Chapter 106
Chapter 106. End of the Month Evaluation (5)
Yuri’s expression turned crooked and defiant, but Gunther did not notice it.
His eyes were filled with an intricate mix of emotions.
‘Yuri Holland.’
The moment the names of the top 10 were posted on the bulletin board.
No, to be precise, from the moment he saw the name in first place, Gunther hadn’t even glanced at his own ranking.
From that moment on, his mind was overwhelmed by memories of the past.
The small, skinny boy who had appeared at Johan Redner’s call.
A boy who was awkward even holding a sword, who had unsheathed his avatar and brought down the Black Sword Corps.
And who had received the Black Dragon Plaque with such confidence.
Those were the memories of a rival Gunther had once vowed to defeat if they ever met again.
But those old memories were soon overshadowed by more recent ones.
The beggar who had lain all day on the black ship coming to the cradle.
The rogue who brazenly shouted after pushing his comrade off the ship.
The frontrunner who walked ahead of him during the Hundred Steps Ceremony.
And then…
[Crunch— Crack!]
[Aaaah!]
The desperate, noble warrior who roared, straining to take the ninth step.
‘That was… that was all Yuri Holland.’
The jumbled memories of the past were projected onto the person standing before him now.
‘And that Yuri Holland… is right here.’
Gunther felt a whirlwind of emotions at meeting his long-thought rival in such an unexpected place.
Was he happy that he was here?
Or did he feel betrayed that their reunion was so far from what he had imagined?
Gunther himself could not guess his own feelings.
And as he stared at Gunther with a complicated look, Yuri coldly uttered a single phrase.
“What’s with the familiarity?”
“…?!”
“If you’re going to act familiar, at least reveal your name first.”
At Yuri’s cold tone, Gunther flinched.
With trembling eyes, he asked.
“Do you… not know me?”
“Why should I?”
“My name is… Gunther Irons. Even now, you don’t know?”
“Ah!”
Yuri exclaimed at those words, as if he had realized something.
Gunther, who had been hoping that Yuri might finally recognize him, clenched his fists at what followed.
“Oh! So, you’re the one in fourth place. And what business do you have with the one in first place, hmm? Mr. Fourth Place?”
At Yuri’s sneering tone, Gunther unclenched his fists.
‘I see…’
A sense of emptiness settled in his heart.
‘Yuri Holland doesn’t know who I am.’
He felt so despondent he nearly laughed in disbelief.
Before entering the cradle, Gunther had considered Yuri Holland a rival in his heart and had trained hard.
Even here in the cradle, it had been the same.
He had been training diligently, hoping to defeat Yuri someday and make himself known to him.
But it was all a mirage.
The person he had considered a rival didn’t even know of his existence.
‘So, who have I been chasing all this time?’
He knew.
This wasn’t Yuri Holland’s fault.
He had simply been fooling himself.
‘…Then why am I so angry?’
Gunther calmly suppressed his anger with reason.
Still, his voice turned somewhat curt despite himself.
“Hah… I asked why you’re here, Yuri Holland.”
“I don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting, but is there a problem with me being here?”
“Well, you should be…”
Shouldn’t he be training with Johan Redner by now?
Those words almost escaped his throat, but Gunther swallowed them down.
‘That, too, was just my assumption.’
To be precise, it was something his father, Ashiraf, had said.
Gunther pressed his lips together.
Seeing this, Yuri puffed out his chest arrogantly and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, I understand that the fourth place is itching to pick a fight with the first place, but…”
At this, Arin and Poppy shook their heads.
“…That doesn’t seem to be the case?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Hey, keep quiet! What do you lowly second places know?”
“…”
Ignoring the two who looked at him in disbelief, Yuri continued his speech.
“…Where was I? Ah! Anyway, I understand that the fourth place wants to pick a fight with the first place, but…”
Yuri’s arrogant gaze suddenly turned icy.
“If you want to start something, be prepared to get beaten down. Consider this a warning.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not about starting a fight!”
“I’m hungry.”
“Silence, you lowly second placers.”
With those words, the three of them bickered as they walked away.
Even though the person he had longed to meet was walking away, Gunther could not bring himself to stop Yuri.
His thoughts were still too jumbled to make sense of.
‘If I catch Yuri Holland now… what would I even say?’
Gunther clenched his fists.
And that brief exchange between him and Yuri.
It drew the attention of many around them.
As a result, people learned that the “black-haired guy who showed his face” was named Yuri Holland.
And they also learned that he was the one who had taken first place in this month’s evaluation.
Some people gathered around Gunther.
Among them, Nellie nodded as if she had realized something.
“As I thought…”
Pana tilted her head in confusion at Nellie’s mumbling.
“What? What’s ‘as you thought’?”
“The ridiculous number of hides that Bobikrutankapurtabi collected in the ‘Hide Gathering Quest.’ It wasn’t gathered by himself, after all.”
“Then?”
“Those three people from before. They must have gathered them together.”
People started recalling Yuri, Poppy, and Arin.
And Nellie Blanc continued.
“If they collected that many hides, first place is certain…”
“They must have pooled it all for one person to get the reward! Aiming for the first-place special privilege!”
“That’s right. It’s more beneficial to aim for the 100% bonus points for first place than to be stuck in a mediocre second or third.”
“Ah!”
“There’s no way a single person could have collected that many hides, or caught a bear by themselves! The three of them must have taken down the bear together.”
“That makes sense. Obviously, besides Bobi… whatever his name was betting on 1 million points, the other two could afford to bet such high points too because they split it among themselves, right?”
“Probably.”
Nellie’s speculation was half correct and half incorrect, but for those who didn’t know Yuri well, it was a sufficiently convincing guess.
No, even if they were told the truth, they wouldn’t believe it.
Who would believe that Yuri had hunted all the wolves, deer, and rabbits alone in just three days?
Even Arin and Poppy had been shocked when Yuri handed over the hides.
Those who had witnessed it directly still didn’t believe it, so it was almost unimaginable to think that Yuri had gathered that many hides on his own.
Just as Nellie and Pana were nodding in agreement with each other’s speculations.
“What about the tiger, then?”
Ivan Baskin, who had been quietly listening until now, suddenly interjected.
Nellie blinked in surprise.
“…What?”
“Let’s say the three of them somehow managed to take down a bear. But… how did they catch a tiger?”
“That’s…”
Nellie couldn’t answer easily.
She knew, too.
No matter how much the three of them combined their strength, a tiger was not something they could capture.
If it had been possible, her group would have tried to hunt a tiger as well.
For that reason, Nellie had subconsciously avoided mentioning the tiger in her reasoning.
On the other hand, Pana, feeling irritated by Ivan’s pointed question, snapped back.
“We were just saying that the three of them gathered those hides together, so why are you suddenly bringing up the tiger?”
“That’s exactly why I brought it up. Among the hides they gathered, there was also a tiger hide. That implies that the three of them could handle a foe as powerful as a tiger.”
“So what? Even if you bring that up now, what difference does it make?”
Just like Pana said, discussing this now was meaningless since the quest was already over.
It was already a fact that a tiger had been caught, regardless of what method was used.
But they were too curious about how it had been done.
And this conversation stemmed from a sense of wariness towards them.
Then, Nellie, who had been listening to Pana and Ivan’s sharp exchange, spoke up.
“Maybe there was some special condition?”
Clarice showed interest at those words.
“A special condition?”
“It’s impossible to catch a tiger with mere strength, so… maybe there was some special condition that neutralized the tiger?”
“Hm… that makes sense.”
Several people nodded at Nellie’s hypothesis.
But then…
“Yuri Holland… it was him. It was possible because it was him.”
Gunther, who had been in a daze, muttered that.
Gunther, startled by his own words, quickly glanced around.
A small mutter.
But it was enough for those nearby to hear.
The gazes of the cadets gathered around turned to Gunther.
“What? What was possible because of Yuri Holland?”
“Oh, that’s…”
Gunther was slightly flustered by the attention focused on him.
Assuming that the three of them had cooperated to capture the tiger…
Gunther, contemplating how they might have done it, arrived at a conclusion.
A conclusion that it might have been possible if it was ‘Yuri Holland.’
And he had made the mistake of saying it out loud…
“Sigh…”
Gunther let out a small sigh as he felt the eyes of everyone on him.
‘It can’t be helped.’
Since he had already spoken, he had to handle the situation himself.
He spoke in a low voice.
“If it was Yuri Holland… perhaps it was possible. To catch the tiger.”
“What? How?”
“I don’t know the exact method. But I just felt that… it might have been possible if it was him.”
It was a vague answer that seemed to express blind faith in Yuri Holland.
However, the one who said it was none other than Gunther.
The reason people who barely knew him had gathered around him.
It was because Gunther Irons was considered a trustworthy person.
Given his usual honesty and prudence, he wouldn’t have spoken lightly.
Pana Taylor, representing the curiosity of the group, asked a question that everyone was wondering about.
“Come to think of it, what’s your relationship with Yuri Holland? You seem to know him well.”
“…”
“Do you know anything else?”
Gunther could not answer easily to that question.
He was confused.
‘Do I really know Yuri Holland well?’
Surely, in this cradle, he probably knew more about his identity than anyone else.
Johan Redner’s disciple.
The boy who wielded an avatar.
But when he thought about it, that was all he knew.
And even that was now uncertain.
Was Yuri Holland really Johan Redner’s disciple?
Could it be said that they had a master-disciple relationship just because they left together?
And the avatar.
Was it truly something Yuri Holland wielded?
After a brief contemplation, Gunther concluded.
‘I… don’t really know much about Yuri Holland.’
But there was one thing.
“Yuri Holland, he is…”
The most certain truth he knew about Yuri Holland.
“He is the Black Dragon Plaque Holder.”
“…?!”
Gunther’s statement caused a wave of shock to spread like wildfire.
