Chapter 43. Dragon Badge Exchange (2)

As Yuri smiled, a boy appeared at the end of the corridor.

His hair was thick and golden, like it had been coated with honey, and his eyes were a dark brown.

At first glance, he looked ordinary.

And he wore the same black clothing as the other probationary knights.

“Cough, cough... What’s all this commotion? I just wanted to take a quick break from the sun.”

The boy, shaking off the dust accumulated from breaking through the trap, grumbled incessantly.

Yuri, who had been observing the intruder in silence, tilted her head.

‘Probationary knight?’

But she soon shook her head.

‘No, he’s different.’

Though the clothes were the same, the boy had a yellow shoulder badge that looked worn and dirty, as if it had been used for a long time.

‘Like it’s been used for a long time.’

Moreover, there was a sense of ease about the boy.

As Yuri observed, the intruder, who had entered the cave by the light of the firewood, stared intently into the darkness.

“I know you’re there.”

The boy raised the sword he was holding.

It was a peculiar sword, like an enlarged needle.

The boy grinned as he pointed the sharp tip of the sword into the darkness.

“Hey, senior, you should come out quickly to greet me. What a rude junior.”

The intruder stood still, pointing the sword into the darkness.

A moment of silence followed.

“Um... Is this the wrong way?”

Just as the intruder’s expression was about to become awkward due to the lack of any response, a sudden gust of wind made the firewood flicker violently.

At that moment.

“Where are you looking, senior?”

“...?!”

Startled by the voice from right behind him, the intruder spun around, causing the precarious firewood to finally go out.

As a result, the cave was plunged into pitch-black darkness.

In the darkness...

Clang! Bang!

After a series of metallic and explosive sounds, complete silence fell.

* * *

Time passed.

Inside the cave, where a bonfire was burning brightly.

Jerry Bee’s eyelids trembled slightly as he slowly regained consciousness.

It was evidence that he was gradually coming to.

The first thing he saw as his vision cleared was a ‘bloody rock’ right in front of his nose.

Blink, blink.

“...”

Even in his dazed state, Jerry instinctively knew that the bloody rock was the weapon that had struck the back of his head.

However, there was one problem.

‘Why... does it look like this?’

The rock on the ground appeared to be perfectly flat.

If he had fainted and just woken up, he should have seen the ceiling first.

Or, if he had been lying on his side, the world should have looked sideways.

It should have been something like that.

But the rock in Jerry’s view was perfectly flat on the ground, right in front of his nose!

It was as if...

‘If I were looking at the world from the ground with my head cut off, it would look like this, right?’

This thought jolted him awake.

At the same time, he realized that his body below his neck wasn’t moving.

“N-no way?! Am I really decapitated?!”

But how could a decapitated person still be alive?

Regaining a bit of his sanity, he realized that he still had sensation below his neck.

A few seconds later, Jerry realized his current state and smiled faintly.

“Heh... I’ve just been buried alive.”

Buried deep in the ground with only his face exposed.

That was Jerry’s current state.

‘Lucky me. Being buried alive is much better than being decapitated or paralyzed.’

If it were a year ago, he wouldn’t have been so calm in this situation.

But the year he spent in the Dragon’s Cradle had raised him to the level where he could say, “Lucky me,” even in such a situation.

Still, this was the first time Jerry had been buried alive.

‘Can I escape?’

Jerry wiggled his limbs and frowned.

‘Damn... They didn’t just bury me, they tied me up and buried me.’

Feeling a bit frustrated, Jerry didn’t give up and struggled to escape.

He tried moving his limbs with all his might and even used mana.

In the end, Jerry could only shout in frustration.

“What, how did they bury me so that I can’t move at all?!”

No matter how hard he tried, the ground where he was buried didn’t even budge.

If there were experts in burying people, the one who buried him must have reached the level of a master.

“Sigh...”

Finally giving up on everything, Jerry let out a deep sigh.

He stared at the ceiling and muttered pitifully.

“...When did things start going wrong?”

How did things get so messed up?

Jerry slowly recalled the past.

‘I was definitely having good luck this week.’

Sometimes it happens.

Days when everything goes well.

For Jerry, the past few days had been just like that.

He had found 500 points while walking down the street.

He had made a small breakthrough in his cultivation, which had been stagnant for months.

And then, as if by some miracle,

He learned that his long-awaited Dragon Badge Exchange was moved up a day earlier than expected.

Everything seemed to be falling into place.

Jerry felt as if the world was revolving around him.

With that incredible feeling, he started his Dragon Badge Exchange.

Whoosh.

Seeing the Forest of Beginnings again after a year, Jerry had a strong intuition.

‘I feel like something big is going to happen this time.’

The continuous good luck over the past few days.

He felt that his luck would continue during this Dragon Badge Exchange.

‘If I’m lucky, I might even be able to exchange my Silver Dragon Badge for a Gold one!’

He couldn’t stay content with just a Silver Dragon Badge forever.

This was his chance to get a Gold Dragon Badge!

‘Or maybe I’ll get a huge point haul!’

Even better, the Gold Dragon Badge holder he was about to face was likely carrying a lot of points.

And he had a good feeling that this would happen to him.

Jerry walked toward the Forest of Beginnings with a light step.

However, the weather was a problem.

As the snowstorm worsened, Jerry tried to take shelter for a moment...

Thud.

‘Huh?’

Suddenly, the ground where Jerry stepped sank, revealing an entrance to an underground cave.

It was as if it was inviting him to enter.

‘Oh!’

Jerry, smiling brightly as if this was a stroke of luck, entered the underground cave.

Soon, his face stiffened.

‘This... looks like it was blocked off artificially.’

Finding the underground cave was really unexpected.

In the vast Forest of Beginnings,

He just happened to step on a spot that was

A makeshift entrance, about 1 meter in diameter, made of branches and leaves.

Jerry, who had found the entrance by sheer coincidence, turned his mana toward his eyes and focused on the front.

Then, the dark corridor became faintly visible.

The corridor appeared to be about 2 meters wide and high.

The deeper it went, the darker it became.

‘There’s such a place in the Forest of Beginnings?’

A place that clearly had something.

And an entrance that someone had blocked off.

‘Oh ho?’

It would be strange not to feel curious and excited.

Moreover, the branches used for the makeshift entrance were still damp.

This meant that the cave had a new occupant not long ago.

‘In other words, the occupant of this cave must be one of the new probationary knights this time!’

Swish.

Jerry drew his sword and cautiously advanced into the corridor.

And then,

‘Oh, surprise!’

The battle with the traps began.

Clang!

Suddenly, a rock flew at him.

Swish! Thud!

A branch aimed at his ankles swung at him.

Bang!

A wooden stake buried in the ground suddenly shot out.

Countless traps, whose mechanisms he couldn’t even guess, sprang out.

‘Well, they’re a bit noisy, but not particularly threatening.’

Jerry quickly dismantled the traps, and his anticipation soared.

‘The occupant of this cave... is not an ordinary probationary knight.’

Would a mere Bronze Dragon Badge holder create such traps?

That was absurd.

Jerry’s eyes sparkled.

‘Definitely a Gold Dragon Badge holder!’

With the experience he had gained over the past year and his peak physical condition today, he was confident that he could subdue a Gold Dragon Badge holder, who was still just a probationary knight.

With that excited mindset, he headed toward the end of the traps, where a faint light was seeping through.

When he arrived there...

“Where are you looking, senior?”

Thud!

The back of his head was struck cleanly.

Ouch, ouch.

The pain in the back of his head, which had resurfaced along with his memories, made Jerry frown.

“That kid, attacking me so cheaply...”

In the thick darkness, a figure suddenly appeared.

Jerry, who was startled, screamed.

“Aaaaah!”

He was so startled that he almost had a seizure, his eyes rolling back.

If his body hadn’t been buried, he would have flailed like a freshly caught fish.

Meanwhile, a dark shadow passed over Jerry’s head.

Thud.

Seeing the shoe in front of his face, Jerry shouted.

“Shit, I thought my heart was going to fall out! At least make some noise when you move!”

“Why should I?”

...Why indeed?

Speechless, Jerry awkwardly replied.

“Well, it would be better, wouldn’t it?”

“A fool wouldn’t notice. I’ve been behind you the whole time.”

“...Since when?”

“Since you shouted, ‘N-no way?! Am I really decapitated?!””

“...You’ve been there since I woke up?”

“Yeah.”

“...”

Detecting someone’s presence is also a skill.

Not being able to detect someone so close was really a matter of having no words, even with two mouths.

Jerry tightly shut his mouth and instead looked at the person squatting in front of him in a delinquent-like manner.

A face obscured by long, flowing hair.

And a delinquent-like smirk that matched the posture.

Feeling a chill, Jerry awkwardly laughed.

“Haha, you’re a nameless junior, aren’t you?”

“Why, a nameless senior.”

“Well, I’m still a senior, so you should watch your words...”

“Are you really a senior? What kind of senior is so weak?”

“I... am a senior.”

“Senior? These days, do they call someone who sneaks up to stab you a senior?”

“Well... In the Cradle, it’s usually like that... And when did I sneak up...”

He wanted to argue and assert his seniority, but how could he do that when he was buried in the ground and subdued in one move?

Seeing Jerry’s dejected look, Yuri clicked her tongue and asked.

“Tsk, so what’s the name of this nameless senior?”

“Jerry Bee.”

“Which batch?”

“...49th batch.”

“Second year?”

“Yeah.”

“Really 49th batch?”

“Really...”

Jerry’s eyes pleaded for her to believe him, and Yuri’s eyes sparkled strangely.

“So you’re saying...”

“...?”

“So what’s a second-year doing here? Not on a picnic, I hope.”

“...”

Faced with Yuri’s question, Jerry closed his mouth.

It was embarrassing enough to be subdued by a probationary knight, and he couldn’t just spill everything.

If his batchmates found out, he would be a laughingstock for life.

‘Especially if Humphrey finds out?!”

The test would be over in two days anyway.

He could either escape by then or find another way.

Suffering for two days was a hundred, a thousand times better than being mocked by Humphrey.

With this thought, Jerry tightly shut his mouth.

Seeing this, Yuri grinned.

“Ah? You have so much pride as a senior that you can’t even tell me this?”

“...”

“Really?”

“...”

“Fine, then.”

Seeing that Jerry had no intention of speaking, Yuri didn’t push further.

“Haha.”

Instead, she gave a sinister laugh and disappeared from Jerry’s view.