At that moment, Kaline discovered that Hian’s eyes were wide open and looking at him clearly.
‘I shouldn’t… kill him.’
At Hian’s gaze that seemed to say exactly that, Kaline regained his composure and looked down at Hian’s body. Only then did information about Hian become visible.
‘…How.’
Kaline’s sword completely stopped.
He couldn’t kill Hian.
…The first penalty of Kaline’s Predation ability was ‘strong against weak, weak against strong.’
The second penalty was now being revealed through Kaline’s dismayed expression.
‘Karma.’
The opposite of being unable to harm strong Hunters. Think of it as a limiting device placed to prevent Kaline from indiscriminately massacring Hunters.
Killing a life accumulates negative stacks called Karma.
If he killed a Hunter who was too weak, Karma would balloon enormously and bring terrible losses. Only a pittance of experience points would come in, and in severe cases, Karma would accumulate so much that he wouldn’t be able to move his limbs for a while.
Hian had predicted this situation even faster than Kaline himself.
In the urgent situation, he even wore a subtle smile as he delivered the finishing blow to Kaline.
“First time seeing such a weak Hunter?”
Those words were correct. Kaline sighed without realizing it.
Just how hopeless of a Hunter must he be… to be this weak? He probably can’t even lift a sword, so what weapon does this Hunter even use?
The silence didn’t last long.
The ribcage of the royal knight who had wasted time twice on one person vibrated unstably.
“Ah…!”
The blade Kaline brought down grazed Hian’s leg and stuck into the ground. Hian squeezed his eyes shut.
Even though he drew blood as if venting his anger, Kaline’s emotions weren’t resolved at all. The eerie warning of the knight whose chest ached with rage fell upon Hian’s ear.
“Try catching my eye one more time. Then I’ll tear your limbs apart by any means necessary.”
There were plenty of ways to crush this impudent one without laying his own hands on him. Like bribing an executioner… and such.
Kaline shot up to his feet. The armor emitting a blue light disappeared from view.
Hian, who had been lying there for quite a while, came to his senses and let out a low groan, “Ugh…” Blood kept flowing from the wound. His entire body throbbed.
This dungeon had a potion usage ban.
But he could use them once outside. Hian hastily exited the dungeon through the subspace.
If he treated himself with a potion and changed his clothes even a second faster, he could avoid being caught by Belsus. Hian intended to make his actions a perfect crime.
* * *
At the same time.
Archer felt rewarded by the considerable amount of experience points that had come in.
But that was only for a moment. As he recalled his arrow that had been accurately lodged in the boss monster’s neckline, his head was dominated by feelings of injustice.
‘My last hit! My last hiiit…’
If only the arrow had been a little faster, if only Belsus had been a little slower! The boss monster would have been his!
The protagonist of that massive amount of experience points was standing in a spot visible to Archer.
‘Frustrating.’
An idea suddenly occurred to Archer. He suddenly giggled and approached Belsus.
When he tapped Belsus’s back, Belsus turned around. His innocent eyes held no hostility whatsoever.
“Hey. Want to talk, just the two of us?”
Belsus’s eyes curved cautiously. Belsus didn’t say anything, but Archer quickly continued.
“How are you getting along with that farmer?”
Belsus’s expression hardened completely.
Archer read the tension from his opponent and immediately raised both hands to indicate he meant no harm.
“I’m his friend. He told you not to tell anyone about him, right? But how would I already know everything? It’s because I’m his friend.”
The one saying such things was the most suspicious. Rather, far more than the other Hunters.
Before saying the next words, the thought that he was being ungrateful briefly crossed Archer’s mind, but…
‘I didn’t attack! This is just interference between competitors. You have to check them to some degree, right? That farmer bastard did the same to me, didn’t he?’
“You’re boarding there, right?”
Indeed, it was true that Archer knew a lot of accurate information. Belsus watched Archer without any reaction.
“But why are you paying him rent? You already paid the ability sharing rights in exchange for using the subspace.”
“Sharing rights?”
“Isn’t he using your ability exactly the same way?”
This must be a rule that applies to all characters and their ranker partners. The characters provided their abilities to the rankers, and the rankers in return protected the characters so they could grow.
But why did rent get involved in that?
Belsus had no obligation to pay rent. Even after receiving the Reading ability, Hian was a wicked landlord trying to take money too.
Archer explained with all sincerity that Belsus was also being deceived and treated like a pushover by that guy.
“You’re being taken advantage of!”
Even though he gave such earnest advice that would be beneficial, pushover Belsus still had a dazed expression.
Does this bastard not understand? Frustrated, Archer was about to hammer it in one more time.
“Then, what about the housekeeping Hian does?”
Archer’s mouth clamped shut. His mouth seemed to shrink as he was suddenly at a loss for words.
“The meals Hian makes for me? Is that free?”
“No, wait. That’s… That’s not what I meant?”
As the conversation flowed to a completely unexpected topic, a flustered Archer tried to cut off the words.
“Don’t you know the hard work of someone who does farm work, housework, and cooking? Do you think it’s natural for someone to cook for you and clean for you?”
“No, no…”
In an instant, Archer was denounced as being treated like human trash. His head spun from the criticism Belsus poured out.
When that face looked like an innocent pushover, he seemed gentle, but now that he had stepped forward, casting a shadow overhead and emanating killing intent, his knees went weak.
‘Ah shit, did I cross the line too much? Scary. Let’s bolt.’
Archer gave up on clearing the misunderstanding and left. Just running away was the path to survival.
Belsus didn’t chase after him. He just stood there in a daze.
Anger had welled up at Archer’s remarks, but once he disappeared from sight, unexpectedly his remarks had been helpful to him.
‘How much care Hian puts into cooking for me and creating a good environment…’
A clue to the questions he’d had all along was grasped.
Belsus had met someone similar to Hian before.
That person was a pushover like Belsus. She who lived alone deep in the mountains let Belsus stay at her home without any compensation.
To avoid being a burden, Belsus used Reading to gauge her intentions and ended up discovering that she had developed feelings for him.
That’s why she cooked with the best ingredients in the house, and dissuaded him when Belsus said he would cook himself.
What about how she would subtly smile at the corners of her mouth when Belsus was eating, then quickly turn her head when Belsus noticed?
It wasn’t a good memory for Belsus.
When he realized her affection, Belsus was very flustered. Not knowing what to do, he tried to leave her since rejecting her would hurt her.
Before Belsus could put his resolution into action, she had already left this world due to the scheme of a vicious bounty hunter.
Even just recalling related memories kept him from sleeping at night, and even though nearly 10 years had passed, he still suffered.
But now that the wound had faded a bit, he was also recalling another lesson.
No one is naively kind like a pushover like himself. However, if there’s just one exception.
A person in love becomes a pushover limited to that person.
-Do you know what boarding is?
What did Hian trust about him to let him, who had been penniless and a beggar, into his precious subspace?
-You can be comfortable. I like seeing you just lying around the most.
Why did he say such kind words when there was nothing coming back in return?
-It was kind of… thrilling.
When he got angry, rather than getting angry back, he even liked it saying he saw a new side.
-+6 enhancement! This is crazy!
When something happy happened, he even hugged Belsus.
‘This can’t be.’
Belsus realized it thanks to Archer’s remarks.
As he said, Hian’s subspace ability had already been exchanged with Belsus’s Reading ability. Then what was the rent he was paying Hian for?
The answer was compensation for the cooking and cleaning Hian did.
But to simply call it payment for housework, Hian’s kind words and uninhibited actions couldn’t be explained.
‘Acting like a pushover… is behavior when in love.’
Everything fit together like a puzzle in Belsus’s mind. Belsus drew in a breath.
Hian was acting like…
Belsus’s companion.
He didn’t know Hian was a possessor, and information related to possession couldn’t be known even through Reading. Belsus’s train of thought, thoroughly twisted somewhere, flowed on without knowing how to stop.
