69. I'm a Little Disappointed
After the commotion finally died down, Ingwang-nim spoke with the man who proudly called himself a coachman and took tremendous pride in his profession.
“Mr. Coachman! Have you been well?”
“Of course. Are you thinking of going back to Haiang Gwe?”
“No? I wanted to ask about something else. Is there a decent dungeon somewhere nearby?”
“…Why are you asking me that?”
“You don’t know?”
“…Well, actually…!”
Throughout his life as a coachman, the man had listened to all kinds of conversations from all kinds of passengers, slowly building up an impressive amount of knowledge.
As if what he knew were some great secret, he carefully shared the information with Ingwang-nim and no one else.
If it was a dungeon nearby, and one that even a coachman could confidently recommend, there were probably two choices.
The ‘Mad Fairy’s Lake.’
Or the ‘Old Iron Mine.’
Since Ingwang-nim wanted to visit a dungeon for the sake of the woman who had originally been after the golem in the underground cave, he would probably choose the iron mine.
If so, we would need to make quite a few preparations.
Unlike the underground cave, which had already been traveled through by countless people and had lights installed along its paths, the mine had no such conveniences.
We would need lanterns.
And since there would be undead and goblins armed with iron weapons, we would also need plenty of medicine for tetanus, as well as holy water.
Since Miss Mallang was currently a member of our team, we probably would not need to prepare a huge amount.
Still, we could not leave everything entirely to Miss Mallang.
Ingwang-nim had a rather impulsive temper, and because of that, he tended to get injured quite often.
We would have to prepare properly ourselves.
Even so, compared to what ordinary adventurers needed, the amount would be significantly smaller.
Miss Mallang had possessed excellent natural talent from the beginning, but now, thanks to Ingwang-nim’s enthusiastic support, she possessed all three pairs of Wings of Corruption.
Among our companions, she had become the most threatening existence of all.
Her nature was kind, so she disliked causing harm to those around her and almost never used abilities related to the power of Corruption.
And yet she was already this powerful.
It was a level of strength fitting for someone who had once managed to make Ingwang-nim nearly cry simply by avoiding him.
At first, Ingwang-nim seemed to think of her as little more than an amusing toy.
But now, she had risen to the position of something like a beloved pet dog.
As the person who had stayed beside him the longest, I could not help feeling a little left out.
“Today’s destination is the ‘Old Iron Mine’! It’s so dark and cramped that hardly anyone goes there, so there isn’t much攻略 information or any useful facilities either! Doesn’t that make your heart race?”
That childlike smile and excited tone did not suit his age in the slightest.
And yet, for Ingwang-nim, who simply wished to enjoy the world, it suited him perfectly.
On the other hand, to Miss Aien, who was far more mature than her age suggested, such a side of Ingwang-nim must have looked incredibly dangerous and unstable.
Still, Miss Aien had already begun to be influenced by Ingwang-nim without even realizing it.
I doubted she would strongly oppose him much in the future.
However, after the recent underground cave incident, that cheeky little brat named Happy, who had once been Miss Aien’s companion, had become quite a large obstacle between the two of them.
Ingwang-nim was probably aware of that as well.
For the sake of keeping things smooth in the future, he would likely make some concessions for Miss Aien.
“You’re not going to melt it again, right?”
“Of course not! I promise!”
“…Haa. Fine.”
The word promise coming from Ingwang-nim carried considerable weight for every member of our team.
During every moment we had spent together, Ingwang-nim had always stood in the most dangerous place.
He moved ahead of everyone else.
And until the very last moment, he always remained at the rear, protecting our backs while the rest of us retreated.
He himself seemed to think nothing of it.
Whenever we brought up something he had done and asked whether he remembered it, he often looked as though he genuinely had no idea what we were talking about.
But as a member of the team who had seen everything and remembered everything, I could say this with certainty.
His promises were never false.
And perhaps Miss Aien understood that better than anyone.
After all, she always fought closest to Ingwang-nim and was considered his strongest weapon.
After obtaining a powerful weapon in Haiang Gwe, even I seemed to have earned some recognition from him as a proper combat member.
But I could never compare to Miss Aien or Miss Mallang when it came to the trust he placed in them during battle.
Still.
That was fine.
“Then wait here for a little while. I’m going to the market with the Village Chief to prepare some things. Mallang, you wait here too.”
“Are you going off to have another secret conversation?”
“Hehehe. Let’s just say it’s somewhere a little too scary for a slime to enter.”
“Mister! I told you not to get involved with places like that!”
“I don’t want to!”
Smack!
Perhaps Miss Aien should become a little more aware of exactly how powerful she had become.
If she was careless, she might actually destroy Ingwang-nim’s shoulder one day.
That aside, I wondered why Ingwang-nim was leaving three women who seemed unlikely to have a pleasant conversation together in the same place.
Would that not risk creating unnecessary trouble?
I could more or less guess why he wanted to take me with him.
However, I could not easily understand why he was leaving those three behind.
Perhaps, while he was absent, he wanted Miss Mallang to quietly observe Miss Lucy.
Unlike the others, Miss Mallang would look at Miss Lucy without any prejudice or preconceived ideas.
When Ingwang-nim first met Miss Lucy at the café, the emotion he showed was, if I may dare say so, undoubtedly something very close to love.
And that emotion was probably not meant for Miss Lucy herself.
It was meant for the Fallen Witch.
The woman Ingwang-nim called Pai.
Miss Lucy looked far too much like the Fallen Witch.
Perhaps that resemblance had confused his own emotions, and he wanted a clear standard by which he could judge them.
Depending on what Miss Mallang said about Miss Lucy afterward, Ingwang-nim would probably decide how he would treat her from then on.
If she truly had absolutely nothing to do with the Fallen Witch, their relationship would likely remain exactly as it was now.
But if he found even the smallest connection between them…
He would undoubtedly show a very different side of himself.
“Let’s go, Village Chief.”
“Yes. We’ll be back shortly.”
“Village Chief! Make sure you watch Mister properly so he doesn’t do anything stupid!”
“Ah, when you come back, could you buy me a bag of peach-flavored candy? I happened to try one at the café, and I rather liked it.”
“Yes, understood.”
A person who possessed the power of Madness.
A person infected by the power of Madness.
A knight destined to become the enemy of Madness.
And a slime, a monster that was supposed to be an enemy of humanity.
To think beings like these could all remain together in one place so naturally.
By the standards of everything I had once believed, this should have been impossible.
In all the countless years I had lived—enough years that I dared use the word impossible—I had never once seen such a combination.
Once again, I found myself amazed by Ingwang-nim’s incredible ability to create at least one ally no matter where he went.
“Village Chief.”
And then there were moments like this.
His voice suddenly became calm and cold, completely different from the tone he had used only moments earlier.
It carried a seasoned weight that did not suit his age.
Whenever he called me like that, a shiver ran through me.
Even on a crowded street filled with countless people going about their noisy lives, that voice had enough force to make it feel as though Ingwang-nim and I were the only two people left in the entire world.
It had been the same when he discovered that the supposed leader of the fanatics was a fake.
Even in the presence of two magnificent Great Heroes—the Strongest Great Hero and the Youngest Great Hero—he had completely captured everyone’s attention and dragged the entire flow of the situation toward himself.
I could confidently say that there was something special about him.
Every action he took eventually returned to him in the form of another trial.
And yet every achievement he accomplished ultimately created the strength he needed to overcome those very trials.
During the battle against the Fallen One, he had intentionally left a single badger alive.
That badger naturally attracted the attention of a Great Hero, eventually drawing that Great Hero’s power into the battle against the Fallen One.
And the events of twenty years ago had ultimately created a continuing connection between him and another Great Hero.
After realizing the existence of the power of Madness, Ingwang-nim allowed a small amount of it to spread during the battle in Jageun Village.
