Episode 32.14

Baghnatt is a skilled adventurer known as <Baghnatt the Unbeatable>. He had experience conquering floor 40 of Dungeon Tsubolt with friends in his heydays. In fact, the sword he's wielding right now is the one he got from that time.

He got into some trouble at the Royal Capital and was forced to head north before eventually drifting to Kogurus.

As he was looking for quests at the Adventurer's Association, he caught sight of a job that paid handsomely. It was a request from Zaikaz Company.

"Yer' gonna be in a world of pain if ya fail this job."

"Yer' tellin' me ya got jobs that don't get me in deep shit if I mess up?"

"Ha, well just watch yerself'."

That job got him in Zack Zaikaz's crosshairs.

The next job was a nominated one. The reward was incredibly high, as was the risk. He kept doing that kind of jobs for a while.

Baghnatt made use of the life force and fighting skill he honed in dungeons to finish those quests. The reward kept going up, the job kept getting riskier and riskier.

Zack was a very generous client. No argument there.

Hence, Baghnatt would keep taking on jobs with fitting rewards. The terminus of that was a raid on a <Nameless God>'s temple 17 years ago. That sure was a toughie. The quantity and caliber of adventurers that got brought together for the quest were out of this world. It was pretty much an army.

The logistics required to hire such individuals could potentially bankrupt a single company, and yet the amount and quality of treasures they acquired were enough to found a small country. Of course Zack had scrupulously done his homework beforehand. The knight who commandeered the group was familiar with the temple's structure inside out. Zack is an extremely meticulous man.

That Zack is now on his deathbed.

As it appears to be a curse, it might originate from the <Nameless God>. Or perhaps it's from the magic beasts guarding the temple then. They had some pretty nice equipment for mere magic beasts. They even behaved like they could communicate with each other. And they were unbelievably strong. Baghnatt's side would have suffered a tremendous loss if not for the ambush tactic. They killed them all as that was the directive given, but it wasn't something he enjoyed doing. Those things have every right to curse Zack.

Even still, Baghnatt took on this escort quest. The client was not actually Zack, but Kogurus's town lord, and yet Baghnatt considers it coming from Zack himself.

Zack is likely gonna die. However, Baghnatt is simply doing a job with fitting reward like he's always done.

They're just going to Vouka anyway.

Just some boring rural town. They'd be staying at the townlord's mansion, but these eight would come out on top even if the town's entire guard garrison came at them. Just shows how powerful these eight are. The other seven besides Baghnatt had similar history with Zack. There's nothing to worry about with these eight on their side. The only individuals they should be wary of would be <Comet Cutter Nike> and <Overlord Lecan> but neither is present in the town according to the intel they gathered. The rest is just noise.

That carefree thought was completely blown away the moment they arrived at Vouka.

There was a monster among the welcoming group.

When that monster was introduced as a <Purification> user known as the <Healing Hand of Herb Saint>, it sounded like a sick joke to him.

She's young. Yet she's stupid strong. Of course, they'd win if all eight of them come at her. But in a one-on-one fight, she'd easily kill them without much resistance.

The job this time is to let medic Eda heal Zack without interruptions, and to safely escort and return Zack back home. However, they would be paid regardless if Zack ended up dying to his illness or not. That was the arrangement.

Yet as it turned out, that medic herself was the most dangerous individual in the whole thing. Who the hell set up such a crappy prank.

Two of the eight escorts would take turn guarding Zack by his side. Then come Eda. Two of them cannot win against her. They're to stay in the same room as a savage beast that can effortlessly kill them for one and half period (six hours), and they're not allowed to attack back to boot. What a horrible working condition.

But there is god. The donation given to the temple before they departed must have worked. Zack was revived, incredibly enough. He's breathing peacefully in his sleep before Baghnatt's eyes right now. Zack saw a miraculous recovery after the decisive treatment the other day. He even woke up and greeted everyone yesterday.

And tonight would be the last night they spend at Vouka. Medic Norma has given her permission for them to depart tomorrow morning. Although Zack hasn't been wholly back to his feet yet, a trip should pose no issue with medic Aterna regularly casting <Recovery> along the way.

Moreover, Eda isn't coming tonight. That monster is sleeping in her room tonight, she's not coming. This is the first time Baghnatt could do his bodyguarding job in utter peace.

Earlier, Eda even cast <Recovery> on Baghnatt and Kimis on her way back from treating, 'You guys must be tired', she said. Thank goodness they didn't end up fighting.

Kimis is unusually frightened of Eda. Being an adept mage, she can roughly guess people's mana pool.

"What even is that monster."

Such is Kimis's impression on Eda. Whenever she and Baghnatt were on guard duty, they would cling in the corner of the room without moving a muscle, staring hard at Eda all the while. Even that is nothing more than an amusing memory now.

It's midnight already.

Another quarter period (one hour) and it's shift change. They'd sleep tight, get up, have tasty breakfast and then depart.

As he was thinking that, Baghnatt saw medic Aterna standing up. This female medic won't leave Zack's side even though Norma said there's no more need for an all-night attendance. She's really something else.

Is that her wand she got in her hand. But she's holding it weirdly.

Wait, is that a.

"Knife!"

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

As he shouted out loud, Baghnatt drew his sword and stood up before rushing out, he reached the bedside in a flash and swung his sword to cut off Aterna's right wrist, the hand holding a knife in a stabbing motion toward Zack's chest.

However, the knife pierced Zack's chest a moment faster. With the cut right hand still grasping it tightly.

(Dammit!)

Aterna was holding something in her left hand. She threw it at Baghnatt. Baghnatt swiftly dodged it but he couldn't evade a bit of liquid splashing on his face.

"Oy!"

As he grabbed Aterna's shoulder and tried to peel her off the bed, he felt a shiver running down his spine.

(Poison!)

Baghnatt squeezed the last bit of his strength to decapitate Aterna and confirmed it before his consciousness fell into darkness.