Part Thirty-Seven

“Are, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just give me a moment. That was rough.”

Monster corpses littered the ground. A pack of Goblins had foolishly challenged me, only to be unceremoniously cut down. However, the battle had attracted several Orcs as well, making the whole thing rather taxing to me. Add in that I had to protect Kalia as well as myself and I’d been on the back foot the whole battle. At least I could get healing when I needed it.

I really would like to avoid more battles. Kalia’s not exactly deadweight, but she struggles to fight even Goblins. If she knew a few offensive spells, she’d be even more dangerous than me, but there’s no point in wishing for something nonexistent. Just gotta push through this.

There was good news. I thought we were getting closer to the edge of the forest. The trees had started to get smaller and smaller as we went and there were fewer and fewer monsters present. A little further and we’d be safe.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? You got hit pretty hard there.”

“I’ve had worse. Save your mana for now. I’ve got a feeling you’ll need it.”

Hm, where did the others go? I haven’t seen a single trace of them this entire time. You’d think Kalia would know something, but…

She’d told me that a large group of Demi-Humans, mostly Goblins and Orcs, had attacked them. They’d held out until a large monster covered head-to-toe in armor had appeared and killed two mercenaries on its own. That caused their formation to start falling apart, as the other monsters forced them into a rout. Mark had grabbed Kalia and ran, but he’d been injured during the escape, leading to the events I’d witnessed.

Her story had contained one point of interest for me. The armored monster that attacked them. It had supposedly wielded two greatswords and possessed an immense level of strength, enough to cleave straight through a shield. It all sounded rather familiar.

It couldn’t have been it, right? It didn’t have any armor on before, nor did it use two swords. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. It’s not like it got stronger or smarter due to our fight. That would be ridiculous. Ugh, I’ve got a bad hunch, like when you see a save point inside an RPG dungeon. You just know a Boss fight is coming.

“Hey, Michael? What’s that?”

“Hm? What are you on abo-? Oh, that’s rather conspicuous.”

There was a single tree that was completely bare, with no leaves or bark whatsoever. It stood out in stark contrast to the lush foliage surrounding it. Definitely unnatural.

“Careful. It could be a monster.”

“Er, is it? There’s no reaction from Analyze and I don’t feel any mana from it. It just looks like a dead tree.”

“Hrm, you’re right. It really is just a plain ol' dead tree. Well then. I’ve played enough games to understand where this is going. Something’s hidden in that tree.”

I’ll admit, I had a fairly inquisitive nature, so I felt compelled to look in the tree. The Dungeon had the power to arrange any sort of setting it wanted to, so why would a dead tree be present if it wasn’t for some purpose?

There’s no obvious openings, nor any branches that could function as a switch. There could be something buried beneath it, but I don’t have shovel, so…. I’ll have to let that one go. Hm, I’m stumped. Maybe it really is just a dead tree? Wait. Could it be?

*Thunk thunk*

It is!

“Find anything?”

“Oh yeah. It’s hollow.”

“The tree is hollow? Seriously?”

“Yep. It’s a bit cliché, but the tree’s hollow alright. Or rather this one segment is hollow. It’s more like a compartment than anything else. But I don’t see any sort of latch to open it. I might just have to break it open.”

“Huh. Well okay. Just hurry please. I don’t want to be here much longer.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Now what kind of weapon would work here? My choice would be a mace, but all I’ve got are E-Rank ones. Guess it could work.

*Thunk thunk Thunk thunk thunk thunk*

Or not! And now my hands sting! A half-dozen blows weren’t able to do much more than slightly crack the cover. Whatever it was made of was tough. It wasn’t as bad as metal, but it still resisted every blow, leaving my hands and arms stinging from the feedback. It forced me to drop the mace.

“Are you alright!”

“Yep, just stung my hands. That cover's stupidly hard. It’ll take a few dozen blows to get through it. Maybe we should give up on it.”

It hurt to say that, but I felt it was necessary. Those thuds could attract more monsters, something I wanted to avoid. Kalia was stressed out as it was, I didn’t feel like adding to it.

“Erm, could I try something?”

She didn’t even wait for me to respond. She just walked up to the tree and began to run her hands over the cracks in it. And after a few moments, she nodded to herself and turned back to me.

“I think this cover is made of wood. Which means it’s organic material.” Are you kidding me?

“Which means [Rot] could work on it? Can it really be that easy?”

Only one way to find out. While I had enough mana to cast [Rot] a few times, common sense dictated that using one of those casts here was a bad idea. But in a certain sense, this whole thing was a bad idea. Or so I reasoned with myself.

I stuck the tip of my sword into the wood, figuring close contact couldn’t hurt too much, and cast [Rot]. The Miasma instantly dispersed into the wood, which began to discolor and crumble. Soon, the dark compartment it hid was fully revealed.

I’m surprised that actually worked. Couldn’t this mean I could break into someone’s house if it was made of wood or a different organic material? Though I’m not sure what other building materials would classify as organic. Drywall maybe?

My nonexistent future as a cat burglar aside, I peered into the compartment with bated breath. And inside I found…

“A gold disk?”

Exactly. A sold gold disk, about as round as my fist and half an inch thick. Both sides had detailed spiral patterns engraved into them. And on the bottom was a small notch, most likely for something to fit into.

“Huh, this is kind of odd.”

“Yeah. Why would this be hidden here? It doesn’t have a result from Analyze, so that’s no help. Maybe it’s enchanted?”

“There’s no magic coming from it, so I doubt that’s what it’s for. It wouldn’t be any good as a weapon either. Could it be some form of currency?”

“No, I don’t think so. The fort's soldiers don’t require any form of payment for the supplies they give out, though everything is of low quality.”

“Huh?”

It was perplexing. It was clearly something, being hidden away the way it was, but it didn’t have any obvious uses. It felt like a puzzle that we were missing a few pieces from.

“Guess we should hold onto it for now. Maybe something will come along to help us figure this out later. We should probably get moving again.”

[Kalia’s POV]

Just stay calm. He’s not some homicidal maniac. I’m sure he had a reason for that, but I just don’t understand what it was.

She hadn’t quite gotten her mind off of what happened with Mark. It had been pushed away for a time, but it ultimately came back after she’d had some time to calm down and think. While she understood him dragging her out of there, she didn’t know why he had left that Combustion Bomb behind and it was eating at her. She’d calmed down since, but she knew that depending on his answer, things could blow up again.

And so she decided to ask him, if only to put the matter to rest for herself.

“Michael? There’s something I’d like to ask you.”

Her stopped at the sound of her voice and after sighing to himself, turned around.

“Finally.”

“What?”

“You’ve been burning a hole in the back of my head for the last couple of minutes. It’s clear you’ve got a question, so spit it out already.”

Some people might get upset from the tone he spoke with, but she could tell the gruffness came not from anger, but from a form of resignation. He knew what she would ask.

“Why?”

“Why what? Why did I knock you out and forcibly drag you away? Or why did I leave a Combustion Bomb behind?”

“The latter. I already figured out the first one.”

“Oh?”

He cocked his head at her. Because he was wearing his helmet, she couldn’t see his expression, but she knew he was surprised by what she said. Most people would be more concerned with why they were unreasonably forced into unconsciousness.

“Hrm, why did I do that? Probably because It was the easiest way to get you out of there.”

“Er, what?”

“Think about it. We both know there was no saving him. If you could’ve, you would’ve already done it by the time I got there. He was laying there practically disemboweled and bleeding out. You weren’t going to be able to heal him and you would never willingly abandon someone, so I had to force your hand and make you give up. That’s all.”

He turned away from her, completely cutting off any further questions. Something about what he said was bothering her though. He acted like there was no other option, but he could’ve easily kept her unconscious long enough to get far away from Mark. He hadn’t needed to go to such extreme lengths.

Michael was someone she just couldn’t figure out. He had apparently spent a great deal of time inside of a dangerous Dungeon and had the weapons and items to show for it. He displayed anti-social tendencies, but he would also go out of his way to help others for no apparent reason.

Her parents’ business had exposed her to all manner of people from all walks of life. She knew that there were people who wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of others, as well as those who would help someone in need unconditionally. However, she’d never encountered anyone quite like him. It was like he wanted to routinely contradict what you thought he would do.

He had repeatedly strained himself to keep her alive, but had blown someone else up for no reason. No matter how you looked at it, that wasn’t normal behavior. If he was really that callous, then he wouldn’t have saved her in the first place. There was definitely another reason for it, one he didn’t want to share.