Chapter 23: Chapter 21: You’re Departing Again!?

Alum and Night Ouen were currently in an unexplored ruin together with many other parties. 

They had all gathered to explore the new ruin near the Great Forest Of Lidande, and each party was assigned a role. Turen’s party was responsible for aggroing the monsters with 2 other parties. 

They were doing fine in the exploration until the ruin swallowed them into a deeper floor. They were in a massive room and greeted by the sight of an unbelievably giant monster. 

At first, it played with them until one person landed a critical hit, making it lose one of its many legs. And since they have been struggling against this boss since there wasn’t any way out. 

Fazing this, Ingens Scolopendra's was not in their plan. It was huge, and the legs were essentially hot blades as they could heat up to a temperature that melted the floor. 

Not only was it big and strong, but it was also a Mother. It made this battle a rather tough one because of all the chaos. 

The miniature versions of it weren’t a laughing matter either, as they were estimated to be ranked C monsters. And the Mother was estimated to be A-ranked. 

This ruin exploration was only meant to be an investigation unit led by an A-ranked party to protect investigators but had somehow into a boss raid. 

And Alum had assumed he’d gone back after thoroughly investigating the second floor…. But no, they had to stumble upon a hidden room which made the ruin swallow them. 

Alum had two concerns, will they make it back? And if they did, would he be back before his one-month anniversary with Ame? 

How did it even come to this? 

—::::—

3 days earlier, Alum and the Night Ouen party discussed their plans for the next job. 

“There is a new ruin discovered recently. What do you guys say?” Turen asked. 

Turen looked at everyone at the table and started to explain. 

“They have built a camp around the ruin and prepared an airship. It will be leaving today, and we’ve talked about this before, so it's time to decide if we’re going or not.” 

They all turned to each other and seemed to have come to a conclusion. They were now waiting for Alum's response. Since he wasn’t an official member, he could decide not to go if he so wished. 

Alum wasn’t sure if he wanted to go, especially since his anniversary with Ame was closing in, but that was more than 2 weeks away….

“The airship departs today? How long does it take to travel to the ruin.” 

“A day,” Turen said. 

Alum was surprised. 

(A day? That’s surprisingly fast.) 

Turen then had a wide grin. 

“Every preparation is essentially finished, and the airship we’re boarding is pretty advanced. Normally this would take 2 days or so.” 

Nuli giggled as she looked at her enthusiastic husband. She knew he had taken quite a liking to Alum and wanted him to come along. 

“We’re going to be in the investigation unit, right?” Alum asked while tilting his head. 

“That’s right, we’ve signed up for the investigation unit that is supposed to protect investigators while they map and figure out how the ruin works,” Jua said. 

“Since we’re not in the raid team, we won't be fighting any big bosses,” Nuli commented. 

Hearing about this, Alum fell into deep thoughts. They were essentially going to act like bodyguards for investigators. 

In the case of an emergency, there could be a monster that escapes the raid unit. There was also a chance of a surprise attack.

“So… you guys are saying we’re protecting the investigators while they collect data, and there will be a raid group ahead of us?” 

Jan looked at Alum, who didn’t seem convinced yet. 

“Precisely, we attended a meeting a month ago where the organizers spoke about how this ruin exploration would go.” 

Jan then went into the details of the meeting held a month ago. 

More than a month ago, there was a ruin that had appeared not too far out of the Great Forest Of Lidande. in other words, near the border of the Lesich Empire. Which isn’t too far away from the capital city Ilifel. 

From what they gathered while investigating the outside of the ruins, they found many hieroglyphs depicting a lot of beasts and monsters. There was also a depiction of a labyrinth as well as many floors. 

They also know that the ruins weren’t empty since they feel a strong mana presence from within, and the scouts they sent in to investigate haven’t returned. 

And since it was near The Great Forest Of Lidande, there was the risk of a monster and beast attack from the forest. So They decided to set up a camp outside of it, making it safer. 

As for the exploration, there were 3 groups, the raid group, the investigation group, and the collector group. 

The raid group was divided into 5 units with 5 parties each. And a unit would each have a shot-caller that watched over the battlefield making decisions for said unit. 

The so-called shot-caller is a tactician selected by the guild so that they can oversee the battlefield and judge the situation accordingly. 

These tacticians are trained by the guild, and they also all have past experiences and are well-known in the guild, making them trustworthy. 

Then there was the investigation group, divided into 2 units with 3 parties. This group had no tactician assigned to them, so they themselves would decide who the leader was. 

The last group was the collector group. They were divided into 2 units. The first were workers whose job was collecting materials after the raid group. And the second was the escort meant to protect them in case something happened. 

And since this was the first exploration batch, they decided to only explore 1-2 floors. 

—::::—

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After Jan’s long explanation, Alum was sure it wouldn’t take them more than 1 week to explore the first 2 floors. 

“Okay, I’m in then.” He said. 

They all looked at him happily since they got to team up again. 

Alum wasn’t officially a member, but they consider him a friend of theirs. With Alum's capabilities, things were looking bright for them. 

“So, when are we leaving?” Alum asked. 

“Today evening,” said Turen with a bright smile.

“I see… I don’t have to write a letter this time….” 

With a sigh of relief, he stood up.

“Well, I’ll be meeting you guys later then, but have you guys prepared at all?”  

They all went silent and awkwardly looked around.

“.... I will tell my friends about my departure…. So I'll be back real fast….” 

“Yeah, sorry.” 

They all seemed apologetic, so he couldn’t say anything. 

“Seriously, don’t be. It's me who was late to respond.” 

With his words, the awkward atmosphere dissolved, and they split up in front of the diner they were at.  

—::::— 

It was 2 hours left before they would meet up again at the diner, and Alum had no time to waste. He hurried back to the military dorms and looked for Ame, who was instructing the others. 

30 minutes have already passed, and he arrived at the outdoor facility that was recently repaired. 

And the first thing he saw when he entered was Noel dodging like a madman as Chely rapidly attacked with the practice sword. 

“Somehow, it seems more intense than usual….” He blurts out. 

Ame, who saw him, excused herself and walked his way. He was also walking toward her while still having his eyes glued on his best friend. 

“Hey, Ame. What’s up with Noel and big sis?” 

She would look at him and giggle. 

“I’m not sure, but they get along, so all good~.” 

Her cute smile made his heart jump every time, and he couldn’t escape. Because he was head over heels for her. 

“I see,” Alum replied shyly while scratching his cheek. 

Ame wasn’t sure he was suddenly getting shy, but she found him adorable and wanted to hug him immediately. Of course, she couldn’t. 

“How did the meeting go?” 

“... We’re departing this evening.” 

After he said that, he noticed that Ame was looking somewhat gloomy. He couldn’t help but avert his eyes from her since he felt guilty. After all, it's just been a few days since he returned. 

He held her hands while leaning his forehead on hers and spoke in a gentle manner. 

“I promise to be back soon, okay?” 

“But… you can never know what could go wrong,” Ame responded dishearteningly. 

“... If I don’t return in time, I promise to make up for it.” 

“Hmpf! Now it sounds like you already broke the promise!” 

Ame puffed her cheeks while crossing her arms and facing away from him. 

She was adorable, and he pocked her cheek while they were puffy and soft. And now she looked somewhat grumpy instead. 

“Which of the two promises do you want me to keep?” Alum asked in a teasing manner. 

She didn’t say anything and leaned onto his chest. 

“Dummy… of course, the first one. But if you can’t fulfill that one, keep the other promise too.” 

He patted her head. And then spoke in the gentle manner he’d been doing earlier. 

“I will be doing that then.” 

Everyone in the vicinity wasn’t sure what was going on, but they saw the warm scene, which blinded them all. 

Even Noel and Chely, who were messing around, had stopped doing what they did.