Doubts About Advancement (Bonus Chapter)

"Hmm?"

Looking at the cover of the record, Derrick let out a low cry.

The cover of this expedition combat record contained a roster that detailed the members of the team at the time. Apart from Elder Lovia and her husband, there had been multiple Beyonders... It had even included one of the current elders of the Council of Six, Waite Chirmont.

Derrick noticed that many of the names had been marked with an "×," including Elder Lovia's husband.

The "×" indicated that the person was dead.

Elder Lovia's husband must have died during that expedition... Could the rumors really be true—that she had eaten her own husband...

With that question in mind, Derrick opened the record.

The record was already quite old. The animal-hide pages had yellowed and dried, and the writing on them had become very blurry.

Derrick patiently continued reading.

``` [Expedition Record, Year XX]

[Target: Ruined city-state three days' journey to the northeast]

[Original Plan: Travel for four days, begin exploration upon reaching the target, determine the cause of the city-state's abandonment, and search for supplies]

[Actual Process: Arrived as planned, split into multiple teams to investigate separately, until an accident occurred]

[Accident: When one team entered the temple, a hidden monster suddenly launched an attack, causing the temple to collapse and the entrance to be blocked. The team and the monster were sealed inside the temple together. Because the temple was located within a mountain and the collapse covered a wide area, the rescue took a long time.]

[A day later, the rescue team successfully dug into the temple and discovered that nearly all the trapped team members had perished. The only survivor was Lovia Alicia. The scene contained traces of fierce combat, large amounts of blood, and the monster's corpse. The other members had