Chapter 93

Chapter 93. I Am Coming to Save You (3)

In the deep forest where darkness had begun to settle.

After sending a monster lunging at her flying with her shield, Katrine looked back.

“Is everyone all right?”

At Katrine’s words, Leonel, who had been slammed into a tree, waved his hand.

“I-I am still alive. If those monsters had not turned back just now, I definitely would have died.”

He was wounded, but Mirisa and Jesus were still alive.

Leonel, who I thought had died or been gravely injured, also seemed able to move.

Until just moments ago, I had thought everyone here would die, but by luck, some of the monsters had turned back, allowing them to remain alive.

However, even now, the situation was not very hopeful.

There were still many monsters left.

Once some of the monsters withdrew, those encircling them briefly stopped attacking, but they were preparing to attack again now.

Their numbers had decreased, but even so, it still seemed too much for this group to block the remaining monsters.

Most of the students looked as though fighting would be difficult for them, and Katrine was exhausted as well.

Katrine checked her waist. Blood was flowing from her split-open side.

It was not a small wound. The more she moved, the more certain it was that the wound would open further. If that happened, fighting would become even more difficult……

However, if she did not move, they would have no choice but to die here.

Katrine clenched her teeth.

Pain assaulted her entire body, but she had to protect the students behind her.

She had already lost one student. She could not lose any more.

Grrrrrr.

The monsters began moving again.

Katrine also steeled her resolve. Even so, compared to before, a tiny sliver of hope had appeared.

If she sacrificed her life, perhaps at least the remaining students could return alive.

Even after defeating these monsters, the path back remained bleak, but she decided not to think that far ahead.

With that thought, Katrine raised her sword and shield.

Graa!

The monster at the very front charged at Katrine.

And then—

Something leaped down from overhead.

Crunch!

A thick sword sank deep into the monster’s head.

The monster collapsed, and the other monsters that had been charging stopped in surprise.

Katrine looked at the person who had leaped down from above with startled eyes.

I looked at Katrine while pulling out the sword embedded in the monster.

“I am not too late, am I?”

---

More monsters remained than I had expected, and there were many wounded people as well, so dealing with the remaining monsters was not easy.

Still, after we held them off desperately, the monsters eventually gave up and retreated.

Fortunately, we were able to end the fight without anyone else getting injured.

The sun had already set, and we were in the middle of the forest, but it was difficult to move for now.

I checked Katrine’s wound first.

When I saw blood flowing from Katrine’s side earlier, I had been startled.

I had been worried that I might have come too late, but fortunately, it was a wound that could be treated with a potion.

“It will hurt a little.”

“Ugh.”

I poured the potion onto the wound and wrapped her waist with a bandage.

Katrine grimaced, but she endured it well.

After treating the most serious wound, I checked the students.

Fortunately, no one had suffered any major injury.

Everyone had survived, but none of their expressions looked good.

That was because Ride had gone missing.

Everyone was worried about Ride, but no one told me, the one who was relatively uninjured, to go search for him.

He had disappeared near the monsters’ nest. Since they had been attacked by those monsters until now, it would be difficult for them to tell me to go back to that nest and find him.

If they asked, I did have some intention of pretending to search half-heartedly, but more importantly, right now, I had to protect the people here.

Katrine, who had been lost in thought while enduring the pain, seemed to have reached a conclusion and forced herself to rise.

“This place is dangerous. We need to find somewhere safe.”

“Not yet. Your wound is severe. You should not move right now.”

I stopped her, but she shook her head.

“The wound is fine. More importantly, I wanted to wait a little longer for Ride. But it is too late now. It has grown dark, so it will be even more dangerous.”

Black darkness had descended over the forest of the sealed grounds.

I could no longer stop her easily either. Just as she said, spending the night here would be difficult.

“There is a place I saw on the way here. Let us go there first.”

At my words, Katrine nodded.

I called Bria and had her support Katrine.

Bria, as well as the other students, seemed somewhat surprised after hearing my conversation with Katrine.

That was because Katrine and I seemed much closer than they had expected.

I led the group from the front.

Right now, I was the only one in the group who could properly fight.

I raised my senses as much as possible and examined the surroundings.

The number of monsters was gradually increasing. They were ones that had not been visible during the day, and I could not tell where they were coming from.

I moved carefully. I avoided the monsters as much as possible. We went around widely to the left and right, withdrew, then advanced again.

The students felt dissatisfied with the direction constantly changing here and there, but since Katrine said nothing, they kept that dissatisfaction inside and silently followed me.

After taking more than twice as much time, the place we arrived at was the cave where I had stayed before dying.

At the very least, I had confirmed it was safe for one day, so right now, there was no better refuge than this place.

After laying Katrine down inside the cave, I began gathering branches and undergrowth to cover the cave entrance, just as I had done back then.

The other students lay down inside the cave from exhaustion, but Bria helped me carry branches.

After some time passed, we succeeded in covering the cave entrance with undergrowth and branches to the point that it was difficult to see from outside.

“You worked hard.”

“You are the one who worked hard, Young Master Alex.”

After telling each other we had worked hard, we entered the cave.

“You must be tired. Sleep for a while.”

At my words, Bria bowed her head deeply.

“Thank you. We survived because of you.”

Her voice echoed inside the cave.

‘Did she say that loudly so everyone could hear?’

It seemed everyone heard it.

The students who had been lying down rose and thanked me.

“You should thank Professor more than me. Professor protected all of you.”

I thought she had fallen asleep, but Katrine’s voice rang out.

“No. It was only natural for me to protect the members of my group. The one they should thank is you, Alex.”

In the end, I had no choice but to accept everyone’s thanks.

I accepted their thanks, but to be honest, I would have preferred it if they gave me money or relics instead of gratitude.

Once she was lying down, the pain seemed to subside even if only slightly.

Katrine frowned and asked me,

“But how did you find us? Surely you did not become stranded?”

At Katrine’s question, I told her what had happened today.

After hearing that I had come because of the princess’s request, Katrine let out a sigh.

“It is something I should be grateful for, but she must not use power that way…….”

Even as she groaned from her wound, she seemed worried about the princess.

“I will apologize on her behalf. You must have come here prepared to risk your life, so I will make sure you are compensated somehow.”

As expected, Katrine was a wonderful professor who understood my heart.

Katrine then worried about the search party.

“The search party must be looking for us right now…….”

Oh dear, I had forgotten. No, I had deliberately pushed it out of my mind.

It had been difficult to save Katrine while also thinking about the search party.

Feeling apologetic, I answered her.

“Should I try looking for them?”

“No. Finding the search party at night will be difficult, and it is dangerous even for you at night.”

At Katrine’s words, I obediently nodded.

I felt sorry toward the knights who were probably searching, but this was not a matter of saving Katrine, and it would be difficult to go looking for the search party in the middle of this night.

Katrine’s voice gradually grew quieter.

The students had already fallen asleep.

Unlike before I died, everyone seemed less shocked.

Katrine continued murmuring worries in a voice that was barely audible.

“And there should be a night watch too…….”

“I can stand watch tonight.”

“And…….”

After I answered her one by one, she eventually fell asleep too.

Once everyone had fallen asleep, I climbed over the branches piled at the entrance.

Leaning my back against the rock wall beside the cave, I looked out at the dark forest.

As expected, leaving the people in the cave and going to find the search party was impossible.

I buried my apologetic feelings and took out the pouch I had put deep inside my bag.

It was the pouch I had taken from Ride.

Because I had been moving frantically, I had not yet checked inside the pouch.

From the outside, it looked like an empty pouch. However, Ride had worn it diligently. It could not simply be an empty pouch.

I opened the pouch and looked inside.

The inside of the pouch was black.

There was starlight, and I had infused mana into my eyes, yet the inside of the pouch was nothing but darkness.

It seemed this was not an ordinary pouch after all.

I widened the mouth of the pouch and carefully put my hand inside.

‘Are these coins? There seems to be something like a ring too. There are folded papers as well.’

As expected, it was no ordinary pouch.

When I put my hand inside, the objects within the pouch appeared in my mind. They were only rough shapes, but it was enough to take them out.

First, I took out the coins, which were the most numerous. When I imagined the coins in my mind, they were caught in my hand.

I pulled the coins I had grabbed out of the pouch.

The coins I took out shone yellow under the starlight.

“They are gold coins?”

Unfortunately, they were not ancient gold coins or anything of that sort, but kingdom gold coins. Still, gold coins were gold coins.

“There are still a lot!”

I diligently took gold coins out of the pouch.

One handful, two handfuls, three handfuls…….

Far more gold coins than the pouch’s size could have held piled up on the ground.

“About one hundred or so?”

Looking at the pile of gold coins on the ground made me feel full.

One gold coin was about a month’s living expenses for an ordinary family in this world. One hundred would be ten years of living expenses.

In terms of my previous life, would it be around three or four hundred million?

When I went into the dungeon with Katrine, we had found decent treasures as well, but unfortunately, I could not exchange them, so I had hidden them deep in my room.

However, this time, they were gold coins. With this much money, I could live comfortably while attending the academy.

“Should I send some to Mother too?”

With a smile on my lips, I put my hand into the pouch again.

The next thing I thought of was something resembling a ring.

‘Please be an expensive jeweled ring.’

Unfortunately, however, the ring I took out had no gemstone embedded in it.

“A ring-shaped stamp, no, a seal?”

On the front of the ring, a coat of arms was engraved instead of a gemstone.

“Surely it is not a family seal.”

Since I did not know what it was, I took out the next object.

I thought of paper, but what I grabbed in my hand felt like something similar to leather.

“Is this papyrus?”

On the old papyrus, folded several times, something like a map had been drawn.

“Tsk, it is not even a treasure map.”

Thinking this one was a dud too, I immediately took out the next object.

This time, it was paper as well.

“This is just paper. No, is it a letter?”

I unfolded the folded paper and read the letter.

As I read the letter, my eyes grew wider and wider, and my mouth fell open.

It was hard to believe.

I looked at the ring and map I had taken out first.

“Do not tell me they were all real?”