32. Quantity is Quality
My childhood was always sparkling with exploration, adventure and all sorts of new things.
When she woke up in a drowsy early morning near dawn, she could directly see her mother, who was a famous hunter on the continent, checking her equipment.
I learned then that you shouldn’t neglect to take care of your equipment.
My father, an up-and-coming mapmaker and explorer in the Adventurer’s Guild, spent most of his time at home, unless he needed to update his maps.
When I was bored at home alone, he always took me to the forest near the village and gave me useful information.
‘Son. See the tree with purple thorns sticking out here?’
‘Eh! What is this?’
‘If you touch these thorns, you must be very sick! So, when playing in the forest with friends from now on, I have to look carefully to see if there are any trees like this before playing.’
‘Yes! Okay!’
At that time, I learned knowledge to help me live.
My master, who taught me swordsmanship as a child, was always kind and upright, which did not match the atmosphere of the armor full of scars.
If you do something wrong, you will be forgiven. But not twice
If someone you don’t know gives you kindness for no reason, it’s probably up to something, so be careful.
Always think twice or three times before acting on anything.
I followed Master’s words without hesitation, and I stopped hearing the noise related to me around me.
At that time, I learned the wisdom to lead a flexible life.
This happened once.
It was around the time I turned 14. It was when I applied for the Ranger entrance exam and just received notification of passing.
When my mother saw my acceptance letter, she silently hugged me and shed tears of joy for me.
Contrary to her neat appearance, her mother, who had an outspoken personality, did not cry at all.
At the time, I was embarrassed by my mother’s tears when I hadn’t seen them for the first time.
‘My Austin. My son Mom is so proud of our son.’
I learned about family bonds at that time.
Time passed by, and before I knew it, I was 17 years old, three years after joining Ranger.
After I moved to Mettelheim, it was a time when I was reborn as a full-fledged ranger through rigorous training every day.
After the hard training, I was about to go to bed as usual, but I had to wake up from a light sleep by the instructor who summoned me and several members.
What the hell is going on- When I came out of the dormitory grumbling, I saw the instructor standing on the podium and looking around us with twinkling eyes.
It’s finally deployment. Congratulations to me
What are we celebrating? Does it imply a future that will be sent to the front and divided by the Demon King’s Army?
At the time, I couldn’t really get my head around it, but I just covered my face thickly as if I was happy with what others were doing.
The first actual deployment was a small village where the middle cadre of the Demon King’s Army hid.
Visit the village with a scruffy appearance like a passerby, permeate naturally into the village so as not to arouse suspicion, and quietly deal with the middle cadre of the Demon King’s Army so that the villagers do not suffer damage. It was a very simple task.
Priority is to capture alive, but if the situation is not favorable, shoot. As befits a newcomer’s mission, the importance was not so high, and it must have been a mission to test judgment by giving one’s own discretion… I think so now.
The number of people is three including me. They were all motives who ate one pot rice.
From noble mtl dot com
Names… Memories have weathered, so I’m not sure about the names that come to mind. Perhaps the name of the girl with the ponytail was Allen, and the boy with short gray hair was Carson.
Carson and Allen were my closest friends in Ranger, and they were reliable comrades I could rely on. Through them, I was able to learn about human relationships with others.
Those two knew how to use magic at least a little, unlike me who didn’t have a mana core, and magic never lied. Show tangible results. The light of mana emitted through the mana circuit illuminates the path, and powerful auxiliary magic allows even wooden arrows to pierce steel.
…Maybe that’s what caused the mission to gradually drift apart, that’s what I wanted to believe.
The middle manager of the Demon King’s Army knew our identities from the moment we entered the village.
It was an attack in the middle of the night. The good and ignorant villagers who accepted the middle cadre of the Demon King’s army without knowing anything were mercilessly cut and torn by the rakes of the demons.
We woke up gasping for breath, grabbed our weapons, and ran out to fight, but there were too many enemies.
They were rock locusts.
The carapace is covered with solid stone, and its forelimbs are made of the hardest carapace among them, so it can easily dig into the ground like a shovel. On the subject of that, the number is a terrifying monster that pours endlessly like a swarm of ordinary locusts.
Allen and Carson used their own weapons to deal with the rock locusts, but were unable to win a fierce battle and abandoned their damaged weapons to assist with magic while continuing the battle and were injured.
The voices of the two calling me anxiously pierced my ears, but I couldn’t stop swinging my shortsword.
The wave of monsters was endless.
I had to row desperately, like a boat thrown into a storm and rough waves.
I swung it like crazy, and stabbed it with the knife raised at an angle.
It wasn’t until the sun peeked through the ridges that I poked my head out, and I was able to sit down and catch my breath.
The middle officer joined the monsters that attacked us and fought together, but his head was blown off by Carson’s strong bow.
In spite of the successful completion of the mission, I couldn’t be happier.
The fact that I could no longer hear the voices of Allen and Carson screaming my name and telling me to run away was holding my head back as I tried to turn.
After a bloody battle, there were only two survivors in this village, including myself.
I rescued her from being caught in the rubble, a girl with orange hair as bright as the summer sun.
My name is Robin. She was two years younger than me.
Holding the sobbing Robin in her arms, reading her condolences, and burying the bodies of her colleagues made me think a lot before feeling her sorrow.
Why? Out of so many people, only me and this ignorant country girl survived.
Why did Carson and Allen die? They were human weapons that had undergone as much rigorous training as I had, and were equipped with quality weapons, and the magic circuit drawn on the gloves was also high-end equipment.
All of the supplies that the few elite rangers received were of such good quality.
A bald instructor always told us to treat quality equipment with care.
I stared down at the shortsword, whose blade was dangling, with all its teeth missing.
Three well-trained rangers and dozens of rock locusts.
One survivor.
In fact, even dozens of units were small groups as far as the rock locust swarm was concerned.
Is quality important?
Of course, quality is also important. But… If only there were a few more experienced rangers than us.
Three. No, even if there were only two more. Carson and Allen would come up to me with smiling faces as usual, and make fun of my shortsword, which had turned into a mess.
At that time, I was able to realize one of the many truths that make up the world.
The violence of overwhelming numbers that transcends quality.
Quantity equals quality.
* * *
“… Mr. B… Mr. Bae…!”
Uh…Was it a dream?
But, it’s like having a bad dream…
“Senior!”
“Oh my god, what a f*cking surprise!”
“Kyaagh?! No… Surprise… No, why are you all of a sudden screaming!”
“No, it was because you suddenly popped out in front of my eyes. Oh, your heart beats.”
As I grabbed my chest and exaggeratedly caught my breath, Robin’s eyes turned to me as if he was looking at something pitiful.
That’s great. I was really surprised.
I shrugged my shoulders once, then lifted my arms and stretched them to loosen my stiffened body.
“Ughguk… What. If you rest, will you move slowly? Robin, you wake up Princess Alexis and the other kids too…”
“Uh… Senior?”
“Huh? Why?”
Robin looked at me, then suddenly raised his hand and gently brushed my cheek.
“Oh. What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“Senior… Are you crying…?”
“Uh… Huh?”
What bullsh*t is this?
I raised my hand with a heart and touched it around my eyes, and the moist water really soaked my hand.
“…Huh, really. Heh heh heh…”
At the moment, I was dumbfounded and laughed out loud. No, sir, it was only a few years ago that I had a dream and sat down in front of my juniors.
I sighed as I wiped the tears from my eyes with my sleeve. Certainly, it seemed that the incident at that time was left as something like a trauma of its own.
I usually have that dream very occasionally. But lately, I haven’t seen it or thought about it, so I don’t know what happened to it.
Chief… Carson Dog… I’d long forgotten about that face, but the memories in my head were being dug up and reassembled.
Allen was an easy-going woman with her bobbed hair that looked good in a ponytail. Oh, Carson liked Allen. I don’t know if she confessed before they both died.
…Stop thinking. There is nothing better to think about.
I raised my palms and slapped both cheeks, wiping the occasional tears with my sleeve.
As I sat there, I saw Robin looking at me with a worried expression.
“…Senior. Why did you cry Did you have a bad dream?”
“Arthur. Knowing will hurt you.”
“Ah, what is it? Did you have any scary dreams? Have you ever dreamed of a ghost?”
Looking at Robin chattering nonstop, I let out a timid, airy laugh.
Maybe it’s on purpose for me. For a moment, I remembered the first time I met Robin, and without realizing it, I put her hand on Robin’s head and gently stroked her.
“Seo… Senior?!”
“You really haven’t changed.”
It was very funny to see Robin’s eyes emitting bright green light like peridots shaking around as if an earthquake had occurred.
“Ah… Ah… What could I have changed… Uhm…”
By the way, wow… The hair is really crazy. They say that women put a lot of effort into managing their hair.
Little Robin, who looked up at me with teary eyes and clear green eyes, felt awkward about the fact that she had become a mature woman before she knew it.
“Aww… That… Stop petting! I am not even a child!”
“I used to like you. Stroking.”
“Why are you suddenly talking about the old days… Uhhh…”
“Let’s stay like this for a while. Yes, after thinking about the old days. Huh?”
I smiled and gently comforted Robin, and suddenly, Robin hugged her around my waist and dug into her arms.
“What… What are you doing right now…”
“I also think of the old days.”
As I opened my eyes wide and opened her mouth in bewilderment, Robin looked up at me and raised her mouth.
“…Revenge.”
* * *
“Mogdan. Are there really monsters here? You can’t even see a sign of a f*cking monster.”
“If it weren’t for the monsters, would the ghosts have taken the miners who disappeared? Of course it must have been the work of demons.”
We walked nonstop along the straight shaft, but there were no traces of the monsters, although the helmets of the missing miners were occasionally found.
“Oh. I almost tripped again. You will get sick.”
I grumbled as I jumped over the mound of dirt jutting out from the middle of the shaft floor.
From noble mtl dot com
No, no matter how much the ground is dug and the soil is turned over, it’s like that, leaving piles of dirt on the sidewalk where people pass by like this. Isn’t there a reason why Mogdan, whose name is mine manager, is in danger of missing out on promotion?
He complained to Mog Dan when he fell once, but Mog Dan waved his hand with a clear look of bewilderment.
“Whoa… It’s about to get to the deepest part of the mine. Please walk a little harder. I will pay you generously.”
“You, keep that promise.”
After walking through the rough and narrow tunnels for several hours, I feel sad. It was fortunate that the Dwarves meticulously laid ventilation and exhaust pipes, so there was no problem breathing. It wasn’t even a coal mine to dig coal in the first place.
How much longer did you have to walk like that? Suddenly, Mogdan, who had been leading the way in front, stopped and stood.
“… Hey. What are you doing? Is this the end?”
“…Now… Wait… The deepest part of the mine is right here… I haven’t been able to dig any further than this because work has stopped…!”
What the f*ck was that, Mog Dan muttering to himself as he shook his shoulder.
I poked my head over Mogdan’s shoulder as he stood in the light of the lantern.
I could see the deepest part of the tunnel, firmly woven with beams, and the solid earthen wall blocking our way.
“This hole is…”
Following Mogdan’s fingers, I lowered my gaze further.
“…What is this?”
As if someone dug haphazardly with a shovel, we were greeted by a large, deep cave dug irregularly and at an angle.
Looking at the mounds of earth piled up on either side of the pit, it looks like it must have been artificially dug by someone…
“…Well, shouldn’t we go inside? Maybe we can find the missing miners.”
“Uh… Yes. Okay. I have to go in.”
While patting Mogdan’s slightly stiff shoulder, we went into a deep pit.
“The size is quite large, isn’t it? It could be that this is not a monster, but a human being.”
“Certainly… Too big to be called a den dug by mountain kobolds.”
After going down for a while, I started to hear something strange from inside.
– Sasasak… Sasak…
“…What the hell is this?”
As I quietly pulled out my crossbow and stared into the darkness within, Robin’s complexion, which had been listening attentively, began to grow pale.
“This sound…”
“What is it? Robin, do you know what this means?”
“I’m not sure yet… uh…?”
As she turned her head back to look at Robin, his complexion was starting to turn pale.
“I… That… There…!”
“What, what is it that rattles… It shakes… Is…”
As we followed Robin’s gaze and slowly moved her gaze forward, we saw something moving towards us.
The front legs that look like shovel heads, and the sturdy hind legs that help you move quickly and with high mobility.
In the stone-hard carapace, hundreds of compound eyes were pointing at us.
Rock locust.
From noble mtl dot com
Now, the identities of the mysterious piles of dirt that were piled up on the way here have been revealed.
And these guys don’t act alone.
“Mr.. Mr.. Mr..”
From far inside, I heard the sound of the oyster collapsing.
Sasak- Sasak-
“Dom Hwangcha!!!!!!!!!!”
We are f*cked.
To live, you must run.