The Retired Hero is an Extra

Outside the dungeon, Theodore and Lessie had been patrolling the area for the past half day.

"There's another one?" Lessie grumbled in dissatisfaction as she got annoyed by the increasing number.

"Which one of these pests is this now?" Theo asked, a bit calmer, but annoyed nonetheless.

"I don't know?" Lessie replied, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Let me guess... I'd say about 200?"

"Tch." Theo clicked his tongue in annoyance and casually waved his hand, willing his mana to finish off the intruder.

They had never bothered interrogating, capturing, or even checking their bodies.

It was a useless endeavor, after all.

"They are just useless pawns; they don't even have any information to extract," Lessie complained, pouting like a little girl.

Theodore didn't buy her act and only focused on his senses, making sure nothing went wrong.

Well, nothing more significant than Jash being able to enter a dungeon no one else could, despite their best efforts.

Thankfully, their job was to keep the area void of intruders and they were quite good at this job.

The two had long informed Sera and Carcel about Jash entering the dungeon, shocking the couple.

They had only allowed Jash to try his luck because they thought he would face the same outcome as any other hunter.

Unfortunately, their prediction was off the mark, and he was inside the dungeon alone!

It wouldn't have been a problem if this were a normal dungeon, but it was just way too... unique.

Hence, Carcel ordered Theodore to take care of all the intruders lurking in the vicinity.

That's how the current situation came to be.

While some might consider Carcel's order to be barbaric and savage, no hunter would think of it as such.

They hadn't shied away from letting others try their luck with this dungeon, and setting a deadline was just a precaution.

After all, no one wants other nobles' people in their territory as they might be working as spies or something.

It was a common point all of them agreed upon, and if a spy was found, no one would dare own up due to the fear of becoming a scapegoat.

Of course, Nobles weren't eternal.

Many had lost their nobility status, some demoted and some even promoted.

With every new territory being developed and conquered back, a new noble would get appointed or an old noble be promoted.

It was the Solarnelle Empire's Imperial Family's way of doing things.

In the end, Carcel's decision might get frowned upon due to the extreme methods but that was about it.

And currently, it wasn't what mattered as the "spies" were currently too far away to notice and felt nervous.

Their end wouldn't be nice if they failed in their mission since they could easily be discarded without any consequence.

The sole person sharing their anxiety was the dungeon operator, who was appointed by Cornelius as he left for some reason.

He was supposed to find something, but the only thing he found was Jash entering the dungeon.

He nervously waited for the Young Master to return to get any information, so he impatiently kept staring at the dungeon portal.

A long time had passed, but looking at the dungeon still closed meant Jash must be alive, so he kept praying for Jash's safe return.

Even though it had nothing to do with him, he would be the first to die if something actually happened.

Suddenly, the man's eyes went wide at the astonishing sight in front of him.

"The gate is changing!" The dungeon operator shouted, equal parts excited and equal parts nervous.

His shout was only heard by the two flying hunters, Theodore and Lessie, who narrowed their eyes at the dungeon gate.

'Something's wrong!' The two thought at the same time, alarm bells ringing in their head the instant they saw it.

By this time, the dungeon operator also felt something amiss and was about to back away but instinctively stepped forward.

Jash's body was thrown out by the dungeon gate like a ragdoll and he caught it, terrified at the prospect.

"The Young Master is alive!" He shouted gleefully as soon as he felt the body warmth and breathing.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the good news as Jash had closed his half-open eyes the moment he came out.

It wasn't hard for Theodore to recognize Jash despite him wearing his armor due to the familiar mana signature.

"Young Master is bleed–"

—Swish!

The dungeon operator was about to convey Jash's condition, but got interrupted due to high speed wind.

He couldn't make out his left from his right as he was dragged by a strong force, unable to resist due to his weak physique.

However, even he felt a huge shockwave and pulse of mana affect him and propel him farther away.

—Boom!

—BOOM!

A lot of explosive sounds echoed around the location the dungeon gate used to be as the two were carried away by Lessie.

"I hope he can contain it," she murmured to herself, dragging away the two unconscious people.

Usually, she would have ditched the dungeon operator but Theodore had snatched the two and thrown them at her, ordering her to take them away.

She didn't question the orders and complied, taking them both back to the Ramille Estate at her top speed.

Meanwhile, Theodore used a vast amount of his mana to contain the sudden explosion of mana around the existing dungeon gate.

Luckily, his instincts had warned him in advance and he mobilized his mana earlier, or things would have been much worse.

The entire area in a radius of nearly 200 kilometers was devastated, leaving behind a wasteland.

"Phew"

Yet Theodore sighed at the sight and said, "Thankfully, it wasn't much."

He had ended up using more than half of his mana reserves to contain the explosion from harming any humans belonging to the Ramille Dukedom.

"Well, this also took care of pests," he muttered in a tired tone and flew away, back to the main estate where a lot of things were happening.

"Take them to the Medical Facility!" Sera shouted with urgency, upon noticing Jash's unconscious state.

She had come outside after sensing a S-Rank hunter racing towards her estate and upon confirming it to be Lessie, she grew anxious.

It only worsened after she witnessed Jash's condition, drawing her attention away from the mana explosion.

That too was strange as no monsters exited, just a large explosion occurred, but it wasn't even on her mind to investigate it.

"...and that's what happened," Lessie said, finishing her account of everything as she stood respectfully in front of Carcel.

"Okay, you can go now," Carcel dismissed her, his thoughts revolving around Jash.

"Haaa..."

A sigh escaped his lips as he massaged his temples, trying to make sense of the events.

If not for having to take care of the aftermath after hunting down so many spies, he would've been standing next to Sera.

In less than a minute, both of them were taken to the medical facility under Sera's stern orders.

Currently, the extent of Jash's injuries was unknown, but seeing him alive was enough to calm her somewhat.

"Wake him up and get the information," Sera said to no one in particular, referring to the dungeon operator.

The poor guy was blissfully unaware of the difficulties awaiting him since Sera sensed that he was fine.

Suddenly, a shadow detached from Sera's and vanished in the sea of shadows, likely to carry out her command.