Dark Fantasy Guide for the Summoner - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 38.
Haithan the Cook Ⅰ
But my own face probably wears that same expression right now.
Just then, Seigrena stepped forward, her scowl twice as vicious as ours.
“Save you? Are you serious?”
“Ah, Miss Seigrena. That is, first let me explain―”
“Explain nothing, you piece of trash!”
Ah, so that’s where Cria picked it up.
‘I did notice those two whispering more frequently ever since we started hunting Ant Worms.’
Seigrena’s rough speech had clearly rubbed off on Cria.
That said, crude language aside, Seigrena’s anger was entirely justified. They’d been party members once; the shock of betrayal hit her far harder than it did us.
“Miss, that’s not what―”
“Who the hell is your miss!”
The gauntleted fist connected with a crack, and blood sprayed.
‘Ouch.’
That had to hurt like hell.
I hadn’t expected her to throw that punch while still wearing the Gauntlet—it was like getting smacked across the nose with an iron rod.
Allon naturally cried out and rolled across the ground, but Seigrena’s rage was only beginning.
“How dare you! How dare you abandon me! You filthy dog! Worthless piece of garbage! Idiot, scum, every last bit of you!”
Thwack, thwack, crack!
She chased down the Spirit Summoner as he sprawled, then began stomping on him repeatedly.
“Wow…….”
Watching that brutal display, even Cria flinched.
Or was she admiring it? I couldn’t quite tell.
‘Should I stop her?’
But something told me that stepping between these two and their grievance would be in poor taste.
“Wait, just a moment…… I think I felt a bone crack!”
“Then die! Just die!”
“Gah, urgh, crack……!”
No. At this rate he really would die.
I intervened when the blood pouring from the Spirit Summoner’s face began to cover more area than exposed skin.
“That’s enough. You’ll kill him for real.”
“Huff, huff……!”
Seigrena’s eyes gleamed with bloodlust as she panted, then grudgingly stepped back, her fury barely in check.
“You…… consider yourself lucky. In the Kingdom, that would be high treason—a hanging offense!”
Treason? What kind of law is that?
In any case, I watched the bleeding Spirit Summoner and spoke.
“Your name was Allon, wasn’t it?”
“Y-yes……. That’s correct…….”
“Explain the situation as clearly and concisely as you can. Starting from after you abandoned us, in order.”
Something had clearly happened to the White Knights. The fact that only this man had stumbled his way here was proof enough.
But that didn’t make it easy to believe.
‘It’s only the Woodman Colony, after all.’
And the Spore Kingdom we’re heading toward isn’t much more dangerous than the colony itself.
“Apart from the Wood Revenge, there’s nothing particularly dangerous in this area…….”
That’s what the Spirit Summoner said. Despite bleeding profusely, his pronunciation was surprisingly clear. Didn’t look like any teeth had come loose.
“……that’s quite the look on your face.”
“…….”
“I see……. Kazen was right about you after all. You’re…… unnaturally composed. What exactly are you?”
The moment suspicion flickered in the Spirit Summoner’s eyes, Seigrena moved again.
“Does this worthless commoner still need more beating? You think you have the right to ask us questions?”
“T-that’s not what I meant…….”
The Spirit Summoner crumpled instantly.
……It’s convenient to have someone else handle the heavy lifting, but at this rate Seigrena might develop some strange traits of her own.
The Spirit Summoner spoke, eyeing Seigrena warily.
“After we parted ways with you―”
“Parted? You mean abandoned us, you bastard.”
“……after we abandoned you, we headed straight for the Return Point.”
“Did you have a map? Or a guide of some kind?”
“Neither. But I have a contract with a forest Spirit, so……”
Ah. So you had help from a spirit.
Cria spoke in surprise.
“Spirits teach you the way too?”
“It’s a trick that only works at the forest’s edge.”
Of course, to someone like Cria, who’d only contracted a mere low-ranked spirit, it would seem rather vague.
“…… At first, things went relatively smoothly. Demon beasts appeared now and then, but they posed no real threat. We advanced steadily toward our destination.”
“To the ?”
The spirit user nodded.
“But when we arrived there, someone had already beaten us to it. And they’d even set up a proper street stall.”
“A street stall…… The one I know?”
“Yes. It looked like a stall made by modifying a four-wheel carriage of the sort you’d see on the streets of the capital.”
“A stall like that in a forest? That’s strange…….”
……A stall set up in the middle of the forest?
Surely not.
“The stall owner was a man with a neat appearance. He looked like a young, successful chef from a famous restaurant. Except he held a large kitchen knife in his hands…….”
From this point on, the spirit user’s voice trembled.
The creature exhaled shakily and swallowed before continuing.
“…… He said he’d just opened, and handed us a menu. But what was written on that menu…….”
Even Seigrena, who’d been listening quietly, asked as curiosity stirred in her.
“What was it?”
“…… .”
“Hey.”
I gave Seigrena a look. The spirit user’s mental state looked precarious, and pushing him hard now might break him further.
The spirit user took several deep breaths, then continued in a hoarse voice.
“…… I thought it was some strange joke, so I said something. Then that man’s smile vanished, and he spoke.”
I could predict what that chef had said.
‘I do not make jokes with food.’
“I do not make jokes with food.”
The font that appeared in my mind overlapped with the spirit user’s voice.
I let out a sigh. Hearing the story up to this point, I could already foresee what came next.
“The White Knights must have drawn their swords.”
“How did you know?”
“Just answer.”
“…… Yes. You’re right.”
It had unfolded in the worst possible way.
For me. For the White Knights both.
“…… It must have lasted only a few dozen seconds? Or perhaps less. All I’m certain of is that it took less than a minute. Strikes were exchanged rapidly at a point I couldn’t observe, and the next moment Lorang’s sword shattered and flew backward. Only after his body crashed into a tree did I understand what had happened.”
“What……?”
Seigrena gasped.
Of course she was the most shocked. She was probably the one who knew Lorang’s strength best here.
“Lorang…… No, Lorang lost? To a mere cook?”
Unfortunately, he’s no mere cook.
That monster occupies an S-Rank position in my companion classification—a being beyond standard parameters.
Isn’t the rank system only supposed to go up to A-Rank? Yes, of course it is. Which is why S-Rank is a complete exception.
‘Recruitment Impossible.’
Throughout thousands of playthroughs, or perhaps more, there were NPCs who could never be recruited as companions under any circumstances.
‘Chef Haithan.’
This one is special even among them. Of the S-Rank, who are mostly mentally fractured, he’s uniquely mad in the most original way.
In the early playthroughs when I faced him, I’d restart nine times out of ten.
But.
“…… Where did you say that restaurant is located?”
“The .”
Hell. Things just got messier.
* * *
Each map has only a few .
For the embedded in an Exploration Crystal to activate, the location must meet several strict conditions.
Those conditions are…….
First, sufficient Mana must flow beneath a Ley Line—
Second, the sky must be completely open within a certain radius—
Third, the place must be somewhere Demon Beasts avoid approaching.
It looked easy on the surface, but wandering through the forest made it anything but.
The woodland was so dense that finding a clearing was difficult to begin with, and even if you found one, it meant nothing if the Ley Line didn’t carry enough Mana.
Even if you satisfied both conditions, any sign of Demon Beasts rendered the whole effort pointless.
The Spirit user’s voice trembled as she spoke.
“……We can’t go back there.”
“…….”
“When Lorang fell, his companions fought back. In an instant, they were all cut down. I only managed to escape because I was positioned relatively far back, with the Spirit’s power barely carrying me away…….”
Like a fool, I’d say.
“You’re badly mistaken.”
“What?”
“If that man truly possessed the strength to overwhelm the White Knights, would you have been able to escape simply because you were stationed in the rear?”
“That’s……!”
The Spirit user’s mouth closed. She couldn’t find a retort.
“In any case, returning there is too dangerous.”
Cria, who had been listening, spoke up.
“What happened to the people left behind……? What about him……?”
“I don’t know.”
“……”
“But before the fighting started, Lorang asked that cook if he’d sensed anything unsettling. He asked if we could see the kitchen once…….”
The Spirit user shook her head.
“He refused. His face went rigid. Of course, Lorang wasn’t satisfied. He said the blood-stench was too thick, that he’d use force if necessary to see that kitchen. Then the bastard looked at us and said this.”
The Spirit user’s expression hardened.
“Are you guests, or are you provisions?”
“…….”
“That son of a bitch—his eyes were completely unhinged. Those were the eyes of someone looking at the world with shattered sanity……!”
Bloodshot eyes fixed on me.
“Go to a different Return Point……! You have Exploration Crystals, don’t you?!”
“We have them. But where else?”
“I don’t know, but……this vast forest can’t have just one Return Point, can it?”
I showed the map Ha-arim had given me.
“This is a map of the forest in this region.”
“A map? Where did you get that from—”
“Never mind that. Look here, Spirit user. There are two Return Points closest to us. One is the place you just fled from.”
A clearing positioned exactly between the Spore Kingdom and the Woodman Colony.
As for the location of the other……
“……the Abandoned Cemetery.”
Even Allon’s expression stiffened, as if he recognized it.
“You know it too, I’m sure. At our current level, it’s a zone we can’t break through.”
“What about other Return Points entirely? For instance, if we headed north and entered a separate region—”
“Unfortunately, we don’t have time for that. Our Exploration Crystal won’t last long enough to get us there.”
I held up the Exploration Crystal to prove my point, and the Spirit user’s face went ashen.
“L-lowest grade Exploration Crystal……. Damn.”
“…….”
There was nothing to argue against. Fear had clouded his judgment for a moment, but as a Delver, he still had his experience.
Either way, our choices were limited to two.
One was a resting place for the dead crawling with monsters, the other a place where something wearing human skin lurked.
The one advantage of the latter was that we could at least communicate with it.
‘Then……’
As always, we had to choose the place where our odds of survival were, however slightly, a fraction higher.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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