I Level Up With In-app Purchases

I Level Up With In-app Purchases – 73

EP.73 Hunting Monsters in the Contaminated Zone (6)

“But how come you’re here, Mr. Mercenary Boss?”

“You’re only finding that strange now?”

It must have been a good 30 minutes after we met when Ariane asked me this question.

For those 30-plus minutes, Ariane had been sprawled out on a rock, resting with a full, round belly.

She had been leisurely gazing up at the sky when it belatedly dawned on her that this was a contaminated zone, prompting her to ask me.

After all, people who aren’t Awakened can’t enter contaminated zones, can they?

“Obviously, I’m here because I’m Awakened.”

“????”

The kid is completely failing to grasp the situation.

“It’s really nothing special. I can come in simply because I’m Awakened.”

“So you’re not actually a mercenary boss?”

“I’m both a mercenary and a general store owner. It’s just that I have a bit of a complicated backstory.”

To be honest, I’m feeling a bit embarrassed, my face flushing hot.

I came into the contaminated zone worried she might die, but instead, I nearly died and ended up being saved.

Still, I decided to brazenly put on a thick skin.

Ariane seemed to be taking the current situation as a matter of course, anyway.

“The truth is, I only Awakened recently.”

“Eh? Recently, you say?”

Ariane tilted her head, looking puzzled as if to say, ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

“I’m saying I Awakened at the age of thirty. Not like you guys who Awakened when you were young.”

“Is that even possible?!”

“I don’t know either. But since I experienced it, I guess it must be possible.”

“Wow! That’s amazing! Congratulations, Mr. Mercenary Boss!”

“Well, I’m not sure if it’s something to congratulate me on.”

“????”

“If I report that I’ve Awakened, I’ll be drafted into the military at this age. I’d be in my forties by the time I’m discharged.”

“Oh no!”

Ariane’s eyes widened in shock.

“Plus, I’ve never been trained at an academy. Since I only Awakened recently, I haven’t even realized what abilities I can use yet.”

“Eek!?”

Ariane let out a strange cry while torturing her chubby cheeks.

Her cheeks were so plump that they jiggled as she kneaded them, which was quite adorable.

It was a completely different kind of cuteness from the cool way she had saved me earlier.

“So what are you going to do? This is a big problem! Have you reported it yet?”

“Not yet. Looking at the current frontline situation, they’d probably drag me off as soon as I report it, thinking they’ve found a ready-made shield.”

I had absolutely no desire to suffer such a fate.

I planned to hold out without reporting for as long as I could.

I also had thoughts of consistently drawing SSR characters to build relationships and rely on their power.

No matter how much the military units might shout “We’re the best!” like they’re going their own way, it would be burdensome for them to ignore the protection of high-ranking nobles and force me to enlist.

“But Mr. Mercenary Boss is a special case, right? They wouldn’t do that, would they?”

“When a commoner with no background suddenly Awakens, don’t you think they’d want to draft him and see what he can do?”

“……”

Ariane became gloomy.

“Anyway, this will be fine as long as you keep it a secret. Don’t worry about it. Let’s get out of here quickly. We’ve been here longer than I expected. Your family must be searching for you.”

My body was still trembling slightly.

I wondered if Ariane had seen the shadow.

If she had, I didn’t think she could act so nonchalant.

“You… no, never mind.”

“???”

It seemed reckless to mention the shadow carelessly.

Who knows?

It might secretly follow us if we talk about it.

‘There’s a high chance she didn’t see it. At least, if she had seen that, there’s no way she could act so calm.’

What on earth was that shadow?

Thinking about the shadow kept giving me goosebumps.

I was becoming stiff again, as if paralyzed.

This wasn’t the time to be trembling in fear, recalling the shadow.

We needed to get out of here as quickly as possible.

Of course, we should gather what we need to before that.

“We should collect those byproducts.”

“Ah… that’s such a bother.”

Where I pointed, the corpse of the monster she had killed with her ultimate move was lying.

Leaving that behind would be like throwing money on the ground.

“Oh! I’ve already got this, so you take that one, Mr. Mercenary Boss! I don’t mind!”

Ariane shows me an innovative “bag” she had tied together using leaves on her back.

“What’s that head for?”

Having already suffered plenty from those two-headed wolves, I was thoroughly sick of seeing another severed head.

“This is the head of the monster that tried to kill my sister!”

“You managed to collect a trophy in that situation?”

The monster’s face was almost as big as Ariane’s entire body.

Shouldn’t she have grabbed her bag in that state of mind?

“Hehe, I was so surprised that I ran away holding this. When I came to my senses, this was all I had in my hands. I was so flustered!”

“Even so, you kept carrying around that gruesome thing?”

“At first, I was going to throw it away, but I thought I’d regret not keeping the trophy later. Plus, when I carried this around, the monsters didn’t approach me much. Hehe, I’ve kind of grown attached to it.”

Ariane’s condition, who was giggling, didn’t look good at all.

It would have been stranger if she were fine after wandering alone in the contaminated zone for two days.

Let’s move on since the head isn’t important.

“I roughly guessed from the traces. You ran into other people, right?”

“Yep. I didn’t expect anyone to come nearby. I should’ve killed them before that. Aiyoo~”

The fact that she killed a monster means she used her ultimate move, which would have broken her stealth, so it was inevitable that people would notice her.

I wonder what kind of excuse she gave to those people.

It would have been better if she had just run away without saying anything.

When I asked her to explain what happened with those people, Ariane scratched the back of her head and said,

“To be honest, I’m not sure about that either.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t remember. I was so flustered that I just told them not to come closer and ran away. Before that, I was covering my face with this.”

“…At least they wouldn’t have seen your face.”

If she covered her face with that huge thing, it’s natural that her small frame would be completely hidden.

“They were saying something weird, but I couldn’t hear well so I forgot.”

“It’s enough that your face wasn’t revealed. Anyway, you’re saying I can eat this, right?”

“Yep.”

Although there’s a high chance she might be suspected as the culprit(?) due to her unusually small stature, Ariane’s status as an academy student would protect her.

Since Ariane had already been discovered to have awakened, I decided not to spend too much time collecting monster by-products.

[Sale Price: 1,250,000 won]

[Would you like to sell?]

The price is insane.

It made the money I had saved during my 14 years of mercenary life seem worthless.

I can understand the price going up since we’re handing over the entire intact corpse, but it’s ridiculous that this bird bastard is worth 1.25 million won.

Think about how a Perongpa was 43,000 won.

As soon as I pressed sell, the monster’s corpse disappeared instantly.

“Huh?! The corpse disappeared!”

Ariane was startled.

“It’s my ability.”

“Woooow! That’s amazing. Is it like a subspace or something?”

“No, once it’s gone, it’s over. I can’t take it out again.”

“Hmm??”

Ariane makes a puzzled expression, seemingly unable to guess my ability at all.

Just because she’s making such a cute expression doesn’t mean I’m going to reveal the details of my ability, does it?

“Stop asking useless questions and carry the bag.”

The contaminated zone where we had only been for a few hours.

Nevertheless, I was sick of this place.

Once we got our bearings right and started to leave the contaminated zone, it seemed we could get out by nightfall.

Fortunately, it seems we had been going around in circles in a not-so-deep area.

“Eek, so that was the west.”

“Don’t tell me you came from there?”

“Hehe.”

“….”

“There were a lot of monsters. So I was hiding.”

Her agility stat must have increased quite a bit.

“As I went further, there were more and more monsters, so I was thinking about changing direction. But then I heard what sounded like fireworks in the distance. I ran straight towards that.”

From the west all the way here…

I can’t even imagine how fast she must have run.

‘Is this what Tier 1 means?’

Even if I surrounded myself with buffs from scrolls, I couldn’t keep up with Ariane’s speed.

I felt this keenly as we were moving.

“Phew, let’s take a short break.”

“Okaaay!!”

Ariane, revived after eating, answered cheerfully.

Everything seems good to her now that we can finally escape this place.

She looks grubby from not being able to wash, but it’s cute how she’s bouncing around excitedly.

After a short rest, we started moving again.

Although it was almost nightfall, I thought it would be better to come out and make a bed outside rather than spending the night in the contaminated zone.

“Look! Look over there! We’ve finally made it out!”

Ariane cheered and ran ahead first.

The boundary line where we could finally escape the contaminated zone was visible to the naked eye.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

If things go according to the scenario, there should be people chasing after Ariane.

No matter how early we started our work, we wasted two days, so we needed to be cautious.

We had to be especially careful from the moment we entered the city.

“Pull your hood down. You’ll be discovered.”

“Already?”

“Don’t underestimate your family. They’ve probably tracked us quite close.”

“Gasp.”

Although Ariane thought it couldn’t be, she obediently pulled down her hood after hearing my words.

Due to her small stature, those looking for Ariane would suspect her identity the moment they saw her, but it was important not to reveal her face.

“Let’s wash up here, eat, and then move immediately.”

“We’re not resting for a day?”

“We don’t have time for that. Wash up as quickly as you can. We’ll leave in two hours at the latest.”

Ariane wanted to leisurely enjoy the civilized life she hadn’t experienced in a while, but she had no choice but to go wash up at my words.

Since I hadn’t been able to wash either while staying in the forest, soaking my body in the hot water naturally relaxed my muscles.

“Ahh…”

It was my first time entering a contaminated zone, so I couldn’t help but feel tense.

After directly chasing and being chased by monsters, my body couldn’t help but be tense.

“When did I get injured here?”

There were dark bruises all over my body.

I unwrapped the bandages I had hastily applied yesterday, applied ointment, and lightly rewrapped them.

Not only is the ointment effective, but awakened individuals have high regenerative abilities, so these could be considered mere scratches.

There’s no need to even use a potion at this level.

The difference between recovering from injuries as a normal person and as an awakened individual is that significant.