My Guardian System: The Trader

"W-who are y--"

Hope muttered, but then she widened her eyes.

"It's you…"

Hope was staring at him with wide eyes.

That person continued walking without any sign of reaction. She noticed his calm and expressionless face. She was certain he was that boy who jumped into the void a while ago.

But then she wondered how, how was he here? Didn't he go inside the dungeon? So why is he here?

Her mind was full of questions. Hope could not believe that he was still alive after going inside that place.

Aside from her, the aged man was looking at the same person with wide eyes open and agape. 

That boy who went alone inside the dungeon came back without a scratch!?

They were staring at him with disbelief as he was moving at a steady pace like he was casually walking in the street.

His eyes, which were devoid of emotions, glanced across them.

They stiffened at that instance.

There was an inexplicable chill when he did it. But they could not understand what it was.

Nonetheless, Hope was dumbfounded when she happened to look far behind him.

The void or the dungeon entrance was no longer there!?

"H-how did it happen?"

The boy noticed her disbelief but he ignored it.

Although Hope wanted to question him regarding the disappearance of the dungeon, there was a more serious matter than that.

"Please help us! My friend... My friend is injured. Please call for help. I am begging you."

Hope summoned her courage and asked for help, albeit in an exhausted voice and teary eyes.

The boy stopped moving.

Then, he turned his gaze from her to below him, ignoring her pleas.

Beneath him, a few centimeters away from his feet, there was a lying gob with a knife sticking on its head.

Without sparing another glance to Hope and the others, he slowly reached out on the knife while stepping on the gob's back, applying pressure and pressing it to the ground. Blood spurted out from the wound when he pulled the knife.

It was a cruel way of treating a dead creature, but. Who cares? None of them cares to be honest. They are monsters who feed on humans after all.

However, seeing the one who did it was a person, who was hardly considered an adult, there was an indescribable feeling deep inside. But since they were in an inappropriate situation, none of them questioned his action, nonetheless.

After pulling out the knife, he gets rid of the blood that was sticking on it via a sudden lash in the air. The blood scattered away in that instance.

In a practiced motion, he hid the knife under his jacket. He hangs it back on his waist where the other weapons are belting around.

He sent another glance at the people in front of him. All of them were looking at him while wearing different kinds of expressions on their faces.

He was sure that he used to wear the same expressions before.

That's why there was a strange nostalgia when he looked at them.

Could it be because those were the same expressions he lost in that place?

No, actually.

He chose to abandon them. The place where he came from doesn't need those things.

Without saying a single word, he turned his back towards them.

"Eh?"

He heard an utterance of disbelief from behind him. He ignored it and continued walking away.

In truth, he just arrived in this place. But then, after arriving in this place, the trader told him about the appearance of a strange aura not far from them.

Sure enough, after telling it to him, he saw many people running away in panic.

After getting out of that hell, he had to travel several days to arrive at this place, longing for a peaceful day for once. Yet, there was a commotion when he arrived here.

He wanted to go home so badly. He wanted to see his grandfather.

Many things happened to him that he could not believe even until this day. He wanted to share his story with his grandfather.

A story about his unbelievable journey inside that hell and all that he experienced.

The grief of being alone, the fright from the chasing monsters, the pain of enduring those wounds and injuries, the fear of death that would come to him anytime, the thirst, the hunger, and etcetera, all of those, he overcame all of those.

He wanted to ask if he was a great person now. After all, he overcomes those hardships.

He couldn't recount how many times he almost died. Several times on those occasions, he survives after remembering his grandfather's teachings.

That's why he wanted to see him sooner and give his gratitude for all his teachings.

However, since the train won't run any time soon because of the commotion, he had to take a detour and investigate the cause.

Sure enough, as the trader said, there was an unusual void on the street, near the station.

Then he saw some familiar creatures around. They were coming out from that void.

Even though he was looking at the monsters as they were feeding on a person's body, there was no change in his expression.

As though what happened in front of him was a natural phenomenon.

For him, those hungry creatures were merely stuffing their stomachs, satiating their hunger.

In his eyes, humans weren't different from animals, beasts, and monsters.

What others saw was a gruesome scene, but in his eyes, it was a hungry creature feeding on another creature.

It's a normal occurrence to that place.

Regardless, the trader told him about the void, that it was a dungeon entrance.

The trader also added some details regarding it.

Since the train station would probably not resume their work if the dungeon was still there, he decided to take action.

He had nothing against those creatures; it just so happened that they were a hindrance to him.

And maybe he could find rare materials too inside that dungeon.

The trader said that it was a low-rank dungeon. And normally, a low-rank dungeon only has a few floors, unlike the high-level labyrinth.

He cleared it in a matter of minutes.

But before he could leave the area, someone from behind him called out to him, "Wait! Please, help my friend! Call out for help…"

He did not bother looking back and continued walking away. However, the girl, Hope, keeps calling at him.

Just then, <Host, isn't it a good chance to figure out the efficiency of that new medicine?>

Upon hearing it, he finally stopped on his feet.

Then he looked behind him.