Chapter 159

Chapter 159: A Friend’s Grave. (2)

Hardin, who was squatting, carefully observed the bastard who had attacked him.

“Hmmm.”

At most, he looked to be in his early twenties, with a tanned, handsome face and green ponytail hair.

As if advertising himself as a professional thief, he was loaded with daggers and lockpicks all over his body.

There was one thing slightly unusual about him.

Twitch!

Furry animal ears were attached to his head, twitching as they moved.

They resembled those of a fox or perhaps a rabbit.

Before he knew it, Beryl and Mikkelsen had come closer and, eyes wide in shock, began to ask questions.

“...W-What is that, Young Master?”

“Why the hell does that brat have animal ears? Is he cursed or something?”

To this, Hardin simply shrugged and replied.

“Cursed? Nah, he’s a halfling.”

“...Halfling?”

“Like the ones from fairy tales?”

Beryl and Mikkelsen exchanged glances, then moved closer to Hardin and began inspecting the guy like he was some kind of unicorn.

“Enough of that. Tie him up with rope.”

“Ah, yes.”

At Hardin’s command, Beryl and Mikkelsen quickly bound the attacker tightly with rope.

Hardin dusted himself off and stood up, watching the scene unfold with a blank stare.

‘Been a while since I’ve seen one of those guys.’

Halflings.

About half the size of a human, nimble, and gifted with dexterous hands—members of the Ain race.

They were a race that lived in secluded villages far beyond the borders of the Empire, so it wasn’t common for ordinary imperial citizens to ever encounter one in their lifetime.

Of course, in Hardin’s case, he could confidently say he knew halflings well.

Back when he was still Varlach.

Among the group of wild companions he roamed the world with during his rebellious youth, one who claimed the title of King of Thieves had been a halfling.

And there was one amusing trait of halflings that Hardin remembered…

Flash!

Just then, the halfling Beryl was tying up suddenly opened his eyes.

“Aaaaaargh! My eaaaars!”

With the speed of a lightning bolt, he flung himself at Beryl and bit down on his ear.

“Mikkelsen! Get this bastard off me!”

“Let go! Let go, you lunatic!”

Chaos erupted in an instant.

Watching it all unfold, Hardin found old memories of the thief king surfacing vividly in his mind.

 Aaaargh! Let go, let go, you bastard!

 Varlach, you son of a bitch! Say that again, and I’ll turn you into a eunuch!

 Argh, what the hell! Quit acting like kids!

 Did you just call me a kid? A kiiiid!?

Just remembering it all was enough to drain his energy.

With a heavy sigh, Hardin looked ahead.

“Aaargh! Young Master! A little help here!”

The halfling, still biting Beryl’s ear, was now floating through the air.

Hardin nodded as he stroked his chin.

‘Those bastards… got one hell of a temper for how they look.’

Back when he was Varlach, he’d taken a hit to the family jewels from the thief king more times than he could count.

Damn brat. Just remembering it made him mad all over again.

“Ah, Young Master! Please!”

As Mikkelsen urged him once more, Hardin let out a long sigh and approached.

Grab!

He seized the halfling by the scruff of the neck and yanked him off of Beryl.

“Let go! Let go, you bastards! I’ll kill you aaaaaall!”

The little guy bared his teeth at Hardin, snarling, but Hardin didn’t even flinch and simply stared at him.

“Hey, calm down.”

“Eeeeeeeek!”

But the halfling showed no sign of stopping. Like a rabid dog, he thrashed and flashed his sharp teeth.

In the end, there was only one solution.

“Honestly, they just don’t get it when you talk nice.”

“Don’t screw with meeeee!”

Shaking his head, Hardin turned to Mikkelsen.

“Mikkelsen. A stick.”

“...Sir?”

“Anything’s fine. Just bring me a stick.”

“...Ah, yes.”

Was he planning to beat him with it?

Mikkelsen quickly picked up a stick that was lying around in the dungeon and handed it over.

Hardin took it and shoved the tip into the halfling’s fluffy ear.

Then he started twisting it around.

“Ahaha! Ahahahahaha! W-What are you doing?!”

The halfling burst into laughter, caught in Hardin’s grip.

“What do you think? It’s torture.”

There really was nothing better than this for messing with a halfling.

“Stop! Stoooooop! Ehehe! Ehehehehehe!”

“Nope.”

Hardin continued to poke and prod the guy’s ears with the stick.

Who knew how long that went on.

“Haaack… haaack…”

Drenched in sweat, the halfling collapsed onto the floor, completely limp.

His face had gone pale and sunken, as if he had no strength left to resist.

Beryl and Mikkelsen stared at Hardin, the one responsible for this, shaking their heads.

‘Man, he’s a damn demon.’

‘That was way too much torture…’

Hardin crossed his arms and looked down at the halfling.

“You. Name, origin, what you came in here for—everything. I want it all, word for word, no exceptions.”

“Why the hell should I tell someone like you—”

“Oh yeah? You sure about that?”

Hardin waved the stick in front of the halfling’s eyes.

Flinch!

The halfling’s shoulders trembled, and his face filled with fear.

“Answer.”

“……”

“I said answer me, you little punk!”

Honestly, these guys just never listened unless you got rough.

With a face full of ruthless menace, Hardin grabbed one of the halfling’s ears and raised it, bringing the stick right up to it.

Was it the sheer pressure?

The halfling, on the verge of tears, quickly responded.

“M-My name’s Jerry!”

“You will?”

“I will… sir.”

“And what else?”

“I’m from Bigfoot Village, located in the southeastern part of the Central Continent, and I was exploring this dungeon with my party… sir.”

Hardin pointed with the stick toward the corner of the room, where something was covered with cloth, and asked,

“Those corpses over there—your comrades?”

“Yes, they died while exploring the dungeon.”

That wasn’t likely to be a lie.

Judging by the bite marks and wounds on the bodies, it didn’t look like they had died by the halfling’s dagger.

But…

“Alright, let’s say that’s true. Then why are you still here?”

“What do you mean…?”

“I mean, your party’s all dead. In this deadly dungeon, why the hell didn’t you escape? It doesn’t seem like it’d be impossible for someone like you to make it out.”

It was hard to precisely gauge a thief’s combat strength, but by knight standards, this one was probably around a 3-star beginner level.

For someone like that to be loitering in here… it was suspicious no matter how you looked at it.

“Well, that’s…”

As Jerry hesitated, Hardin tapped his shoulder with the stick and said,

“Think carefully. I really hate being lied to.”

“……”

Jerry tightly shut his eyes, then opened them with a determined expression.

“I… must conquer this dungeon. No matter what.”

“Why?”

“I can’t say. Even if you torture or threaten me more… I can’t tell you.”

His voice carried a certain weight, like someone who had made up their mind.

Hardin exhaled heavily through his nose.

‘…He’s not gonna talk, no matter what.’

He’d seen it many times before and knew the signs well.

When a halfling made that kind of face, it meant what they said was something they’d never back down from—no matter what.

‘Well, not like that’s all that important anyway.’

He had his own path to follow.

Hardin gave Jerry another pat on the shoulder and said,

“Fine. I’ll stop with the questions for now. But you still owe us for attacking.”

“If by ‘owe’ you mean…”

“All the information you’ve got about this dungeon. Spill it.”

“……”

Jerry bit his lip and stared at Hardin, hesitating for a while before finally opening his mouth again.

“Alright. But before that… may I make one request?”

“What?”

“Please let me join you in exploring the dungeon!”

“…What?”

What the hell was this punk saying now?

As Hardin moved to shove the stick into his ear again, Jerry frantically shook his head.

“W-Wait, please hear me out!”

“Hear you out? I’ve got nothing to discuss with you.”

“I know the entire path to the end of this dungeon! I know every type of trap and how to detect them! If you just let me come along… I swear you’ll be able to reach the end without a single scratch!”

In that moment, Hardin paused, lightly flicking the stick as he asked,

“You. Have you been all the way to the end of the dungeon?”

“I most certainly reached the final chamber!”

“But you haven’t cleared it yet?”

“No, sir.”

“…Why not?”

“There’s a guardian. It was impossible for me to defeat it on my own.”

“Hmmm…”

A guardian.

Just as the word implied, it referred to the protectors installed to guard a dungeon.

Usually, these were specially enchanted golems or monsters, and as the final line of defense to prevent looting, they were notoriously tough and troublesome to deal with.

“So, you want to team up with us and conquer the dungeon?”

“Yes. If you do, I guarantee you’ll reach the final chamber without taking any damage. So, please…”

Hardin rubbed his chin before throwing his response out casually.

“But what reason do I have to trust you?”

“…Sir?”

“You tried to kill us, remember? Why would we ever trust someone like you to watch our backs?”

At that, Beryl—still rubbing his swollen, red ear—pointed an accusing finger and shouted,

“That’s right, Young Master! There’s no reason to bring along a scumbag like that! And if we do, he’s bound to demand a share of the treasure!”

“Exactly!”

The two of them barked in agreement, practically protesting.

Jerry’s eyes trembled slightly, then he shook his head and replied calmly.

“I don’t care about the treasure.”

“…You don’t care?”

“Yes. What matters to me is the fact that I conquered this dungeon… The treasure or whatever else doesn’t matter at all.”

“Hmmm…”

Hardin stroked his chin again, then slowly nodded.

“Well, alright. I’ll accept your offer.”

“Young Master?”

“…What?”

Beryl and Mikkelsen echoed in surprise, but Hardin waved a hand dismissively.

“He said he doesn’t need treasure. And it’s better to take the easy route than waste time getting lost, right?”

“…But still.”

“You don’t need to worry.”

Hardin smirked slightly and fixed his gaze on Jerry.

“Halfling. Hold out your arm.”

“My arm?”

“Come on.”

“…Alright.”

Jerry extended one of his wrists, suspicion still in his eyes.

Hardin grabbed it firmly.

Vwooooom—

He channeled mana through his own arm and into Jerry’s.

Sting!

Jerry flinched as if a needle had pricked his lower abdomen, furrowing his brow.

‘That’s…’

The moment it happened, Beryl and Mikkelsen’s eyes went wide.

Just seeing it was enough for them to immediately recognize what it was.

As Hardin let go of his hand, Jerry rubbed his wrist and asked,

“What… did you just do to me?”

“Mana seal.”

“…What?”

“You can’t use mana anymore. So don’t even think about doing anything stupid.”

At that, Jerry frowned and focused his strength in his lower abdomen.

‘What the hell is he talking about? That guy’s not even a mage—how could he seal my mana…?’

Vwoooom! Fizzle.

Vwoom! Fizzle.

But, contrary to Jerry’s expectations, his mana circuits—which had been functioning perfectly just moments ago—wouldn’t activate.

“T-This is…”

Did he really seal my mana?

Jerry’s eyes flew wide open in shock. That was when Hardin crossed his arms and, with a grin spreading across his face, said,

“Well? You gonna lead the way or what?”

---

A short while later, deep within the dungeon’s passageway.

“This time… go down this path.”

“Got it.”

With Jerry at the front, the three members of the Daphne group followed closely behind with light steps.

“In this room, make sure to avoid stepping on the tiles with the conch shell pattern.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

With every room they passed, Jerry demonstrated a complete and thorough understanding of every trap.

“Damn. This is way too comfortable.”

“Appreciate it, halfling fella!”

Mikkelsen and Beryl, now completely at ease, were grinning as they tossed out casual nonsense.

Of course—

‘Damn bastards…’

Jerry himself didn’t exactly feel thrilled hearing those so-called words of gratitude.

Just how many rooms had they breezed through like that?

Eventually, Jerry pointed toward a massive stone gate at the end of the corridor.

“That’s the final chamber, Young Master.”

At that—

“…Oh my god.”

“Holy sht…”

The three of them stood, mouths agape, staring at the spot Jerry was pointing to.

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