Chapter 31

Chapter 31: The S-Rank Hunter Thoroughly Reprimanded by Ria
I raised both hands to chest level to show that I had no intention of resisting.
“I’m not a Monster. I’m a Hunter from Korea.”
“Korea……?”
“Yes, Master Hwang Myeong-u. My name is An Seon-u. I’m a Hunter.”
The moment I addressed him with the formal title reserved for a ninth-dan swordsman, he slowly lowered his blade.
“So you know who I am. Well, I suppose there is no way a Monster could speak Korean so fluently.”
When the Sword Saint raised and lowered his palm, the person who had been holding a dagger to my throat withdrew it.
I touched my neck.
A little blood came away on my hand.
Then the person who had been threatening my throat from behind stepped in front of me and said in English,
“My apologies. We thought you might be a Monster.”
The voice sounded very young.
Not very tall, either.
The outfit looked like something out of a Western assassin’s attire, with only the eyes exposed.
It was probably Sweden’s S-Rank Hunter, Adel Eriksson.
I had seen him at the launch ceremony for the S-Rank party formed to clear the third floor.
“It’s fine. It’s only a shallow cut.”
When I replied in English, his eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Then I turned to the Sword Saint and asked,
“But why did you suspect I was a Monster?”
“Because we were fooled once already. By a Monster that wore a human face.”
Surely not……?
“We lost our companions to a devilish Monster that took the form of one of our party members.”
There it was again.
That same description.
A devil.
Was it you again, Named Doppelganger?
“When was that?”
“A little over a month ago.”
Then that would have been long before the Named Doppelganger was killed.
And if it had been roughly a month and a half ago, that meant they had cleared the third floor in about half a month and then come here, to the fourth floor.
So this really was the fourth floor, just as I had expected.
“Then what happened to the rest of your party?”
At my question, the Sword Saint’s expression darkened.
“Three party members who went out to scout went missing. Then we lost another S-Rank Hunter to an ambush from that Monster, which came back disguised as one of the missing Hunters. After that, the Monster fled following a fierce battle against our party. Only the three of us standing here survived the fight.”
“……”
If I had joined this party as a porter, I would likely have died a pointless death at the hands of the Named Doppelganger, just like the other porters.
“Then why are you still staying here in such danger instead of returning?”
“There are two reasons. First, we are waiting to see whether the missing party members might return.”
They were loyal, at least.
But under the circumstances, the odds that those scouts had run into the Named Doppelganger before these three did were extremely high.
Which meant that, regrettably, their chances of survival were close to zero.
The Sword Saint continued,
“Second, we have no map.”
“……What?”
“That means we are lost. The guide who went scouting disappeared, and the porter who had an excellent memory and could always find the way died after being caught in the battle with the Monster.”
So that was it.
All that remained were three highly ranked fools with no sense of direction, stranded here.
Soon it was my turn to face a barrage of questions.
“You said your name was Hunter An Seon-u, correct? How did you end up here? If you came by breaking through the third floor, then where are your other party members?”
That was not a question I had prepared for in advance.
What should I say?
Then Ria’s face came to mind.
“I do have party members.”
“You do? Then where are they?”
“There’s a base camp some distance from here. They’re there.”
“Ah, I see. So you came out this far alone. Then perhaps we might be allowed to join your party……”
At that very moment, a stomach growled.
The sound made it seem as though his belly itself was begging to join my party and be fed.
“We have survived for over a month on boiled weeds and roots alone. And since we never know when that devilish Monster might attack again, we haven’t been able to let our guard down long enough to sleep properly.”
That devil had been dealt with by me and Ria.
I hesitated for a moment.
‘Ria is from another world, and Rin is a Dryad. Is it really all right to bring these people back with me?’
It was what I wanted, after all.
If I intended to open a restaurant, I needed customers.
As long as they behaved themselves, it should be all right.
And if they caused trouble or did anything reckless, Ria would surely set them straight.
“All right, come with me. But.”
“But……?”
“Once we get there, under no circumstances are you to do anything rash.”
“Of course. I’ll make sure the others understand.”
The Sword Saint then summarized our conversation in English for the other two, and they both nodded.
After that, he introduced them.
First, the Hunter in assassin’s garb.
“This young man is Adel Eriksson, Sweden’s only S-Rank Hunter and the youngest S-Rank Hunter in the world.”
“Yes, I know who he is. He’s famous enough. And this must be Mr. Rani Santos from Brazil.”
The especially large Brazilian Hunter.
He was also S-Rank, a Tank known as the Shield of Lament.
“So you know us well.”
“How many people in the world do you think don’t know about your party?”
That was how much attention they had drawn.
Besides, the news of their disappearance had been broadcast all over the world just yesterday, so there was no way I wouldn’t know.
Then I introduced myself.
“My name is An Seon-u. I’m a B-Rank Hunter. And this is my companion, a wolf cub named Bell.”
“Awoong!”
Bell had bared his teeth and growled at them when they had held blades to me.
But ever since they lowered their weapons, he had been wagging his tail at me nonstop.
As if he wanted praise.
“Well done, Bell.”
I stroked Bell’s head.
“Awoong!”
Bell puffed himself up proudly.
Watching this, the Sword Saint looked puzzled.
“A wolf, not a dog? And how in the world did you bring a pet into a Rift……?”
“I’ll explain later.”
I did not want to say he was a Monster and make them hostile, so for now I called him a wolf.
“Then let’s go.”
And so, with Bell at my side, I led the three S-Rank Hunters back home.
***
The Rift house did not stand in the middle of some wide-open plain.
A dense forest surrounded the area on all sides.
But once one passed through that forest—
“What the hell……!”
That was Adel Eriksson.
“There’s a house inside the Rift…….”
That was the Sword Saint.
“…….”
That silent reaction came from Rani Santos.
They were all stunned by the house, the fields, and the orchard spread across the broad clearing, as beautiful as a painting.
But their amazement lasted only a moment.
WHOOSH!
A figure shot past me like lightning.
In the blink of an eye, she had taken position behind me and was aiming her sword at the people following me.
It was Ria.
She immediately cast the communication spell, Sigil of Wisdom, on me and asked,
“Seon-u, who are these people? Are they the ones who put that scratch on your neck?”
Her voice was cold and edged with the killing intent she always carried when facing an enemy.
“It’s all right, Ria. They’re my guests. You don’t need to be on guard.”
“Guests……? Are they people from your world?”
“That’s right.”
When Ria lowered her sword, the three of them released their grips on the hilts of the weapons they had been about to draw.
“……”
“She’s strong.”
“Hoo……! What a presence.”
Cold sweat had broken out across their faces.
Then Ria used Sigil of Wisdom on them as well and spoke.
“So you are Seon-u’s guests. Please forgive my rudeness.”
The Sword Saint accepted the apology.
“Haha! It’s quite all right. More importantly, you look like a foreigner, yet you speak Korean?”
“I’m learning Korean from Seon-u, but I’m not speaking Korean right now.”
“Then what is it?”
“An ancient communication spell.”
“……So, something like a skill, then.”
At that moment, Adel Eriksson muttered something toward Ria while releasing fighting spirit.
“She’s stronger than the old man……! I want to test myself against her.”
That clearly annoyed Ria.
“You’re being rude. Withdraw your fighting spirit.”
“…….”
Overwhelmed by Ria’s pressure, Adel actually took a step back.
Then, suddenly, he drew a dagger.
I had explicitly warned them not to do anything rash.
But the dagger wasn’t aimed at Ria.
Adel’s gaze had fixed on Rin, who was hiding behind an Applecherry tree.
“Monster!”
He moved as if to throw the dagger at Rin.
You lunatic……?
I started to throw myself in the way.
But—
THUD!
Ria moved first.
She charged Adel and drove a fist wreathed in Mana straight into him.
Adel threw up a guard at the last second, but he couldn’t fully absorb the blow. He was sent backward and rolled across the ground.
Ria stared down at the fallen Adel and issued a warning.
“How dare you target Rin. This is your final warning. If you draw a dagger again without permission in this place, or release fighting spirit or killing intent, I’ll break all four of your limbs and throw you out.”
“……”
Ria was actually rather fierce.
Well, she had been a former knight commander.
She had simply always been angelically kind to me.
Then again, perhaps I had simply never been rude to her.
‘Either way, even an S-Rank Hunter is no match for Ria.’
I needed to clear things up quickly.
“That little one behind the tree is Rin, a young Dryad, and she’s my family. So please don’t be hostile toward her. And Bell isn’t actually a wolf cub either. He’s the cub of a Monster called Fenrir. But neither of them attacks people, so please rest easy.”
If I had said that from the start, this probably wouldn’t have happened.
But if I had said so beforehand, they probably would have thought I was suspicious and refused to follow me here in the first place.
The Sword Saint bowed to Ria and me.
“I apologize for my companion’s rudeness. Adel isn’t normally like this, but we haven’t been sleeping properly, and starvation has made him irritable.”
I apologized as well.
“No, I should have warned you in advance. I’m sorry.”
“No, no. Adel, apologize this instant!”
At the Sword Saint’s stern command, Adel picked himself up and apologized to both Ria and me.
He was a troublesome brat, but he did seem to listen when the Sword Saint spoke like a grandfather scolding him.
That settled the matter, for the time being.
After that, Rin seemed frightened by the arrival of strangers. She hurried into the house and refused to come back out.
Ria went with her and stayed inside, comforting her.
As for me, I had the three S-Rank Hunters sit on the outdoor platform.
“I’m sure there’s a great deal you don’t understand and want to ask about, but first, let’s deal with your hunger. I’ll prepare something to eat.”
With that, I took ingredients out of Acresia and began making a sweet potato cream soup that would be easy on the stomach.
Watching me, the Sword Saint said,
“So you really do have a Subspace Storage skill.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then perhaps your profession before becoming a Hunter was……”
“I was a chef.”
“Ah, I thought so. Your movements while cooking seemed anything but ordinary.”
A little later, the Sword Saint asked carefully,
“Have you ever been contacted by a certain man from the Hunter Association, by any chance?”
An unpleasant face sprang to mind immediately.
“You mean Team Leader Shin?”
“Yes. We were contacted through a guild and told that a porter with a Subspace Storage skill and a background as a chef could be introduced to us. Were you the porter he meant, Hunter An Seon-u?”
“That’s right. I received the offer, but I turned it down because I didn’t like Team Leader Shin.”
“I see. I don’t care for him either. He strikes me as an opportunist. Still, what a strange turn of fate, to meet you here of all places inside a Rift.”
“It is strange for me too.”
Before long, the sweet potato cream soup was finished.
I ladled out one bowl for each of them.
The Sword Saint lifted a spoonful and tasted it.
“Oh……! It’s been so long since I’ve had a proper meal……. It’s wonderfully smooth and rich.”
Tears welled in his eyes.
Those tears seemed to hold all the pain of his hunger over the past month.
The other two tasted it as well and looked equally moved.
Adel in particular looked as though he wanted to bury his face in the bowl.
‘Now that he’s taken off the face covering, Adel really does look young.’
He was still only eighteen, still a teenager.
And yet he was his nation’s representative Hunter.
Next, I began grilling steaks.
This time I used ordinary Hanwoo rather than Drake.
All the ingredients were ordinary, in fact.
Once the steaks were done, I served them on plates.
Along with an arugula salad.
After setting everything out, I spoke.
“This one meal is free. Starting next time, I’ll be charging properly.”
“Understood. Whatever the price of the food, we’ll pay it. Though at the moment, we don’t actually have money on hand……”
They might not have cash, but they certainly had Magic Stones.
When the Sword Saint was gathering his belongings, I had glimpsed a pouch inside his pack full of them.
They must have collected them on their way from the first floor to the fourth.
“That’s fine. I’ll be accepting Magic Stones.”
What was owed was owed.
And thus began “An’s Restaurant” inside the Rift.