it firsthand had felt firsthand the ominous gravity of the crisis.
Zenon, who had been sighing, hesitated briefly and followed up with another question.
“What about the citizens? Were they alright?”
“I only just received the report so I don’t know the exact details, but… I haven’t heard of any civilian casualties. The word about the wave will already be spreading though.”
Grinkow added that the mood inside the city would change.
Ifrit’s residents were far more steeped in peace than the soldiers or adventurers.
That was why when ‘crisis’ broke to the surface, the reaction was bound to be amplified.
‘This still isn’t enough.’
Right now it was nothing more than the beginning of a change.
What mattered was the third monster wave.
At that point, the citizens would come face to face with reality amid great shock and fear.
“The monster wave is likely to strike again. Let’s do our best to prepare.”
“The guild master and adventurers went out on patrol so there should be some results. It should be about time for them to be returning…….”
Bang—!
Just then, a loud sound came from the guild entrance.
Turning his head, an adventurer was catching their breath and raising their voice.
“The, the guild master has gone missing!”
“…What?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Everyone in the guild was taken aback by the completely out-of-nowhere statement.
The adventurer who had come bursting in then continued urgently.
“He’s really missing! We combed through the forest for hours and couldn’t find him!”
-?
-Why would the guild master go missing?
-Did he run?
-Was he taken?
-Give him what he deserves.
-You can’t just give away the guild master;
The viewers expressed doubts and questioned its veracity.
Hanbit felt the same.
‘…Jinuk has gone missing?’
Searching through every memory of the past, Jinuk had never gone missing before.
“The master was kidnapped? Where!”
Grinkow, who had been listening, jumped out from behind the reception desk in surprise.
Guild Master Jinuk and missing.
These two words were a combination that did not fit together at all.
“It was to the southeast… ah!”
The man who had been looking around quickly moved to the wall.
A large map was posted there.
“Here! The last place we crossed paths with him was somewhere around this area!”
The adventurer pointed with his hand to a deep forest to the southeast.
Unlike the snowy mountains, it was quite a harsh place, with tall trees and dense rough undergrowth.
“In the three hours since we split up, no one has crossed paths with the master! We searched widely around this area, but couldn’t find so much as a single footprint!”
Those who had gone outside the city had been trying to find the cause of the monster wave.
There was a strong likelihood that some horde had gathered together.
“The guild master is not someone to easily lose his life. Even if he encountered an unexpected enemy, he would have somehow put up a fight. If the sound of that was never heard, it means he encountered an entirely different sort of situation.”
Zenon, studying the map alongside them, sank into serious thought.
An A-rank adventurer, Jinuk.
This rank was not always a straightforward indicator of pure strength, but he was different.
At a young age, both his talent and instincts and his accomplishments had been recognized.
If he had a flaw, it was that he lacked composure and calmness.
He had a tendency to try to resolve every situation through force.
But this particular case was a little different.
‘Could it be… he went in there.’
A single hypothesis surfaced in Hanbit’s mind as he looked at the map.
As Zenon said, an adventurer of Jinuk’s caliber would not fall victim to an ordinary ambush or trap.
In other words, he had not gone missing — he had disappeared of his own judgment.
More precisely, perhaps he had found something.
“Is it only you who came back?”
“The rest are… still continuing the search. I plan to head back too.”
“Then we’ll put together an additional search team.”
“I’ll gather people right away!”
Zenon and Grinkow moved to form a search team immediately.
Just then, Hanbit spoke up first.
“I’ll go alone. Please stay here, Zenon.”
“What?”
“…You’re going alone?”
Everyone turned their heads at the unexpected declaration.
More people were needed to search a wide forest.
That was why declaring outright that he would go alone seemed strange in any case.
“Did you not hear me? Even with dozens, hundreds of people, it’s hard to find in there!”
“Exactly. Unless we bring every last city resident, no matter how many people we have, finding someone will be difficult.”
At the frustrated adventurer’s reaction, Hanbit returned a firm answer.
Watching that, Zenon said in a serious tone:
“You have some method in mind?”
“Yes. So please let me go alone. That is the quickest and safest approach.”
“But…….”
Even with Hanbit’s request, he couldn’t easily give a nod.
It was not that he doubted the overwhelming ability of Black Dragon, who had subjugated the Snow Drake.
He simply felt the guilt of passing off his own duty as an adventurer of Ifrit.
Sensing that inner feeling, Hanbit continued right away.
“I have a separate request for you, Zenon. There are preparations being made for the next monster wave.”
“What? What kind of preparation…….”
“You’d best hear about it in person. The dwarves are likely well into their preparations, so please stop by your home and then come to the northern shack.”
“What?”
“You’re worried about your daughter too, aren’t you. You should go see her soon.”
“……!”
Zenon’s eyes went wide at the unexpected words.
Because he had not yet been able to go check on Nia, whom he had worried about so much.
“…Was it that obvious.”
“I was worried about Nia too. Of all times, in such an unsettling situation, you should be in the city together with her.”
-Nia is undeniable.
-He has a daughter at home.
-Father T_T
Having called her name and run to Ifrit, his worry and anxiety had been immense.
In the end he had stayed at the wall to fulfill his duty as an adventurer.
“Go quickly and at least see her face. I’ll ask for your cooperation after that.”
Having relayed the message, Hanbit immediately stepped outside the guild.
Zenon, watching his retreating figure, clenched his fist tightly and said:
“Truly… thank you.”
***
Thump—!
Having left the city, Hanbit ran toward the southeastern forest.
In the meantime, he quickly scanned the messages that had appeared before him.
[Main Quest #8 has been completed.]
[Progress increases.]
[Main Quest #9: Missing]
Guild Master Jinuk has gone missing.
Move quickly to the scene.
Objective: Find the whereabouts of Jinuk.
Reward: 200,000 gold, 80,000 experience points, 4 stat points
*Current Progress: 73%
The message that had appeared after hearing of Jinuk’s disappearance was clear.
With this incident appearing as a main quest, it could only be an important thread in the story.
In that case, it perfectly aligned with Hanbit’s hypothesis as well.
Whoosh—!
Continuing to run, Hanbit quickly reached near the destination.
“Huh?”
“What just went past?”
Adventurers still combing through the forest.
Hanbit passed them quickly, knowing they would come up empty.
And when he arrived at a spot where eight trees stood in a crooked formation, he stopped.
‘This is where it matters.’
The circumstances of Jinuk’s disappearance were predictable.
A nest that existed beneath the ground here.
He had been inadvertently caught up in the timing when the entrance gap opened.
Unlike the naturally occurring one in the snowy mountains, this was a place that had been artificially created.
Shhk—
Moving to the fifth tree, Hanbit drew his sword and slowly lowered himself.
And the moment he drove the blade into the ground near the base of the trunk—
Thud—!
The ground beneath his feet vanished and his vision turned to black.
