Chapter 109. Requirements of a Dimensional Mercenary (2)
After reading the first line, I folded the letter as naturally as I could and put it in my pocket. Then, I casually asked Walker.
“Walker, have you read the letter?”
“No, so don’t kill me.”
To think he saw through my poker face, it seemed Walker had gone through much training. I smiled at him, signaling him to not say anything, then patted Yua, who was eating her toast.
“Yua, oppa’s off.”
“Okay. Make sure to tell me if something happens.”
Since Walker noticed, there was no way that Yua didn’t. With a bitter smile, I patted her head again.
“Of course. It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it.”
“Ehehe. That tickles.”
“See you later, son.”
“Yes, mother.”
Yua smiled innocently and mother saw me off as if nothing was wrong. The women in my family were all really thoughtful. Although I didn’t want to admit it, they were much more refined than father or me, who were the same on the inside as the outside. Though, I was sometimes scared from being unable to read their thoughts!
[Dear Earth’s Hero.
You must be surprised by the sudden letter, but electronic forms of communication can be intercepted, and I was afraid to send you a telepathic message out of the blue, so I’ve decided to send you this letter using my acquaintance in Korea.
I am Ciara Kenex, S+ rank Awakened residing in America. It is not that I am strong. The reason I became S+ rank… though it’s a bit embarrassing to say myself, is because I have a special ability.
Hero-nim, the reason I know about Hero-nim is also because of my ability.
It has already been a year since the world changed. I know, I know that you are slowly becoming complete. It is also why I chose to contact you now.
I want to meet you. I know about the dungeons that have invaded this world and wish to prepare for it with Hero-nim.
If it’s okay with Hero-nim, can you visit America’s S rank Field Dungeon as Thunder Knight, under the pretense of helping out? In that case, I will be there and visit Hero-nim.
I apologize if it sounds like I am trying to use Hero-nim’s strength. Since I am not in a position to do anything with my body, there, unfortunately, isn’t a way for me to visit Hero-nim myself. I only barely got the permission to visit the Field Dungeon this time. Usually I’m…
Please. I want to meet you. The second wave will arrive soon. Before it becomes difficult to move again, I want to meet with you.
I know you are already busy with something. You can come after you have taken care of it. If you contact the address in this letter, I will make the preparations for you to secretly enter America. Of course, be careful not to reveal too much information.
If you do not wish to enter the S rank Field Dungeon after meeting me, I will take measures for you to go back immediately. So please, trust me and come.
With respect and love, Ciara Kenex.]
Ciara Kenex. I searched her name immediately, but there wasn’t any information about her. An S+ ranker should be well known globally. As there was less than 200 S rankers on Earth, it was only obvious that information about them was widespread. However, there was no info on Ciara Kenex. Almost as if she didn’t exist.
Almost as if someone had erased any information about her.
No one from Earth should know that I’m Earth’s Hero. Then how did she know? Was she related to the dungeon? No, there were still only 6 dungeon explorers, and I was fourth in the rankings, behind Hwaya, father, and Walker. Below me should be Japan’s Minami Violet Sumire, and my friend, Su Ye-Eun.
This ranking system didn’t care which dungeon we were in, and only estimated our ranking based on the floor we had reached. It was why I was in fourth place. Hwaya was clearly highest, father had recently broken through the 50th floor, and Walker was on the 48th floor. Walker seemed to be climbing fast, as he focused his entire afternoon on climbing the dungeon.
In any case, this Ciara Kenex wasn’t connected to the dungeon. According to her, she knew I was the Hero because of her ability. Then should I meet her?
‘It’s a bit iffy, but…’
I didn’t know how much she knew about me. Not to mention, she knew about my house address and could deliver a letter through an acquaintance in Korea. I couldn’t just say, ‘Oh, you know I’m the Hero? Let’s meet!’ However, if she found my identity and my house address through her ability, she would undoubtedly appear again unless I went and killed her.
After thinking about it for a bit, I concluded that it wasn’t something I should be afraid of or back away from. Not to mention, I wanted to visit Wyvern’s Nest eventually. Did this woman know about that too and was trying to bait me with it?
“Shin, class is over.”
“Ah, yeah, you’re right.”
Unless the professor was incredibly strict or the class was incredibly difficult, the first class usually ended early after a short orientation. When my head was full with the name Ciara Kenex, Ye-Eun pulled on me.
“Let’s go eat.”
“Alright, but not Korean food.”
“But that’s cheaper…”
“Even if I have to pay ten times more, I’ll eat something else.”
Exchanging small talk, we left the lecture room. When the massacre happened at the business department’s MT, everyone was incredibly shocked, but it seemed it was slightly better now after winter break had passed. As a hundred people had died, many people were undoubtedly friends with the deceased students. Of course, that wasn’t the case for me. Though I shouldn’t be happy about it, I was truthfully happy that I did not have to mourn the death of someone I knew.
We had to get used to the world we were living in. Pushing away cancer, heart disease, and other causes of death, ‘monster encounter’ has become the number one cause of death. We were living in a world where it wasn’t weird to hear that a friend had been killed by a monster after waking up in the morning. No matter how active Guardian and Freedom Wing were, they couldn’t take care of monsters immediately after they appeared.
“Hey, do you want to enter a student group?”
“I’d rather focus on the dungeon.”
“Shin, don’t you think you should enjoy life a little more?”
“In my life, there’s only been training and dungeon… Though, other things are beginning to fill up my life, but college life just isn’t for me.”
“Ehew, really, I’m saying the two of us should spend more time together!”
“I’m going to have to refuse.”
“I hate you!”
Student groups are just people with similar hobbies hanging out and going for drinks. Every break, they’d go to an MT and drink together.
If that was all, I was already doing something similar. I fought the Floor Master with people of similar levels, and drank potions when my HP or MP fell low. When Event Dungeons happened on Earth, I’d go there with my allies and drink potions. It was the same thing.
“Kuuu, I’ll catch up to you soon, just you wait! I’m almost on the 40th floor!”
“You’re defeating all the bosses solo, right?”
“Yeah! Although I’m in a party these days, I temporarily leave it and do it alone first!”
Ye-Eun complained about Dullahan being tricky to deal with. Listening to her, I estimated her strength, and was sure she reached S rank by now. Even so, the 40th Floor Master was different than the previous Floor Masters.
“40th floor is especially tricky so be careful. Even if you’re hiding, he’ll suddenly appear behind you and slash down with his scythe.”
“It’ll be fine if Shin teaches me everything! So, how about tonight, the two of us- ow.”
“You can come back if you die once. Since you can’t get the first achievement anyways, it’s fine if you die once.”
“Chet, can’t you just nicely teach me? You know, this and that…”
Seeing Ye-Eun pouting like a duck, I grinned. I felt stupid for worrying about the matter with Ciara Kenex. These days, whenever I talked, I kept finding darkness lurking everywhere and turned gloomy, but I liked Ye-Eun because it wasn’t like that with her. She didn’t hide anything, and was simple, honest, and straightforward. Moreover, she genuinely liked me. Maybe meeting Ye-Eun was the best thing that happened to me from coming to college.
Ye-Eun’s murmuring monologue was continuing.
“We can drink together deep into the night… do this and that… and it’ll be the next morning.”
With a smile, I pinched Ye-Eun’s cheeks and pulled on them.
“Hey, confess your criminal plan now. The severity of your punishment will change depending on your answer.”
“I-It’s not a criminal plan! It’s a family plan!”
“That’s even more dangerous!”
She was also dangerous! Forget darkness, she’s pitch black!
Dinner time that night, I received a message from Ye-Eun.
[It’s weird. My party members aren’t coming in.]
“Unlike our world, their continent might be busy with something. They might have been called to battle or something, so don’t worry too much.”
[Okay, but they aren’t responding to my messages, so I can’t help but worry.]
I told Ye-Eun that she didn’t need to worry that much. The moment we ended our conversation, I realized I was anxious myself. Damn, it seemed Shina was already inside my fencing.
“Haa, I wonder if that princess is okay… I should probably send her a message.
I immediately messaged Shina, but there was no answer. If it was the usual Shina, she would have replied regardless of whether she was sleeping or in the shower, so this was definitely strange.
I was currently in the dungeon’s 47th floor. Starting from the 46th floor, the dungeon had become similar to a snowy field. Thanks to my contract with Ruyue, I broke through the 46th floor without much difficulty, and was currently breaking through the 47th floor, while fighting ice worms and frozen penguins. However, once I started being concerned about Shina, the spirit in my spear had lessened. Why did I feel so uneasy? I already knew the answer. It was because I remembered the dream I had.
‘No, it can’t be. A dream is only a dream. Shina’s fine. She has to be.’
When I calmed myself and arrived at the 48th floor, a friend had sent me a message. It wasn’t long, but it was enough to change my heart for the worse.
[Luke continent’s Hero… died. The Demon Lord… took Shina. Shin… what do I do…!?]
The moment I read the message, I had a hunch. That my peaceful life would soon come to an end.
That the unpreventable change was not only happening on Earth.