Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 68

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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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68. Yagor’s Harsh Snowfield (2)
To be honest, I hadn’t harbored any grand expectations. I already possessed information about the Gate.
Even the Previous-Previous Princess’s disciple defeated the White Tiger that had harmed the village’s young men, yet received nothing in return. Perhaps just a “who knows?”
“Am I dreaming right now?”
The Village Elder, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, found himself speechless at the sight of the enormous provisions I had laid out.
The elderly man, who appeared to be in his sixties, even went so far as to lightly slap his own cheek.
“Sir, this is reality, not a dream. Come to your senses.”
“….”
“They gave you all of that? Just like that?”
People asked me countless times whether they had truly given it all. Each time, I assured them it was genuine and urged them not to doubt.
The Village Elder shared the same sentiment.
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“That can’t possibly be….”
“How many times must I say it? Are you developing dementia?”
“Is it not they who are developing dementia?”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Shall I make you develop dementia?”
A man who appeared close to the Village Elder tried to cover the elder’s mouth with his hand. It was understandable to be this shocked. I had brought an truly massive amount of provisions.
Since I was going to give it anyway, I decided to be generous about it. If I gave too little, there might be no reward in return.
“Hold a festival! A festival!”
After blinking his eyes several times and regaining his composure, the Village Elder shouted loudly to the villagers.
The sudden declaration was bewildering—not just for us, but for the villagers as well.
“A festival?”
“Yes! Right now! Treat our benefactors!”
“How can we do it right now? The sun has barely risen.”
Inside the Gate, it was morning. The sun was gradually ascending. The man beside the Village Elder let out a sigh.
“You’re not actually developing dementia, are you? It should be in the evening. First, let’s move all this food to the storage!”
“Ah, that’s right! Get moving, you lot!”
At the Village Elder’s command, the villagers began bustling about. Not just the young men, but the women as well.
“Please come this way for now, honored guests.”
The middle-aged man who had first greeted us guided us to a carriage.
I stuffed all the medicinal herbs we had intended to exchange for food into my Subspace. The Hunter Association would handle the evaluation.
“Hahaha. Our food worries are over!”
“How many harsh winters can we endure now?”
Smiles never left the faces of those moving the sacks of grain and meat. They looked genuinely happy.
I continued observing my surroundings. After all, I had prepared this precisely in hopes of receiving some reward here.
‘Hmm. Nothing?’
Yet my already modest expectations were gradually diminishing. The people were delighted, certainly, but there was no mention of anything else.
The Village Elder, the middle-aged man, and one young villager were whispering something to each other from a distance.
They were muttering something with serious expressions, but it didn’t feel like they were about to give me anything.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but somehow.
“Didn’t I give you plenty? Shouldn’t you offer something in return?”
“Is there anything I can give you?”
“You don’t have anything hidden away?”
That’s the sense I got from their exchange—they looked like people wrestling with a problem that had no answer.
When I’d first gathered all that food, I’d imagined receiving some treasure passed down through generations in this village.
But still.
I decided to think of it as having done something good.
People consumed by the erosion of mana, people from a past whose time I couldn’t fathom—but this was their reality.
I’d even saved the young men who should have died to the White Tiger.
“Not bad at all.”
Even though these events had already passed, seeing the simple smiles of these honest folk warmed my heart naturally.
There was an inexplicable sense of satisfaction. Was this why people performed good deeds?
* * *
“Benefactor.”
As I watched the supplies being moved and took a moment to rest, the village’s elder approached us. He bowed deeply without preamble.
“Thank you so much. Even though it’s a trade, giving us this much is a tremendous act of kindness to a remote village like ours.”
When talking with the other villagers, I’d sensed a certain simplicity, but it seemed the elder was different.
A deed is a deed, and a person is a person—wasn’t that how it went? I thought of Sang-yeop, the swordsmanship instructor.
“I don’t know how to repay such a debt. I heard you’ll be staying for three days.”
“You don’t need to repay it at all.”
“During your stay, I’ll provide you with the finest lodging and treat you with utmost care.”
“Please, don’t go to such trouble.”
Since I’d already extended goodwill, I hoped they wouldn’t worry too much about it.
After all, the “finest lodging” in a remote village would just be an old house, and the hospitality would likely be the food we’d brought ourselves.
“I heard you’re an adventurer. A very strong adventurer who even travels with a dragon.”
I smiled faintly, feeling awkward about calling myself strong, but the elder continued, scratching the back of his neck.
“There’s a place I’d like to tell you adventurers about.”
Huh?
In that instant, the anticipation that had faded suddenly stirred again.
“A place?”
“One of our young men discovered it while gathering medicinal herbs. He said he felt a mysterious power there.”
I caught the scent. The scent of a hidden dungeon.
Proof that I hadn’t wasted my effort here.
“…!”
“!”
My guild members sensed something too, their eyes gleaming as they looked at me.
“We were too afraid to get close, so we don’t know much. And since it’s something ignorant folk like us felt, it might not be much to adventurers like yourselves.”
“Not at all. Adventurers exist to seek out places like that. I’d be grateful if you’d tell us.”
As I spoke, I turned to Chun-bae.
‘Chun-bae, this is information you don’t have, right?’
-Affirmative. I’ve never heard of such a thing.
‘It’s a Hidden dungeon, right?’
-It appears to be.
The fact that Chun-bae was speaking like this meant it was 100% a Hidden dungeon.
‘So? It wasn’t a waste of effort, was it?’
-Affirmative. I apologize to Han Hye. It wasn’t unnecessary work. Your judgment was correct.
Well, I said that to Chun-bae, but it’s all hindsight. Who could have imagined something like this?
Hunters do carry provisions with them, but carrying that much food was physically impossible.
In other words, if I didn’t have my Subspace, there would have been no way to confirm it. The Previous-Previous Princess’s disciple wasn’t an Subspace awakener either.
Even if they had carried provisions, they wouldn’t have given this much as compensation for medicinal herbs like I did.
-No, you’re right to focus on that small possibility. You maximized the potential of your Subspace ability.
Chun-bae’s voice sounded so dejected that I tried to comfort him by saying it was hindsight, but he only seemed to reflect more deeply.
-Going forward, when providing information, I’ll consider various approaches to prepare for cases like this.
Well, the result is good either way.
I can’t always be thinking ahead, and we just need to help each other get through things.
‘Think of it positively. You found it, after all. This is a Hidden within a Hidden, isn’t it?’
-Affirmative. It’s similar to Arachne’s Labyrinth. It’s a Hidden dungeon that can’t be reached through ordinary methods.
It was a Hidden that could only be found through a method impossible for anyone but me. Like with Arachne, I found myself anticipating the rewards from this discovery.
However, there was still something that needed to be resolved first.
“Before that, I’m afraid I have a rather shameless request to make.”
The Village Elder lowered his eyes and opened his mouth.
“We’ve been very worried lately because of the White Tiger roaming the Snow Field. There have already been people who’ve gone missing….”
In other words, he was asking me to catch the White Tiger.
“Of course, this is a separate request from showing you the location. I know it’s shameless, but strong people like a benefactor rarely appear in our village, so I dare to ask.”
Having already received a massive amount of provisions, and given the circumstances, the old man made his request with extreme courtesy.
It was enough to make me feel awkward.
“Of course. I’ll catch it for you.”
There was no reason to refuse. After all, there would be things to gain from the White Tiger’s Lair, wouldn’t there?
While I was at it, taking down one tiger was nothing. We’d even get experience farming out of it, so it was a win for us.
“Let’s discuss the location after I catch the White Tiger.”
I made eye contact with my guild members and stood up, which surprised the Village Elder.
“You’re leaving now?”
“Strike while the iron is hot. I’ll handle it and be back before evening.”
It was more about saving time than urgency. The White Tiger had attacked the young men who’d left the village.
If I didn’t go now, I’d have to spend effort searching for the White Tiger.
* * *
“Man, that’s definitely a Hidden dungeon, right?”
“Probably?”
“I didn’t say anything, but I also thought you were going a bit overboard when you were preparing those provisions.”
As we slowly moved on the snowmobile, the Mister kept marveling at the discovery of the Hidden dungeon.
“I can’t say that the information Chun-bae provides represents 100% of what the Gate contains.”
“As expected of you, hyung!”
I’d habitually boasted about it during my conversation with the Mister, but Min-jae stared at me like some kind of fanatic. When had that started?
Ever since I’d mentioned that magic secrets kept appearing, the kid had become a bit strange. I hurriedly waved my hands to show some humility.
“Ah, honestly I just got lucky. Who would’ve guessed I’d discover a Hidden dungeon just because of food supplies?”
“But you discovered it, hyung!”
“I took a gamble. Or is it not even gambling? Since food supplies are easy to obtain anyway. Low risk, high return?”
“You’re the one who figured that out, hyung!”
Hmm. The kid had definitely become strange. When I first met him, he had the image of a diligent mage.
Of course, he still was, but after hearing there were more magic secrets, he’d become too blindly devoted.
“Hey Hye, shouldn’t we recover the Spirit Herb first?”
“Why?”
“Isn’t it supposed to be eaten by the young men of the village? What if the tiger gets hungry and just gobbles up the Spirit Herb before we can stop it?”
Oh? Now that I thought about it, that made sense.
Based on the information I’d heard from Chun-bae, the Spirit Herb was located deep inside the cave where the White Tiger stayed. The problem lay in the description.
-It was a B-rank Spirit Herb with the note ‘not yet fully matured.’ If there were time, it would’ve become A-rank.
From the situation, it seemed the White Tiger was also waiting for the Spirit Herb to mature, but since we could only stay for three days, we didn’t have time to wait for it to ripen anyway.
Still, the Mister had a point. There was a possibility that the White Tiger, which was supposed to eat people, could get hungry and devour the entire Spirit Herb.
“Should we secure the Spirit Herb first?”
It was a precious B-rank Spirit Herb, after all.
Even Lee Shin-hee, who was riding behind me, said we should prioritize securing the Spirit Herb. I immediately nodded.
“Let’s do that.”
I already knew the location of the cave.
-If you head exactly southwest from the village, there’s a mountain, and the cave is located in a crevice of the central rocky cliff of that mountain, he’d said.
As we were moving, Lee Shin-hee suddenly spoke up.
“This is convenient, isn’t it?”
“The snowmobile?”
“No. Your ability, Han Hye. Knowing Gate information like this. I was really surprised. I didn’t expect there to be a story connecting the Previous Princess and the Previous-Previous Princess.”
“I was surprised too. Though I haven’t heard all the details yet.”
I’d already explained Chun-bae vaguely when I’d opened the Subspace last time.
“As your level increases, there will likely be more information than there is now.”
“That’s something to look forward to.”
Chun-bae had been with the Previous Princess and Previous-Previous Princess during high-level times. As the level increased, the information would grow.
Of course, since he’d lived in a world different from the modern era, the total amount of information wasn’t particularly abundant.
On Earth, Gate conquest information is uploaded frequently, but information exchange in medieval times has its limits.
Well, does it matter? Information about Hidden dungeons is more important than simple information anyway.
-Kraaaaaahhh!
That was when it happened.
Yong-yong, who had been flying after us in the sky, let out a roar.
“Huh?”
“What?”
Startled, I glanced upward. Yong-yong was staring westward. Following his gaze, I immediately understood why.
-ROOOAR!
The White Tiger was charging toward us in the distance. Of course, it was no ordinary tiger.
From afar, it looked like a bus barreling straight at us.
Its height from head to ground exceeded two meters. It boasted an absolutely massive frame.
As a boss-tier monster from a 26-30 level Gate, this was perhaps inevitable.
“Damn! Go, go, go!”
Still, there was no denying the situation was alarming. We’d essentially been ambushed before we could even establish our footing.
I accelerated the snowmobile to buy myself some thinking time. But then…
“Hyung! It can’t keep up with our speed!”
Min-jae’s shout reached my ears.
I glanced back. He was right. The White Tiger couldn’t match the snowmobile’s velocity.
“Huh?”
“Should we give the mutt some training?”

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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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