Hans Aulock would be remembered as Hans J from now on.
«¡¿H-His...?!»
« Hans ...? ».
The moment he revealed his name, Raven and Ainar, next to me, shuddered and fixed their eyes in our direction. They both knew what Hans meant to me.
«...Is there a problem?». When attention was suddenly focused on him, Hans J put on a startled expression. I squeezed my thigh tightly.
Not now. Be patient.
I wanted to break his head right now and turn him into a nameless corpse. This desire dominated my mind.
¡Aprieta!
But he still had no proof that he was the traitor. All I had were suspicions. Even if he talked about the ominousness of the name Hans, Patzran and Ersina would not be able to accept it. At least now, they would think of him as a teammate.
«No, no hay problem».
And so no action was taken yet. Even if he was the traitor, if he had a brain, he would just try to stay silent until he could return to the city. I judged that observation came first.
«Hey? It didn't seem like ...»
«I said there is no problem».
«Hmm, if you say so...» Hans J touched his chin with an uneasy face. I felt a little sorry because it seemed like we were bullying him. «So, are you going to leave my hand hanging?».
Still, a handshake crossed the line.
«Oh, Patzran! Have you finished talking?» I took my eyes off Hans J and changed the subject. It seemed like those two had also finished speaking just in time.
«Something like that. It seems like Drous was really from that place... I always thought he had an eccentric side».
«Ya veo.»
«So what are you going to do with that man?»
«I'll take it with me for now.»
«Okay.»
Surprisingly, Patzran had nothing to object to Nebarce's deal, although he too nearly died because of her. Wasn't I crossing the line because I thought it was my loot?
«Anyway, can we all get together?» In any case, once the general meeting was over, Raven called everyone together. Then he settled the situation with me. «The sea route is blocked by waves, so it is impossible to escape from the island. No wonder monsters keep appearing».
«Speaking of monsters, it seems that they are getting stronger. Not long ago, a Mermaid Queen appeared».
«Yeah. I don't know what phenomenon happened today on this island, but it seems that we are immersed in something unusual». In that sense, Mr. Patzran, is there anything you know about this phenomenon?» raven asked.
Patzran paused briefly before responding. «Since it seems like you already have an assumption, I'll talk honestly. This is why we visited this island». Apparently he had heard some things from the leader, Drous, although the others had not. «I don't know the details either... But I've heard that we just have to hold on until the sun rises in two days».
«Luckily, that means this state won't last forever». Raven then presented two options. «First, we looked for a convenient place to defend ourselves and lasted two days».
«¿Second?»
«Tour the island and look for our companions. Our team hasn't found Miss Karlstein, and Mr. Patzran's team hasn't found their goalkeeper yet. If you are both alone right now, it will only become more dangerous as time goes by».
I ended up chuckling at Raven's words. So why did he say we had two options?
«Now what will you do?»
«Of course we must go look for our companions». I responded without a moment's hesitation and Patzran was no different.
«If I escaped safely, I'm sure Heina did too. We have to go rescue her».
First we would search the island and look for our companions. When our future course of action was almost decided, Hans J rolled his eyes and joined the conversation. «Vote! Why don't we decide with a vote?».
It was too hard to believe.
Even if your name is Hans, are you going to say that in this environment?
«Ahem, well there may be people who don't want to but can't speak out».
«If you say so. Let's vote. Raise your hand if you think we should go find our comrades».
The vote proceeded without loss of time, and when everyone raised their hands, Hans J also reluctantly raised his.
«That's all, then».
Barbarian democracy was invincible.
***
Step step.
I walked at a slightly faster pace to clear the way. Eight individuals followed me behind me. There were all my clanmates except Missha, Patzran, Ersina and Hans J, with whom we made a temporary alliance. There was even strategic prisoner Nebarce Greenhop.
There are at least eight people for now.
Assuming Missha and Patzran's team goalkeeper teamed up here, it might be possible to clear it somehow. The presence of the priestess was great. If she wasn't here, she really would have been out of sight.
«Miss Karlstein! If you can hear me, please respond! Miss Karlstein!»
«¡Hain!»
Once we left the shore, we focused on finding our companions, who would be somewhere on the island. It was not an easy task. The island itself wasn't that wide, but due to the dozens of monsters that appeared wherever we went, we couldn't accelerate.
¡Crunch, chomp! ¡Kabooommmm!
Right now, we were practically fighting a stalemate.
[You have defeated a Sea Giant. + EXP 5]
[You have defeated a Naga Archer. + EXP 5]
[You have defeated a Palpus Serpent...]
This was a change that occurred thirty minutes ago. The ranks of the monsters that appeared increased sharply, to the point that it was difficult even for a group of eight to advance with ease.
The atmosphere was also darker than before. No one said it out loud first, but the reason for this gloom was obvious.
«With so many monsters...»
There was no way our separated companions were okay. Even if Missha and the archer were lucky enough to meet, the two of them alone would not be able to resist this wave of monsters. But so what?
«¡Behell-ahhhhhhh!»
Unconcerned by the terrible conditions, I cleared the way with more vigor. Even if I had to brandish my mace several times just to take a few steps forward, it was no reason to sit still. At the moment, he had not confirmed anything yet.
¡Chomp, chomp, chomp!
I kept moving forward.
¡Pum!
Blood gushed out. I heard the labored breathing of my tired companions.
Slash! Stab.
You could hear the chilling sound of a monster's skin and pierced intestines. In the middle of the noise came someone's murmur.
«...Isn't it time to stop?» It was the voice of Hans J. «Why doesn't anyone say it? Why don't they want to be the bad guys? But everyone knows it».
My feet stood up on their own. The monsters drooled and charged at me even at that moment, but I turned around and headed towards the man. «Know what? Speak appropriately. Before I confuse your words».
«Think logically! Can't you see it's already too late?».
Yeah, so you mean you're the smart wizard, huh? Okay then. I wanted to break your neck as soon as I saw you, anyway. Since you're spouting nonsense in front of a barbarian, that should be a justification.
¡Tos!
I grabbed him by the neck.
«S-Mr. Yandel!» Raven screamed at my actions.
Patzran left the monster he was fighting on the front line behind and ran towards me. «What do you think you're doing?». Since offending his teammate, Patzran no longer used honorifics.
«Go further and I will kill you». At this time, Ainar also entered battle mode and blocked Patzran's path. Erwen was similar.
It slipped.
He didn't say anything, and continued shooting arrows at the monsters anyway. But from a certain point on, Erwen stood behind the priestess to show that she would kill her if a battle broke out.
«Everyone, enough!» Raven panicked and screamed.
«Yandel, wake up». Mr. Bear pushed the monsters with his big crossbow and stopped me. It all happened within three seconds after he grabbed the wizard by the neck.
Damn sea.
What was he doing? I was not like that.
I collapsed.
I relaxed my grip on Hans J's neck and let him fall to the ground. The first line had already collapsed from my action and the monsters were beginning to flock.
«I'm sorry. I've gotten nervous».
«...Let's talk about this later».
When I returned to the front line, Patzran didn't talk anymore and took care of the monsters from my side.
«Uf…»
Thus, the atmosphere on the verge of an internal conflict was resolved, but it could not be said that things were as before. Although we continued fighting together, everyone distrusted each other. Thanks to that, our speed decreased even more. Well, at least Hans's trap remained closed.
Missha...
It was bad news for me as I had to find Missha as soon as possible.
Damn sea.
«Lord! It's a body!»
While we were searching the island at the speed of a crawling ant, we came across the corpse of the person we were looking for.
The moment I came face to face with the corpse, my heart skipped a beat. I felt faint and my head turned black. But soon, that excitement turned into relief, because she wasn't Missha.
«Heina...!» He was the goalkeeper of Patzran's team. Patzran was clearing the way next to me when he ran towards her gutted. «Damn!» Checking if he was breathing, he hit the ground with his fist.
Just then, white waves spread from the center of the formation.
[Lairin Ersina has released Destruction of Evil].
Destruction of Evil was one of the basic abilities of a priestess. You could think of it as a kind of barrier. It couldn't stop people, but as long as it remained, it couldn't be invaded by monsters.
«¡Keeeeek!»
Simply put, we were safe for the moment. I lowered my shield and approached the body; not to the body of the archer. Here was one more body.
«Who is this person?» When I dragged a surprised Nebarce and asked him, he replied that he was his comrade. Thanks to that, my head went numb.
What the hell had happened?
He could accept that the archer was dead, but there was no point in this guy's body being next to him.
«Raven, the cause of death?»
«There are too many bite marks to be sure. But... it must be the stab wound to the abdomen that was fatal.»
So, that's what it is.
«Traces of being stabbed by a sword, huh?» Heina was an archer, but the man was stabbed to death? This really didn't make sense. «What about the woman? Can you tell exactly what killed her?»
«I don't know. His side is even worse...»
«If you had to guess.»
«...First, there is a wound as if it had been torn by a large claw. But this is also a bit strange. I haven't seen any monster that could leave a mark like that until now. As if she had been torn apart by a great monster...»
«Does any monster come to mind?»
«The similarity is that they have three claws and there is a deep scar near the end. This is usually a pattern that appears when you are attacked by a flying-type monster like a Wyvern.»
«I see.» The situation was becoming more worrying. «That means it couldn't have been a monster».
«Yes... it seems so». Raven nodded, and rightly so, because the bodies were devoid of any equipment.
«Patzran, does women have their subspace left?»
«No, it doesn't fit. Someone took it».
Now there were two possibilities.
Either there was another explorer on this island that we didn't know about... or there has also been infighting on Noark's side.
¡A slap!
Nebarce seemed to have lost his mind, so I slapped him. «Wake up. I have something to ask you. Can you guess who did this?»
«Carmilla and Belverson. It has to be the work of those bastards.»
«In more detail.»
Nebarce told me that the man named Belverson used a sword, and the woman named Carmilla had a Drake as a summoned beast.
«But why did they hurt your comrade too?»
«I don't know. Maybe they coveted the treasure. Maybe they even made it to Lady Rainwales...»
I don't have time to take care of your mental health.
«Tell me about the treasure». I pulled Nebarce's head by the hair to keep it steady and listened again to the part that had jumped out at me earlier.
There was nothing particularly informative. «I know nothing more than that it is an object passed down from the castle lord's family for many generations. There is also a legend that says that it can change the history of whoever owns it».
Change your story? Was it an object with so much power? Since he said it was a legend, he would have to take it with a grain of salt.
Anyway, it's clearly an item important enough to send a woman like Amelia looking for.
There were more than enough reasons. Noark had also gone out into the outside world, after all. Getting a big one, creating new identities, and living in the city didn't sound like a bad option.
«Mr. Aulock, please take care of Miss Heina.»
«Ah, leave it to me...» Hans J cast a preservation spell on the archer's corpse. Then, putting the body in the subspace, the collection ended.
«...Yandel, what are you going to do now?» Like an explorer, Patzran quickly shook off his emotions and asked me about my future plans, but I couldn't say anything. «Are you going to continue looking for your comrade?».
I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't say it.
«We still have some energy, but the situation will only get worse».
I knew it in my head. Forced movements were consuming our resistance. In the meantime, we had to be careful with Carmilla and Belverson. At this point, the right thing to do was to find a point of defense and preserve our resistance.
So what is Missha supposed to do...?
It continued to be difficult for me to make rational decisions.
Maybe that's why...
Suddenly, I had this thought. Missha may have known, and that's why she pushed me away that day. If our relationship had developed more deeply then, I wouldn't even have been able to think like that now. Clearly, I would be making a fuss, carried away by my emotions, just like my sudden action from before.
«Sr. Yandel...»
I took a deep breath, exhaled, and slowly looked around. Raven, Erwen, Ainar, Mr. Bear; My precious comrades looked at me with worried eyes. Now was the time to make a decision as a leader.
«Everyone, put down your weapons. We will rest while holding the barrier».
I felt like my insides were rotting.