Hunters Keep Coming To My House - Chapter 39

Chapter 39

As soon as I finished speaking, the expressions on Jung Tae-il and Han Seung-hoo’s faces became subtle. 

It was difficult to discern what they were thinking, so I quietly waited for them to speak.

How long did I wait? Jung Tae-il swept his hair back and answered.

“I can help. Opportunities to face monsters like hatchlings don’t come by often.”

“Shall we go right now, Jung Tae-il?”

“Before that, there’s something I need to check.”

“…Yes?”

Jung Tae-il looked at me with an expression that suggested he thought I wouldn’t have considered it. 

‘…No, what does he want to check?’

Is it Arvani’s stats? Or maybe my stats? Or is it my attack skill? After confirming if we can fight together, is he planning to reject it immediately if it doesn’t meet his standards…?

It was a slightly unpleasant feeling as if Jung Tae-il was evaluating my skills for no apparent reason.

“You seem to be having strange thoughts again… It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s about the hatchling… I mean, whether you’ve properly matched your flight with Arvani.”

“…Ah.”

“If you want to fight alongside Arvani, practice flying first. It’s basic. Don’t rush into attacking without the basics. You’ll only get hurt.”

Jung Tae-il looked at Arvani and me alternately with a firm expression.

“In a real battle, you don’t know what will happen. If you fight around here, the enemies you face will be on a different level than the monsters you’ve encountered so far. Before any unforeseen accidents happen, Arvani and your movements should be perfectly synchronized.”

Otherwise, without controlling the variables, one of us will end up dead. 

Han Seung-hoo, who had been listening to Jung Tae-il’s words while dozing off on the side, nodded slowly in agreement.

“That’s right, Sis. What Jung Tae-il says isn’t wrong. If your level of riding Arvani is like when you dealt with the cobra’s venom… it’s very dangerous. Inside the Gate, you never know what might happen.”

“The cobra didn’t have wings, so it didn’t require a high flight stat. But there are monsters with wings that can fly. You need to fly better than them.”

Every word they said was right. It was something I hadn’t considered at all because the changes that came to me were so sudden.

‘…There are probably many shortcomings and a lot of changes to adapt to before I can engage in immediate combat. I need a process to get used to it… since I’ll be fighting with Arvani in the future, flight practice takes precedence.’

I nodded slowly and looked at Jung Tae-il.

“Well, I’ll start with flight practice for now. Can you help me match it when I get somewhat used to it?”

“How long do you think it will take?”

“Maybe a week?”

“Today. Finish it today.”

“…What?”

“A week is too late. Again, Seo Yeon-oh, you could die even if Arvani swings his tail wrongly. So get used to it as quickly as possible.”

Oh, come on, am I really at risk of dying from Arvani’s tail? Ugh…

I shifted my gaze to Arvani. Arvani, sensing my gaze, looked up at me with innocent eyes and made a small ‘kyu!’ sound.

‘…Arvani acknowledged me as his owner, but I’ve never seen a message saying he can’t attack me.’

Just in case, I opened Arvani’s status window.

[Status Window

Name: Arvani (Hatchling of the Blue Dragon)

Level: S Level

Title: Sole Remaining Hatchling (Measurement Unavailable), Guardian of the Blue Dragon (SSS)

?Stats are kept private by the administrator.

?Can use wind attribute magic with the Guardian of the Blue Dragon (SSS).

?Currently following ‘Seo Yeon-oh’ as the owner.

?Likes Korean beef.]

‘…Opening Arvan’s status window like this is the first time.’

While I did check it once when Arvani was registered as my companion, I never opened it myself after that. So, I didn’t know about these details.

‘…He even has a title.’

But the title ‘Sole Remaining Hatchling’… Were all the hatchlings that came out of the Gate before fakes?

‘There were other Hatchlings inside the dungeon, not just Arvani. In the past, and even before that, Hatchlings were famous as S-level monsters. So, the modifier ‘Sole Remaining’ seemed strange.’

This was also suspicious. The statement that the stats are kept private by the administrator raised doubts. In other words, a separate administrator was managing the system.

‘…Administrator.’

If that’s the case, does the administrator know about my situation? Did they know that my house would end up inside the Gate?

‘Could the strange tone of the system messages be because there’s an administrator?’

The more I thought about it, the more it felt like entering a labyrinth. I decided to think about this problem again later and checked something else.

‘Other than that, nothing seems strange… but the most important sentence is missing.’

The sentence states that Arvani can’t attack me. In other words, even if monster attacks don’t affect me inside the house, I still need to be cautious of Arvani outside.

Hah, I need to raise my stats quickly…

… I got up from my seat with a sigh. Then, Han Seung-hoo looked at me and spoke with a voice full of curiosity.

“Sister, do you have a saddle by any chance?”

“Saddle?”

“I saw you just riding bareback last time… but you could fall off that way.”

Ah, I hadn’t thought about the saddle at all. Since I remembered flying with Arvani for the first time without a saddle, I didn’t feel the need for one.

But if I wanted to fly professionally and attack from above, a saddle that securely connected my body and Arvani was essential.

The problem here was… if I could get a suitable saddle for Arvani, being a Hatchling. Even if I could use a saddle inside the Gate through upgrades, I couldn’t just ask a craftsman to make a Hatchling saddle out of the blue.

‘…I was too focused on quitting my job.’

That’s why there were so many gaps…

As I was chewing on my lips in self-blame, Han Seung-hoo cheerfully smiled and took something out of the inventory.

It was none other than…

“I brought a saddle item from ‘Janwol.’ Would you like to try using this?”

It was the item I urgently needed right now.

Han Seung-hoo handed the saddle to me and smiled proudly as if telling me to check it. Watching this, Jung Tae-il frowned.

“…[Check]”

[Saddle

?Available for use by any monster.

?Securely binds the user and the monster.

?If the trainer skill is possessed, increases one level.

?If there is no trainer skill, enhances the bond between the monster and the user.]

The description was perfect…

…and the timing of receiving this item.

With the explanation that it’s available for use by any monster, the value of this saddle would be immense. Hunters with trainer skills would surely bid high for it. Even if they didn’t give it to me and sold it only to hunters in need of the item, they could easily earn billions.

Feeling overwhelmed by the saddle in my hand, I stiffened. Then, I mumbled softly.

“…How can I accept something like this…”

“You can accept it.”

“…Why give me something so valuable?”

It would be more worthwhile to give it to someone else. In a diminishing voice, I questioned Han Seung-hoo, who shrugged naturally.

“You’ve provided me with meals and a place to sleep. The value of that is higher than this. So don’t worry too much. This is now yours. Another thing is, in our ‘Janwol,’ we don’t have any hunters who can tame monsters.”

“Still…”

“Don’t think of it as too burdensome. If it feels too much… you can come to ‘Janwol.’ Consider this an advance gift.”

“…”

Han Seung-hoo smiled, raising the corners of his mouth as if adding the word ‘bribery’ to the conversation. In his smile, there was a faint illusion of Kang Yoon-soo’s carefree laughter.

If Kang Yoon-soo were in this situation, he would probably have urged me to accept it quickly.

‘…Can I accept this?’

Even if he said there was no one to use it in ‘Janwol,’ it felt like a favor mixed with a desire to make a good impression on me. It was unavoidable that it felt burdensome.

Then, an indifferent voice reached my ears.

“Yeah, take it. It’s okay, Seo Yeon-oh.”

“Why are you taking over and giving it to me, instead of just telling me to accept it?”

“I just added a word to tell you to accept it.”

“…Do you know how annoying you sound?”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Jung Tae-il casually spoke and then stood up from his seat. Slowly walking towards me, he spoke firmly.

“Seo Yeon-oh, is it a time to refuse something like that?”