I offered the short sword to the kid.

The kids hand reached out towards the short swords handle.

With an unusually quick speed.

Sharply.

It didnt look like the movements of a kid who was weak and couldnt even walk right.

Even so, it was still the movements of a little kid.

With this, I think Ive given him several chances.

If it were possible, Id like to roughly turn him in.

Still, isnt this too much of a dead end?

[I dont know what you mean by a dead end, but I also think that way. Warrior.]

The holy sword chattered.

Why would you agree on something when you dont know what it is?

It doesnt matter.

Whether the holy sword agrees with my opinion or not, wont affect my decision.

When the kids hand touched the short swords hilt, he touched the edges with his fingers, and rotated it.

As I saw the embarra.s.sed kids expression, the reverse grip short sword stabbed into his chest.

AH!

[TL Note: Changed Korean groaning/moaning sounds. They make no sense in English because theyre sounds made in Korean.]

After he cried out briefly, he fell flat on his face.

He didnt die.

No matter how bad his motor skills are, it wasnt to the point that he would mishandle the short sword.

Hey, kid.

Ugh ah

The kid couldnt respond to my words and just groaned in agony.

Hey, kid. Say something.

[I would just kill him discreetly, and find a new guide.]

The holy sword chattered again.

I wonder what kind of ego this guy has to call himself a holy sword?

Hey, kid, youll die from excessive bleeding like that. Say something.

The kid couldnt respond.

It seemed like the kid couldnt think out of fear and confusion, rather than the pain.

He wasnt in the kind of condition where I could bully him into speaking.

Dont worry so much. You wont immediately die from getting stabbed. You see, I havent just been stabbed only once or twice.

It hadnt reached his inner organs and blood wasnt gushing out of the wound.

Of course, if the bleeding continued on like this, he would die from the bleeding. And there had been the possibility that he wouldve died from shock when he first stabbed his chest with the short sword.

I took out a potion bottle from my subs.p.a.ce bag, dangling it from my hand.

It wasnt an elixir, but it would be able to heal that kind of injury with ease.

Here, I even have a potion. You dont have to be concerned about dying.

The kids look changed.

Thats probably the look of a traveler in the desert when they discover an oasis.

When this kid had seen my short sword, when he had seen my subs.p.a.ce bag, when he had seen my gems, when he had first seen my clothes, and when he saw the swords at my waist, he had shown the same expression throughout.

I have no intention of blaming this kid.

I could understand him, and I could even sympathize with him.

I just have to tell him.

I slapped the kids outstretched hand away with my hand holding the potion bottle before swinging back my hand holding the potion bottle.

The bottle shattered against the kids head with a loud kish!, splashing the potion onto him.

In the midst of the sharply breaking gla.s.s shards, the kid briefly clutched his head and groaned.

Then, he soon realized that the pain coming from his head wasnt important.

The kid tried to gather the scattered potion on the earthen floor into his hands, but the thin potion instantly soaked into the ground.

For the first time, the kids eyes bore at mine.

Finally.

It was a gaze of extreme desperation and confusion.

Only when he was in this position did he look into my eyes for the first time.

Because it seemed like he had only looked into my eyes for the first time due to the position he was in, it felt a little pitiful.

I took out another potion from my subs.p.a.ce bag.

The kid attempted to reflexively raise his body, but when I moved my hand and gripped the potion upside down, his body waned.

And he begged.

Please Please. Please give me the potion Ill do whatever you ask. Please, I beg of you.

As I looked at the kid begging with watery eyes and a runny nose, I realized that he wasnt that dumb.

If you sink into a state of panic in this kind of a situation, your head doesnt work; people who repeatedly make stupid decisions are not uncommon.

However, the kid read my reaction and quickly realized that he was powerless.

You dont need to do anything.

The childs eyes became more and more haggard.

I only want one thing from you.

I decided to only go this far for now.

If we waste more time, this feeble kid might just die on the ground.

Here, Ill just give you the potion.

And I put the potion bottle into the kids hand.

The kid hesitated momentarily before he removed the lid of the bottle and started drinking the potion.

Since his hands were shaking so much, most of the potion dripped down his chin.

I had to take out another potion.

I fed him the potion myself because he couldnt properly drink the potion. I even separately rubbed some onto the surface of his wounds.

[TL Note: It doesnt specify what Ho Jae rubbed onto his wounds, but its a.s.sumed to be either the potion or a separate ointment/medicine.]

It took about 15 minutes for the kid to calm down.

He was still in light shock, but he had stabilized enough for him to listen to me talk.

Fear over grat.i.tude.

You shouldnt have been so greedy, kid.

Here, take it.

I threw the subs.p.a.ce bag onto his chest.

And I said to the quizzical child.

Now Ill add this to my down payment of gems. Ill give you this bag.

Im sorry?

And if my work ends well, Ill add the short sword to that, and Ill give you more gems too.

It seemed like the kid didnt understand the situation very well, because he gazed at me with a vacant expression.

I asked the kid.

Now, lets go back to the previous conversation. I said that I only wanted one thing from you, right? What do you think that one thing is?

Even while he was fl.u.s.tered, he quickly found the right answer.

G-Guiding you to the lowest floor.

Thats right.

I grabbed the back of the kids neck and propped him up.

I hit his back hard enough to make a clapping sound, and said.

Then lets go. Towards the dungeons lowest floor.

I followed behind the kid who clambered on his feet, holding the subs.p.a.ce bag at his chest.

The kid was soon able to walk without much problem.

He had a hole in his shirt, but he was actually walking faster than before.

It was to the point where it would be quite an unmanageable speed for a normal person.

I satisfyingly followed behind the kid as I sorted out the characteristics of those guys called guides.

Firstly, they have acute senses.

Im sure that they have more sensitive hearing and eyesight than normal humans.

Even among their senses, their hearing is really outstanding.

They dont simply hear the smallest sounds; even when its noisy, they can precisely discern what theyre looking for.

To add to that, their leg and arm muscles are superb.

With that kids poor amount of muscle, he wouldnt ever be able to display such speed or endurance.

That was one of the reasons that the kid planned to attack me.

If he acted like a lanky kid and suddenly attacked in a burst of speed, most people wouldnt be able to deal with it.

If it was a normal human, you would think that they would have mana to make up for their lack of muscular strength, but that kid was different.

That kid has no connection to mana.

It just looked like a problem with his blood.

I thought that he may be a different species similar to humans.

Next, the guides are good at acting.

Its not just at the level of spewing a few good lies, but they would be able to create a separate persona for their employer.

It could be a common point that was linked to either blood or a tribal tradition, or it could also be nothing more than a professional characteristic.

Lastly, if were also talking about that kids characteristics, itd just be that hes really talentless.

If you had a body that was blessed with those muscles, itd be really hard to be talentless.

Its still the same regardless of how little he eats or how lanky he is, or even if you consider that he hasnt received any training or education.

This should be enough, right?

a.s.suming that the kid will deliver me to the lowest floor well, his guidance would be useless information after.

There really isnt any reason to delve more deeply into my thoughts here.

[Warrior.] Seregia said.

She must be asking for the reason.

[Could you please explain?]

Seregia interrogated me regarding my previous behavior.

She doesnt want to affect my decision, but she wants me to justify my past behavior.

[Lets summarize that kids two problems.]

[Though its not just one or two problems.]

[Still, there are two things that are problematic. First is his greed. Everyone has greed. And you can be swung around by your own greed here and there. Its just that that kid was excessively greedy. When he had received the gems, that kid, rather than being satisfied with them, wanted more. The reason that this could become an issue is that I dont know where his greed ends.]

One might say that the kids payment was overboard, but even so, the kids greed hadnt been sated.

If I could guess where his greed would end, I would have solved the matter by just giving him the treasure that he wanted.

Inside this tutorial, whether it be gems or anything else, all the items I possess are just points.

Also, I had no intention of treasuring those gems that were nothing more than points.

If it allowed me to clear a stage easily, I would give that kid enough gems to buy the entire town that we had pa.s.sed.

However, even after receiving that many gems, I wasnt sure that the kid would be satisfied.

[Thats why I gave them to him so easily. I also gave him the subs.p.a.ce bag that drew his attention, and even added more gems and the magic short sword on top of that.]

[However, that wouldnt solve the problem. Even after receiving those, you dont know if that child would want even more.]

[Thats why I gave them to him so easily. Whether it be gems or magical tools, I needed to show him that all of those held no meaning to me. I dont know how much time Ill spend with that kid in the future, but Im imply it.]

[What are you talking about?]

[That if he asks me directly, I can give him as much as he wants.]

Seregia was momentarily silent.

Seregia a.s.sented with my reasoning and I walked through the forest, listening to the birds call.

After a little time pa.s.sed like that, Seregia spoke.

[That must be your solution to the second problem.]

[Yeah. The kids second problem was that he was going to attack me in order to satiate his greed. Thats why I let him know. That there was a better method.]

[However, Warrior. I think that there are still two problems remaining.]

Two problems, you say.

Rather than pondering, I just asked Seregia.

[First, its if the childs greed still isnt fulfilled until the end.]

[Thats why I used a slightly violent method. I want to give him the impression that I can give him as much as he wants, but he could die if he makes the wrong choice.]

[Yes. The child will attempt to walk on a tightrope. However, the idea that that child will be moved by his greed until the end still remains.]

I dont think so.

Fear will overshadow his greed.

Fear would stimulate a humans most basic desire: the will to live.

The faint Seregia probably wont be able to understand that.

At least right now, the kid thats walking in front of me isnt guiding me to satisfy his greed.

Hes just doing as hes told because hes scared.

For the time being, I should be able to control him with fear.

And as time pa.s.ses, when that fear fades, I can inversely take advantage of the kids greed.

Finally, that fear would fade, but would still remain; that fear will curb that kids excessive greed.

[What about the second problem?]

[Theres a possibility that this kid may bear a grudge because of this.]

* * * * * *

I followed the kids lead and arrived at the dungeon; the dungeons entrance looked a bit different than what I had expected.

I had expected the cave entrance to be dreary and ominous, but this was just a marketplace.

I wasnt saying that it was as noisy as a marketplace, but that it was a literal marketplace.

There were stalls here and there, surrounded by people soliciting those pa.s.sing by.

Whether it was the surroundings of the dungeons entrance, or a pa.s.sage beyond the entrance, it was all the same.

It was noisy and boisterous and there were too many people.

There were seriously too many people.

I grabbed the wrist of a man who b.u.mped into my shoulder before trying to pa.s.s by.

And I gripped it and twisted it.

Crunch.

They either tried to rummage through my pockets or tried to steal the swords at my waist; the number of pickpockets who had their wrists and elbows shattered already numbered over ten.

The pickpockets agonized scream had been buried by the bustling market; the collapsed, screaming pickpocket was drowned in the crowd and left my sight.

Is this place normally like this?

Yes, Swordsman. Its always like this because theres only one entrance. If you go inside, itll be a bit better. Until then, be careful of pickpockets.

Hey kid, there already arent any pickpockets remaining that can continue their business in my vicinity.