Chapter 42: Dungeon Return Location【Side：Leonhardt】│Read translated stories and daily updates at: Awebstories.com

When Leonhardt regained consciousness, he found himself in a dark stone room. The smell of dry stone, the coldness of the floor, and the priests’ prayer echoed through the round ceiling.

Then someone calls him.

“Hey, Leon.”

Dee’s impatient tone brings him back to reality.

He gets to his feet and looks around.

The priests continue to recite psalms of prayer at the altar in the back of the room, and several people are lying on the floor. Adventurers appear in random locations throughout the room, one by one.

Leonhardt already knew.

This was a part of the dungeon, but it was, on the surface, a place of return for those who had escaped or died.

“So I died…”

“We died, yeah.”

He’s having trouble wrapping his head around it.

He is trying to remember, but the strange tiredness of death has taken over his body and mind, making it hard for him to do so.

—Yes… the Dragon’s breath…

He remembered the last scene. The【Holy-Shield】cracked, and the sensation of being burned by the breath of fire returned vividly to him.

—Lysette?

Leonhardt noticed that Dee was there but Lysette was not.

No matter how much he looked around, he could not find her anywhere in the room.

He is shocked, and blood rushes from his body.

Dee silently shakes his head as Leonhardt looks at his face.

Leonhardt’s feet fall off the floor, but he manages to get back up.

“…I’m sorry…Let’s get out of here.”

As he steps out of the return station…

He felt his feet swayed by the height of the sky and the vastness of the world, blinded by the light.

He hadn’t been on the surface for a long time.

But everything appears hazy and faded, including the place he had missed while in the Dungeon.

Many adventurers gather around the return station, and they see Leonhardt’s face emerge from inside.

—Are they bounty hunters? Was Lysette taken first? No, it doesn’t appear to be.

The adventurers’ gazes are fixed. The eyes of beasts looking for prey. They’d be long gone if their prey had already been captured.

—What happened to her? Is she still trapped in the dungeon? Is she fighting the dragon by herself? Is she still dead in that location because she lacks the revive item?

“Hey, Leon.”

When he finally gets away from the crowd at the return station, his lower body wobbles and he falls to the ground.

His strength and magic have been greatly diminished since being resurrected from the dead. His body pays no attention to him.

—No way, is Lysette still…

Lysette gives Leonhardt and Dee the [Heart-Substitution] items. But he seemed unable to recall that Lysette had one on her.

“…Damn it!”

He slams his fist on the ground, carrying his misplaced emotions.

—I’m pathetic. that my big mouth couldn’t protect her. That I died so carelessly!

Lysette was abandoned.

Everything irritates him. It’s infuriating. It’s pitiful.

Leonhardt stood up and looked at the dungeon’s entrance.

A silver-white rocky mountain with a dark hole in it

“I need to go help her.”

“Wait, wait, wait, why do you have gold eyes?!”

“It’s in my constitution.”

When he gets emotional, his eyes apparently turn gold, which Dee had never seen before.

“It has nothing to do with the constitution… wait! We can’t do it by ourselves!”

Leonhardt’s arm was yanked hard, such a force that didn’t stop him, but he couldn’t shake it off either.

“If we keep doing this, it will be the same as before! I doubt we’ll be able to get there on our own… Let’s get some help.”

“…It’s…impossible. Our faces were seen by the bounty hunters in the dungeon.”

—Even if we form a new party, we’ll be tracked down by the bounty hunters. We won’t be able to go deep with them.”

“…Damn it, I understand…”

“You don’t have to do this. I can do it alone…”

Dee had said from the beginning that he would only join them once. Leonhardt had no plans to involve Dee any further now that he was back on the surface.

Punch!

Leonhardt felt a dull thud on his cheek the next moment.

“You’re an as*hole!”

An angry voice echoes through his aching head.

“You’re staggering even with my fists; if you dive now, you’ll surely die!”

It wasn’t until he was told that he finally realized that he had been hit.

Dee grabbed Leonhardt’s chest roughly.

“I know you care about her. So do I! And I don’t want either of you to die! If you want to save her, you should think about it first!”

“Dee…”

—He was right. At this rate, I’ll be dead before I reach the Dragon. I won’t be able to help Lysette if I die. But should I take a chance and hire someone?

Leonhardt has some dungeon magic stones. When he was packing, Lysette gave them to him. He can get a lot of money if he exchanges them for cash and hires additional members.

—But I’m not sure if I can find a reliable companion…

“…”

As Leonhardt mulls over this, a knight approaches.

“It’s been a while.”

“W-Who are you?!”

Dee asks in alarm.

“Please forgive me. My name is Douglas, and I’m a church knight.”

“A knight of the church?!”

“Yes, I was previously saved by Leonhardt-san and Lysette-san in the Dungeon.”

The Church Knight, Douglas.

He came to the dungeon to find Lysette, the church knight who was almost killed and eaten by Mimic in the third level.

“Where has Lysette-san gone? Is she still in Dungeon, by any chance?”

“…”

Leonhardt did not respond.

But the Church Knight seemed to have a good instinct.

“Are you going to pick her up right now? Please let me accompany you. I can be of some help!”

“But, aren’t you a church knight?”

“It’s understandable that you don’t trust me, but I no longer trust the Saint.”

“But wasn’t it the church who put the bounty on her?!”

Douglas sighs and shakes his head.

“No, we have no idea who put the bounty on Lysette-san. I’m sure it’s not something the church is known for.”

Douglas’ words did not appear to be false; he appeared to have his own thoughts on the subject. He continued.

“A high ranking nobleman came to Norun just before the bounty was placed on the table—this nobleman appears to be suspicious.”

“A nobleman?”

“I can’t be certain because he’s hiding his identity, but I believe he’s related to the Marquis of Claudis, the Saint and Lysette-san’s family.”

If this is true, the Saint must have placed a bounty on Lysette’s head.

The saint’s power is limitless. Her power is so great that she can have an impact not only on her own country, but also on other countries.

If the Saint intends to kill Lysette, things are looking bleak.

“Please. I want to repay the kindness she has shown me. To her for bringing me back to my original path!”

Douglas had a strong will. His face and voice were brimming with zeal.

But Leonhardt didn’t nod right away because he was debating whether or not to accept.

—But, then again, he is a church knight…

“Because of the previous failure, I’ve amassed a large collection of revival items!”

“You’re hired!!!”

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