"Huh? Rize? Is your stomach okay?"
Joyle said to me once I left the dungeon. I found him and Lady Berilly's teammate at the right side of the entrance, and I quickly approached him.
"Yeah. I'm fine... I think. It still hurts, though."
I said to him, but I wasn't really faking much of those words. Even now, I still remember bits of the battle just now.
Stomachache was only the beginning… I genuinely want to puke.
I already stored away the bloody robes and the skeleton mask inside a bag, and I placed them inside my space magic ring before coming out of the dungeon. I also left the sword I borrowed behind, right next to the king's corpse. I hope the girl received her sword back, since I didn't properly give it back to her.
After sitting down with him, Joyle began to fill me in on what happened.
Apparently, Jrake panicked and immediately started preparing to run down the dungeon, followed by the other testers. While his friend, the blonde guy who spoke above the carriage earlier, stayed guard outside.
Thank god I picked the furthest route… or else I would bump into Jrake and his friends.
"How is Jeremy?"
I asked him, and Joyle turned to a carriage not far from our position.
"Jrake's friend, a Green ranked adventurer who came with us as the medic for the entire event. He knows healing magic and has some knowledge on medical stuff. He is taking care of Jeremy as we speak."
"I see, what about the guy who fainted?"
"He woke up. He ran down with Jrake."
"Ahh..."
There was one guy who fainted, and we took him with our backup squad. Or rather, Joyle and Berrily's teammate took him, since I was busy with my business after I went back down the dungeon.
I looked behind Joyle. Berrily's teammate is right there, drinking his bottle of water. He could've walked down with Jrake, but as Berrily said, he is a scaredy cat.
Just like Joyle...
"So you didn't follow Jrake down?"
I asked him about it, and he immediately turned an annoyed face at me.
"What? No! I was... waiting for you!"
"Pfft, yeah right. Don't tell me you are scared of the blood bath again?"
"I mean, even if I joined him alongside his Green ranked buddies, I might just be a dead weight instead. Plus, I really... can't say you're wrong."
He looked downwards, feeling ashamed. Seeing this, I knew what I had to do.
"Hey!"
I patted his shoulder a little too harshly, and he shouted because it's painful.
"W-What…?"
"Don't think you are weak because you are afraid. All you have to do is conquer that fear, and all of the sudden, you can become strong again."
That is indeed the knowledge that I learned at the dungeon just now. If only I was still afraid of the goblin king's fire magic, I'd probably still be dodging his fireballs right now.
But instead, I conquered my fear and faced him head on. I truly believed that thing right there was the key to how I won that battle.
"Right… Easy for you to say."
"Hmm… well, it was very easy to say."
I said while chuckling, and Joyle turned his annoyed gaze back at me.
Before we continued talking, some loud voices could be heard coming from the dungeon entrance. I can hear people growling as they exit the dungeon, and I can see that everyone is finally here.
"Ahh, sunlight!"
"Finally… we are alive!"
"Thank gods!!!"
Everyone shouted happily as they came out of the dungeon's entrance.
Heckle and Brown were with everyone and came out of the entrance. They looked around, and they found Joyle and I sitting at the right side of the entrance. Joyle smiled happily when he saw them, and those guys weren't any less happier.
""Joyyyyle!!!""
They jumped straight towards Joyle who was sitting on a large boulder. While they were hugging and crying, I just simply drank my bottle of water and ignored them.
Jrake's friend, the medic, came out of the carriage where Jeremy was with blood all over him after hearing the commotion. He walked towards Jrake and the rest who just exited, and Jrake noticed the guy coming.
"How is he?"
Jrake asked the medic, and the guy began explaining calmly.
"He is fine. He just lost an arm, that's all. The wound on his stomach has been closed. Thanks to those guys for bringing them quickly. Otherwise, it could have turned bad if they arrived any later."
Jrake followed his glance and saw Joyle being hugged by his friends.
Then, his eyes landed on me.
"Huh? Rize?"
"Yo."
I simply lifted my left hand at him. There was a slight hint of the goblin king's blood on the sleeves of my left arm, which was precisely why I showed him. I figured he would know later on, so there's no point in keeping it a secret from him.
And thank god, he saw it and understands.
"Ah... I see what's going on. Those guys carried the injured here?"
The medic turned to our direction, and he spotted my red hair. Immediately, he wore this confused expression.
"Yes... Though, I'm not sure about that lady-"
"Forget it. Everyone, get some rest. We will be leaving in a bit!"
They all followed his command without second thought. Some went to their own groups and sat down on the ground or even laid their bodies to the floor. Glasses and Beard are now sitting together, and they seemed to be chatting loudly with their teams.
Meanwhile, the one person I expected the most came towards me, and I began to scoot over to the right to open a space for her to sit.
"So? How was the hostage rescue?"
I asked Lady Berrily as she sat down next to me. From her expression, she seemed to be quite happy.
"Thanks to a certain someone... Everyone is safe."
She said to me, which made me wonder if she knew something.
Does she… know?
"Wait... everyone??"
I asked her to confirm it, and she answered rather easily.
"Yep. Every single person is okay. We did not lose a single person today."
"Wha--for real??"
"Yep."
I did my best to act, hoping that she actually doesn't know. And from her answer, it looks like I can be calm for now.
"All thanks to a single masked man."
"Huh?"
Once again, I acted stupid. Seeing this, Lady Berrily began chuckling.
"Haha. So you really didn't know?"
Thank god she actually thought I didn't know. If I knew anything, that would make her suspicious, so I must be really careful with my words.
So I put on the act a little longer. She told me everything, starting from how she was saved by The Masked Man, until the part where he killed the goblin king. The masked man became the main point of her story, and she told the story mainly surrounding him.
First of all, she is correct. That masked man was in fact a man, but just stuck in a female body. Second, since when did I become the main part of the story? Shouldn't you guys be the main characters since you guys are the heroes?
After resting for around thirty minutes, Jrake finally came to the adventurers who were resting by the entrance. He stood not far from our position, and he began to speak very loudly so that everyone could hear.
"Well, everyone! I would really let you guys get more rest, but we have to get back before it gets dark. If we go now, we can arrive at the kingdom just a little bit before the third bell. I hope nobody minds that, okay?"
Everyone else listens to his words in silence. They are all too tired to do anything, even replying to him. Seeing this, Jrake let out a deep breath before he continued.
"Honestly, I'm not sure what just happened. But all I know is that it was extremely dangerous and a situation where everyone could get killed. But right now, I am very... very glad! That you guys are all alive."
He turned around to the carriage where Jeremy was at.
"We might have some who were injured, but let's just give it a moment and pray so that he will get healed."
Everyone lowered their heads down, and I guess they were praying. Next to me, even Lady Berrily also lowered her head. I just faked it and also lowered my head, but since I don't know what to ask, I just stayed silent.
"Now. I want to announce it to everyone...
Everyone... who is here right now, has passed the test."
…
… Yay…
And yet, nobody is cheering.
It was such good news to us, but nobody cheered. Granted, we all just went through hell to gain a measly rank. And of course, Jrake understood that, that's why he continued speaking.
"I know that passing the test is the least thing you all will care for now. But, just know that your efforts weren't in vain. Still, the fact that you guys didn't leave the hostages all to themselves, it surprises even me!"
Everyone suddenly laughs. I guess the spirit is coming back little by little.
"I mean, you guys could just run. Like, far away from that lair. But you didn't, and you guys didn't turn your back towards your captured allies. You guys stayed behind, and you formed a plan to save your captured friends.
Not every adventurer in their right mind would ever take this option, so… I am deeply… deeply proud of you guys."
Everyone was quite touched by Jrake's praises, and looks like their spirits have been lifted once more.
Jrake lifted his large sword high, and he shouted with all his voice.
"For the newly ranked up, Gray adventurers!! Oo!! Ra!!"
"""Oo!! Ra!!"""
Oo-ra? I guess that's another adventurer thing I didn't know about?
I genuinely never heard adventurers shout like that. Did Jrake made that up on the spot?
"Now, then. We are leaving. Get inside the carriages, and just like before, take it all the way until eight spots are filled before you go to the next. You will receive your new Gray adventurer card tomorrow. For tonight, just take a rest!"
After Jrake announced that, everyone began to stand up again. The adventurers started to enter the carriages one by one. Just like before, a carriage can have eight people, and I joined the last one, along with Joyle, Brown, and Heckle.
During our way back, we talked a little bit about what happened down there. Brown and Heckle told the whole story from their perspective to Joyle. After the story, Joyle felt bad for not helping them with the assault squad, but he still did the right thing. Otherwise, Jrake wouldn't know about what happened at all.
The fact that made Joyle feel down is that he wasn't that helpful. The masked man appeared out of nowhere as the backup that he was supposed to get. Jrake came too late because he got lost before he went outside, and it was because of him Jrake came late.
But Brown and Heckle cheered him up. They made sure that Joyle did the right thing, by reassuring him with the fact that Jeremy nearly died, but because Joyle was there to help, Jeremy was saved.
Thanks to that, Joyle had his spirit back. He fistbumped his best friends one by one, then he turned to fist bump me.
I'm not such a sentimental person to do 'fistbumps' like them. But I guess the events today made me quite tired too, so I fistbumped him without thinking much.
Joyle kept on asking about the masked guy, because he never saw him walk out of the dungeon. That surely makes Brown and Heckle confused, because the masked man should've left the dungeon before they did. Surely, if Joyle was waiting outside, he would've seen him running out of the dungeon with his bloodied brown robe and mask.
But, Joyle only met me. That's when the other two started murmuring and thinking heavily.
I can feel sweat falling from my head as silence fills the air inside this carriage.
"Oh, I know! It could be that when you were talking to Rize, the masked man escaped while you two were distracted!"
"Ah, that's true! Damn you, Rize! You distracted Joyle and let the masked man escape!"
… eh?
W-Whatever! I'll take it!
"Ehh!? Why am I at fault!?"
I acted angry on purpose, but deep down, I am very glad that their stupidity was at the level where they couldn't even relate two easy pieces together.
"Y-Yeah! That might be true!! I was completely focused on talking with her, that I wasn't focusing on the entrance at all!!"
Joyle and his friends then began roasting me for taking Joyle's attention, and I continued to try acting and defending myself. And without knowing, the sun is already setting.
I guess we moved out a little behind schedule from what Jrake planned, because we arrived when it was already dark.
We parked right outside of the kingdom this time, outside the south-eastern gate. The very gate where I entered the kingdom for the first time.
Brown and Heckle were the most tired, so they left earlier than us. But Joyle…
"Wait, Rize. Can I talk to you for a moment?"
This better not be a love confession… Because I have killed way too many today, and it doesn't hurt to kill one more.
I followed him to the back of the carriage, where no one could see. I tried sensing the presence of others, but there was nobody nearby. We are completely alone.
"So? I'm listening."
"Rize... Thank you."
"Hmm?"
He laid his back towards the carriage and stood with one leg.
"Thanks to you, my only two best friends are okay. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if you weren't there."
"What are you talking ab-"
"Look, I was paying attention. Okay? After you came out of the entrance, I was still paying attention to the entrance. Nobody came out of the entrance after you did."
Ahh... I see what's going on.
Joyle. He is much smarter than I thought.
"From what Brown told me, the masked man left the lair a little earlier than the others did. You came out, and only you, a short while before everybody else."
"Joyle..."
"You weren't having a stomach-ache, were you?"
… He clearly busted me.
"So? What are you going to do with that information?"
He looked down. He knew that I'm the one who saved Brown and Heckle, so he shouldn't try to mess with me.
"I will… keep it. A very deep secret. I will never tell anyone. I owe you that much."
"Thank you for deciding to do that."
He stood back straight again, and he turned his back on me while speaking.
"I only wanted to thank you, Rize. One day… I will try to pay it back, even with my life."
Heh, don't try to be cool. You just pussy out from the fight today.
"Would you believe that not even your life can help me?"
"Haha... Is that so?"
"Just keeping it a secret is plenty."
"I see. In that case, I will do just that."
He said while waving his hand as he left me alone behind the carriage, and I watched his back as he walked towards the gate peacefully.
For now, only two people noticed. I'm planning to keep it that way, so I really hope there won't be any more chances where the masked man will have to make an appearance. Because if something does happen in the future, chances are I probably wouldn't leave it alone.
The masked man may return in the future, but… I just hope it won't be that soon.
After looking at the skies, I found that it had gone extremely dark, so I went inside the kingdom. Some of the adventurers who still have strength to walk, might've gone to the Office to receive their new card.
But I just don't feel like going there, so I went back to my beautiful inn. After all, I have work to do.
Cleaning up my adventurer clothes, and maybe taking out whatever is inside my stomach.
Because I've been holding it out the entire time.
Once I arrived at the inn, it didn't even take me five seconds before I started puking at the bathroom.
Dang… it's been a long day, huh?