Vampire Ruins Gate (1)

Eastern region of the Serion Kingdom.

An adventurer camp set up in a clearing within a sunlit forest.

In front of the gate connected to the vampire ruins, adventurers equipped with all sorts of weapons had gathered in small groups.

There were 18 of them in total.

They were all members assembled for the raid on the gate.

“It’s nothing but a gathering of trash~.”

Johnson, a early-stage Expert adventurer and former knight, grumbled as he squatted down in the shade of a tree.

From his perspective, among the 18 assembled, only his own party of five looked like they’d be any real help.

“How the hell did the group end up like this?”

Johnson pointed to one corner of the camp.

“Over there. Those guys.”

Where he pointed, young porters with oversized backpacks were gathered together.

“Aren’t those Jack’s party’s porters? Where’s Jack’s party? Why are only the porters here?”

“Johnson. You didn’t hear?”

A pointy-hatted mage sitting next to Johnson, Linda—a 2-circle mage on the verge of 3—murmured while looking at her book.

“Been about a week now? I heard Jack died. His lackeys also got badly hurt. Think they’re still in the infirmary.”

“Huh? How did that happen?”

“Word is, they had a dungeon accident. Triggered the wrong trap. A golem trap. Just unlucky. They said Jack held off the monsters to buy enough time for the others to escape, at least.”

“Damn? Man, that guy’s story is sad~. Always lived like a pushover, even died like one. Who’s going to recognize that kind of sacrifice?”

“… Tch. I liked him, though. He lent me money easily.”

“Did you pay him back?”

“No. Well, there’s no one left to pay back now, so I guess it’s my money now.”

“Heh. What a wretch.”

“Ah, come on.”

Johnson chuckled, spitting on the ground with a “ptoo.”

“But wait… that means Jack’s party can’t make it? So besides the porters, it’s just us as the raid members?”

Jack’s rank was Expert mid-rank.

The members of his party were all at least high-rank adventurers, even the weakest among them.

Jack’s party was supposed to be the core fighting force along with Johnson’s party.

“If Jack’s party isn’t here, what are we supposed to do? Are they expecting us to do everything? Shouldn’t they have found another party to replace Jack’s?”

But no matter where he looked, there were only porters or shabby amateurs.

“Why don’t I see anyone else?”

“They came. Two of them. I heard they were dispatched from overseas to stand in for Jack’s party.”

“From abroad? Where?”

“Hisperion.”

“What, Hisperion? They sent people from there?”

Johnson craned his neck and looked around.

“Why can’t I spot them? If they’re knights from there, you could always tell just by the gear! They’d be wrapped in flashy armor or something, right?”

But no matter where he looked, there were only porters in worn casual clothes or amateur adventurers in light armor.

― Tap tap.

Just then, a hulking man standing next to Linda—Sam, early-stage Expert martial artist—tapped Johnson on the shoulder and gestured.

“Over there. Those two.”

“Huh?”

Where Sam pointed stood a boy and girl, clearly not even past their teens.

A gray-haired boy who didn’t even seem old enough to have armpit hair.

And a girl a bit taller, but surely only a year or two older, with brown hair.

They were Ian, an Expert high-rank swordsman from Hisperion who had come to gather vampire materials, and his childhood friend Sophia.

“Huh? Just kids, aren’t they?”

But to Johnson, they looked like nothing but average brats.

Those snot-nosed kids were the raid members sent in place of Jack’s party?

Jack’s group were all at least high-rank in ability, while those kids didn’t seem older than low-rank. Not even mid-rank.

And they were outnumbered too. Jack’s party: six. Those brats: just two.

“What the hell. Which bastard gave final approval for the raid team? You want us to go into the gate with this crew? Trying to get us killed?”

“Whoa. Calm down, Johnson.”

As Johnson was about to fly off the handle and storm to the guild, the thug Dean next to him spoke in a low voice.

“I thought the same way at first, but maybe… maybe this is a good opportunity for us.”

“…? What are you talking about?”

“Look closer at that girl’s sword hilt.”

“Hmm…?”

Narrowing his eyes, Johnson stared at the sword strapped to the brown-haired girl’s back.

His eyes widened in shock.

“What! Shit! Hey! That—?”

On the pommel of the sword’s hilt, he noticed a tiny engraved emblem.

It was the mark of Elegance Armory, the ultra-luxurious weapon brand.

“Th-that’s an Elegance Armory weapon, isn’t it?”

–Nod.

Thug Dean grinned wickedly and nodded.

“That’s right. That thing is damn expensive.”

Even the cheapest Elegance Armory weapon easily topped 1,000 gold.

1,000 gold—money a regular city-dweller could only scrape together in three or four years, eating nothing but grass.

Enough to buy 20,000 piping hot bowls of pork soup at 5 copper a try.

And those long swords? They were among the most expensive in the arsenal.

Easily worth well over 3,000 gold.

“Wow. Shit. I can’t believe I missed that.”

From the sheath to the guard, it was so unremarkable that he just assumed it was a regular sword.

Who would have thought there’d be such a crucial detail at the pommel?

“How does a little girl like that carry a sword worth thousands of gold?”

Did that little brat even know how to use such a fancy weapon?

If only it were his.

With a sword like that, he’d have graduated from silver-rank adventurer to gold-rank in no time.

“This feels so unfair.”

“Johnson. Why feel deprived? Once inside the gate, we’re all in the same boat, right? You know that.”

As Johnson gave him a questioning look, dean grinned with malice.

“Anyone can die in the gate if luck runs out. Whether you’re from the streets or a noble—doesn’t matter.”

“Hm…? Hey. Dean. You sound like…”

Johnson’s expression twisted into a matching wickedness.

“Are you suggesting we do a ‘job’?”

“Well… if you agree?”

“Of course I do, you bastard.”

At this secretive exchange, Linda the mage sitting nearby scowled.

“Hey! What? Are you out of your minds? Aren’t those kids from Hisperion? It’s obvious they’re nobles! Are you really going to target them?”

“When did we say we’d target them?”

Dean feigned innocence.

“We’re just saying that anyone could have bad luck in a gate. If a sword like that drops, we’ll just… pick it up.”

“Ha. Like I can’t read your minds? Don’t try anything stupid. You pull something with Hisperion nobles, do you know what revenge you could get?”

“Why would we get punished?”

Johnson grinned slyly.

“In a dungeon, anyone can die. Those brats are at even greater risk. Isn’t Hisperion crazy for sending kids into a gate like this in the first place? Obviously.”

“… There’s going to be an investigation from Hisperion, no matter what.”

“Pfft. Hey, so what? What can they do? The bodies will disappear when the gate closes, and even if the foreigners investigate, what could they possibly find?”

“You want to steal that weapon? Then Hisperion will obviously suspect us first. I don’t want to get wrapped up in this.”

“Relax. There’s no way they’ll trace it back to us.”

Dean looked around and lowered his voice.

“Just hide the sword for a few days after picking it up. Once things calm down, take it to another city and sell it on the black market. They’ll never find out.”

“… Hey, are you really going to do it?”

“Of course, idiot. It’s a huge chance for a big score. That sword alone is worth thousands of gold—thousands. That’s more than we’d make risking our necks for years.”

“B-but! Isn’t that too dangerous? What if, by any chance…”

“I’m telling you, they’ll never catch us.”

Dean and Johnson twisted their lips into cunning smiles.

“No matter how hard Hisperion investigates, how can they prove we did it? Even if they suspect us, we just play dumb. No evidence. What can they do?”

“Right, right. What are Hisperion people going to do, arrest Serion citizens without evidence?”

“Uh, umm…”

“Linda. Just keep your mouth shut. We’ll give you a cut, too, okay?”

“Think about it, Linda. It’s barely any risk. Why are you even an adventurer if you can’t handle this much? If you want to quit this shit job someday, you need to grab opportunities like this. How long are you going to keep doing dirty work?”

“He’s right. Just keep your head down and you can earn thousands of gold. How long are you going to keep risking your life? Miss this, and you’ll end up like old Jack, dying old and penniless.”

“Ha. Selling out Jack now, huh? You scumbags.”

Linda sighed and shook her head.

“Fine. I’ll keep my mouth shut. Just make sure my cut is fair.”

“Don’t! Worry! Linda.”

Johnson pinched Linda’s cheek and shook it.

“When it’s time, just use a Silence spell for us. We’ll take care of it quietly if we get the chance. Okay?”

“Then give me a bigger cut.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll give you enough to ditch that ugly pointy hat.”

“W-what! What’s wrong with my hat! It’s expensive, you know!”

–Slide.

At that moment, two men pushed their shadowed faces in.

“Don’t leave us out.”

“Give me a cut too.”

Sam, the martial artist, and Harris the archer, who’d been silently listening, finally spoke up.

“Fine.”

Johnson accepted them without complaint.

“You two handle the bodies. So no one else catches on. OK?”

“Leave it to us. We’ll make it clean.”

“We can rig it to look like a monster attack.”

Just like that, the malice of Johnson’s five-man party aligned perfectly with a single wicked intent.

* * *

‘Their stares are really obvious, aren’t they.’

Ian had sensed the harsh gazes directed at himself and Sophia for quite a while.

The stares of the five men and women squatting in the shade, staring holes through the two of them.

Their eyes were filled with thick malice and greed.

‘There are people like that everywhere, huh.’

Ian had experienced countless stares like those in his previous life too.

Most of them came from thugs and bandits.

Those guys were certainly no different.

In Ian’s experience, they were surely after Sophia’s expensive sword.

“Sophia.”

“Yes?”

“Look over there. The group sitting in the shade. Five of them.”

Ian glanced toward one corner of the camp with his eyes.

Over there, five men and women were grinning as they blatantly stared at Ian and Sophia.

“Yikes… Who are those people? Why are they looking at us like that?”

“Remember their faces. I think they’re after your sword.”

“M-my sword?! After my most treasured possession?! That’s outrageous! Wait, are you serious?”

“Yeah. In a gate, stealing or robbing other adventurers’ equipment is pretty common. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but there’s no harm in being cautious. Your gear is super expensive, so to them it must look like a lump of gold rolling on the ground.”

“Oh, dear…”

“And we’re both the youngest here, obviously. Easy to underestimate. We look like the weakest targets, so they figure it’ll be easy to steal from us. Be careful.”

“Yes… Got it. I thought only the monsters would be dangerous, but looks like I can’t even trust people around here. In the end, the only ones I can rely on are you and myself, young master!”

“Exactly. Especially in dangerous places like this, never trust others lightly. In places like this, people will kill for even a single chocolate bar. Let alone a 5,000 gold sword. I’ll say it again: be extra careful. All right?”

“Yes! Umm… I’m kind of nervous now. But young master, where did you learn stuff like this? Isn’t this your first time raiding a gate too?”

“… I read it in books. Adventurer essays and that sort of thing.”

“Ah, aha… But, um… I don’t remember seeing you reading any books lately…”

“…”

Of course not.

Truth was, Ian hadn’t read a single adventurer essay in this life or the last.

Everything he said came from direct experience in his previous life.

Past Ian had dealt with all sorts of lowlifes countless times.

In the many dungeons and gates he raided, he’d probably clashed with other humans half the time.

And Ian was always the one to survive.

Ian fixed his gaze on the group of five in the shade under the tree.

They were still looking at Ian with greedy, predatory eyes.

‘Bastards.’

In truth, Ian welcomed their greedy stares.

‘If they give me an excuse to act, that works out perfectly for me.’

That just meant more prey he could feed to Vladiark.

‘Nothing is as efficient at raising my aura rank as human life force.’

Ian’s eyes burned with a greed more intense than those five combined.

‘If I use Vladiark to drain their vital energy down to my dantian, I can even project the skills and spells they had.’

He coveted their very lives.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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