Chapter 34 – 034. Archis Great Labyrinth (2)
Eleanor looked at Eun-hyeon’s action as she was dismantling the kobolds in surprise.
“Princess. Since you are a priest, you know how to ‘purify’, right?”
“That… It’s possible but…”
“Good for you. Then these kobolds. Could you please purify me?”
“Yes?”
“Jeonghwa. After they are slaughtered, they have to take care of the meat and eat it.”
Eleanor was shocked by Eunhyun’s completely unexpected remark.
“E-you eat this?!”
Eunhyeon asked as she looked at Eleanor who screamed in astonishment.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“No, the Witchbeast… Are you eating?”
“I knew you had expedition experience. Didn’t you know?”
“I-I’ve never eaten a Witchbeast on the expeditions I’ve been on!”
“You went on a pretty decent expedition. Expeditions basically range from as short as 3 days to as long as 1 month.”
Eunhyeon calmly dismantled the demon while continuing to explain to the hardened Eleanor.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a short period, but the longer the period, and the larger the number of people on the expedition, the more food you need during the expedition. That is why the most important part of a proper expedition is self-sufficiency in food.”
This is the reason why priests, who serve as rearguards in expeditions, have established themselves as an essential job.
Not only does it take care of the recovery and assistance of party members in battle, but it also greatly contributes to the procurement of food through the ability of ‘cleansing’.
Since it was an expedition in which she, her priest, participated, she thought that she would know at least the process of slaughtering the beasts and how to use them for food, but since she is a lady of a noble status called a duke, she has never eaten the beasts for food. The experience seemed to have failed.
“Seeing that you have no experience of eating demon beasts, it seems that you went on easy expeditions where you could afford to be considerate.”
“Eww…”
Eleanor moaned, unable to refute Eunhyun’s point.
Certainly, the majority of her expeditions she attended were simple expeditions such as extermination of demons outside the capital, and most of them took only 3 to 4 days round trip.
Considering that even such expeditions are only a small number within ten fingers, the experience of Eleanor’s expedition was very different from that of her adventurers.
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t waste my time here and now. Even now, there is no way to know what the condition of my brother and the princess is…”
“It is not a problem that can be solved by rushing into it. Even if you were lucky enough to succeed in finding the princess’s party, have you thought about what happened after that?”
“What about after that?”
“Judging from the princess’s reaction, it seems that the princess’s party also has no option to dismantle the beast and use it for food, and assuming that all the food they have is gone, when they are rescued, they will also Shouldn’t there be food to share?”
“Ah…”
“Don’t think that the food we brought will be enough. Nothing is unpredictable on an expedition. Even if you expected 3 or 4 days to solve it, if it fails, an unexpected situation may occur that takes more than a month. It is just in case.”
“That… I see.”
Eleanor nodded her head with difficulty.
She made her feel ashamed when it was revealed that the expedition she had experienced was nothing and that she had only scratched the surface of the watermelon.
“Still, it’s true that time is urgent, so let’s finish the purification and take only the meat. Leather and other things are a waste, but it will take too much time to take care of them.”
Eleanor agreed with the statement that she would pack food first and move quickly.
Eleanor purged the kobold meat that Eunhyeon had dismantled and gathered together.
Unpleasant polluted mana that made people even feel physiological disgust disappeared cleanly by Eleanor’s purification, and Eun-hyeon took out a large cloth from her travel backpack and put all the kobold meat in the cloth.
Then, after salting and sprinkling various seasonings, the cloth was tied and wrapped.
“Originally, I have to squeeze out all the fat, but I can’t help it.”
He muttered something regrettable, but soon put the cloth bag containing the meat back into his backpack.
“Okay, let’s move again.”
The two of them started walking in the direction suggested by the tracking artifact.
“If there is no priest in the expedition, can’t we use the monsters for food at all?”
“There are many ways. Contaminated mana from dead demons naturally disappears over time. So, if you dismantle it and wait for a while, the contaminated mana will dissipate and you can get edible meat.”
However, this method was also very uncomfortable.
“Sometimes it’s just frustrating because it’s difficult to completely discern whether or not the contaminated mana is really completely annihilated. No one bothers to eat it, even knowing that it might contain poison.”
“Yes. That’s why the purification of the priests came about.”
“When it comes to the meat that the priest used to purify, it means the same thing as saying, ‘This meat is completely safe,’ right? It means you can eat it safely.”
Just as they put a certification mark that sanitation is safe, the purification of the priests serves as a guarantee that makes the meat of the demons edible.
“But eating witch beasts is a bit…”
“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t like it. However, we are not responsible for any problems caused by it. But if you’re determined to follow me, even using raw herds, can’t you listen to what I have to say? If something happens to the princess, it’s obvious that the sparks will shoot at me.”
“Even if you make assumptions, do you really have to make assumptions that way?”
“Isn’t that what I said? I feel comfortable being alone. If you’re going to complain about eating, go back now.”
“… Great. I will eat. You can eat it!”
“And?”
“Even at your words… I will follow you well without throwing up.”
“Very good.”
As Eun-hyeon smiled in satisfaction, Eleanor clenched her fists tightly holding her staff in response to Eun-hyeon’s bad personality who was trying to get a definite answer from her just like this.
‘Ah, I really want to hit you.’
It was true that she had been forced to come out following her Eun-hyeon, but no matter how much she did, she was still clinging to herself in that way.
‘Jjomsaeng.’
“That’s right. That little boy.”
“Suck!”
For a moment, Eleanor wondered if the thoughts she had been thinking in her head might not have come out of her mouth.
Surprised, she put her hand over her own mouth and looked at her eunuch.
Seeing Eleanor’s expression like that, her Eunhyun only smiled.
“It’s like, ‘How did you read my thoughts?'”
“…”
“I hear it often. The word ‘Jjomsaeng’, to our witch.”
Eleanor nodded her head in agreement.
“But judging from the reaction, you really thought so.”
“That’s right. I thought it was a bitch. Why.”
Now that they were all caught, Eleanor decided to be confident.
Rather, she looked at her shameless attitude, rather, her Eun-hyeon laughed in vain.
“No. What?”
As if they had never encountered a group of kobolds at all, the two walked again with light steps.
After that, the two didn’t have a particularly long conversation and just walked.
After walking for about two hours like that, the sun completely set and a dark night came.
“It’s getting dark.”
Eunhyun looked up at her and muttered as she looked up at the night sky.
In normal expeditions, it is foolish to venture at night.
A forest encroached by darkness blurs people’s vision and has a slight effect on judgment due to fatigue and hunger from daytime activities.
For this reason, night marches in expeditions were not preferred among adventurers unless they were really urgent.
“What are you going to do?”
Eleanor said she had no intention of camping here because she wanted to speed up the search for Alex.
In the experience of the expedition, she even admitted that there was a big difference between Eun-hyeon and herself, and she promised that she would not be dissatisfied with his decision.
If Eun-hyeon chose to camp here, Eleanor had no choice but to follow that decision.
“Since we don’t know how Alex is, let’s just keep going. It’s just that from now on, I’m worried about the princess’s stamina.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m a little tired, but I can survive to some extent if I go while recovering with divine magic.”
“I don’t know what might happen in the future, but wasting holy power already is a bad choice.”
Eun-hyeon shook her head at Eleanor’s words, then unfastened the travel backpack from her back, put it in front of her, and said to Eleanor.
“The staff, please.”
“Yes?”
“Please give the staff here.”
She didn’t understand what she was going to use it for, but Eleanor handed the staff to Eun-hyeon, and Eun-hyeon held her staff behind her waist and knelt down on one knee with her back to Eleanor. Sat down
“Get up.”
“…”
Eleanor didn’t understand Eun-hyeon’s judgment, so even though she listened to him, she was silent and just looked at him.
Because his words and actions meant that Eun-hyeon would walk alone, carrying herself on her back in order to preserve her own physical strength.
Besides, he was now carrying a backpack the size of a small person.
Wouldn’t it be better to walk separately?
She thought that Eunhyun’s physical strength would be consumed several times in order to preserve her own physical strength.
“Let me show you why I said I was comfortable being alone.”
When Eleanor did not sit on her back, Eun-hyeon added a word to her and signaled her to get on her back.
Eleanor, thinking that she couldn’t help it, climbed onto Eun-hyeon’s back.
She is Eleanor’s staff member, said Eun-hyeon, who confirmed that she was holding her leg firmly.
“Hold tight.”
“Yes?”
[Eunhyeon’s Unique Ability]
[Time Acceleration]
Eleanor, unable to respond to her momentarily fast movement, nearly let go of her hand holding Eun-hyeon’s shoulder.
“Kyaaaaagh!”
Eleanor, who had almost fallen off Eun-hyeon’s back, let out her screams and wrapped her arms around Eun-hyeon’s neck with both of her arms, struggling not to fall.
The strong wind hitting her face became a measure of how fast Eun-hyeon was running.
‘What, what the hell is this human? You can carry the weight of two people and run like this?!’
Isn’t she almost speeding like a carriage?
As she thought about her grace with her face stained with astonishment, she suddenly stopped moving and asked Eleanor.
“Is this direction correct?”
“Ah… Yes.”
Eleanor reluctantly checked the direction the needle of the tracking artifact held tightly in her hand was pointing, and answered.
“Ha, I hoped it wasn’t…”
“Yes?”
“No. We move again.”
Eunhyeon started moving at high speed using authority again.
Eunhyun, who had been running for 30 minutes without stopping, informed her that she had arrived at her destination, and she dropped Eleanor off.
“You… Are you human?”
Eun-hyeon, who had been speeding along at the same speed as her carriage, carrying herself and her rucksack on her back, was smiling rather than tired, so Eleanor looked at her suspiciously.
“Huh? Oh, it’s okay. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good workout. It would be appropriate if you warmed up your body like this.”
“That warms up…”
She had a lot to say, but Eleanor let out a small sigh and looked at her intended destination.
“My older brother’s magic has stopped here. I think I might have gotten into this…”
“How did you really know? How the hell did he get hit? .”
[Hey, use pretty words.]
Eunhyeon shrugged his shoulders with a bitter smile at the words of the goddess scolding him in his head.
Belldandi sighed and stroked Eun-hyeon’s hair, looking at the huge ruins in front of him.
[Anyway, the child was really right. Besides, the ‘dungeon of the age of emptiness’ that still remains…]
“Do you know where this is?”
“This is a ruin made by a ‘puppet master’ who existed in the ‘Archis Great Labyrinth’, the Age of Void. And it is a place where the legacy of the ancients, still unknown, rests.”
“Ancients… ?”
Eleanor opened her eyes wide and muttered quietly chewing on her Eun-hyeon’s answer.
Eunhyun frowned and muttered as she glared at the entrance of the great labyrinth as if she didn’t like something.
“They say they’re going to catch people…”
Please, I hoped it had nothing to do with this place.
Thinking so, Eun-hyeon let out a small sigh and stepped toward the entrance.
“Let’s go in.”
