Chapter 43

Chapter 43. The Eve of the Storm

It was absurd that he had suddenly become the hope of the expedition, but there was something even more absurd than that.

It was the fact that they could no longer explore the ruins.

That was only natural, since they had decided to end the exploration and return.

While everyone was preparing to leave for the return journey, Balun alone stood there blankly with an extremely complicated expression for that very reason.

“Brother, why does your expression look so complicated?”

Perhaps finding that strange, Michael asked. Michael had not shown himself for quite a long time, and apparently, it was because he had collapsed and lost consciousness while fighting somewhere far away from the campsite during the Lizardman attack.

“It is nothing much. I was just thinking.”

“I think I know what you are thinking. You are worried about whether we will be able to return safely, right?”

“What?”

“Do not worry. We survived even in that chaos. Haha.”

Michael spoke as though comforting Balun, but it had no effect on him at all.

That was not what Balun was worried about.

Of course, he wanted to return safely, but was that important right now?

He was about to lose a huge sum of money he was supposed to receive.

‘That Gregory fellow is stricter than I expected. If I simply ask him to give it to me, he obviously will not.’

Gregory spoke politely to everyone and used a gentle manner of speech, but at least when it came to contracts, he showed a firm attitude.

A contract was a contract, so there was nothing to be done. That was his cold position.

Balun also thought the same, but the problem was that he was now the party involved and was about to suffer a loss.

He was in danger of losing a massive sum of 250 gold.

Balun wanted to receive that money no matter what.

He had gone through all that hardship and saved people just to receive it, so what meaning would all of that have if things ended like this?

Balun thought.

Now that it had come to this, there was only one method.

‘Let us negotiate. I will settle this once and for all.’

He immediately put it into practice.

“Gregory. I have something to say.”

“Yes. What is it?”

“You said it, did you not? That I am hope.”

“I did. Lord Balun is truly the hope of the expedition.”

“Then Balun must be an important person.”

“That is true...?”

Gregory looked puzzled.

His expression seemed to say, Why is this man suddenly saying something like this?

“Thinking about it, Balun did many things.”

Balun broached the subject and began his operation.

“Balun saved the advance party. I saved you too. Right?”

“That is right. I survived thanks to you.”

“And Balun saved the expedition captain too. And the knights. Correct?”

“That is correct.”

“That was not just saving them. Balun killed as many as twenty-one Black Moon Assassins. It was an extremely dangerous fight.”

“Hmm, it certainly must have been.”

Gregory nodded. He had already heard about it as well. Balun had fought and won against as many as twenty-one Black Moon Assassins to save Heinrich.

They had even used their proud Curtain of Confusion.

Gregory had been greatly shocked when he heard that fact.

“Balun made that many contributions. If Balun had not been there, we would not have known about the Black Tower or Black Moon. We all would have died. Is that not right?”

“That is right.”

“Then the answer is clear.”

“The answer? What do you mean...?”

Balun stretched out his palm.

“Give me an incentive.”

“Pardon? An in-incentive?”

“Yes. An incentive.”

Gregory’s expression naturally tilted.

What was that?

“What is an incentive?”

“Money.”

“Money?”

“Yes. Balun must receive a lot of money. Give me money.”

“Ah, aah. Money. Then you should have said it that way.”

Only then did Gregory understand.

“We can certainly give you more money. This works out well. I was thinking we should repay you anyway. It seems giving you money would be best. That would be fair.”

“Excellent!”

Balun nodded in satisfaction.

“I will speak frankly.”

“Yes. Please do.”

“260 gold.”

“Pardon?”

“Balun wants to receive that much.”

After saying it, Balun watched Gregory’s expression.

He was worried that his intent might have been too obvious.

Saying 250 gold would reveal his motives too plainly, so he had raised it by 10 gold and said 260 gold instead.

He also wanted to gain even a little more profit.

‘Damn it. Was it too obvious? Even I think it was rather obvious.’

“260 gold. Will that be enough?”

“Huh?”

“I would like to give you more.”

Balun was flustered.

Gregory had accepted so readily?

‘Damn it, I should have asked for more.’

Regret surged up.

He should have been greedier!

“I understand Lord Balun’s heart. You are surely being considerate of our Blue Tower. You must be worried that we may be struggling with financial difficulties.”

“Uh, that is...”

“However, do not worry. We have plenty of money. We are the Blue Magic Tower, after all.”

“I-I see!”

“Please do not do that and ask for more.”

Balun fell into thought.

How much should he ask for?

If he followed his heart, he wanted to blurt out a huge amount, but was it truly all right to do that?

When it came time to actually be greedy, he became strangely intimidated, and Balun ended up making a timid choice again.

“Hmm, 300 gold?”

“300 gold. Good. Let us do that.”

Once he said it, regret immediately surged up again.

The human heart was truly cunning.

‘Balun, you fool. Why did you ask for so little? You could have boldly asked for two or three times as much.’

He truly regretted it. Why had he been so intimidated?

‘Ah, I could have received more. Aah.’

“Then we will give you the remaining payment of 250 gold plus an additional 300 gold, for a total of 550 gold. How does that sound?”

“Huh?”

Balun blinked.

“You are giving me the remaining payment?”

“Of course.”

“Even though the request failed? Even though the exploration stopped?”

“Strictly speaking, that is true, but how could we be that rigid? This is not anyone else. It is Lord Balun.”

Balun was dazed.

‘He was going to give me the remaining payment?’

No, then he should have said that!

In that instant, a brilliant light seemed to bloom before Balun’s eyes.

And that light came from Gregory.

“Gregory. Light is shining from you.”

“Pardon?”

“You were an angel!”

“Pardon?”

***

The next day, the expedition left the campsite early in the morning and set out on the road back to Pordel.

Tension hung over the expressions of everyone walking through the dense forest after leaving the campsite.

There were forty-three people in total. Compared to the large force that had once numbered about two hundred, their scale had clearly shrunk.

On top of that, there was also the anxiety that they might be attacked. There was no way their expressions could be good.

Especially since it was none other than the Black Tower.

What kind of place was the Black  Tower?

It was a calamity proudly counted among the worst and most dreadful.

No one failed to understand how frightening it was to be marked by such people.

Anyone from the continent had grown up hearing at least one ominous rumor about the Black Tower.

“Damn it. I am going to shit myself.”

“Hold it in. How long has it been since we rested?”

“Are you an idiot? That is not what I mean. I mean my legs are trembling so badly I might die.”

The expedition members deliberately poured out chatter to shake off their anxiety. Thanks to that, it felt as though the empty spaces left by the many missing people had been filled, but it also made them look even more unstable.

The eyes of those walking while pushing through the thick undergrowth unmistakably revealed their anxiety.

“Can we even sleep? What if we get assassinated in our sleep?”

“We will stand night watch. It should be fine.”

“But our opponent is Black Moon. And the one who hired those bastards is the Black Tower. Can we stop them?”

“If we cannot stop them, then we die. What else can we do?”

“Damn it, this feels filthy. Cursed Assassins. Ptooey!”

Moreover, with the threat of Black Moon’s Assassins on top of everything, the atmosphere surrounding the expedition on its return journey could truly be called the eve of the storm.

Then what was Balun doing amid this strange atmosphere?

‘I can do it. I can do it.’

He was hypnotizing himself.

There was a reason he was doing this.

It was because every one of those who were supposedly his comrades had been poisoned by Mana Poison and was not in a normal state.

According to Gregory, Mana Poison would naturally detoxify over time even without an antidote, but that period would take at least a month.

In other words, without an antidote right now, they would be unable to properly use their strength for a month.

That meant they would not be able to use those impressive Beam Blades or powerful attack magic.

Even the so-great Gregory of the Blue Tower had been reduced to a basic magic shuttle instead of being able to use attack magic.

‘All forty-two of my teammates are useless. So I have to do well. I have to do well.’

Balun kept repeating those words inwardly.

There was no need to think so extremely, but in a crisis like this, it was right to think that way.

Through experience, he had learned that one’s mentality would not waver if one always kept the worst-case scenario in mind.

Of course, if things went wrong, he could just run away. Balun was always prepared to do that.

But then he would not receive the 250 gold.

No, with the 300 gold added, it was as much as 550 gold.

He was deeply uneasy, but he still had something to trust.

‘If the Black Moon Assassins are all at that level, they are manageable enough.’

Looking back, that had been the case.

They were supposedly one of the world’s top three or whatever, but compared to that, they felt rather lacking in substance.

If not for those smoke bombs, he would not have been in danger at all.

Of course, Balun only thought that because he did not know.

Assassins were originally not as strong in combat as their infamy suggested.

After all, their specialty was assassination.

Moreover, they were strong in darkness, but at that time, it had been broad daylight. Naturally, they had been unable to display their full ability.

‘If it truly does not work, I can abandon everyone and run away with only Gregory and Heinrich. As for the rest, well, there is nothing I can do.’

Balun looked up at the sky. Before he knew it, the sun was setting.

He could see the red sunset falling over the thick trees.

‘We will make camp.’

Sure enough, BWOOO!

Soon, a whistle sounded softly, signaling that they were stopping.

The expedition members who had been walking let out small sighs.

“It is a rest. We will make camp here today.”

“Probably.”

As expected, preparations for camp began. They hurriedly pitched tents and prepared a simple meal.

The meal preparation was nothing grand. Their food ingredients had almost run out, so they had to replace meals with salted meat for the entire schedule.

If they safely reached the city, the food menu would change, but until then, they had no choice but to chew on hard, salty lumps of meat.

“Ah, we can rest a little. Brother, let us go sit down. My feet hurt to death from walking all day.”

“...”

“Brother?”

Michael called Balun. But for some reason, Balun was standing still and looking up at the sky.

Curious, Michael asked.

“Brother, what is wrong? Is there something in the sky?”

“The birds flew away.”

“Birds?”

“Many flew away.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Yes.”

Animals had much sharper senses than humans. In the wild, observing animals sometimes became an important clue.

For instance, the appearance of rats.

Or the large-scale movement of birds.

Of course, birds normally moved often.

But they did not fly around in such great numbers like this.

Unless a plague was spreading.

Then what was the case now?

‘Killing Intent.’

Balun’s eyes narrowed.

He could feel extremely faint Killing Intent from every direction.

Balun, who was exceedingly sensitive to Killing Intent, could sense it.

‘The birds sensed the Killing Intent. That is why they all fled.’

His instincts told him.

This was not the time to leisurely make camp.

“Brother. Where are you going?”

“To report it.”

“Report it? Report what?”

“It is dangerous.”

Balun immediately went to Heinrich.

“Balun. What is the matter?”

“We must stop making camp.”

“Stop making camp? What do you mean...?”

“I mean we must move.”

“Right now?”

“Right now. Immediately.”

At Balun’s words, Heinrich’s face turned bewildered.

What kind of madman would cross the forest at night?

No one would do such a mad thing unless they were trying to kill themselves.

Moreover, monsters tended to become even wilder at night.

He immediately tried to persuade Balun.

“I understand why you are saying that. But this would be like trying to avoid one danger only to face another. It would be a serious problem if we encountered wild beasts or a group of monsters. As you know, our current fighting power is in a terrible state.”

“But if we do not move, we die now.”

“Die? What do you mean...?”

“Killing Intent is approaching. Enemies are coming... Hmm.”

Balun groaned softly.

“It is already too late.”

The sensation of Killing Intent sharpening was far too quick.

And yet this nobleman, who was still acting carefree without knowing it, made Balun so frustrated that he could go mad.

“Captain. Give the order to prepare for battle.”

“What?”

“I said give it right now. If you do not want to be beaten to death.”

Balun glared at Heinrich and growled like an angry beast. Seeing his extremely serious expression, Heinrich was flustered.