"Are you going to stop hiding now?" Ryu called over his shoulder.
But, he didn't receive a response in return, causing him to shake his head and smile.
For a woman whose first meeting with him was in the nude, Ailsa was far more shy than he thought she would be. That said, it was ironically because of this that Ryu knew they had drawn closer.
To some people, embarrassment was a sign of estrangement. But, depending on the person, especially one as confident and prideful as Ailsa, embarrassment could be a sign of the exact opposite. The only reason she was acting like this was because she was even more worried about what Ryu was thinking.
With a light smile, his mood feeling quite good, Ryu entered Osiris once again, immediately finding himself in the same room he had left from.
It was only then that Ailsa finally peaked into his room and sighed a breath of relief. Suddenly remembering what happened all those days ago, she flushed red again and scurried away.
Covering her face with her hands, she began to berate herself again.
She was supposed to be the big sister in this relationship. How had she had such a poor showing. How embarrassing. It was impossible for her to keep up her mystique now.
…
Ryu rose, feeling the weight of his Great Swordstaffs on his back.
'Oh, you decided to come?' Ryu smiled, realizing that a wild Ailsa has silently appeared on his shoulder.
'Hm? Are you talking to me?' Ailsa looked around and pointed toward herself.
Fake it till you make it. Ailsa leaned into this hard, refusing to acknowledge Ryu's question as though it didn't make much sense to her.
Ryu chuckled but didn't say much else.
When Ryu made his way down the stairs, everyone noticed the beauty who was now on his shoulder. Usually, Ailsa would be hidden, but the mechanics of Osiris were much different. This was also the reason why everyone could see Annette as well though she rarely left Giveon's side.
The group looked between Annette and Ailsa in a moment of silence. They had already heard that Ryu had a Life Partner, but this was the first time they were actually seeing her. But, what was unexpected was…
'Annette lost…'
The men in the room all decided this in unison, but not a single one dared to say it aloud. Not to mention the fact they were scared of Annette, they were also afraid of Ryu after hearing about his exploits. None of them wanted to find out just what it would mean to get on his bad side.
Annette blinked when she looked toward Ailsa. But Ailsa, seemingly still trying to put on airs for Ryu, didn't meet her gaze immediately. It was only after sensing something that she looked over and smiled dazzlingly.
'A fatal blow…'
The men were once more in lockstep. This Ailsa was truly too beautiful. And better yet, she seemed to be less violent than Annette too. She had the latter beaten in every facet.
Amie couldn't help but give Ailsa a few glances. Had Faeries really become such a ubiquitous species now? Why were the always popping up in the least desirable places?
Amie couldn't help but pout. But, there was nothing she could do about it.
Giveon cleared his throat, trying to disperse the odd atmosphere.
"Sorry to bother you, Ryu, but this is important."
Ryu shook his head. He didn't mind being called. In fact, he had expected it much earlier. After all, it had technically be more than a half year since he last saw this group.
Of course, what Ryu didn't know was that they had tried to call for his help before. It was just that he was in such deep meditation that no one could reach him. Also, it didn't help that he was within that formation. There was no way anything would have gotten through to him even if he hadn't been in such a state.
Giveon smiled and continued. "We are on the last leg of our quotas, but the Deep Valley Team has been oddly quiet.
"The longer they take to take action, the more likely it is that they are just biding their time for the perfect opportunity. If we manage to complete this quota, we'll not only be within the top 12, but we'll be a step above our current rank at 11.
"In addition due to… our interference, The Deep Valley Team has fallen from their previous rank all the way down to seventh."
Giveon knew that it was mostly due to Ryu that this had happened, but he was also aware of the fickleness of human nature. It was best to frame it as something they had accomplished as a team to avoid Ryu being ostracized.
Ryu nodded. He didn't really need Giveon to explain all of these things to him. Most of it, he could have guessed. As for the little details, he didn't particularly care. He was only here to find out whether the Zu Clan was actually involved in all of this or not. And, in the case that they were… Ruin it all.
Ryu couldn't say that he particularly hated the Zu Clan. If he were to characterize his relationship with them… He had never really taken a loss at their hands. If anything, they had lost considerably at his own. If there was any hatred to be spread, it would be them toward him.
Of course, there was the matter of his grandfather's death. But, the person responsible for that, Esme, would be paying for her sins for as long as he lived.
So, it couldn't be said that Ryu was doing this out of hatred. Rather, it was just the same as always…
Any danger he could thrust himself into would help him grow more powerful. It was just that simple to him.
Who knew how the Zu Clan members would react to knowing this…
"Alright, since we have your agreement, I'll briefly describe the final mission.
"Our target this time are the Natives."
Ryu's gaze flashed. The Natives? He hadn't heard this term before. But, according to Ailsa's memories that surfaced the moment Giveon spoke these words, the Natives were essentially the residents of Osiris. Much like the beast Ryu had fought, they weren't real but they were a part of many of the obstacles the members of the Mercenary Guild had to deal with.
"Are we talking? Knights? Nobles?..." Grim perked up to ask.
"Barbarian Natives. Specifically, the Mountain Barbarian Natives."
The group was instantly filled with a whole host of ugly expressions.
Anyone who knew about Natives would react in the same way. Despite being just compilations of runes to create fake persons, Barbarian Natives were the last group any of them wanted to deal with.
Those bunch of bastards were crazy. They spoke in grunts and whistles as though they were beasts, they had an unmitigatedly savage culture, and were obscenely powerful in bodily strength. Just trying to cut into them felt like trying to slice apart a refined weapon, it was beyond the limits one should expect for a living creature.
But, the hatred everyone had for them wasn't due to their strength… But rather lay in their savage culture.
The Mountain Barbarian Natives were cannibals.
The infanticide rate of their clans were exceptionally high. They thought that the meat of babies was a delicacy, leading to great internal strife within their walls.
Yet, instead of breaking apart, these groups somehow stayed together. The reason? Most of the time, their blades were turned toward the outside.
What was the worst way to die in this dream world? For a long time, it was a hotly contested topic. The newbies of the Mercenary Guild always wanted to know what things to avoid. However, for a long time now, the debate had been put to rest.
The Mountain Barbarian Natives weren't just any sort of cannibals. They believed in the sanctity of life. However… Not in the way one would normally mean when they said this.
They had a belief that the strength of a body could only be preserved while a person was alive and in the waning moments just after death.
As a result of this, they Mountain Barbarians had several tactics for keeping their prey alive… While they were being feasted upon.
A shudder of cold seemed to go through the group.
At that moment, despite how annoying Noble Natives were, they would rather deal with ten times the number of them as opposed to a fraction of Mountain Barbarian Natives.
Even though it wouldn't be a true death, they would feel every moment of it as though they were experiencing it with their true bodies. There wasn't a single soul in existence that would want to go through such a process.
While everyone else was freaking out, though, Ryu was intrigued.
When he had refined Esme into a corpse, he had kept her awake and alive for as long as possible. This seemed to be just to torture her for what she did to his grandfather, but there was a deeper reason as well.
The biological conversions he forced Esme to undergo worked more smoothly when her body was still functionally alive. With her cells still active, causing them to mutate and change was obviously easier.
Ryu wondered… This eating ritual of the Mountain Barbarians… Was there anything he could learn from them?
Unfortunately for the Violet Olive Team, they had no idea that there was a madman amongst them. Even Ailsa couldn't help but look at Ryu weirdly, but he pretended as though he hadn't sensed a single thing.
With that, the Team set off, their nerves standing on end.
The Mountain Barbarians were just one worry. Their main source of anxiety was the Deep Valley Team… Would they appear? Or not…?
What the unworried Ryu didn't know was that there was also a guillotine hanging over his own neck as well…