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The Nymphs and Pluto’s Underground Labyrinth
105 ? Nymph Cult and Pluto’s Underground Labyrinth #3
“Hassan of Samaria. You are the one in charge of this labyrinth expedition!!”
Hippolyte’s sharp eyes stared at me as if they were going to pierce my face. I couldn’t help but be flustered when my name was called while I was momentarily off guard.
The surroundings rustled loudly as I tried to get up from my chair.
“Even at first glance, he looks like a savage.”
“You were given a weapon and even a name by Lady Youngae?”
“This is my first time seeing it in person. Wow, it’s exactly as I imagined it to be.”
I had no tolerance for attracting attention, so I felt the blood rushing to my face. I had been told that I could just relax as an observer of the conversion ceremony. Who would have thought that there would be another event like this after that?
I don’t really like these kinds of surprise parties.
Still, I felt like I couldn’t show myself nervous and awkward in front of the guys I might be competing with for the gold tier necklace in the future.
When he stood before Hippolyte with his shoulders and back straight and with an air of exaggerated grandeur, exclamations erupted here and there.
“She’s a head taller than the Empress of the Amazons. As expected, Samaritans are said to be excellent warriors from birth. Even their skeletons feel different from those of continental people.”
“Hey, what’s the benefit of being tall? You’re just a target for arrows.”
“Yeah, next dwarf kid. Dwarves are fucking small.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Quiet-. Be quiet.”
Hippolyte cleared the room that was starting to become chaotic.
She soon looked up at me, who was about a head taller than her.
Unlike the times when he would show his human side to Luna and me, his serious appearance without even a hint of a smile made me nervous.
Do you feel like your work and private life are completely separated?
“Young warrior Hassan, if this goes well, you may be promoted to Silver Tier sooner.”
You’re getting promoted to Silver Tier sooner? I heard that you need to have at least an average score of 30 to be eligible for Silver Tier.
My level has been rising rapidly lately, but I’m still a long way from reaching level 30.
“Lady Hippolyte, is that-” Is that true? That was the moment I was about to ask that.
“Hippolyte! That is nonsense!”
Someone suddenly stood up from their seat and shouted. Everyone’s attention was focused on the angry voice.
Soon, at the end of the countless eyes gathered, a man was seen wielding a very long sword.
He had gray hair and a gray beard, but his face was quite young. He must have been in his mid-thirties.
He looks like a veteran, wearing lightweight leather equipment, a belt, a breastplate, and leggings. The necklace of the same color around his neck is also worn, as if it has been used for a long time.
Anyway, just by looking at him, you could tell that he was a seasoned adventurer.
Hippolyte, who was looking at him, opens her narrow eyes and speaks.
“You’re the troubleshooter Barnes. You’re as rude as they say.”
“Should I say I am honored that the great priestess of Mars knows my name? But I must speak out. That way I can live up to the name of the rude Barnes.”
A bronze tier inspector named Barnes glanced around.
“Everyone here has been rolling around on the floor, vomiting blood for months and years to wear a silver necklace around their necks. There are countless people who have given up in frustration. But now, a rookie who has barely been here for a month is getting a silver tier?”
At the man’s words, people glanced at each other. As they said, the adventurers gathered around him were veterans just like that man named Barnes.
Still, most of their tiers are bronze.
In fact, most adventurers either retire from Bronze Tier due to serious injuries, feel disillusioned, or quit or die.
In other words, unless you are in a truly blessed environment, bronze tier is the limit for commoners.
“Therefore, I, Barnes, protest this appointment. I don’t like the fact that I wasn’t included in this expedition in the first place.”
That was Barnes’ end to the story. His appearance made me feel very embarrassed, like I was a guest at a wedding without even receiving an invitation. Shit, it’s embarrassing.
Then Hippolyta opens her mouth again.
“Barnes Rodelheim. The duration of a warrior’s valor is not important. Since you don’t realize that, your level doesn’t increase. That’s why you’ve been stuck in Bronze for more than five years.”
“That’s a harsh statement. Hasn’t Your Majesty been stuck in the Silver Tier for years? I heard that she’s been under some kind of curse and is feeling stagnant in her growth.”
As Barnes finished speaking, the people around him began to stir, one by one.
“curse?”
“Hippolyte is cursed?”
“There was a reason why you weren’t promoted to Gold Tier.”
While the word curse was being passed around here and there, Hippolyte surprisingly didn’t say a word. She just had an indifferent expression on her face, as if it was coming.
Barnes adds a few more words, perhaps taking the silence as an affirmative.
“You might wonder how I knew that. If you’ve been around this place for a long time, even if you don’t know the warrior’s achievements, the rumors you hear will accumulate in your head.”
“You really are an excellent information expert. You deserve to be called a problem solver.”
“If you can’t even take care of yourself, then you’re giving advice to others. Aren’t you ashamed of your name, Daughter of Mars? No, how can a girl who used to wander around back alleys be called Daughter of Mars?”
Gugit.
Hippolyte, who had been listening to the story without any particular concern, furrowed her brows. Seeing that made me feel nervous for no reason.
Will this little bastard Barnes’ pot explode like this? I don’t want to see a corpse with a burst head. I wonder what that bastard believes in to go against this woman’s wishes like this. I’m getting anxious for no reason.
But if you think about it, most people in this world are originally idiots. Idiots who don’t even know that they’re putting their hand in a tiger’s mouth.
However, Hippolyta did not get angry or anything, but instead calmed her expression again.
“Okay, Barnes. I’ve been beating around the bush, but what you’re really trying to say is that you disagree with my decision as your priestess this time.”
“exactly.”
“Then let’s just talk in the warrior’s way.”
“Okay, that’s it.”
Barnes’ face lit up at Hippolyte’s words.
“Now I can understand. Hippolyte, priestess of Mars! I, Barnes, take this opportunity to challenge that savage son to a duel!!”
and-!
At that moment, as if they had been waiting for it, a loud cheer erupted. I felt quite taken aback by the atmosphere, which felt like a festival.
“Wow, shit, really! You little Barnes! You’re the one who does it when you do it!”
“You little punk, don’t you care about your life, attacking Samaritan? Does that punk have two lives?”
“Barnes’ total number is around 20. I heard Samaritan’s number is only 7?”
“You idiot, how could such numbers matter to the Samaritans? Even little babies would catch and burst a poisonous snake with their bare hands. That’s what the Samaritans are.”
“Anyway, someone is going to clean up the mess.”
Amidst the laughter and shouting of everyone, the gray eyes of a man named Barnes stared straight at me.
Unlike how he had been shouting like a clown in front of people just now, his gaze was sharp and unyielding, like that of a wild beast.
“Son of the Savage, I will give you a choice of method of combat. Either bare-handed or armed combat. I will not shirk!!”
Barnes shouted curiously. Hippolyta, who was standing in front of me, quietly snorted at the sight.
“It’s a trick to draw attention and increase your own fame. You don’t know that you won’t rise to the top if you keep thinking about such tricks. But…”
Hippolyte stopped talking and closed her eyes. After taking a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes wide and the corners of her mouth lifted.
“But it’s fun. It’s good!”
F*ck.
I didn’t even answer and just sat there, but the duel just happened. What the heck is this indiscriminate PK?
You savage bastards who can’t learn and just eat. I’m really upset that I don’t know who the real savages are.
“Ha, Hassan… .”
At that moment, someone grabbed my back by the collar with a worried voice. When I turned my head, wasn’t it Luna looking up at me with anxious eyes?
Luna seemed nervous about me having to face that fierce veteran adventurer.
“Oh, you must not kill me, Hassan…”
No, it wasn’t me that was worried, it was the other person. Doesn’t Luna have any idea that I’d lose?
Something about that scene made the situation seem so unrealistic and funny that I just laughed.
A laugh that comes from deep within the stomach for no reason.
“Look at that. The duel is set to happen and he’s laughing!”
“Fuck, I’m too scared to look. Just tell me the results!”
* * *
“I made it into an octagonal arena. Let’s take this opportunity to see what the party leader’s skills are like.”
A dwarf with a huge double-edged axe, I think his name was Didier? He brought wood and rope from somewhere and built an octagonal arena.
By driving in stakes and wrapping ropes around them, an octagonal stage, resembling a makeshift mixed martial arts arena, is created.
The people surrounding it were all looking at me and the man named Barnes inside with half-interested, half-nervous eyes.
“Do not support Barnes!
Here and there, faces filled with excitement as they cheered and chanted each other’s names. I also felt a strange pounding in my chest.
The fear of battle, the tension and nervousness, and the suspense of having to deal with people in the future are what makes your hands and toes tingle.
I used to feel these sensations almost every day until about two years ago, when the arena where I was a fighter slave burned down in some kind of incident.
Even the fighting spirit of the opponent who was desperate to hit me.
“A bare-handed duel. That’s great. I’ll show off my skills as the Cat of Caldia.”
Hung, hoo-woong.
Standing far ahead of me, Barnes stretched out his left and right hands into the air. The sound of his fists cutting through the air was loud. Is he trying to loosen up his body?
But I just crouched on the floor of the arena and got my hands dirty with dirt and sand. It was just stupid to waste energy before a duel.
While I was preparing for the duel for a long time.
Hippolyta, wearing something like a red robe over her armor, appeared from somewhere and stood between Barnes and her.
“I, Hippolyte, stand here as a representative of Mars, the god of struggle. Both of you, swear that you will fight a struggle worthy of the name of Mars.”
“I, Barnes, son of Philemon, swear that I will fight without shame.”
Barnes, son of Philemon? Is this some kind of ritual where you have to swear by your father’s name? I’ve been in a lot of fights, but this is a first.
Is this something like a cassock bread that you do with your parents’ name on it? I have to use my parents’ name in a place like this. Even though I’m a brat who goes out of my way to get what I want, I feel a little uncomfortable with that.
“I, Hassan the Samaritan, swear by it.”
“Okay, the duel has been decided!”
With those words, Hippolyte walked out of the arena. Now, it was just me and that little Barnes guy left in this small octagon.
How on earth do I beat that tough looking kid? Trip him up? Or try to use my meager jiu-jitsu skills to get to the ground?
While I was thinking about it for a long time.
Barnes, who had his stance set with both fists raised in front of him like a boxer, spoke quietly behind his rock-hard fists.
“Huh, since you can’t tell me your parents’ names, I guess you really are a descendant of Jupiter as rumored?”
“what?”
“You’re a child without parents. Your biological parents are either dead or captured as slaves. The specialty of the Black Land is high-quality slaves.”
“What the hell is this little brat?”
I got really mad when he suddenly started swearing at his parents. I can hold back on swearing at myself, but I absolutely can’t stand being sweary.
So I erased all the various tactics I had in my head and rushed at him like a person with blood rushing to his head.
“Huh, to fall for such a shallow provocation! As rumored, there really is a wild boar there!”
Barnes quickly swung his fist at me. His sharp and hard fists struck my chest and abdomen, and I felt like my breathing would stop for a moment.
“What the hell, what did my parents say?”
The pain was not enough to suppress my anger.
Phew.
I just hugged the guy’s waist and threw him down on the floor.
“Dog fight? Alright! Come at me, you little shit! I’ve been getting into street fights since I was a boy!”
It seemed like the guy was going to do something with his arms and legs in rebellion, so I held his body down with my weight and slammed my fist down.
Bam-!
“Ugh!”
The fist landed squarely on Barnes’ jaw. The guy lost all strength in his body, like a deflated balloon. My pinpointed punch must have shaken the inside of his skull.
But I was so angry that I couldn’t calm down, so I climbed on top of him and beat his face without mercy.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
“Ultimate, ugh, ugh, yuck, eek… .”
My fist that hit the guy’s hard face was sore and bruised, but I couldn’t stop my fist.
“… .”
Finally, the guy who was spitting out blood bubbling from his nose and mouth became limp and motionless, and only then did the violence stop. At that moment, the words that appeared before my eyes appeared.
Deering-.
『Cure the eccentricity of Barnes Rodelheim’s sexual attraction』.
『Task value + 10』
『Current task value: +42』
What, you got hit in the face and your quirk got better?
Anyway, I don’t remember how many times I hit him.
The Barnes lying beneath me had absolutely no intention of moving.
… .
Are you dead?
No matter what, I had no intention of killing him.
So I ran my fingers along the guy’s neck and under his chin to check if his pulse was beating well or not.
“Oh, you’re trying to peel off my face!”
“Damn, I guess the rumors are true!”
“No matter what, that’s too cruel! Someone, stop it!”
The audience started making weird noises, so I was startled and pulled my hand away.
“Coolook.”
At that moment, I could confirm that Barnes, who was lying underneath me, was alive when he groaned and spat out foam.
“S, save me… .”
“No, you little shit!”
[Work Review]
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