83. The Chaser
Unbeknownst to the general public, the empire’s archaeological community was greatly upset.
The Snow Country Exploration Team, called the Suicide Squad, really returned after discovering the remains of an ancient kingdom that existed in the Snow Country.
They didn’t just come, they also packed their pockets full of relics and treasures.
No scholars could have predicted that traces of an ancient kingdom that had only been passed down in legends would really be found in the snow country.
No, I never imagined that even if it was in the snow country, there would be crazy people who could explore it.
Everyone was slowly sorting out the treasures they had brought, looking forward to the rosy future ahead.
The archaeologists who saw the Snow Country Expedition returning to the capital recalled.
The fact that the unique leader who led them is no longer visible.
He was a short leader with very beautiful golden hair.
In the snow country where the snow piles up to the chest of an adult every time, he had a very unfavorable physical condition, so people did not easily gather in the snow country expedition he recruited, but somehow, somehow, they became a good team.
No one knew where he had gone after he was invisible when he returned from the snow country.
Although there was no Atlas, the Snow Country expedition still periodically gathered at the office that Atlas had prepared.
Everyone wanted to return to their hometown with the gold and silver treasures they had earned, but it took time to dispose of the treasures they had brought with them.
“So when does the auction start?”
“Even though the best appraisers rushed in, the numbers are too many. If not, it will take three months.”
“hehehe, after I get all the money, should I buy a title and pretend to be a noble? As for the last name.. Yes, I will do it with Whitebones.”
“Mister?? Ugh, that’s terrible. What are White Bones?”
“My parents had a butcher shop, so the whitened bones were my playthings.”
It was okay to just dispose of them as gold or precious metals, but there were too many wasteful relics for that.
It will be properly appraised and put up for auction as relics and artifacts from the ancient kingdom.
We got together because of those procedures, but in fact, there was a bigger problem.
People in the industry already know that they have become rich overnight.
A bodyguard was also hired, but the Snow Country Exploration Team, which consisted of people with at least Gold Plate qualification, was in a state of guaranteeing each other’s safety.
“Three months or so… After receiving the money, will you feel a little more realistic?”
“What is the captain doing?”
“Well, where else would you go looking for something like tall medicine?”
“I didn’t expect to leave right away without even having a proper farewell party… I’m a little disappointed!”
“What can I do? A person who suddenly appears and then suddenly disappears.”
They say it’s embarrassing, but they understand.
Speaking of short, I lived with Atlas for a short period of time and I understood how much he cared about height.
And the face of despair when he found out that what he found in the ruins wasn’t the elixir he wanted… Then he came into the bar and everyone laughed and danced, but I remember going to the corner alone and sighing deeply.
Their exploration is over, but Atlas’s is not over yet.
-Smart
Someone knocked on the only door in the office.
“Has anyone come today?”
“The appraisers said they would come tomorrow..?”
There are security guards outside the building.
They checked the identities of people coming in and checked them in before letting them in.
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It could have been a security guard, but if it were them, they would have said it was them in the public announcement.
“Then who are you?”
The office, which was loosely spread and chatting, fell into a state of tension.
“… Let’s open it.”
Bryan, a red-haired member of the Snow Country Exploration Team and an adventurer with a platinum plate, slowly opened the door.
Everybody was nervous and picked up the weapons they had put within reach and greeted the uninvited guests.
The well-oiled door opened softly and soundlessly, and Brian had no choice but to bow his head as soon as he opened it.
“Are you the Snow Country Exploration Team?”
It was a small girl who knocked on the door.
It was wearing a gray robe, but the silvery hair protruding through the hood, the bell-like voice, and the doll-like body that seemed like it could be squeezed into the bosom made it look like a fairy.
Where did she become the daughter of an aristocratic family? Her prettiness flowed madly and could not be covered with a large robe.
Except for Bella and three other people, all of them were very unsuitable for the office of the Snow Country Exploration Corps, a den of gloomy men.
“Ah, what the heck, I was nervous for no reason….”
All the crew members who were very nervous breathed a sigh of relief.
“hahahaha yes, we are the snow country exploration team that broke through the snow country! Would you like an autograph?”
“Don’t scare the kid!”
Brian lowered his stance toward the girl.
Making eye contact with the girl, Brian grinned, showing his grinning teeth.
“Bella, I think you came to find us, but what’s wrong~”
“That’s great.”
The fairy girl giggled and covered her mouth with her hand.
It was unrealistic to see her thin fingers covering her cherry-like lips.
Bella herself was a young lady from an aristocratic family, but she was the first person I had ever seen that felt so unrealistic.
But the calluses on her slender fingers reminded her of the reality that she was the one who wielded her weapon.
“I’m looking for someone.”
The girl in the gray robe continued her speech so clearly that it resonated throughout her spacious office.
“He is shorter than me and very pretty blonde. Her eyes are blue and she carries a sword the size of her height. Her personality… At first glance, it’s very nice, but if you touch it wrong, it’ll explode without any warning, so it’s troublesome.”
As the words continued, the atmosphere of the members changed.
Because they knew exactly who the girl was talking about.
“I heard you are here for sure.”
“What… I don’t know if it’s a sound…?”
The girl was confident.
“Why are you looking for that person?”
“I am the Imperial Knights. We’re chasing the deserter.”
The girl unbuttoned her robe, revealing pale silver armor under her heather.
A cold metallic sound was heard.
In her hand was a silver rapier.
That figure was an infallible knight.
“Get out of the way, mister!!”
Bella jumped up and fired a bullet of ice at her girl knight.
The girl knight, who introduced herself as the Imperial Knights, easily dodged the sharp ice bullets, but it was the signal flare of all of this.
“Hey hey grab it!!”
The crew took out the weapons they were still holding and stood up to repel the outsiders who invaded their hideout.
The office, which had a languid atmosphere, became a mess at once.
“… Tell me where you went.”
“Why are the Imperial Knights looking for something like that..!!”
The little girl knight slashed the legs of the crew members with the sharp sword she was holding in one hand, avoiding the crowds of men with a small body.
“Ouch!!”
“You guys can’t aim because they’re all together like that!!”
“No, what to do with narrow things!!”
Even if you can’t do it, more than 10 people of upper-intermediate or higher level of skill rushed at it, but they couldn’t even get a scratch on the girl knight’s armor.
The soldiers with sword scars on their legs limped.
Looking at that movement, Bella felt a sense of déjà vu.
Because I felt like I had seen someone fighting like that before.
‘Atlas..! See you later, I won’t let you go… !!’
Cursing at the identity of that deja vu, Bella fired her ice magic at the girl knight again.
She dodged her ice and the attacking crew with a bizarre move, then came right in front of her and kicked her Bella.
“Kyaaah?!”
“Don’t move. Hurt.”
As Bella fell, a sharp silver dagger landed on her neck.
No matter how much she explores, her courage increases, but Bella is just a noble lady who has studied archeology and magic.
Her face went pale as she felt the sharpness of it, as if the slightest movement would cut through her skin.
Only after this had happened, Bella was able to properly face the girl knight who had taken off her robe.
‘It’s cute..’
She couldn’t hide her beauty even when she was covered with a large robe. After taking off her robe, she couldn’t believe her even more.
Her head was lowered, and amethyst-like purple eyes shone through her long silver hair, and her lips, which fell from the bridge of her high nose, were cherry-red.
Her small face with closely clustered features and silver armor made her look like a porcelain doll covered in armor.
“Tell me everything you know. If you don’t tell me, you guys are traitors too. I’ll take care of them all together.”
Her men all had weapons, but when she saw Bella’s rapier pointed at her neck, she couldn’t run away.
“I don’t know what you mean…. The captain disappeared without telling us where he was going..”
“Right..! It disappeared on the way back from the ruins with the treasure!”
“Did you just tell me to take care of the rest?”
“Really… I don’t know where he went…”
I wanted to tell you, but they really didn’t know where Atlas had gone.
All they remember was the way Atlas leisurely slipped away while they were drinking, saying he had something to go first.
The girl knight put on a lonely expression as she looked at the snow country expedition members who sincerely said she didn’t know.
“… You guys are abandoned too.”
“What?”
At the time the confrontation continued, a piece of paper suddenly came out of her shadow.
Bella thought that appearance resembled Atlas’ final appearance on the Snow Country Expedition.
The girl knight skilfully opened and read the letter with one hand before finally putting down her rapier.
“… I’ll go, it’s really not here. I’m sorry for being rough. ”
The girl knight put the letter in her bosom, picked up the fallen robe, and walked out of the building.
Bella couldn’t let her go.
“Wait…! You!!”
“…?”
The girl stopped at Bella’s cry.
“What do you mean when you meet Atlas…?!”
Hearing that, the girl knight spoke without hesitation.
“… I will kill you.”
After she said that, she walked out again.
I followed and watched and saw that the guards had already collapsed.
Bella looked superimposed on the figure of the girl knight who suddenly stormed in and then suddenly left.
“Atlas… !! Where have you been and what have you been doing!!!!”
She promised to hit me hard the next time we met.
Of course, it was a story when he was safe.