Wolf 4

Hirkhmuta was an ancient group formed by followers of Diphlun Graundel Gavrilius, also known as the ‘White Mage’ and the last Great Sage.

“Isn’t it strange? You said their masks were supposed to depict white wolves, but they’re all black!”

“Who knows… I have no idea either. And I doubt Bright’s going to tell us anything. What do you think?”

In response to Ruin Gramps’s question, Baekho murmured uncertainly.

‘Hmmm… Even after casting Pain Amplification, he’s still like this. At this point, forcing him to talk is basically impossible. We’ve run out of options.”

Watching Baek-ho click his tongue in reluctant acceptance, Ruin Gramps threw out a comment:

“…I’m starting to think he might be bound by a taboo that stops him from speaking, even if he wants to.”

“An oath, what do you mean by that?”

“I recall reading about it while investigating the Hirkumuta organisation. Apparently, all members must take an oath to maintain confidentiality.”

“But an oath and a taboo sound pretty different, don’t they?”

“That’s why it’s only a guess. But there were ancient spells that enforced absolute compulsion onto an ‘Oath.’ So it’s not completely impossible.”

“Hmmm… I see.”

Right around then, Jayna suddenly called out to us in alarm.

“Hey, come here! Mr Bright is dead!”

“…Huh? Don’t worry, he’s probably just flipped over and playing dead agai—”

“That’s not it! I think he’s really dead!”

“…….”

Hearing how serious her reaction was, Baek-ho, though still not fully convinced, walked over to Bright. He nudged Bright’s shoulder with the tip of his foot. But but there was no response.

However, even then, Baek-ho didn’t look particularly worried.

“Wow, this bastard is really doing it again. Does he think we’re idiots or something?”

Baekho snorted in disbelief as he looked at Bright’s limp body, then kicked him with all his might.

“Just watch. if I give him one good hit like this, he’ll get right u—”

Thud!

“…Huh? What the hell? Why isn’t this bastard getting up?”

Bryat didn’t even twitch after taking that kick. It didn’t take long for Baek-ho’s expression to harden.

“What the…?”

He looked flustered for a moment, then quickly crouched down to check Bright’s condition. Or, to be precise, he slapped his cheeks repeatedly.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Get up! Stop messing around and get up! Hey! I said get up!”

“Stop it. He’s already dead.”

“No, that makes no sense! I even fed him a potion—why would he suddenly die? Hey! Gramps! Did YOU mess something up? Did he die because you opened the subspace wrong or something?!”

Blamed out of nowhere, Ruin Gramps slowly walked over and jabbed a needle into Bright’s neck. He paused for a moment, then spoke: “It’s poison.”

“…Poison? Ah! Is it because of that poisonous dust from earlier?”

“This poison is on a different level. On the outside he looks normal, but his internal organs have completely melted away.”

“So he’s really dead?”

“Yes.There isn’t even room for doub—.”

Just as Ruin Gramps was about to give his definitive answer, Lee Baek-ho moved first.

Crunch-!

He kicked Bright’s head without warning, sending it flying like a football.

Thud, roll roll.

The room fell silent at this sudden turn of events. However, a moment later, Baekho muttered something in a low voice.

“Ugh, why does nothing ever work out.”

He stretched his arms as if the whole thing had been light work, then trudged back toward us. “Gramps! How the hell did this bastard suddenly die?”

“As I said, it was an extreme po—”

“That’s what’s weird. We were the ones hit by the poison powder, so why did this guy die from poison?”

“I don’t know everything in the world, you know.”

Ruin Gramps scowled, as if telling Baek-ho to stop pestering him.

“…Hmm, maybe he had taken some poison or something beforehand?”

“Ah, I’ve heard of it. They say people on secret missions always carry poison pills in their mouths…”

“If he chewed the poison pill when everyone was distracted by the subspace, that would explain it.”

It was a plausible story, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any questionable aspects.

“Still, if I spoke up here, it would only make the awkward atmosphere drag on.”

“Hah…”

“Baek-ho clearly had something on his mind, but he didn’t say anything.

Because he’d used Misplaced Trust right before this incident, he was unwilling to bring it up again and throw suspicion on everyone again.

“Forget it. Let’s just continue sorting out the loot. If anything suspicious pops up, tell me immediately.”

“…Ah, understood.”

“And be careful. If anyone gets caught pocketing something right now, I swear I’ll lose my damn mind.” Baek-ho added, giving his allies one last warning.

If I were them, I’d be even more pissed at him, but seeing as they just shook their heads without saying anything, they must be used to him by now.

“Okay, looks like we’re just about done.”

In any case, we all worked together to sort through the dropped items, and it was done in no time. Equipment, consumables, valuables.

Naturally, it was impossible not to glance towards the pile, but this time everyone’s eyes were focused elsewhere.

“Alright, let’s check everything one by one. Wolf mask, Wolf medal—whatever. But what do you think this painting is?”

“Hmm… It just looks like a piece of art to me…”

“There’s no invisible writing made with magical reagents either.”

“Okay, next. What do you think this is?”

“…Isn’t this… women’s underwear…?”

“So it wasn’t just me who thought that…”

“Damn it! What the hell is this doing here!”

Despite using our collective intelligence to appraise the suspicious items one by one, we didn’t gain any useful information. That is, until we examined a certain piece of parchment.

“Why was this included in the pile?”

“Isn’t this just a magic scroll?”

Even ordinary people with no magical talent can use scrolls. Just rip them open and they activate. So why was this placed in the suspicious pile?

“Who put this in here?”

“…Me.”

In response to Lee Baek-ho’s question, the GM sheepishly raised his hand.

“Why?”

Before he could answer, Ruin Gramps stepped forward, having glanced at the scroll.

“Probably because it’s not an ordinary magic scroll.”

“…?”

“This scroll contains ancient magic.”

“What kind of ancient magic?”

“Judging from the pattern, it seems related to spatial movement but nothing beyond that,” GM said before turning to Ruin Gramps. “Do you recognize it?”

“I know it well. It might just be the lifeline we need.”

“Lifeline…? What do you mean? Hurry up and explain.”

As Baek-ho urged him, Ruin Gramps spoke the scroll’s name.

“Return Scroll.”

“…?”

“That is the name of this item.”

“If what you’re saying is true, then this is incredible. Enabling teleportation with just a single scroll, without a fixed coordinate magic circle or a mana converter.”

“That’s why it’s an ancient magic scroll. It’s said magic back then was even more incredible than this.”

It didn’t turn out to be the city-return scroll we expected, but even so, hope still lit up in everyone’s eyes. Anything was better than staying stuck here.

“So if we use it, at the very least, we can get out of these ruins?”

“Yes. But we must also consider the worst-case scenario. If the place we get sent to is the ‘Gray World,’ we’ll be in serious trouble.”

“…So we have to choose carefully.”

As usual, Ruin Gramps just gave us the information and left the choice to us. With that everyone looked at me and Baek-ho. It was clear they knew things would get complicated if Baek-ho and I held different opinions.

But…

“I’m in favor of trying it, what about you, Baron?”

“I agree.”

I didn’t think it would be safe just because it was called a Return Scroll, but if he and I were going to argue over it, there needed to be some actual risk involved. I was already exhausted from being trapped here for days.

“But even so, we should make full preparations before using the return scroll.”

“I agree.”

I shot him a look.

“Ahaha, I just mean that I’m on the same page as you, Baron.”

After reaching an agreement, we examined the remaining items that hadn’t been appraised yet. None of them, however, were as useful as the Return Scroll.

“We have eight Return Scrolls…”

“With six of us, that leaves two extras.”

The remaining two scrolls were split between me and Lee Baek-ho. The equipment and consumables from Bright were divided fairly between us.

After that, we took sufficient preparation time to get into the best condition.

“If everyone’s ready, let’s tear it.”

Baek-ho lifted his scroll. Everyone else nodded and raised theirs as well.

Then, all at once—

Riiip—!

We all ripped our scrolls in unison.
***

「The character has used [Return Scroll].」
「The character is moving to the designated location.」
****

Drip, drip, drip!

Water dripped somewhere in the distance.

At that sound, I opened my eyes and quickly scanned my surroundings.

“…The Crystal Cave?”

“No, it’s slightly different.”

We were inside a cave that was similar to the Crystal Cave on the ground floor.

“At least we’re all here, thankfully.”

“We’d all arrived at the same place, and there didn’t seem to be any monsters or enemies around.”

But…

“…Quiet.”

A campfire-like red glow flickered at the far end of the passage we were in.

After taking in the scene, Baekho and I exchanged a glance, and I instinctively moved to the front, advancing as quietly as possible.

Thud, thud.

Well, no matter how carefully I walked, it was impossible for my huge, steel-clad body to be completely silent.

As I turned the corner, I finally saw someone: a lone figure sitting in front of the fire. Strangely, I hadn’t noticed their presence at all, he didn’t move an inch, just stared silently into the flames.

“If you’ve all come this far… then I suppose that means Bright is already dead.”

The man continued speaking slowly, without even looking at us.

“He was a diligent fellow.”

“Enough. Who the hell are you?”

Baek-ho asked in a cautious but aggressive tone.

That voice… why does it sound familiar?

A sense of déjà vu hit me, and an alarm started ringing in the back of my mind.

Just then—

The mysterious man lowered the hood that was covering his face and stared at us.

“Still, it’s been a while, all of you.”

Deep wrinkles.

Snow-white hair and beard.

A gentle expression, paired with piercing eyes.

“……!”

It was Auril Gavis, the creator of Dungeon & Stone.

 

 

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