“Sorry about that, Mister.”
Just as Gray was still in the midst of his inner conflict, Kaxu’s sweet voice rang out.
The girl smiled apologetically at the warrior.
But her left hand, resting on Gray’s shoulder, unconsciously tightened, as if staking her claim.
“This expedition was way too tiring. Mr. Gray was also injured, so we’re planning on taking a break for a while. We don’t have any plans to recruit new members right now.”
Hearing those words, Gray felt his tense nerves instantly relax.
An uncontrollable wave of secret joy surged in his heart.
‘Great. The Black Crow Squad is still just me and Miss Kaxu.’
‘Tch. Can’t you stay out of my business?’
Kars rolled her eyes internally.
As a love master with rich theoretical experience and zero practical experience, she didn’t want a third wheel butting in while she was handling Gray.
What if she slipped up and screwed everything up?
The big Shield Guard let out a disappointed sigh.
The surrounding crowd also buzzed with a wave of regret.
“Move it, move it! What are you all gathered here for? Don’t you have quests to turn in at the Association?”
Just then, a heavy, rhythmic clanking of metal armor came from outside the crowd.
Accompanied by an unquestioning authority, the originally packed crowd parted like the sea before a saint, automatically clearing a wide path.
The Adventurers turned to look, then gasped in unison.
Some even bowed their heads respectfully.
“Holy crap, it’s the White Knight Ingram, and the Holy Maiden!”
The Knight strode quickly toward them.
Each step he took made the ground tremble slightly.
And perched on his broad pauldron was a pure white cat.
“Meow~ I was wondering what all the noise was about over here. Turns out our ‘Weakest Undefeated’ Mr. Gray has made another big headline, huh?”
Under the shocked gazes of the crowd, the white cat spoke.
The crisp, pleasant voice of a girl carried a hint of lazy indifference.
As if it wasn’t shocking enough that a cat was talking, a flash of light accompanied the white cat as it leaped from the giant man’s shoulder, transforming midair into a petite girl with silver hair and red eyes, clad in a gorgeous priest’s robe.
“Eve… and Ingram?”
Gray looked at his two old teammates in surprise.
“What are you doing here at Valhalla Gate?”
“The Holy Maiden was very worried when you two lost signal in the Third Labyrinth.”
Ingram emphasized the first four words, reminding Gray to mind his manners in public regarding Eve.
He glanced at the two of them, disheveled and disheveled.
Although his helmet covered his face, Gray could still feel his old friend’s strange stare, as if blaming him for actually managing to bring an E-ranker into a Dawn-level Labyrinth.
“Stop the chit-chat. Let me heal you first. The combined mana inside both of you right now probably doesn’t even have as much as a single Low-grade Magic Potion.”
Eve scanned their status with a detection spell, her brow furrowing slightly.
“[Divine Grace] “
Compared to Kars’s Healing Art, which was deliberately suppressed to maintain her disguise, the Saint’s magic was a total crushing blow.
A pillar of golden light descended from the sky, enveloping the two of them.
In an instant, Gray felt all his wounds heal as if new.
His depleted vitality surged through every corner of his body.
“Whew… Thank you, Holy Maiden.”
Gray let out a long breath and stood up from the ground.
Kars also stood up with her head lowered, her bangs hiding her expression.
Ingram looked at her a bit strangely.
‘Normally, after receiving Eve’s healing spell, people always look like they’re bathed in spring breeze. Why does this little girl’s expression look so complicated? Like she’s enduring something…’
‘Is she feeling insecure after seeing the gap between her own Priest skills and Eve’s?’
The Saint, on the other hand, didn’t think much about it.
The silver-haired, red-eyed girl put her hands on her hips, her gaze flickering between Gray and Kars.
“Is a ‘thank you’ all I get? My appearance fee as the Holy Maiden is pretty steep, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll treat Ingram to a meal later.”
Seeing that Gray was still being stingy, Eve didn’t say much more.
Her gaze finally settled on the teleportation gate not far away, now covered in gray chains.
“Speaking of which, Gray, you’d better have a reasonable explanation for the Church.”
The girl dropped her joking expression and pointed at the large gate.
“A Labyrinth Deadlock in the Third Labyrinth is no small matter. It means the Dungeon Core’s rules were rewritten, or the guarding Calamity Pillar was completely destroyed. And we all know the latter is impossible.”
“What exactly did you do in there?”
As soon as she said that, everyone in the area pricked up their ears.
Gray opened his mouth, a look of confusion on his face.
‘What did I do?’
He only remembered fighting evenly with that demon named Mammon, then falling unconscious after the Captain’s Illusion appeared, and finally waking up here.
Just as Gray was hesitating on how to phrase things, Kars, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly took over the conversation.
“That’s right! Our Black Crow Squad successfully conquered the Third Labyrinth!”
Under everyone’s stunned gaze, Kars grabbed Gray’s arm and wore a face full of immense pride.
“That big Demon in the uniform was really sneaky. He deliberately hid in the first Head’s room in the Labyrinth and turned into a crystal to ambush us. But Mr. Gray saw through his disguise!”
“Mr. Gray just took a single stone, whoosh, and threw it right at the crystal. And then that big Demon’s disguise was broken!”
Kars gestured with her little white hand as she spoke, making exaggerated motions, as if she had personally witnessed an epic battle.
“The fight back then was so intense! I could only hide in the corner and do my best to support Mr. Gray. But in the end, we won!”
‘Huh?’
Eve was dumbfounded.
Even under his helmet, Ingram’s eye twitched.
The entire crowd of onlookers fell silent, their gazes locked onto the youth the girl had called the one who “knocked down the Third Calamity Pillar with a stone.”
‘Me? What stone?’
Gray pointed at his own nose, staring at Kars’s expression that clearly said ‘That’s right, you did it, don’t be modest.’
For a moment, he even thought they hadn’t left the Third Labyrinth yet, and this was just an Illusion created by a Magic Monster.
‘Hmph. A bunch of small fry Adventurers.’
Watching the shocked reaction of the crowd, Kars smugly curled her tail in her heart.
‘Anyway, Mammon is already dead. Dead men tell no tales. If that guy Mammon called the ‘Human Limit’ gets exposed, it’ll be way more troublesome.’
‘Since that’s the case, I’ll graciously bestow this ‘Demon-Slaying Hero’ title onto Gray to wear!’
‘Think of it as a reward for being my Meat Shield for so long!’