“Thanks to you, I’ve achieved one of the Goblin Slayer achievement conditions!”
With her eyes still glistening, she exclaimed with her arms wide open in a tone that had risen a pitch.
“What was the condition for the Goblin Slayer achievement again…?”
Since it was a requirement I had passed up as a non-combatant, I couldn’t quite recall it exactly.
As I tilted my head in confusion, she chuckled and sat me down on the floor to continue her explanation.
“The conditions are simple! It’s about how many goblins you defeated alone, your total kill count, and gathering all the runes dropped by goblins. Those three.”
The runes dropped by goblins are of the Rune of Vitality type, but they come in two ranks: standard and low-rank.
“Since I defeated five earlier, I fulfilled the first condition, hehehe.”
“Defeating five on my own, achieving a cumulative total of one hundred kills, and obtaining a standard rune. That’s the first condition.”
Her words jogged my memory. Having completed the first condition, her attack and defense against goblins would have slightly increased.
“Compared to the past, she’ll level up faster now.”
Before I died, she had sustained serious injuries in the dungeon exploration, preventing her from entering for a while. With that future disrupted, she should be at least a few weeks ahead.
“The final condition is of the same nature.”
Defeating ten goblins at once, a total kill count of a thousand. Lastly, obtaining a low-rank rune would achieve the achievement with a higher reward.
“I’m going to try and complete the second condition too to aim for the achievement. Originally, I planned to relax with you a couple of times before heading to the next dungeon.”
Her blush spread across her fair skin as she sat quietly in front of me, radiating confidence.
“Huh… well, it seems nothing major happened while I was gone.”
Her skin, flawless like white jade, seemed to melt my anxious heart away. A cute girl blowing air into her cheeks while tightly clenching her hands together.
“Step by step, let’s take it slow. At least I won’t let that guy influence me…”
Thinking about the guy who killed me made my blood boil, but the truth is, defeating him isn’t easy.
No… it’s practically impossible.
Growing strong enough to be seen as a tiring opponent would be the most realistic goal.
Because ‘Jo Gi-man’, the bastard who killed me, is a monster living his seventh life after six returns…
That guy babbled a lot while toying with me to death, and he claimed to be [the Incarnation of the Seven-headed Dragon].
“I need to grow stronger without standing out to him.”
If I draw too much attention, he might become suspicious about the gap between my current self and past lives, leading me to a swift death.
In the midst of those thoughts.
– Ding Dong!
“Oh no! Wh-who could it be?”
Startled by the doorbell like someone who had never heard it before, she anxiously gazed toward the door, flustered.
“Two people… They’re strong. Especially one of them is immeasurable.”
Quickly gathering my sensory waves, I tightly gripped Yeon-hee’s hand.
“Eh?… S-should we evade now?”
Oh… right. We had established that signal.
I slightly shook my head and tapped my chest with my fist.
“Even if I’m not much of a help, trust me. You’re not alone.”
“Clap, Clap, Clap!”
“Mm!”
I don’t know what she understood, but her expression had improved significantly compared to before as she walked towards the door. Once she opened it, a man and a woman greeted her, asking if they could come in for a moment.
‘That voice… could it be?’
Even though I had been trapped in a dark space for so long, could I forget for even a moment?
‘Jo Gi-man!! Why the hell is this jerk here?’
Right after I vowed to avoid him until I grew strong, fate laughably decided to throw us together.
But the heat that surged within me quickly cooled down thanks to the trait [Calm], and I began to assess the situation.
Considering Yeon-hee’s steady tone and the woman’s polite manner of speaking to her,
‘Had she already received a guild proposal? I remember the contract was around spring…’
“Excuse me for a moment…”
Thus, Jo Gi-man and a strange woman entered.
With snake-like wicked eyes, Jo Gi-man looked every bit the villain, while the woman appeared taller than 170cm, with small eyes.
As soon as they entered and laid eyes on me, they pulled out weapons from their inventories as if they had made some sort of appointment.
“Ahh-! Th-this is my summoned creature!”
“What? That’s a summoned creature? That looks like a monster…”
“…”
The woman looked genuinely astonished, as if she didn’t realize a summoned creature could mean a monster, while Jo Gi-man appeared unfazed yet surprised for a different reason.
‘Is this the first time they’re encountering this situation in this round? Even if we assume they didn’t approach Yeon-hee till now, their reaction is…’
The way they had reacted when they first saw me suggested it was completely unexpected, leading me to ponder deeply.
“Uh… um… this little one, I’ll just keep it for a moment.”
‘What? Not now!’
Yeon-hee struggled to resummon me for a while, but since I refused, she obviously failed.
“That’s alright. No need to push yourself.”
“I’m s-sorry!”
“Oh ho, it’s really okay. When you’ve just recently undergone a second awakening, it happens. I went through the same thing myself.”
A suspicious-looking woman with very narrow eyes and light brown hair consoled Yeon-hee.
‘Was there such a woman in the guild? There are only a few female hunters who have undergone a second awakening…’
Then suddenly, a woman popped into my mind, and I peered through her eye to her jawline.
‘Oh crap… that’s Kang Yeon-su? She totally underwent a massive makeover.’
I joined the guild a year and three months from now, so she must have completely revamped her face in that time.
‘I thought she just had double eyelid surgery…’
Anyway, at least the presence of that crazy dog Kang Yeon-su provided me some reassurance. I knew that despite her fiery temperament, she was a hunter who lived with a sense of justice, unlike Jo Gi-man.
“Wow.”
Just then, Jo Gi-man suddenly spoke up.
“What?”
“The Skeleton Soldier is really big. I’ve never seen one that large before…”
‘Shit… this just started taking a weird turn, so that’s why he was surprised originally?’
It seems the Skeleton Soldiers from the last round were completely different from this one.
‘Even from D grade dungeons, much bigger ones can appear than me now, but Jo Gi-man wouldn’t think such a thing could happen at this phase. This is bad.’
“What are you talking about? Even in Nargul’s dungeon, they’re everywhere in large skeleton groups.”
“That’s true… It seems it looked a bit different from the outside. Don’t worry about it, Yeon-hee.”
‘That crazy guy is talking to her like that.’
Hearing such infuriating words from someone who knows the truth about that guy was nearly unbearable. I’m thankful I’m currently a skeleton. If I were human, my face would surely be flushed bright red.
“Yes…”
Yeon-hee, meanwhile, had been staring down at the ground with her hands clasped together like a convict since earlier.
“More importantly, about today’s interview, Yeon-hee.”
“Ah, yes.”
“You don’t need to worry about answering everything. In fact, I think going for a mysterious image as the first class Summoner would be nice. I feel like your personality fits that role. What do you think?”
“I-I’m fine with anything… just please make it as brief as possible for interviews…”
While listening to the conversation between Kang Yeon-su and Lee Yeon-hee, my eyes remained fixed on Jo Gi-man. Jo Gi-man was staring intensely at Lee Yeon-hee, his gaze filled with a determination to find something changed in her.
‘That bastard has so many doubts… Just think of it as some peculiar scenario caused by reincarnation. It’s just like what you used to say all the time.’
I had spent a considerable amount of time alongside Jo Gi-man, recognized as a guide during my life, yet he had a habit of muttering to himself suddenly.
Among the frequent mumblings was the word ‘anomaly’.
Looking back now, that meant he probably went through many incomprehensible situations during his reincarnations, so if he doesn’t discover anything unusual about Yeon-hee, he might lightly brush it aside.
‘Please… just leave already.’
“By the way, was there anything unusual in the dungeon yesterday, Yeon-hee?”
Yesterday? So it took a day for her to summon me again.
There could be a cooldown for resummoning a broken summoned creature. But more importantly, why does that snake-like guy care about Yeon-hee’s dungeon exploration?
“Yes? Yes, nothing particularly happened…”
“It doesn’t have to be anything significant. I just want to make sure there was no discomfort for you. Like unexpectedly getting ambushed by monsters or something…”
‘Ah, it’s because of Yeon-hee’s face that he said that… she’s supposed to be in the hospital at this time.’
Seeing him subtly trying to pry into her situation reminded me of something else about Jo Gi-man. He often has a bad memory and tends to forget many things, yet he seems overly meticulous in checking on Yeon-hee.
“Oh, that reminds me…?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
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