CH 24

"You're really out, huh!"

Leon muttered quietly as he gently laid the unconscious Tenji on the ground.

His eyes were filled with pity for Tenji, and at the same time, there were glimpses of despair.

"Even so,......,Are you really the guy who can cut Black Keroberos in half in the early stages of awakening? "

Sighing troublesomely, Leon took out some scraps of cloth from an empty space.

He then tied the cloth piece to stop the bleeding from Tenji's wound. Tenji's body was beyond its limitation; it seemed like recovery did not do much.

"What's with this wound? If you've recovered from the awakening, how come you are left with these wounds? It does not seem good. If it's going to be like this, you should've brought that healer guy with you."

While complaining, he finished clotting up the wound fast, almost with the speed of a nurse.

For explorers, the knowledge about first aid is almost crucial. However, it is not a compulsory subject, and it is said that it is ideal for learning it as knowledge if possible.

This was also due to the scarcity of recovery items.

It is known that recovery items exist, but most of them are brought up by the top guilds, the world's most wealthy people, and the Society of Explorers. It makes them hard to get for an average explorer.

That's why it was always recommended to be accompanied by a healer in raids, and first-aid was helpful knowledge.

Leon quickly finished the first aid and decided to carry Tenji on his back.

"This guy's got guts."

Leon muttered a compliment, though he knew no one heard.

His eyes caught Tenji's hands and feet.

Yes, Tenji's clothes were already in tatters. Earlier, his hands, legs, armpits, and several other parts of his body had been chewed to pieces by the Black Keroberos, so the clothes in those areas were cleanly gone.

It was easy for Leon, who had seen so many different sites in his life, to imagine what had happened.

"The fact that the clothes were missing meant that they must have been "eaten" in all probability."

"Four limbs, flanks, both shoulders ...... I really don't know how this kid survived. Normal people barely survive that."

'A normal human being would have died long ago, he adds in his mind.

Leon carried Tenji on his back, taking care of him and started walking to where the young man had said the corpses were.

He found the place quickly, but Leon couldn't help but frown at the sight of it.

"Ahhhh ...... these are the devouring marks of the 'Queen Spider'. It's a cunning monster, no wonder so many of them were killed."

The dark hollow, the body that seemed to have been killed without a sound, the liver sucked out of the body, the faint scent of spider silk... these elements alone were enough for Leon to identify the monster.

Godo and the others didn't know about it, but it was a familiar monster to Leon. This kind of monster often appeared in the depths of the first-class dungeon in America, where he had lived a few years ago.

"I submitted a report to the Association, but they said, "Only a zero-level explorer needs to know about such a place. I will share it only with them," they said, and avoided disclosing the monster to the public."

For some reason, Leon mourns the dead beautifully and puts them away one after another into the empty space.

In this way, he retrieved the bodies of nine people. He saw familiar faces among them, so he offered a silent prayer before making up his mind to get out of there.

"Well, I think I'll go home now."

Leon turns on his shoes.

With Tenji on his back, he ran through the dungeon at a speed that was incomparably faster than Godou.

And then------

Less than half a day later, Tenji was safely back alive from the dungeon. He was alive but in a critical condition.

Leon then made his way to the hospital, where he knew someone.

† † † †

"Is she here?"

"Oh, Mr. Leon! Please wait a moment, I'll connect you to the phone now!"

Leon was visiting a hospital.

It was already midnight and time for emergency room visits, but this was the closest hospital to the Ochanomizu Dungeon, and they accepted patients almost every day.

It is known as one of the few hospitals that are very flexible for the explorers' patients as it also receives a lot of funding from the Association.

The nurse at the reception desk immediately connected Leon with the woman he wanted on the phone.

"Nn...... hmm? Urgent?"

"Yes, Master Leon has brought an urgent patient."

"Leon? All right, I'll be right there."

The words, you could tell she was probably awake in her sleep, but Nanase Ichiyo woke up as soon as she heard Leon's name and hurriedly put on her lab coat. She then walked quickly to Leon.

She made her way to the reception desk, where she found a shaggy-haired Leon carrying a young man covered in scars.

"Oh, ......, Leon, you're such a brat!"

"Sorry, I'll make it up to you next time."

"I'll look forward to it. So, is he an emergency?"

"Yeah, he is bleeding a lot."

"Yeah, it's been pretty neglected, so I'm afraid of infection. I'll take care of him here. Kumagai, take him."

Nanase judged Tenji's danger at first glance and pointed to a large male nurse waiting in the nurses' room.

Kumagai Toru is a maiden nurse with a man's body and a girl's mind. He quickly got up from the chair and used his proud muscles to take Tenji away from Leon.

"Leave the rest to me, handsome Leon," Kumagai said.

"Oh, oh. ohkay"

Leon, as expected, replied in a slurred manner.

The person Leon has the worst time in the whole world is this Kumagai Toru. He inwardly regrets that he came at the time when Kumagai was working the night shift.

Kumagai makes a mad dash through the hospital and quickly carries Tenji to the operating room. She is a powerhouse nurse.

So Nanasei said to Leon with a beautiful smile.

"I'll take care of the rest."

"Ichiyo, wait a minute."

"Hmm? What?"

Leon stopped Nanasei with a word.

He pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket and hands it to Nanase.

"...... Leon's card? No, I don't want it."

"No, it's for him. When he wakes up, sneak it to him so the Association doesn't find him."

"That's unusual for ...... Leon. Who is that guy Leon?"

"Hey, don't ask me that. It's nothing. To me, he's someone I don't want anything to do with, on the same level as Kumagai."

"What's that? It looks like a contradiction in terms."

"Don't ask me too many details. There are a lot of things I can't tell you."

"Well, that's right. You're that Zero-grade explorer, aren't you?"

"...... just take care of that guy for once. That's a talent we can't let the Association take away from us."

"Wow, he's someone whose talents are even recognized by Leon..... That is interesting."

"What are you talking about, I just feel sorry for Tenji-kun."

"What? Well then, I'd better get going, I'm a little worried about that Tenji."

"Oh, come on."

Nanase said, and her eyes changed from eyes in love to those of a doctor.

Her white coat is then fluttered, and she quickly walks after Kumagai.

After seeing that, Leon left the hospital.

Just as he left the hospital grounds, the phone rang.

"Hyakuse, I just got a call from our resident SDF officer that you're home."

"Oh, it's you, Mamiko. I just got home."

"What's the report?"

"I haven't slept in three days."

"I'll send Mizuhashi-kun to your house later then."

"What, Mamiko's not coming?"

"I'm busy as a manager right now, mainly with the Ochanomizu Dungeon."

"All right, I'll see you next time."

"Yeah, another time."

"Well."

"Yeah, see you later."

After a brief conversation, Leon hung up the phone.

When he left the dungeon, it was already midnight outside.

The moon is round and shining, and he can see clouds floating in the night sky, which look slightly grayish-blue.

The night sky is a bit of a mystery, and Leon then wonders about the path that Tenji would take.

I just love Leon's character.

Let me know in the comments, what you guys think about this chapter.