Retire 470

470 Tumbleweed (2)

Bang!

The pillar of sand rose at intervals, one after another.

Kim Chaemin tilted his head. “Is it… a fight?”

“I’m not sure,” I replied.

If the noise had been constant, it would have made sense, but the thudding sound would start and stop, as if it might continue, then fall silent, only to resume again.

If it were a real battle, it wouldn’t pause like that. If it were just to signal their location or attract monsters, they’d probably keep making noise steadily.

I had no idea what Father was thinking.

Still, I hoped it was just some pointless act, rather than a sign of trouble related to the dungeon.

“Let’s move faster.”

---

There’s a lack of data on foreign dungeons in the mana clock’s records. If a dungeon was cleared with the help of a Management Bureau hunter, there would be a report, but that was about it.

Out of the hundreds of desert dungeons that have appeared around Las Vegas, I had no way of knowing if one like this had ever existed. Maybe nothing like this had ever happened at this time. Maybe it had never happened at all.

Before Lawton could even use her magic in earnest, Grimes… something happened to Grimes. Of course, there was no trace left on him either. Honestly, I really should have brought Han Taekyung. From now on, no matter what he says, I’m bringing him along.

‘It’s a spell that needs a lot of preparation.’

‘Is it even magic?’

‘I didn’t get a close look, so I can’t say for sure. But still.’

Lawton had been at Cactus Mirage for several years.

‘With that much time, she could have pulled off just about anything.’

‘I doubt Grimes was so incompetent he wouldn’t notice.’

Given how overindulgent his body had become, I did wonder when he’d last actually entered a dungeon.

But he was the master of a guild that controlled a lucrative dungeon, even in Las Vegas, where major guilds abound. You don’t get that position without real skill.

‘But look—what dungeon was Lawton in charge of?’

‘The Mole Dungeon… She could have easily siphoned off rare, expensive materials.’

‘Without anyone noticing.’

I’d only glimpsed Lawton’s mana for a moment, but she wasn’t some run-of-the-mill mage. It was almost funny that someone of her skill was committing crimes. But the fact that she’d gone undetected until now was impressive in itself.

If Kim Chaemin hadn’t shown up, she might have gotten away with it.

“…We’re finally getting close!” Kim Chaemin said beside me, looking tired of it all.

We had to be on guard for monsters, and I was carrying a person as baggage. Unable to move at full speed, we’d slowed down a lot.

Some of that was Kim Chaemin’s fault, but I wasn’t about to say that out loud. I valued my life.

“Hm.”

“What is it?”

“I didn’t think they were fighting monsters, but…”

Once we got close enough to make out faces, I could see two familiar figures in the distance.

One man stood awkwardly off to the side, while another was energetically… swinging a spear.

“…What is Mr. Hong doing?” Kim Chaemin asked, sounding unsure whether to be amused or exasperated by the absurdity of it all.

I shrugged.

I felt exactly the same way, so I had nothing to say.

“He looks like he’s having fun.”

“…That?”

“No, really—he’s enjoying himself.”

At last, Kim Chaemin spotted the broad grin on Father’s face.

“…I see.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“How should I know?”

“You’re his son. You should know your father best.”

“He must be out of his mind.”

“Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

“That’s how it is for all children.”

“……”

Kim Chaemin snorted.

“Don’t go around saying you’re not his son. You’re exactly like him.”

“…Is that an insult?”

“It is if you want it to be.”

Before I could retort, Kim Chaemin waved to Father and Daniel.

Just as we’d spotted them, they’d seen us too. Father stopped swinging his spear and waved back.

We approached slowly. Daniel frowned when he saw Lawton in my arms. Poor guy. When he came to Korea with Father, he never imagined his fate would turn out like this.

I handed Lawton over to Daniel and asked Father, “What’s that?”

“Mm. Daniel and I are both fine—no injuries.”

“Why are you attacking it?”

“Doesn’t it look suspicious?”

Father jabbed at it with his spear.

Honestly, if I saw something like that, I’d probably take a swing at it too…

“I haven’t gone all out, but it won’t cut.”

“Does it seem like a monster?”

“It’s too unresponsive for that… but with Mr. Kim here, maybe he can tell if it’s a plant.”

I nodded.

Even from a distance, the sense of scale had been off, but up close, the thing was imposing.

Thin roots and stems tangled together like a mass of dust. No leaves. The dried branches trembled limply every time Father poked at them. It was a tumbleweed, the symbol of the American West.

But the size… was bizarre. It was bigger than a person. Easily four meters in diameter. It looked light, but despite Father’s repeated attacks, it hadn’t budged from its spot. It didn’t even seem to have roots in the ground.

“If all else failed, I was going to have you set it on fire, Heejae.”

“Yeah… It does look like it would burn well.”

But we couldn’t just set it alight without a plan.

“Why is she tied up like that?”

“To keep her from using magic.”

“Magic?”

“She’s a mage!”

Daniel was surprised by Kim Chaemin’s words, but quickly accepted it without further comment.

“So that’s what you meant earlier?”

“Sorry?”

“You mentioned mana addiction… I figured there was a reason, especially when Mr. Woo played along.”

“Haha, right. It’s suspicious, isn’t it? A mage pretending to be a hunter in a guild?”

“We’ll have to investigate the other mages who entered the dungeon with Hailey Lawton…”

“Talk to Mason Duke. There’s no way he’d do something like that.”

First, though, we had to get out of this dungeon.

Father and I exchanged a quick summary of events. We told him that we’d been caught up in the dungeon’s formation, and that we’d encountered no monsters or anything else unusual along the way. Father nodded.

“Same here. We were about to head to the water when we saw this tumbleweed. Didn’t realize how big it was at first.”

It wasn’t until they’d gotten closer that they realized its size.

At first, they wondered if it was a monster, but it hadn’t reacted at all. Plants didn’t always just sit quietly with their roots in the ground. Some were classified as monsters.

So, after watching it from a distance for a while, they finally decided to try hitting it.

‘And we still have to find our other two guild members.’

‘Isn’t there a quieter way to search?’

‘If Mr. Kim were here, maybe, but I can’t scout like that.’

Hence the noisy pillars of sand…

And the massive tumbleweed, not a single branch broken.

“Is it… a plant?”

Kim Chaemin, who was more of a consultant than a grand mage these days, examined the tumbleweed.

He peered at it uncertainly.

“Doesn’t seem like an animal…”

“It looks exactly like a tumbleweed.”

“It could be a monster that just looks like this… but it’s ambiguous. If you call it a plant, it’s a plant. If you call it an animal, it’s an animal.”

“What does that mean?”

“A monster?”

“It’s not reacting.”

“Do monsters always have to react?”

Not a wrong answer, but not a satisfying one either.

“Which direction did you come from, Master?”

“Me? That way.”

Father pointed in a direction different from the one we’d come from. If the lake was north, then Kim Chaemin and I had come from the south, and Father and Daniel from the west.

“We were heading for the water, but saw this and changed course. Should we try going that way?”

“It feels weird to leave something like this at our backs…”

If Father could have destroyed it easily, he wouldn’t have hesitated.

All four of us looked at the tumbleweed with uncertain expressions. For a mere dungeon decoration, it was suspiciously sturdy. If it suddenly started walking around, we’d be in trouble.

So, then…

“Should we burn it?”

“I guess we have no choice.”

I nodded and switched swords. My sister’s sword.

This sword had earned an unexpected reputation since Marseille.

The timing was a bit off, but if word got out that there was a second, identical sword, things could get interesting. I just hoped Yoo Ji-eun would realize her own affinity for swords soon.

Kim Chaemin and Daniel took Lawton and moved back. Once Daniel finished first aid, Lawton no longer looked like she was at death’s door. Not that a peaceful future awaited her.

Daniel had seen my sister’s sword plenty of times while dungeon crawling, but he still looked at it with fascination. Well, everyone loves a bit of fire, no matter their age.

Still, since we didn’t know how it would react, I started cautiously…

“……!”

I stopped short of lighting it on fire.

The mana around the tumbleweed warped. The air vibrated ominously. Father tensed instinctively, and Kim Chaemin noticed immediately after.

Daniel only realized once the mana became visible.

It was the first change in this eerily quiet dungeon. We stepped back to assess the situation. The mana flickered like a broken lightbulb, then flared red.

Red.

A familiar mana.

Since losing my wings, my mana rarely showed itself so openly, but it was still visible when fighting or moving.

Sure enough, a white hand suddenly burst from the flickering mana in midair.

“Ugh!”

And fell to the ground.

“Ow, ow…”

Alex Hope, for once, landed awkwardly and tumbled over. Rubbing his bruised backside, he looked up and noticed all the eyes on him.

“Ah!”

His face lit up.

“Thank goodness. The coordinates were right! I was worried I’d end up somewhere random.”

Looking at that face, I didn’t know whether to be relieved or even more worried.

Why had he entered the dungeon, when I’d left him at the hotel with Han Taekyung? And he hadn’t even come through the gate.

“What the hell did you do?”

“That’s our line. How did you get in here?”

“Oh, it’s all thanks to Sunbae.”

“Han Taekyung?”

“There was an explosion, right? Sunbae sensed it and rushed out.”

“…Was there damage in the city?”

“No, nothing like that. If it weren’t for Sunbae, no one would’ve noticed. We hurried over since it was in the direction of the guild office we were heading to…”

Hope sighed.

“We were going to wait, but… the gate Sunbae spotted was in a really bad spot. That’s why I came in.”

Hope pointed toward the lake.

“The gate is in there.”

“In the water?”

“Yeah. But it’s occupied.”

“What?”

“If you even so much as dip your toes in, you’re dead.”

“Monster?”

“More or less?”

Hope gestured at the giant tumbleweed.

“I don’t know if that’s a monster or not, though.”