Chapter 42

Chapter 42: The Opened Gate Portal, and the Reason Ria Hesitates

The S-Rank trio approached as well.

"Rin was restless the whole time without you two. On the first day, she cried herself to sleep."

"Was that so, Rin?"

"......"

When I asked, Rin buried her face even deeper into our embrace.

I then expressed my gratitude to the Sword Saint.

"Sir, thank you for taking such good care of Rin."

"There is no need for thanks. If anything, I should be the one grateful. I had always wondered what it would feel like to marry, have children, and then have a granddaughter. Thanks to Rin, I now know that feeling well. Ha ha!"

Hearing that, Eriksson quipped from behind.

"Gramps, it is not too late. How about a late-in-life marriage?"

"This brat is begging for a beating!"

A powerful flick from the Sword Saint left a bump on Eriksson's head.

As harmonious as ever.

I took a look around the area near the house.

The flower beds and vegetable garden were neatly tended.

And the Applecherry tree was laden with fruit.

'Huh......?'

I noticed one thing that had changed.

It was the Rift passage.

'It is gone.'

The personal Rift passage behind the house had disappeared.

'Is it because Acresia reached A-Grade and learned the Gate skill?'

If so, did that mean traveling to the house was also possible now?

I tested it immediately.

I opened Acresia, used the Gate skill, and—

Thought of the countryside house.

The scenery appeared within the Gate portal.

'It works.'

A system message appeared along with it.

[Only one location outside the Rift can be designated as a return point. Would you like to designate this location? (Resetting the location consumes a Highest-Grade Magic Stone.)]

So only one location could be designated as a return portal.

The reset cost was quite steep.

Still, there should be no need to reset it for the time being.

'Designate.'

The return location was set to the countryside house's yard.

The Sword Saint, who had been watching, asked.

"What is this......? The shimmering image looks like the countryside house."

"It is a Gate portal."

"Then could it be......"

"Yes, most likely."

"......"

What "most likely" meant was that they could escape the Rift right now.

Eriksson shouldered his way between me and the Sword Saint.

"What is that? Tell me too."

"Eriksson, it means you can go home."

"Ah...... I thought it was something important."

Eriksson seemed unfazed.

"I said you can go home."

"And?"

"I said you can safely return home."

"I heard you the first time."

"Are you not happy?"

This was a man who had nearly starved to death trapped in the Rift, and now he could safely return home, yet he barely seemed surprised.

Eriksson yawned and spoke.

"YAAAWN! The follow-up expedition is coming anyway, right? We just wait. What is the rush to go back?"

The Sword Saint and Santos nodded in agreement.

"Eriksson is right. There is no hurry."

"......Agreed."

These people.......

Of course, I was not telling them to leave immediately.

Having them return alongside the follow-up expedition was more beneficial for me too.

Still, they now had one more way to get back, and their reaction was thoroughly lukewarm.

But only for a moment.

"Ah—!"

The Sword Saint clapped his hands together.

Eriksson furrowed his brow and asked.

"What is it, old man?"

"Think about it, you fool. After we return with the follow-up expedition, when we come back here again, we could use Seon-u's Gate to get here easily. We would have to pay a toll, of course."

"Oh......? Now that sounds good."

These people, honestly.

They were already planning to come back?

Two pairs of earnest eyes turned to me.

"If you are willing to pay the toll, I will give you a ride."

I had no real intention of charging them a toll.

They were no longer strangers but comrades.

Of course, even among comrades, I would still collect their meal expenses without fail.

Only then did the three of them show any joy.

'Less like the S-Rank trio, more like the foolish trio.'

They showed no happiness at being able to leave right now.

But the prospect of being able to come back made them that delighted.

I turned my gaze to Ria.

If it was a Gate portal, I should be able to take Ria to the world I lived in as well.

"......"

Ria said nothing and averted her eyes from mine.

I would need to talk to her about it separately later.

For now, I closed the Gate.

It was a skill with considerable mana consumption, making it difficult to maintain for long.

***

I spent time with Ria and Rin together.

"Rin, you can do it!"

"You have got this, Rin."

Ria and I cheered Rin on.

What Rin was doing was practicing walking with a Wooden Golem.

More precisely, it was Wooden Golem control practice.

The Wooden Golem took five steps before—

CRUMBLE!

It could no longer maintain its golem form and crumbled apart into wooden debris.

"You went two more steps than last time. Your proficiency is improving fast, Rin."

I said that while collecting the Wooden Golem's remains.

They would serve as valuable nutrients for the Glace Mushroom cultivation.

I was once again reminded of what a blessing it was to have Rin.

Without her, farming Applecherries, vegetables, and mushrooms would have been out of the question.

"Rin, you really are our lucky charm."

"Heh......!"

Rin beamed, seemingly aware she had been praised.

After watching over Rin's training—

We held hands and went for a walk together, then spent some leisurely time sipping tea.

Now that we had rested enough, it was time to work.

I put on cold-weather gear and equipment and entered the Glace Mushroom cultivation cave.

"The aroma is strong right from the entrance."

They must be growing well.

I passed through the triple-layered curtains and reached the cultivation bed at the deepest part of the cave.

I could not believe my eyes.

"Is this for real......"

Glace Mushroom clusters had grown so abundantly that they filled the substrate to the brim.

At a rough estimate, there were over 40 clusters.

In terms of individual mushrooms, roughly 200.

'A bumper harvest for the mushroom farm.'

I had not expected them to grow this abundantly while we were away on the expedition.

Mushrooms also lose their flavor if they grow too large.

I began harvesting the ones that had grown to the right size.

Forgetting all about the cold.

If I felt frostbite coming on, I could just eat one mushroom and be fine.

I harvested roughly 140 mushrooms.

The rest were slightly undergrown, so I left them to continue developing.

'With this many mushrooms, when I open the restaurant, I will definitely need to include at least one restorative soup dish on the menu, whether it is chicken or duck.'

Ideally, I would want to use Horn Rabbit.

Was there truly no way to raise Horn Rabbits?

There were no known cases of successfully domesticating an aggressive Monster.

'Well, actually, there is one.'

Hunters with a Tamer skill could domesticate them.

But that was solely by virtue of a skill.

'They are rabbits, so maybe they would like carrots or vegetables?'

I should try capturing a Horn Rabbit next time and give it a shot.

After finishing the mushroom harvest—

The next order of business was skill testing.

The person helping with the tests was, of course, Ria.

We climbed the hill together and faced each other from a distance.

First, the power test.

"Seon-u, I am ready! Try attacking my mana barrier like last time."

"Got it."

I launched my 180-million-won spear at Ria via Release.

A spear crackling with sparks flew toward Ria.

I could feel the power was incomparably stronger than before.

It collided with the mana barrier Ria had deployed.

The result—

CRACKLE—!

Ria's mana barrier shattered, and the spear, having lost its momentum, embedded itself in the ground.

What mattered was that it had shattered.

Ria was quite surprised as well.

"The power is at least double what it was before."

"That much?"

"Yes. At this level, it would work on Highest-Grade Monsters. It would probably even pierce a Drake's tough hide."

"Oh......"

Strong enough to be effective even against Drakes, which sat at the top of the Highest-Grade Monsters.

"Let us do the next test."

"Sure."

It was not just the power that had grown stronger.

Previously, the Release Skill could only be used with Acresia in its opened state.

But now—

CRACK! CRACK!

I could launch projectiles from any point in midair I desired, without summoning Acresia.

A miniature Acresia would open at the point of release.

I could fire projectiles from up to approximately 5 meters from my position.

I fired steel balls in rapid succession at Ria.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Ria swung her sword at high speed, deflecting the steel balls.

'Still handling it with ease, as expected.'

In that case, even faster and more continuous.

I fired steel balls like a rifle on full auto.

The pressure of blocking must have gotten to Ria, because she started using footwork to dodge.

'I actually made Ria move her feet when she was not budging before.'

Clearly, the power, speed, and rate of fire had all improved, and since I could now fire from anywhere within a 5-meter radius around me, the versatility had increased as well.

Soon, the consecutive Release usage overconsumption hit, and I had to stop firing.

"Phew......! Mana is still the bottleneck."

My Mana stat was high, giving me a large mana pool, but Acresia's skills consumed an enormous amount of it.

As I caught my breath, Ria dusted off her hands and walked over.

"Seon-u, you have gotten so much stronger. My wrist actually hurts from blocking."

"You are not just saying that to boost my confidence, are you?"

"No, this time it is real. Look into my eyes. Do these look like the eyes of someone lying?"

I peered closely into Ria's blue eyes.

'They are beautiful.'

No, wait, that was not the point.

They really did not look like the eyes of someone lying.

But as I gazed into them, it felt like I was being pulled in.

Without thinking, I leaned my face closer toward Ria and pressed a light kiss to her lips.

Ria, flustered, patted my shoulder with her palm.

"Seon-u......! Over there!"

Ria pointed toward the S-Rank trio, who had been watching from a distance.

I had known they were watching, but the moment I stared deep into Ria's eyes, I had forgotten entirely.

"Ahem! We did not see a thing."

The Sword Saint turned his head away.

"In Europe, that is perfectly normal on the street! Do not mind us!"

"......"

Eriksson and Santos acted as if it were no big deal.

Common enough, true.

Then the Sword Saint approached me.

"You have truly grown powerful, Seon-u."

"Yes, I gained a great deal from this expedition."

The Sword Saint occasionally sparred with me in place of Ria, so he must have clearly felt the difference.

"I sincerely congratulate you."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now you would not fall behind most S-Rank Hunters."

"Do you think so? My combat stats are still on the low side."

"Your skills are powerful enough to put you at or above the combat level of an S-Rank Hunter, in my estimation. With this, Korea now has five Hunters with S-Rank combat capability. A great blessing for the nation. Ha ha!"

Five.

And I was counted among them?

It was something I could never have imagined when I had first become an Awakened.

An E-Rank Hunter reaching S-Rank level.

Of course, my officially registered rank was still B-Rank.

'I have no desire to go through re-evaluation.'

Because of Team Leader Shin at the Hunter Association, I had no faith in the Association itself.

I was not the attention-seeking type either, so I did not want the spotlight.

If I was going to receive attention, I wanted it to be as a chef.

"That weak little Seon-u has reached S-Rank level? Let me be the judge. Let us spar."

Eriksson challenged me to a sparring match.

It seemed he had judged that I was now strong enough to be a proper sparring partner.

I was going to refuse due to the heavy mana consumption, but his persistent requests eventually won me over.

It was not a formal spar. It was simply me using Release Skill tests on Eriksson.

"That is a terrifying skill. If I could not dodge, I would have a broken bone."

Thankfully, Eriksson's Agility was high enough that he dodged every shot.

Partly because I had been conserving mana, of course.

We agreed to spar again next time.

***

After dinner, as darkness fell, I sat beside Ria on the sofa.

I broached the subject carefully.

"Ria, you told me before that you wanted to visit the world I live in, right?"

"I did."

"How do you feel about it now?"

Ria fell silent for a moment before speaking.

"I am not sure."

"What part?"

"Well, the world you live in is a world with advanced civilization."

"It is."

"I am afraid that someone like me, from a world that lags behind in civilization, would seem too much like a country bumpkin."

That was the reason?

I had to hold back the laughter welling up inside me.

But it escaped anyway.

"Seon-u! I am being serious, so why are you laughing?"

"Sorry......! It is just that your worry is so adorable."

"......Adorable? I was genuinely serious. Think about it. If I acted like a country bumpkin in your world, you would be embarrassed, and you might lose feelings for me."

Ria did not know.

In the world I lived in, being pretty made everything charming.

Even being unsophisticated became endearing innocence and purity.

Even lacking knowledge made one an adorably clueless beauty.

'Ria always becomes so timid when it involves me.'

She was normally brimming with confidence.

Yet when it came to anything involving me, her confidence vanished and anxiety took its place.

"Ria."

"Yes?"

"I guarantee you, even if you wore the kind of outfit that farming grandmothers wear when they work in the fields, even if you acted in ways that seemed behind the times, no one would think you were unsophisticated."

"Why......?"

"Because one look in the mirror would tell you."

"I just have a plain face, though......"

If that was a plain face, then what kind of world had Ria lived in?

More likely, it was simply that Ria, being a former knight, thought of herself as a tomboy.

She had absolutely zero objectivity about her own appearance.

"In any case, there is absolutely no chance I would ever lose feelings for you, Ria."

"......Alright."

What I was actually worried about, on the other hand—

'I am worried that Ria would attract too much attention and too many stares.'

It was not just rose-tinted glasses. By any objective measure, Ria was a remarkably rare beauty.

'More importantly, if any troublesome situations arise, there is no way to prove Ria's identity.'

Because she was from another world.

I needed to give serious thought to whether taking her was the right call.