Chapter 23: Tier 1 (4)

Elena felt her heart sink unknowingly and felt puzzled at the same time.

"Why me?"

To her, the Lord of Lartania was a truly grateful person.

Although she couldn't be sure how much of what he said was true, in the end, Elena's growth was all thanks to Kim Hyunwoo.

But strictly speaking, the meeting between the Lord of Lartania and Elena had been, at most, about a month long.

No matter how grateful she was, it wasn't long enough to build affection.

But then.

"Why do I feel so bad?"

Elena felt as if something precious was being forcibly taken from her.

That feeling was all too strange to her.

She wasn't like this originally.

If there had been a situation where she felt similar emotions, the usual Elena might have felt bad, but as before, she would have thought, 'Ah, I see. I feel bad, but it can't be helped,' with a bit of regret.

Over the past few years, Elena had learned to conform to reality.

That was also why she was able to work steadily as a mercenary, even while being called a 'failed hero.'

Conforming to the criticism and derogatory names thrown at her made her feel at ease.

Of course, it wasn't like that at first, but after several failures and over the years, the defense mechanism that had been developed eventually consumed her confidence and became her very principle of thought.

Until just a moment ago.

"......"

Elena realized that her mood had plummeted the moment she heard Alta's voice.

She recognized that she valued her relationship with the Lord more than she had thought.

The moment she brought this subconsciously acknowledged fact to the surface, her mood sank even deeper.

Just as she knew Elena,

Elena also knew Alta.

And the Alta she knew was much stronger than Elena before she was recruited by the Lord.

That was why, in a moment of anxiety, Elena's hand trembled slightly on the doorknob.

"I'm sorry, but I have no such intention."

The Lord's voice could be heard.

[You have successfully conquered the first floor.]

Right after Elena and the expedition team emerged, and the message appeared before their eyes, it was Alta who came to see Kim Hyunwoo, who was waiting for a report.

"So, you're saying I should hire you?"

"If the Lord wishes to."

Kim Hyunwoo, who had been intently watching Alta as she spoke with a somewhat enticing expression, opened her information window.

※Recruitment target's information is called up from the data saved during their last visit to the tavern.

Hero Name: Alta

Title: X

Grade: 2 stars ★★

Affection: 0

-Stats-

Strength: 33 Agility: 63

Intelligence: 25 Luck: 23

Magic Power: 19

-Traits-

Clear Intuition: Can instinctively make vague guesses about what one wishes to know without going through the proper process of experience, judgment, and reasoning.

Awakening: If one possesses talent beyond that of a 'monster', it becomes possible to see the most ideal 'path' of an attack.

-Talents-

Ordinary talent in daggers.

Great talent in claws.

Great talent in dual-wielding.

-Skills-

[View]

"Wow."

To Kim Hyunwoo, Alta's stats seemed not bad at all upon overall evaluation.

One could say she had quite good stats for a 2-star and the combination of stats and talents wasn't bad.

Especially since her daggers, claws, and dual-wielding were greatly influenced by agility.

Indeed, among the heroes of Arteil, there were those with disproportionately high stats or oddly high luck.

Thus, compared to those heroes, Alta was considered to have grown quite well.

"I'm sorry, but I have no intention of doing so."

Kim Hyunwoo flatly rejected her proposal.

"...Excuse me?"

Alta, seemingly not expecting to be rejected outright, showed a visibly flustered expression.

Seeing her like that, Kim Hyunwoo spoke again.

"I appreciate the offer, but as I said, I have no such plans."

At Kim Hyunwoo's words, Alta's expression slightly soured.

Her discomfort was evident at a glance.

However, Kim Hyunwoo didn't particularly care.

After all, he had no intention of recruiting Alta in the first place.

"Even if the stat compatibility is good, the talent combination doesn't match."

Kim Hyunwoo knew that Alta's traits were quite good, but in Arteil, the combination of traits and talents fundamentally needed to match well.

In other words, no matter how overpowered Alta's trait of Awakening might be, it would be meaningless without the talent to utilize it.

"In such cases, it's meaningless to put effort into development."

Thus, Kim Hyunwoo, considering the visibly upset Alta,

"It's hard to say this, but I was much stronger than that hero. If you could help me like you did Elena-"

Soon understood why Alta had come to him out of the blue based on what she said.

"Seeing the so-called failing hero, Elena, become strong, she thought I was the reason."

Kim Hyunwoo thought it was certainly a misunderstanding that could happen.

"In a way, it's not wrong."

But the one fact she uniquely failed to grasp was that Elena's rapid growth was due to her 'innate' talent and 'hardworking' trait rather than Kim Hyunwoo per se.

Thus, since Alta's talent was at least three levels below innate, making it impossible for her to grow like Elena, Kim Hyunwoo was about to kindly reject Alta's offer when,

"I honestly don't know what there is to ponder about. Isn't it obvious that helping me would be far better than helping that 'failed hero'?"

Hearing Alta's immediate response, he felt a bit annoyed and let out a snicker without realizing it.

Seeing Kim Hyunwoo's reaction, Alta frowned and opened her mouth as if to say something, but,

"Not at all."

"What did you say?"

Following Kim Hyunwoo's words, she asked without realizing it,

"In my eyes, Elena has much more potential for growth than you. Plus, I don't particularly like anyone, be it woman or man, who whines when things don't go their way like a child."

"Sigh..."

Following Kim Hyunwoo's words, Alta laughed as if she was astounded, but,

"Let's just wait and see. In time, the difference between you and Elena will naturally become apparent."

With those words,

"If you're done, please leave. I'll make sure your reward is processed as per our previous agreement."

Kim Hyunwoo sent Alta away.

Right after Alta left with a look that seemed to challenge,

"Let's see then."

"Hmm, did I speak too harshly?"

Kim Hyunwoo pondered for a moment but soon shook his head.

After all, with 2-star heroes being as common as dirt, not to mention 5-star ones, Kim Hyunwoo's temperament wasn't so great as to tolerate someone who subtly acted as though he lacked discernment.

A short while later,

"Lord, ahem-ahem... I've come to report."

Kim Hyunwoo, about to respond to Elena who came in to report, asked with a puzzled expression,

"You seem unusually happy today?"

The reason was the suppressed yet beaming smile clearly etched around Elena's mouth.

Kim Hyunwoo, noting her expression that was normally devoid of emotional fluctuations but was now slightly flushed, asked.

"Ah, well, that's because we were able to clear the first floor exploration without any harm..."

Elena, momentarily diverting her gaze before shyly turning it aside, answered.

Though her voice grew quieter the more she spoke, Kim Hyunwoo simply nodded and responded,

"That's fortunate."

"Yes, thanks to you, Lord, we were able to avoid any harm. I'm truly grateful."

Elena bowed her head deeply.

A moment later,

"...As you instructed, I've left 'vacancies' in four places. Also, as you mentioned last, there were mutants."

Having calmed a little, Elena gave her full report, which Kim Hyunwoo listened to before nodding and organizing his thoughts,

"Mostly as was expected, the first floor of the Labyrinth was in an overrun state, and the Boss hasn't changed from before."

Kim Hyunwoo, hearing that the Labyrinth enters an overrun state if not visited for a long time and that the Mutant Orc he had killed hundreds of times for achievements in Arteil hadn't changed, wore a satisfied expression.

After all, the Labyrinth being maintained as he knew it meant he had more options for action.

"I can't be completely sure, but now that I know the Labyrinth functions as I'm familiar with, I should check the rewards and plan for the second floor."

So, Kim Hyunwoo, about to organize his thoughts immediately,

"Also, I found this on the first floor."

"...?"

Following Elena's words, he looked at what was placed on the desk and unwittingly wore a puzzled expression.

"What's this...?"

"Well-"

As Kim Hyunwoo, looking at the blue bone, wore an expression demanding an explanation, Elena began to explain as if recalling the situation.

Soon after hearing the entire explanation,

"...So, to summarize, this blue bone seems to have helped in defeating the Boss?"

"That's what I think. As you know, Lord, the bone of a Mutant Orc isn't blue, nor would it be from an orc."

Listening to Elena, he quietly observed the blue bone.

"Do you have any clue, Lord?"

Hearing Elena's tentative question, Kim Hyunwoo paused before answering,

"I'm not sure."

No.

That's not it.

"Honestly, I do have a hunch."

Kim Hyunwoo actually had an immediate hunch upon seeing the blue bone.

Though it appeared out of nowhere, the blue bone unwittingly reminded him of her.

"...The Necromancer of the Blue Forest."

Kim Hyunwoo recalled the title he had given her.

And for good reason, as this blue bone closely resembled the form that appeared when that hero used her skill.

Though he had only seen it in a mobile game, as far as Kim Hyunwoo knew, she was the only one who summoned blue bones to use.

Yet, the reason Kim Hyunwoo was puzzled by this blue bone was,

"...She's dead, isn't she?"

Because the Necromancer of the Blue Forest was already dead.