Chapter 262 – Reward (3)
Mucci, feeling a chill run down his spine from Yuri’s cold aura, hesitantly spoke up.
“Uh… didn’t I tell you we didn’t even have a funeral?”
How could they collect condolence money when there hadn’t even been a funeral in the first place?
But Yuri, already fixated on the word ‘condolence money,’ wasn’t listening to a word Mucci said.
“This is why it’s pointless to be nice to people. A friend dies, and not a single bastard shows up for the funeral!”
Yuri grumbled under his breath, his voice filled with irritation.
If one listened closely, most of his muttering was curses aimed at the 50th generation.
Even so, he didn’t forget to use his chopsticks to slap away Arin’s hand, which was slyly reaching for his plate.
Arin whimpered, clutching her now-red hand, and begged for just one bite.
Of course, Yuri wasn’t having any of it.
“Get lost. No way are you getting any of this.”
It was his first proper meal in four months.
There was no way Yuri was going to let anyone take it from him.
As he started stuffing his face with food, Theresia, who hadn’t received an answer to her earlier question, asked again.
“So… what exactly were you doing that kept you away for so long? It’s been ages since the quest ended.”
As soon as she asked, everyone turned their attention to Yuri.
Theresia’s question was something they all wanted to know.
What had he been doing to show up a month after the quest ended?
Under the intense scrutiny of their curious eyes, Yuri swallowed his food and answered casually, as if it was no big deal.
“Oh, that? I wasn’t planning on it, but somehow, it ended up like this.”
“…‘Somehow’?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not really something someone who made us all worry for a month should say, is it?”
To the listeners, his answer was absurd, but Yuri’s words were nothing but the truth.
He scratched his nose.
‘I didn’t think it’d take this long either.’
It wasn’t like he wanted to stay in that damned tower for so long.
Yuri had wanted to quickly master the *domain* and perfect the technique of *neutralization* so he could get out of there as soon as possible.
He had even been confident that it wouldn’t take long.
But that confidence had been a massive misjudgment.
‘…It took me days just to get the hang of it.’
Handling the domain turned out to be far more complex and difficult than he had anticipated.
It took only a few days of practice for Yuri to realize that cutting Coco’s cigar had been nothing more than beginner’s luck.
The challenge and difficulty of it didn’t even need to be put into words.
However, Coco, who had been watching Yuri’s progress closely, had a slightly different perspective.
[You… Why are you so good at this?]
From Yuri’s point of view, he felt like he was struggling to even get a grasp on it, moving at a snail’s pace.
But to Coco, Yuri’s adaptation to the domain was astonishingly fast.
[What do you mean slow! Most people take years just to adjust to opening their domain!]
A newly awakened, transcendent sense.
For those accustomed to ordinary senses, it was a completely foreign experience.
Naturally, an adjustment period was required.
[Then again, you were already handling that fake domain, so I guess it makes sense you’d adapt quickly…]
But Yuri didn’t need an adjustment period.
The moment he opened his domain, he accepted it as though it had always been his, perceiving it as an extension of himself.
Of course, the rate of adaptation varied from person to person, and there were bound to be those who adapted quickly.
There might even be people who immediately grasped the sense of the domain in one go.
However, what truly shocked Coco was that Yuri was already *moving* the domain.
[What? You think that’s not difficult? Ugh… I don’t know why I have to explain this, but listen up. There are typically three stages to handling a domain: awakening, stabilization, and condensation.]
The first stage was when the domain had just awakened.
At this stage, one focused solely on expanding the domain at will.
The next stage involved stabilizing it within a certain range to create what could be called a *domain field*.
Finally, the last stage was creating variations in density within that domain field—this was called *condensation*.
[Neutralization is an inevitable phenomenon when domains clash. However, the speed at which neutralization occurs can be controlled.]
When two domains collide, the one with the lower density disappears first, while the denser domain fades last.
Even a difference of one second could mean the difference between life and death for someone ranked at the *Seventh Tier* or higher.
In other words, *condensation* was the art of laying traps by manipulating that time difference.
Where the domain was thin.
Where the domain was thick.
Its size, shape, and more.
It was a technique to create a personal battlefield by utilizing the time difference caused by the neutralization process.
This was how combat between Seventh Tier or higher fighters, who used domain neutralization, was conducted.
The problem was that it took a very long time to reach that level.
It took years to even reach the stage of condensation.
And it took another decade or so to adapt to it fully.
But Yuri Holland was an anomaly.
[A guy who can’t even stabilize his domain is already moving it to create density differences… It’s not just difficult—it’s impossible!]
A few days ago, he had barely awakened his domain, but now he was showing signs of reaching the condensation stage. Coco was utterly dumbfounded.
Of course, that was only from Coco’s perspective.
‘Handling the *magical domain* was more difficult than moving a normal domain.’
For Yuri, who had dealt with a *magical domain*, moving his domain wasn’t that hard.
It was stabilizing it into a fixed field that was the real challenge.
Yuri briefly recalled what had happened over the past month.
He shrugged at the group staring at him in disbelief.
“Well, I mean, it’s true that things just ended up like that.”
His evasive tone didn’t invite any more probing questions.
Instead, Arin’s eyes gleamed as she asked a different question.
“Then, how was Hell Mode? Was it really that difficult? Huh?”
*Hell Mode.*
Just how difficult had it been for Yuri to be stuck there for so long?
Since everyone was curious, all eyes were on Yuri once more.
In response, he threw the question back at them.
“So, how was Hard Mode for you?”
“Huh? How did you know we went into Hard Mode? You went into the tower first.”
“It’s obvious. So, how was Hard Mode?”
“Well, we…”
Arin gave a brief account of their experience in Hard Mode.
Since it was a quest they might face themselves someday, Theresia and Mucci listened attentively.
The first floor was a maze filled with traps.
Each floor had tasks that tested their limits.
And on the ninth floor, they had to pair up in groups of four to learn the *Black Iron Formation* and face a captain-ranked Black Sword Corps member at the Fifth Tier.
After listening, Yuri’s lips curled up into a smirk, and he spoke just one word.
“That’s it?”
“……”
“That’s all? Wow, you guys really had it easy on this quest, huh?”
His smug tone made Gunther’s eyebrow twitch.
Seeing this, Yuri chuckled and began recounting his own harrowing tale of escaping Hell Mode.
“Listen up, this is how it went…”
—
Gordon silently stared at Coco, who stood at attention in the center of the office.
“…You seem to be in a good mood?”
“No way. Hahaha.”
Despite her denial, her lips kept twitching upward, betraying her true feelings.
This prompted a heavy sigh from Gordon.
“What have you been up to?”
“You already know, so why bother asking?”
“…Judging by that shiny face, it looks like you had fun.”
As Gordon pointed out, Coco’s face practically glowed.
Her expression was fresh, as if all her pent-up frustration and desires had been fully relieved.
As Gordon stared at her in silence, Coco shifted her gaze and asked,
“Are you done? Can I leave now?”
“We’re not finished yet.”
“Tsk.”
Coco pouted in dissatisfaction.
Her attitude toward her commander was far from respectful, but it seemed Gordon was used to it.
However, knowing that Coco’s patience wasn’t long, he got straight to the point.
“This year, we’ve been ordered to open the *Labyrinth of Sin*.”
At the mention of the Labyrinth of Sin, Coco’s expression stiffened.
“Are you… saying *he* gave the order?”
“Yes.”
“And who’s the target?”
“All cadets of the Cradle.”
“Looks like the Sword Master wants to toughen up the young lord. Or maybe it’s because of someone else?”
A glimmer of amusement flashed in Coco’s eyes.
Seeing this, Gordon’s gaze turned cold.
“Don’t be presumptuous enough to question his motives.”
“Yes.”
“Prepare to open the Labyrinth of Sin.”
“Yes… Wait, what?!”
Coco’s eyes widened as she was about to casually respond to Gordon’s command.
“Why do I have to prepare it? Isn’t this usually Duran’s job?”
“Duran isn’t here.”
“……”
Only then did Coco recall that Duran had gone out to find an elixir.
Her voice dropped slightly as she responded.
“Then can’t you just assign it to someone else? Surely there’s someone else free?”
“The
one with the most free time here is you.”
“……”
“Who else could afford to slack off for an entire month except you, the Deputy Commander?”
“……”
“Now, get ready without any complaints.”
Gordon noticed Coco’s previously bright expression shift to one of annoyance, and he added,
“If Duran returns early, you can switch with him. So stop pouting and prepare properly.”
“…Who knows when that idiot will come back.”
“Answer.”
“…Yes.”
“Dismissed.”
When Gordon waved his hand, Coco gave a half-hearted salute and turned to leave.
Just as she was about to exit the office, Gordon called out to her.
“What happened to your arm?”
“Oh, this?”
Feeling his gaze on her bandaged arm, Coco raised it slightly and smiled.
“That little cat… No, that little cuckoo had a bit of a temper. And its claws were pretty sharp too.”
With that, Coco left the office without further comment.
Meanwhile, Gordon stared at the door she had disappeared through, muttering with interest.
“Coco Romani… injured?”
—
As Yuri neared the end of his tale about escaping from Hell Mode, those listening couldn’t hold back any longer and began to interject one by one.
Theresia was the first to speak.
“…So, not only were the traps harder than the *Seven Star* Breakthrough Quest, but a bomb went off at the end?”
Then Mucci chimed in.
“And after that, you fought three Black Sword Corps members on the fourth floor? Using the Black Iron Formation too?”
Next was Gunther.
“There was one more Black Sword Corps member on each floor, and on the sixth floor, you faced a captain and two regular members?”
Arin followed.
“On the eighth floor, it was a Sixth-Tier captain and four Black Sword Corps members? And you cleared all that in one day to reach the ninth floor? Really?”
Finally, Poppy.
“I’m hungry?”
Of course, Arin translated that.
“But why did Coco show up on the last floor?”
“That’s true.”
“Yeah, why was the shopkeeper suddenly on the ninth floor?”
Arin, Theresia, and the others knew who Coco was.
But to them, she was just a regular Black Sword Corps member in charge of the first-year discount shop.
So they couldn’t help but be surprised when Yuri nonchalantly dropped the bombshell.
“Coco is the Deputy Commander.”
“…?!”
Coco’s true identity was something they had never even imagined.
Theresia, who had only learned this in her third year, was especially shocked.
“Why would someone as high-ranking as a Deputy Commander be running a shop?!”
“No idea. Probably caused some trouble, given how foul-tempered that old hag is.”
Yuri shrugged.
Theresia, staring blankly at him, suddenly realized something and asked urgently.
“Then… how did you get out of the tower? If the Deputy Commander was on the ninth floor, how did you manage to get past her?”
Everyone’s attention shifted back to Yuri.
If Coco was truly the Deputy Commander, she was a certified Ninth-Tier powerhouse.
How on earth had Yuri managed to get past someone like her?
Under their questioning gazes, Yuri waved his hand dismissively.
“Come on, there’s no way I could beat that overpowered woman.”
“Then?”
“She said if I even grazed her clothes, she’d let me go. So I slashed her cleanly and got out.”
Silence followed immediately after his words.
Everyone simply stared at Yuri.
After a long moment of stunned quiet, Gunther finally voiced what everyone was thinking.
“Yeah, right.”