After resting and regaining their strength, the group made their way back to Valencia Village.
They reported the successful elimination of the slimes to the village chief and showed him some fresh slime gel core as proof. Then, after a brief lunch break at the local inn, they packed up and departed from the quiet, slightly run-down village.
“There really aren’t many people in that village,” someone commented along the way.
“Yeah, aside from the tavern and inn filled with travelers like us, you barely see any locals.”
“Can’t blame them. Most young folks head off to bigger towns to chase opportunity. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole place becomes abandoned in a few years. Lots of villages are heading that way.”
“Funny, my home village is actually pretty lively.”
“Yeah? Then why’d you leave it?”
“Hey now, don’t kill the mood.”
“Still... no wonder commissions have been piling up lately.”
As the conversation continued, Laevin and the others made small talk during the walk back.
Gauss didn’t say much—he was still too new to the adventuring scene to have much to add.
Then Doyle turned to him. “Hey, Gauss. What did you do before you became an adventurer?”
The question caught Gauss mid-step. The rest of the group glanced over as well, clearly curious.
Even though this was already their second mission together, none of them really knew much about Gauss. He’d once said he was a rookie and that before teaming up with them, he’d only done one job—and it didn’t even go well. The rest of that original squad had gone off to get treated in Barry City while he stayed behind in Grayrock.
It wasn’t an unusual story for a newbie...
But Gauss’s current strength definitely didn’t match that image.
For someone with such little experience to be this capable? It didn’t add up.
The curiosity had been eating away at them—and now Doyle had finally asked out loud.
“Of course, if it’s private, you don’t have to say,” Doyle quickly added.
Tall grass brushed their legs on either side of the dirt path, the wind stirring up waves through the open plains. Gauss swept aside his bangs, now messed up by the breeze, and shook his head.
“Nah, it’s nothing I need to keep secret.”
He didn’t think his past life before becoming an adventurer was anything worth hiding.
He’d been just a regular mountain kid—barefoot, chasing rats through the fields, fishing in rivers, setting traps for rabbits and pheasants. If it weren’t for his decision to refuse a marriage arranged by his parents when he came of age, he’d probably still be living in some remote mountain village, working the fields beside a broad-hipped farmer’s daughter.
Still, since everyone was so curious—and it wasn’t like he had anything to be ashamed of—he gave them a brief rundown.
“...After leaving home, I’ve just been getting by on my own. As for magic... that came from a bit of luck.”
As soon as he finished, the group fell silent. Everyone exchanged looks, their expressions a mix of disbelief and confusion.
It wasn’t what they’d expected at all.
Privately, they’d had all kinds of theories—maybe he was a noble’s illegitimate son, or a mage’s apprentice, or someone with connections to a powerful family. The idea that he’d just been a mountain kid a year ago didn’t fit anything they imagined.
“Wait,” Laevin said, narrowing his eyes. “You’re telling us... you gained all your current strength in just a year?”
Gauss stayed quiet for a moment.
Technically, it had only been about half a month.
In his mind, even if people usually took a year or two to become full-fledged adventurers, it wasn’t that far-fetched for someone to reach his level in a year. He remembered what old man Glone from the forge had said—some people become professionals within a year, others take decades.
So being this strong in a year’s time didn’t seem that crazy to him.
“You might really be a genius,” Doyle muttered with a long sigh.
The quiet sense of competition he’d been harboring since they met—the urge to outmatch Gauss—just melted away.
He realized that someone like Gauss was destined to walk the path of a professional adventurer. It was just a matter of when.
For all he knew, a few years from now they’d bump into each other in some tavern in a foreign city, and Gauss would already be a big-shot mage. Meanwhile, he’d probably still be stuck grinding as an apprentice.
The rest of the group went quiet.
Laevin realized that the odds of convincing Gauss to officially join the squad were getting slimmer by the day.
He sighed inwardly... but tried to look on the bright side.
At least if Gauss kept teaming up with them for a few more missions, their survival odds would stay high.
Gauss noticed the strange mood shift in the group.
He had a feeling he’d accidentally hit a nerve.
He didn’t know much about the others' personal backgrounds, but despite being similar in age, he was clearly the youngest among them.
Laevin and Oliver were pushing thirty. Even if they’d only become adventurers at twenty, that was still a decade of grind.
The rest had at least two to three years under their belts.
And compared to fighters and rangers, spellcasters had a much higher learning curve.
Yet here was Gauss—youngest of the bunch, already ahead in magical progress, and still improving fast enough for them to see it with their own eyes.
It was hard not to feel discouraged.
Sometimes, the gap between people felt wider than the gap between people and beasts.
The rest of the trip passed in awkward silence.
As they neared Grayrock, the skies—once bright and clear—turned pitch black with sudden storm clouds.
Within minutes, rain came down in sheets, wind howling across the plains.
The once-dry dirt path turned into a muddy mess, puddles forming everywhere as filthy rainwater splashed underfoot.
With no real shelter nearby and Grayrock not far off, the group had no choice but to press on.
They pulled their cloaks tighter, boots squelching in the mud. When the cart got stuck, they pushed.
By the time they made it back to town, it was late at night and they were soaked to the bone.
No one had the energy to head to the adventurer’s guild to report the quest results. They just agreed to meet at the guild first thing in the morning and called it a night.
Gauss hurried back to the inn, sparing a glance at the sky as thunder cracked overhead.
He shook his head and let out a breath.
The weather had flipped like a switch. Just a few hours ago it was blue skies—now it looked like the end of the world.
Still, at least they’d thought to cover the cart. All their supplies were dry. That was something, at least.